In times of spiritual decadence and low passions all around, a society must look for some light. It needs a pillar to help it overcome the heavy moment: such is hope, sparkling within the purest Christian values: goodness, love, compassion. One way or another, a person in Bulgaria has turned into a symbol of this candle in the darkness over the past year. One can hardly call a coincidence the fact that his name is Grandpa Dobri (Good in Bulg.), as he is definitely a messenger of Good – and the better part of the Bulgarian society was happy to celebrate his centenary last week!

Dobre Dimitrov Dobrev, better known as Grandpa Dobri or the Saint of Baylovo was born at the birthplace of great Bulgarian writer Elin Pelin – the village of Baylovo, some 25 km away from the capital city of Sofia, on 20 July 1914. Dobri himself has no memories of his childhood and student years, but people know that his father died during WWI and his mother raised her kids on her own. The incomplete biography of the old man can be also explained by the fact that Dobri is unwilling to share much. The man lost nearly all of his hearing due to a bomb, blasted next to him at Sofia’s bombings during WWII. No matter the reason for his choice of life, as of a certain moment on the people of his village started to observe his peculiar, ascetic way of life.

Grandpa Dobri started to walk every day the 25 km to Sofia and back, as he turned to bus transport barely a few years ago, due to old age. Local bus drivers know him so well that they often refuse his ticket money. They are aware that the mission of the good old man is holy not only to him, but to the other people around as well: Grandpa Dobri has been the greatest private donor for years of a series of Orthodox temples, including the largest one among them – the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral downtown Sofia. Church Board’s Secretary Stefan Kalaidjiev still recalls that May 2009, when the saintly old man came and shared his intentions. It turned out that Dobri himself was unaware of the place, where his savings had been deposed by a relative of his. The two started to tour around the branches of all banks in the town of Novi Iskar, in order to look for the account. One signature and the EUR 17,500 turned into the greatest private donation in the history of the cathedral. Bulgaria started to talk about the good old man or the Saint of Baylovo and found out that he had donated his entire property to the Orthodox Church as early as 2000. Of course, some people popped up out of nowhere, blaming Grandpa Dobri for abandoning his family, in order to hit the road. He is aggrieved, of course, but perhaps his deafness is something not so bad this time…

However, barely anyone would dare to call him a beggar, as all people around are convinced that he doesn’t keep a dime of what has been given to him. A series of other temples have received large sums of money from the Saint of Baylovo – the churches of Kalofer and Poibrene among them. A total of EUR 12,500 have been handed by the old man for the restoration of the Eleshnishki Monastery and the temple of Gorno Kamartsi. He has provided EUR 5,000 to the church of his own village, where he also helps with manual labor and in the winter too! Dobri lives in a humble small pavilion at the church, sleeps on the floor and refuses to use the bed or to accept any furniture as donation. One of his daughters takes care of him. A piece of bread and a tomato can be often seen on the window – the food portion for the day…

No matter who he is or where he comes from, Grandpa Dobri has turned into a silent, but important pillar in terms of morality, to a large group of the Bulgarians and more particularly to the citizens of Sofia. His smile, his kind word, the blessing and the humble manner, used to kiss a child’s hand mean more than the hypocrisy in many “real” priest’s sermons, who couldn’t care less on their congregation in these hard times. So, we can only wish a lot of health to the Saint of Baylovo… he already has his longevity.