Митрополит Методий Кусев и полските възкресенци в Стара Загора
Metropolitan Methodius Kusev and the Polish Resurrectors in Stara Zagora

Summary/Abstract: In the Stara Zagora diocese served many worthy prelates, who have left lasting traces in the history of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. One of them is Methodiy Kusev. On July 14, 1896 the St. Synod approved him as metropolitan of Stara Zagora. The Uniate ideas spread in Stara Zagora immediately after the proclamation of the Bulgarian union. In the delegation, led by Dragan Tsankov, who visited Archbishop Brunoni on December 18, 1860, took part also Manol Ivanov from Stara Zagora, a merchant in Constantinople. In 1861, Dragan Tsankov visited the school in Stara Zagora and some friends of his with the intention of preaching the union in the city. The union found supporters also among the intelligentsia, primarily teachers and young people who wanted to receive their education in the West. A more influential supporter of the union in the city was Dimitar Ivanov, brother of Manol Ivanov – one of the companions of Dragan Tsankov and active advocate of the Constantinople union. At the end of the 19th century the Catholic propaganda was trying to establish itself more firmly in Stara Zagora. For this purpose, it relied on the graduates of the Bulgarian Catholic schools in Edirne, as many children of Orthodox parents who attended these schools had subsequently settled in Stara Zagora, as well as uniates from the region of Adrianople. The activation of the Catholic mission in Stara Zagora is mentioned in letter № 4066 of November 24, 1899, signed by the Stara Zagora Bishop Methodiy and addressed to the St. Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. It is reported that in the city had established themselves the Fathers Resurrectors Simeon Kobzhinski, Thomas Olszewski and August Moser, head of the resurrection mission in Edirne, who intended to open a chapel in the house of the Plovdiv resident Zaharina Mitova, rented for the needs of the Catholics. The fact that among the missionaries was the head of the Edirne mission of the Fathers Resurrectors shows that Stara Zagora was entrusted to the Congregation of the Resurrectors. Regardless of the active Roman Catholic propaganda its successes in the city were insignificant. “The Orthodox Bulgarian from the region of Stara Zagora is and will remain deeply in his soul an Orthodox. In the future, as in the past, he will defend the cause of grandparents faith”.

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