Sophronius of Vratsa

Saint Sophronius of Vratsa (or Sofroniy Vrachanski; Bulgarian: Софроний Врачански) (1739–1813), born Stoyko Vladislavov (Bulgarian: Стойко Владиславов), was a Bulgarian cleric and one of the leading figures of the early Bulgarian National Revival.

Vladislavov was born in the town of Kotel in eastern Bulgaria in 1739 to the family of a cattle trader. His father, Vladislav died in 1750 in Istanbul of the plague. When Stoiko was 3 years old his mother, Maria, died and his father remarried. He attended a monastery school in his home town and studied Slavic and Greek books. He worked as a frieze weaver, but had an interest in religion and became a cleric in 1762. While working as a teacher and writer he met Paisius of Hilendar in Kotel in 1765. Paisius showed him his Istoriya Slavyanobolgarskaya, the primary work of the Bulgarian Revival, of which Vladislavov made the first copy, known as Sophronius' Copy (Софрониев препис, Sofroniev prepis). Vladislavov travelled to Mount Athos between 1770 and 1775 and left Kotel in 1795. He served in the Karnobat parish and went to a monastery in Arbanasi in 1794, becoming Bishop of Vratsa under the name of Sophronius on 17 September. There he was engaged in social activity and initiated the sending of a political delegation of Vratsa residents to Moscow according to some sources. Sophronius had close ties with the Phanariote circles.

After the dislocations caused by Osman Pazvantoğlu, the bishop's duties became more and more difficult for Vladislavov and he left Vratsa in 1797 to wander in northwestern Bulgaria. He spent three years in Vidin in a period that helped him determine his goals as a writer. He left for Bucharest in 1803 to serve the people as a high-standing clergyman, being released on his insistence from his bishop's post but continuing to sign under his bishop's name.

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