Mon Feb 15 01:00:48 EET 2010
A Pilgrim journey to Obrochishte, The Tekke in Obrotishte (The beginning of the Orthodox Lent)
Today I've been to Obrotishte's village once again. We went there with Ceco,
Dimi and Rumi some good orthodox christian fellows as well as brothers.
We had a great time, the morning church service was unique. It situated
in the small church entrance where the Church entrance doors leading to the
main body of the church were closed, this was done because the church is really
big sized and is hardly heated. Heating this whole building is quite a loss
of gas, therefore the Hieromonk serving there Hieromonk Father Philip decided,
to have the services in the small entrance during the severe winter. Quite
an intelligent and practical move, since most of the church clergy and laymans,
were mid size aged ladies and gentlemen. The church was really grace filled,
and peaceful. After the nice morning lent opening church service we went to
have a coffee, because the monk has to go for a funeral procession. In the mean
time we went to see the sea-shore near Obrotishte. The panorama there is really
wonderful, laters as soon as I have the pictures may post some views from there.
One of the most impressive part of our whole journey was the visitation to the
local Tekke (Khanqah) . Tekke is a sort of Muslim medieval gathering building
(a sort of monastery) for the so called Sufi's brotherhood. Sufis are a Muslim sect
who had some interesting beliefs, where their beliefs combined slices taken from
both christianity and Islam with some other major eastern religion beliefs.
I've said already few words for the Sufis in one of my previous posts, so for more
info please check there. This Obrotishte Tekke is believed to have buried a Sufists
saint in the center of the Tekke. The Tekke itself is dating from the 16th century
It's believed that this Tekke possesses some healing energy eminating from
the Sufi's saint buried body. There is a small whole with a size graven in the stone
covering the Sufi's saint's body. According to the old tradition if a visitor pushs his
hand in with faith he can get a miraculous healing from sickness.
Nowadays this Sufists holy place is serving as mainly a museum, however there
are some people who also go there as a pilgrims. It's reported by them
that they have received various body healings when they have approached the place with
faith. If you're visiting Bulgaria and you are travelling near Dobrich make sure
you visit this Tekke, I guarantee you'll have a nice experience.
Eventhough I am a Orthodox Christian by faith I should acknowledge I felt peace
on that place. The Tekke was partly ruined during the Russian / Ottoman Empire
Bulgaria's liberation war. Luckily the largest and most important of this ancient Sufi
sanctuary is still intact. We also visited a special place near the Tekke, itself which
was used by the Sufi believers as a sort of ancient kitchen, this place had 7 pillars,
because in both Muslim and Christian, tradition it symbolizes God himself.
Anyways, after we completed the Tekke visitation, we went to the Father Philip's
living place (a tiny apartment). He was quite hospitable as always and we had a nice
dinner with (Banica with potatoes) during the dinner we had a spiritual talk.
After that we moved on to the Church for the night services, the services was awesome
once again right after the church service we took begged each other for forgiveness
(as it's an old orthodox lent starting tradition). Then we the Church present people,
had a nice improvised supper composed of food like:
Cakes, Fish, Fried Potatoes, Cheese, Yellow Cheese etc.
The time was short so we had to head back home and we said goodbye to all the people in
the church and to father Philip and took a route to Dobrich. On our way home, we noticed
a large burning fireplaces with gipsy people gathered all around.
I and Ceco to say hello to the people and take some pictures around the fire.
This large fires is rooted in an ancient bulgarian pagan tradition, where people used
to leap through the fire. This fire leaps according to ancient Bulgarian tradition
is said to guarantee you good health and fortune in the coming year.