Seven Apostles of Bulgarian Orthodox Church

Seven Saints
Mosaic of Seven Saints in Seven Saints Church, Sofia

The Seven Apostles (Bulgarian: Свети Седмочисленици, Sveti Sedmochislenitsi) are seven saints venerated in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church since the 10th century.[1]

They are also revered in other Churches as the creators and distributors of the Glagolitic and Cyrillic script. These Saints are Saint Cyril and Methodius who created the Glagolitic script, and their five students Gorazd, Clement of Ohrid, Naum, Angelar and Sava.[2] Although Constantine of Preslav is considered a direct disciple of Methodius, the Church traditionally does not include him because he is not canonized. [3]

In Russian Orthodox Church, Cyril and Methodius are remembered separately, and their disciples are recognized as Equal-to-apostles. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church has set July 27 as the day of the Assumption of Clement of Ohrid and the day of the Seven Saints.[4]

  1. ^ David Farmer, The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, Fifth Edition Revised, OUP Oxford, 2011, ISBN 0191036730, p. 94.
  2. ^ Alban Butler, Lives of the Saints: Edited, Rev, Volume 3, Herbert Thurston as ed., Burns & Oates, 1956, p. 130.
  3. ^ "Свети Седмочисленици". Retrieved 31 October 2019.
  4. ^ Matthew Bunson et al., Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints, Our Sunday Visitor, 1998, ISBN 0879735880, p. 551.