Cyril Stephanov Kurtev (18 June 1891 in

Dripchevo Dripchevo ( bg, Дрипчево) is a village in the municipality of Harmanli, in Haskovo Province, in southern Bulgaria.Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

, today

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

– 9 March 1971 in

Kuklen Kuklen ( bg, Куклен ) is a town in southern Bulgaria, part of Plovdiv Province. It is located 7 km to the south of the nearest major city, Plovdiv, and is approximately 140 km south east of the Bulgarian capital, Sofia. Kuklen was ...

Plovdiv Province Plovdiv Province ( bg, Област Пловдив: ''Oblast Plovdiv'', former name Plovdiv okrug) is a province in central southern Bulgaria. It comprises 18 municipalities (общини, ''obshtini'', sing. общинa, ''obshtina'') on a ter ...

) was a Bulgarian Greek Catholic bishop.

Biography

Bishop Cyril Kurtev was born into an Orthodox family in the Dripchevo village (today in Haskovo Province). In 1901 he began his studies at the elementary school at a monastery in the nearby village Mustrak, the former monastery known throughout Eastern Thrace as Monk Panteleimon. Kurtev continued his studies in

Karaağaç, Edirne Karaağaç is a suburb of Edirne in northwestern Turkey at the border with Greece. Karaağaç is 4 km southwest from the center of Edirne, across the river Maritsa and opposite the Greek village Kastanies. In 1890, the large Karaağaç railw ...

at the Assumptionists college fathers, where he studied until 1908. To prepare for the priesthood, Kurtev was sent to the major seminary of Saint Leo in

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

. On 8 September 1913 he was ordained a deacon by Archbishop

Michael Mirov Archbishop Michael Mirov (1859 in Topuzlare, Ottoman Empire – 17 August 1923 in Istanbul, Ottoman Empire) was a Bishop in the Bulgarian Greek Catholic Church. He was born into the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in the today Bulgarian village of Zorn ...

. On 1 June 1914 Kurtev was ordained a priest by Bishop

Michael Petkov Mihail Petkov ( bg, Михаил Петков) (24 October 1850 – 27 May 1921) was a Bulgarian Eastern Catholic priest, member of the Uniate movement in the Ottoman Empire. Biography Michael Petkov was born on October 24, 1850 in the city of ...

in the Cathedral of Saint Elias in Edirne. In the spring of 1924 he became assistant of

Josaphat Kozarov Josaphat can refer to: People * Jehoshaphat, in the Bible, fourth king of the Kingdom of Judah * Josaphat, a Christian saint of India, appearing in the legend of Barlaam and Josaphat * Giosafat Barbaro (1413–94), Venetian explorer and diploma ...

, administrator of Greek Catholics in

. On 23 September 1925 Mirov was appointed Acting Administrator of Bulgarian Exarchate of the Greek Catholics. On 25 July 1926 by

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...

he was appointed bishop, and the ordination took place on December 5, 1925 at the Cathedral of Saint Clement in Rome. As a symbol of his future ministry Kurtev took a new name Cyril, in honor of Saint Cyril of

Thessalonica Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

. On 30 May 1941 he unexpectedly resigned, and was replaced by Ivan Garufalov whom he personally ordained bishop. Garufalov's death of forces Cyril return to his post in 1951. At this time Kurtev remains the only Catholic bishop in Communist Bulgaria, he had to take care not only of the Greek-Catholics, and the Catholics of Latin rite of the Nikopol and Sophia-Plovdiv dioceses. In the 1960s, Bishop Kurtev took part in the

II Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions), each lasting between 8 and ...

. On 7 March 1971 in the city of

, during the liturgy the Bishop suffered a heart attack. He died two days later.

External links

Kae-bg.org

Епископ Кирил Куртев
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kurtev, Cyril Bulgarian Eastern Catholic bishops Converts to Eastern Catholicism from Eastern Orthodoxy Former Bulgarian Orthodox Christians 1891 births 1971 deaths People from Haskovo Province Eastern Catholic bishops in Bulgaria