Prohor of Pčinja

"Prohor Pčinjski" redirects here. For monastery, see Prohor Pčinjski Monastery.

Venerable Prohor of Pčinja, also known as Saint Prohor Pčinjski, was a Christian monk and contemporary of St. Gavril of Lesnovo and St. John of Rila^[1] who lived in the eleventh century Bulgaria^[2] and after its conquest in the Byzantine Empire.^[3]

Saint Prohor of Pčinja
A fresco depicting Prohor of Pčinja
Born	ca. 1000
Died	1067
Venerated in	Eastern Orthodox Church
Feast	15 January/1 November

Prohor Pcinjski was born into a Bulgarian family in the Ovče Pole area, then in the First Bulgarian Empire, today in North Macedonia.^[4][5][6] According to tradition, the young ascetic Prohor was shown in a vision a place near the Pčinja River where he would be a hermit. For many years, nobody disturbed him, until one day a hunter chasing a deer came across the saint, who was in prayer. The hunter engaged the monk in conversation, which went on for hours. As he prepared to take his leave, the hunter asked for the saint's blessing, upon which St. Prohor foretold that greatness awaited him. The hunter, Romanos Diogenes, became Byzantine emperor in 1068. The emperor sought out the prophetic hermit but found his grave instead. The church of the St. Prohor Pčinjski Monastery was built by the generosity of the emperor, as a sign of his thanksgiving to God and the saint.^[7] There is an icon in the monastery church that shows St. Prohor's encounter with Emperor Romanos Diogenes. Also shown are wild animals approaching him without fear such as a deer.

Hermits before Prohor of Pčenja, John of Rila, Joachim of Osogovo, Peter of Koriša and those after them have exerted an influence both social and cultural on the people of the Balkan Peninsula during the Middle Ages.^[8]

References

1. Curta, Florin (2019-07-08). Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages (500-1300) (2 vols). BRILL. ISBN 9789004395190.
2. "From 931 Serbia was independent under Chaslav only to fall to Samuel and remain under Bulgaria until the 11th century." Jim Bradbury, The Routledge Companion to Medieval Warfare, Routledge Companions to History, Routledge, 2004, ISBN 1134598475, p. 172.
3. Alexandru Madgearu, Byzantine Military Organization on the Danube, 10th-12th Centuries, BRILL, 2013, ISBN 9004252495 p. 63.
4. Житие на св. Прохор Пшински в Жития на светиите. Синодално издателство, София, 1991 година, под редакцията на Партений, епископ Левкийски и архимандрит д-р Атанасий (Бончев).
5. Bistra Nikolaeva Nikolova, Mediaeval Byzantine and Bulgarian Rulers; Kings and Princes from Central and West Europe in the Fate of the Saints from the Bulgarian Pantheon in Journal: Исторически преглед, 2011, Issue No: 5-6, pp. 123-144; Language: Bulgarian.
6. Florin Curta, Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages (500-1300) (2 vols) Brill's Companions to European History, BRILL, 2019, ISBN 9004395199, p. 237.
7. Palairet, Michael (2016-02-08). Macedonia: A Voyage through History (Vol. 1, From Ancient Times to the Ottoman Invasions). Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 9781443888431.
8. Jeffreys, Elizabeth; Haarer, Fiona K. (2006). Proceedings of the 21st International Congress of Byzantine Studies: London, 21-26 August, 2006. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 9780754657408.