Epiphany Shanov ( bg, Епифаний Шанов 1849–1940) was a

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

Uniate The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also called the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous (''sui iuris'') particular churches of th ...

priest.(Bulgarian
Istoricheski pregled, Bŭlgarsko istorichesko druzhestvo, Institut za istoria
''Bulgarian Academy of Sciences'' 1985: 41(7-12): 45, retrieved January 20, 2012

Biography

Shanov was born in

Kazanlak Kazanlak ( bg, Казанлък , Thracian and Greek Σευθόπολις (''Seuthopolis''), tr, Kazanlık) is a Bulgarian town in Stara Zagora Province, located in the middle of the plain of the same name, at the foot of the Balkan mountain ...

on October 18, 1849. He received primary education there. At the age of 12, he began studying at the Uniate Gymnasium in

Edirne Edirne (, ), formerly known as Adrianople or Hadrianopolis (Greek: Άδριανούπολις), is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, ...

. Shanov continued his education in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

and in 1873 was ordained as a priest. Afterwards, Epiphany served in

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

, where he spent the next years of his life. After the recall of

Lazar Mladenov Lazar Mladenov ( bg, Лазар Димитров Младенов) (July 11, 1854 – March 4, 1918) was a Bulgarian Orthodox priest and, later, a member of the Bulgarian Uniat Church in the Ottoman Empire and a convert to Eastern Catholicism. Bi ...

on July 23, 1895, he became the

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

of the

Bulgarian Uniat Church The Bulgarian Greek Catholic Church ( bg, Църква на съединените с Рим българи; la, Ecclesiae Graecae Catholico Bulgarica), sometimes called, in reference to its Byzantine Rite, the Bulgarian Byzantine Catholic ...

in Macedonia and on September 8, 1895 in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

he was granted the title Livadian

and appointed as Apostolic vicar in Macedonia. Initially his office was in

Kilkis Kilkis ( el, Κιλκίς) is a city in Central Macedonia, Greece. As of 2011 there were 22,914 people living in the city proper, 28,745 people living in the municipal unit, and 51,926 in the municipality of Kilkis. It is also the capital city o ...

. Bishop Epiphany Shanov supported the activities of the

Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO; bg, Вътрешна Македонска Революционна Организация (ВМРО), translit=Vatrešna Makedonska Revoljucionna Organizacija (VMRO); mk, Внатр� ...

(IMRO). In 1903 in Macedonia, under his leadership, over 10,000 Uniates lived in 20 villages, 10 churches, 30 priests, including 13 boys' and 9 girls' schools. In 1909, Shanov resigned, but his resignation was not accepted by the

Apostolic Delegate An apostolic nuncio ( la, nuntius apostolicus; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international o ...

. Shanov remained head of the Bulgarian Uniate Church during the

Balkan wars The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and defe ...

. In 1913, Greek soldiers arrested him and he went into exile first to the island of

Naxos Naxos (; el, Νάξος, ) is a Greek island and the largest of the Cyclades. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern times was one of the best abr ...

and then to

Trikeri Trikeri ( el, Τρίκερι, ''Tríkeri'') is a town and a former community in Magnesia, Thessaly, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality South Pelion, of which it is a municipal unit. It lies at the wester ...

, where he remained until the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

ended. Shanov was released in 1919 and retired to Kazanlak. In the late summer of 1921 he again asked the

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

in Rome to be released from his duties as Bishop of the Thessaloniki diocese. The Pope accepted his request and he retired to Kazanlak, where he died in 1940.

References

External links

Католическа Апостолическа Екзархия София, Biography of Shanov on the webpage of the Bulgarian Greek Catholic Church (Bg.)
Bulgarian Eastern Catholic bishops Bulgarian Greek Catholic Church 20th-century Eastern Catholic bishops 19th-century Eastern Catholic bishops People from Kazanlak 1849 births 1940 deaths {{Bishop-stub

Biography

See also

References

External links