Posts Tagged ‘received’

The Church Rejoices + Daniil Metropolitan of Vidin chosen and Enthroned as Head of Bulgarian Orthodox Church. Dostoin / Axios !

Wednesday, July 3rd, 2024

The Church Rejoices + Daniil Metropolitan of Vidin chosen and Enthroned as Head of Bulgarian Orthodox Church. Dostoin / Axios !

Patriarch_Daniil-the-new-canonically-and-officially-elected-Patriarch-of-Bulgaria-and-Metropolitan-of-Sofia

Metropolitan Daniil is our Officially and canonically elected Patriarch of Bulgaria and Metropolitan of Sofia (the choice was made in a complex selection system) during a Church national Assembly on 30th of June 2024.

The whole Church rejoices as a dark cloud was over the Church as people were scared, un-worthy patriarch might be selected.

The procedure of selection of new patriarch depends on matching, certain criterias for the candidate.

According to the Ustav of Bulgarian Orthodox Church (Establishment Law document, Church established rules statues)

New Patriarch Candidate should match following criterias:

  • To have been on a cathedra as metropolitan and have governed a diocese for at least 5 years
  • To be not be younger than 50 years of age (should be 50+ years old).
  • To be distinguished within the Church to have right thoughts on the Orthodox faith and the exact observance of church order and laws.
  • To enjoy a good and honorable name both before the people and before the government of the country

Procedure for electing a patriarch

On 20th of June of 2024, after internal voting in the Holy Synod, following the Church statuses, after 42 turns of votes of individually each Bishop and Metropolitan voting for his favorite, the 3 candidates for patriarch were emitted.

1. In the first round, the candidate who collected 2/3 of the votes of the voters present wins
2. If this does not happen, a second round is reached with the two candidates who received the most votes in the first round
3. In the second round, the candidate with a simple majority wins.

The results out of the elections on the Patriarchical choice National Church assembly results were as so:

Three Patriarchical Candidates

 

Three-candidates-for-Patriarch-na-Bulgaria-as-of-20-June-2024.
 

Name Candidate 1st voting 2nd voting
Daniil Metropolitan Vidinsky 51 votes 69 votes
Grigoriy Metropolitan Vrachanski 64 votes 66 votes
Gavriil Metropolitan Lovchanski 19 vote does not qualify


Patriarch Daniel (Bulgarian: Патриарх Даниил, romanized: Patriarh Daniil) has received his monk name after Saint Daniil the Stylite, one of the most notable Stylites in the Church history.

Early life and Education

Secular name Atanas Trendafilov Nikolov (Bulgarian: Атанас Трендафилов Николов; born 2 March 1972) in a town of Smolyan. He was born in a good and healthy family, his father Trendafil Nikolov is born in a small village near Smolyan (Kremene) and served as a police officer, his mother Zlatka Nikolova used to be a  teacher in the field of Informatics in Economy scohol in Smolyan.

He completed his primary and secondary education in his hometown and later served in the military. In 1996, he began studying English Philology at Sofia University, but being grown in the spirit of love for history and the motherland Bulgaria, he soon found out field of Philosophy does not provide enough to match his wide interests in history of the world and history of Bulgaria. Being touched by Gods love and having a desire to learn more about Christianity and his homeland orthodox christianity and learn more about philosophy but from the perspective of the Orthodoxy obviously guided by Gods provide, the following year during the hard years of national financial catastrophe and church schism in 1997 he transferred to the Faculty of Theology of the same university Saint Kliment Ohridski

In 1997 he also become candidate for monk novice in the notorious monastery of Hadji Dimovo (in honour of Saint Great Martyr George)  which was at that time of Spiritual Leadership of Metropolitan Natanail of Nevrokop, where he graduated in 2002 and which was one of the best monasteries capable of giving a solid basis for true and high standard spiritual life.

Becoming a Monk

On August 7, 1999, he was ordained a monk by him and the next day he was ordained as a hierodeacon. On July 21, 2004, he was sent for obedience to the Nativity of the Virgin Monastery (Rojenski Monastery) in Rozhen, and on November 27, he was ordained a hieromonk by his diocesan bishop.
On June 1, 2006, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite.

Daniil-as-vicar-Bishop-of-Metropolitan-Joseph-of-America-of-Bulgarian-Orthodox-Church


Recognized as exceptional choosen person and Levereged to a Bishop by metropolitan Natanail Nevrokopski
Note: Nevrokov Eparchy is the eparchy in which Saint John of Rila Monastery belongs to, Metropolitan Natanail was among the most loved person in Bulgarian Church

On January 20, 2008, he was ordained as a Bishop with the title of Dragovitski and was appointed vicar of the Metropolitan of Neurokop Natanail

Nevrokopski-Metropolitan-Natanail
Metropolitan Nathanail Nevrokopsky (titled as the consience of the Bulgarian Church)

His ordination was carried out by Patriarch Maxim (the previous patriarch before Patriarch Neofit) in collaboration with Metropolitans + Ioanikiy of Sliven, + Dometian Vidinsky, + Kyril Metropolitan of Varna and Veliko Preslav, Grigoriy of Velikoturnovsky, Neofit of Rusensky, Natanail of Nevrokopsky, Gavriil Lovchansky and bishops Evlogius of Adrianople, Abbot of the Rila Monastery, Naum Stobiyski at that time Chief Secretary of The Holy Synod, Theodosius of Devol, Constantine of Marcianopol and John of Znepol (currently Metropolitan of Varna and Veliko Preslav chosen after decease of Metr. Kiril).

Hadji Dimovski monastery become also famous also for being the spiritual school for  Metropolitan Serafim of Nevrokop (chosen after's Metropolitan Natanail Nevrokopsky pass away to Christ).

On 15 June 2010, Daniel was appointed vicar of the diocese in the US, Canada and Australia of the Bulgarian Patriarchate. On 2 December 2011, the Holy Synod "took note of the letter from Metropolitan Joseph of the USA, Canada and Australia, notifying that permission had been received from the American emigration authorities to fulfill the obedience assigned by the Holy Synod to Bishop Daniel of Dragovitski who can already leave and take on responsibilities, as metropolitan vicar of the USA, Canada and Australia".
He was considered the most likely successor to Metropolitan Joseph of America (Bosakov).

Served as vicar bishop in the American, Canadian and Australian dioceses from 2011 until February 4, 2018 (for 7 years).
He was chosen to become the Metropolitan of Vidin (after the decease of Metr. Dometian) from February 4, 2018 to June 30, 2024.

In December 2018, Metropolitan Daniel condemned the Unification Council in Kyiv, calling it uncanonical. In his opinion, the actions of Patriarch Bartholomew are non-canonical, since he encroached on someone else's canonical territory.

Daniil is the originator of the introduction of religious education in the Bulgarian school and for many years worked for it to be included as a subject in the curricula.

On 21 July 2004, Daniel was sent for obedience to the Rozhen Monastery of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. On 27 November of the same year he was ordained hieromonk by his diocesan bishop. On 1 June 2006, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite. On 20 January 2008, he was consecrated Bishop of Dragovitia and vicar of the diocese of Nevrokop diocese.

Metropolitan of Vidin 4 February 2018 – 30 June 2024

Metropolitan-Daniil-in-times-as-a-Metropolitan-of-Vidin

On 4 February 2018, he was elected by the Synod to the post of Metropolitan of Vidin. Vidin was the last city that fall under the Ottoman hordes, and perhaps his zeal for truthfulness and orthodoxy and the Bulgarian nation was the reason Gods providence in that hard times to have chosen him to be head of this small but historically rich and important eparchy.

In December 2018, Metropolitan Daniel condemned the Unification Council in Kyiv, calling it uncanonical. In his opinion (based on Church Canons of Ecumenical Councils), the actions of Patriarch Bartholomew are non-canonical, since he encroached on someone else's canonical territory.

https://pc-freak.net/images/Patriarch-Daniil-Bartholomeow-patriarch-of_Constantinople-guest-on-patriarhical-enthronement

Perhaps for the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the selection by the Gods providence for Daniil to be the next patriarch of Bulgaria, was quite a shock as the expected patriarch to choose was Gregory who if chosen should have been titled Gregory the II-nd as we already had a patriarch with this name , during the Second Bulgarian Kingdom  (saying this by memory), but mans thoughts are very different from Gods thoughts as the Holy scriptures says.

After the death of the former Patriarch of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church Neophyte in March 2024 and respective mourning period, then Metropolitan of Vidin, Daniel was one of the three shortlisted candidates to ocuppy the patriach position together with Metropolitan Gregory of Vratsa and Metropolitan Arsenius of Sliven.[7] On 30 June 2024, at the patriarchal electoral Church-People's Council in Sofia, Metropolitan Daniel was elected the new Patriarch of Bulgaria, Metropolitan of Sofia.

Patrirach-Daniil-of-Bulgaria-Blessing-soon-after-his-selection
Picture of Patriarch Daniil Blessing, right after his selection and his "radiation" with Patriarchal Ensignias, the Patriarchical Wand stick, The Cross, Panagias …

Daniil-Metropolitan-of-Sofia-and-Patriarch-of-Bulgaria

Pre-selected moments of the enthronization of new Bulgarian Patriarch Daniil of Bulgaria by Sonya Ankova

Currently he is the canonical 4th Patriarch of the new History of the Bulgarian  Orthodox Church, currently serving as Patriarch of All Bulgaria since June 30 !

His choosing and Enthroning was surprise for many influential people in the history and was just another proof the Church of Bulgaria is Governed by Jesus Christ and the selection was made by the Holy Spirit of God itself !

 

Daniil the New Bulgarian Patrhiarch, the Forth Patriarch by Bulgarian National TV (BNT) Chapter I

Lets all say Достоин / Axios !!!, just like many has proclaimed during the official introduction of Daniil as Patriarch with a special enthronization Ceremony.
The selection day 30 of June this year was by God's providence on the Sunday of All Saints, this year this day coincided also with the Assembly of All Holy Apostles day commemoration dedicated to All Apostles of Christ (the 12, the 70th of desciples and the rest of rings of desciples  of Christ who have done apostolic mission sent by him). The Assembly of Apostles feast is always celebrated  in the Church always 1 day after the Great feast of Saint Apostle Peter and Apostle Paul's day. 
The day after on the day the first Holy Liturgy was served by tradition by the new Patriarch and it was the Summer Feast of Saint Cosmo and Damianos  and  one of the 3 major feasts of Saint John of Rila (The Return of the Holy Relics of Saint John of Rila into Bulgaria) .

Patriarch Daniil  is the youngest patriarch of Bulgaria in our history of the Bulgarian Church, currently aged 51, since its establishment in year 870 (1154 years ago) and a lot of hope by many, that his Church rulership will be mostly beneficial for the whole Church and nation and will raise up the confidence and self-esteem of the nation, and shed light on the nation and attract more of the youth, that is living a life away from the Church even though baptized,  back in the Church.

Lets pray and wish the new Patriarch Daniil, a lot of increasement of Health, Love and Faith for everyone and Wisdom to guide the flock of Christ through the hardships of current turmoiled times of desperation and confusion as well as good health to serve as a Patriarch for Many Years !

For Many and Blessed Years his Holiness Patriarch of Daniil ! Metropolitan of Sofia and Patriarch of All Bulgaria !

The Holy Martyrs of Novo Selo Monastery “Holy Trinity” Selo Bulgaria. The holy priest-martyrs and martyrs who suffered by the Turks on May 9, 1876, canonized on April 3, 2011

Wednesday, May 10th, 2023

Saints-of-Monastery-of-Novo-Selo-today-city-of-Apriltzi-monastery-of-Holy_Trinity

There are many saints who labored hard over the centuries, but there are few known that has done their feat in the Bulgarian lands. We Christian honor of the saints for centuries and whose memory is marked in the Church calendar of Saints, but there are some less known but not lesser in their confessory saints than the ancients. The Lord honors with eternal wreaths not only the sufferers of the early Christian times (during the early periods of persecution 1st and 2nd century) , but also those who are much closer to us in time and place and have endured persecutions and torments no less than the ancients.

We know about them from history, but it is not history that will join us to the sacrificial table, that will gather us in the church temple and that will strengthen us in faith. The signs of holiness are given to us from above, but our participation to accept it is also necessary, our "Let it be, Oh Lord!", another knowledge, so that we can pluck holiness from the depths of oblivion, be part of its path, tell about it and we bear witness to her miracles.

Today is another day of reaffirmation of holiness, deserved before God and known to people for a time.
Today, our thoughts and prayers are directed to the foothills of the Central Balkans (mountains) and to the Holy Trinity Monastery, illuminated by the martyrdom of the sisters, whose feet once touched the ground here and prayer chants rose day and night along with the fragrant smoke from the incense in the temple. And indeed, this monastery is like a candlestick placed on high, so that the light from it, which illuminated our land in the time of April's bloody harvest (on 20th of April 1976, The April Revolt against the Ottoman turks yoke has arised) never goes out and shines again, especially when our Church needs it.

Although it is not ancient, like others that glorify the Lord in the Slavic language over the centuries, the virgin monastery "Holy Trinity" was built around 1830 – when the Orthodox faith, like a vine, daily burned by non-believers, instead of withering – strengthened , and the thought of liberation more and more embraces souls and gives hope. For decades girls from the most awake and enlightened Orthodox families – not only from Novo Selo, but also from the neighboring places – put themselves under the protection of the One God the Holy Trinity. The inhabitants of Novo Selo ( Novoseltsi ) are famous with his zeal – both to the Church and to good morals.

Indeed, Novo Selo is a place worthy of raising and offering to the Most High the animate sacrifices of the true faith. To work for the pleasing to God, every wealthy family gave its contribution – and not only in form of money donations, lands and all kind of donations for the maintenance of the temples, the monastery, but also in the selection of worthy priests who would lay down their souls for their (flock) pasoms. And it is enough to mention only the two who received from the Savior a bright crown for their martyrdom, so that through their holy endurance and faith be be praised through them all the priests, guardians of the Christian faith who put their live for the herd during the many years of slavery that Bulgarians, Serbians, Greek, Romanians and many other Christians has suffered from the unfaithful.

With what words can we describe the zeal of priest Nikola Barbulov, a teacher and presbyter with a wise soul, who worked hard to successfully complete his studies in Bessarabia (nowadays Moldavia). He was fond of books, prosperous as a teacher, worthy as a priest, and educated many pupils; his spiritual children were the most active part of the Church body, among which many received priesthood as well.

Saint Pope Nicholas is similar to the great patriarch Euthymius, because he stayed to the end to guard his verbal flock; moreover, he was not a bloodless martyr, but a sufferer, put to death in terrible torments without renouncing his faith.


And with what words should we call the priest Georgi Dylgodreiski?

A warrior of Christ, as if a second Saint George, he fought not only against the thought, but also against the living enemy of the Cross. The new passion sufferer did not defend himself in the single combat with the Agarians (ottoman turks), he did not defend himself, he did not think about himself, but how to slow down the hordes of beasts and give the weak and helpless at least a little time to escape or hide from the ferocious infidels.

He guarded the House of God (the Church) and accepted circumcision as a grace, because he knew that through it he received eternal life.
We will not have enough words to praise the strength of those fragile nuns – fragile by nature, but strong in their faith.

The testimony of their life and death are the stories passed down from generation to generation in the new village families. There are not many memories, but the grace of their martyrdom is like an invisible light above the earth and, even without mentioning them, without praying to them, they are intercessors for those in trouble. There is no need for descriptions of their existence, because it is before the eyes of all who know the order in Orthodox monasteries. The sisters lived a celibate and angelic life – in deeds and prayers, in common breathing. Through their association they were a model and a guarantee of virtue to each one of them.
They prayed not only for their souls and for the salvation and well-being of their neighbors, but also for what was then in the heart of every Bulgarian – that God's destinies would be fulfilled and the Fatherland would once again become an independent Christian state.
Raised from childhood in piety and firm confession, entrusted by their relatives to God and the Mother of God, the brides of Christ humbly and daily wore the sweet yoke of Christ.

 

Every good deed of theirs – both prayer and manual work (following the example of the ancients saints of the path of ‘ora and labora’ – added oil to the lamps with which they would welcome the Bridegroom and enter with Him into the Kingdom of God.

The abbess of the monastery at that time was Susana, daughter of the mayor of the village, the fighter for faith and family Tsonko Somlev.

She worthily carries the burden of the board, making sure that the sisters reside according to the statute drawn up for them on Mount Athos by hieromonk Spyridon.
The ordeal of the priests and nuns whose martyrdom we celebrate today began when, on May 1, 1876, a mutiny signal was given on Mount Baban.

During this very harsh times for Bulgarian enslaved people in attempt to revolt against the unrighteess system of Ottoman empire not honoring the liberty and rights of people, the drunkenness of the breath of freedom raised the people to their feet, and the very next day the leaders announced the Novosel Republic (as a separate entity from the Ottoman Empire). During the several days of celebration, bells ring the valley, and prayer chants invite everyone to experience a moment of earthly joy, but also to call on the Lord of hosts to be their helper in the coming sorrows …

In the following days, the Christians tried to organize themselves and resist the Agarians, which hearing about the desire of people to self-govern themselves in a new tiny Christian country.

The unexpected cold and snow tormented the Chetniks (armed group part of Cheta a small battalion of armed liberation forces) of Tsanko Dyustabanov, and hunger weakened severely their strength.

And here the thirty nuns of the "Holy Trinity," adding to their prayers and service with the strength of their godly devotion, give no sleep to their eyes, nor slumber to their eyelids, but some alternate in the kitchen and bakery, and others took constant care for the under-shoeed and under-dressed boys, collecting everything that could serve them as clothing – socks knitted manually by them, scarfs, warm flannels…

And just according to the Gospel of Christ, anticipating the close meeting with the Bridegroom, they repeat the words of the Psalmist: "My heart is ready, God, my heart is ready…" (Ps. 56:8).

At that time, an army gathered around Sevlievo and Pleven, but not regular soldiers, to fight only against the armed chetniks and to keep the many innocent peaceful villants who officially did not took the guns but only supported and beseeched for the freedom of the darkness of harsh taxes and lack of rights as the ordinary muslims.

A blasphemous congregation of Abazis and Circassians is coming and multiplying around the monastery.

Adding to their natural demonic cruelty the orders of their leader, the thrice-cursed Deli Nejib Agha, they, seized with depravity and a desire to kill, slither like locusts, consigning to death and scorn all living things in their path..
Some of the residents, known for the approaching bashi-bazouk (irregular soldiers of Ottomans army rised in times of war), are hiding in the mountains, others are running in panic to the fields, and some of the houses in the new village are already engulfed in flames.

However, most of the nuns remain in the monastery.
In vain they hope that the hordes will not dare to desecrate the Holy presanctified heavenly place of God, the Holy Trinity monastery.

The priest Georgi Hristov, holed up in the upper floor of one of the monastery buildings, tries to slow down the enemy and give at least some of the fleeing time to escape.

There, once captured his body was cut down bit by bit by the enraged Circassians who burst through the monastery gate…

The last refuge of some of the nuns is the church building. One of them fails to enter with the others and is cut with a scythe (turkish half moon shaped sword) at the threshold of the temple.

We know about the last moments of the earthly life of the new martyrs from the shocking stories of four of the nuns who survived after having inflicted unbearable sufferings.

For the rest of their lives, they relive their humiliation and humiliation and vilify those of their sisters who took the martyrdom wreath.

The ungodly infidels shoot through the windows and hit several of the sisters.
Then they enter the church and start cutting whoever they want – both the living and the dead.
In front of the Church altar and inside it, Mother Abbess Susana, six other nuns and one laywoman died.

The abuses of the innocent victims, according to the testimonies, are inhumanly cruel. When they begin to strip everyone of their clothes and see that one of the sisters is still alive, the demonic minions blind and suffocate her, stuffing her eyes and mouth with mortar. The enraged and embittered instruments of the devil indulge in robbery and violence, not only in the church and the monastery, but everywhere in the settlement.

And so for the hearth (in glory) of the Bulgarian Orthodox true Christian faith, which was destroyed by the permission of the all-powerful providence. Ehat was said came true: "They shed their blood like water around Jerusalem and there was no one to bury them: they left the corpses of the slaves for food for the birds of the sky and the bodies of your reverends – for the earthly beasts."

But what is happening in Novo Selo is even more terrible – the Agarians not only desecrate the bodies of their victims. In the monastery church, they cut the icons into splinters, ransacked everything, and finally began to burn both the holy abode and the houses, so that there was nothing left to bury and mourn, and everywhere the abomination of desolation reigned.

But in the temple, the fire does not completely destroy the remains of the martyrs, so that later the dry bones can speak to everyone who looks at them with believing eyes and bows before their feat. And the testimony of our words is the ossuary of the "Holy Trinity" monastery rebuilt from the ashes, where one feels the invisible spiritual power and God's grace flowing from the remains – the holy relics – of the martyrs.

And let us from today on May 9, on the day of their suffering death, call them by their names, so that we also have their holy intercession prayers: you, newly martyred holy nuns
Susanna, Sophia, Elisaveta, Ephrosinia, Christina, Calista and Ekaterina,

and you, Susana Chorbadjieva, who during her lifetime was not able to join the sisters, but through your blood received a place in their image, as well as you, newly martyred priests Nicholai and Georgi, a couple of sympathizers and namesakes of the Glorious 9 Martyrs of Serdika (martyred near city of Sofia), together with all others who suffered for the faith and family, whose names now only the Lord knows, because they are all with Him in eternal and endless life, pray to the Holy Trinity, call on the Holy Mother of God and all the saints and give us strength to preserve your memory, so that you will be mentioned in future generations and forever. Amen.

* Novo selo – now a district of the town of Apriltsi Bulgaria.

Translated with minor inclusions from Official site of Bulgarian Orthodox Church

Origianl Bulgarian text Source : Holy Metropolis of Lovchan, Bulgaria
Note:
The Holy Novoselski Muchenici was canonized by the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, after following a canonization procedures and affirmation of the saintship of the martyrs of Novoselo decided to officially
canonize the saints together with the Martyrs Saints of Batak
.
Canonization of the Nove Selo Monastery saints, was officially announced with a Holy Liturgy in Sofia Capital, Church Saint Alexander Nevski  on April 3, 2011.

19 October Saint John of Rila Тhe Wonderworker – A little known Hermit saint of Great importance and fervent prayer intercessor for humanity

Wednesday, October 20th, 2021

Saint-Ioann_John_of_Rila_Rylsky_icon

I've already blogged a number of times articles of Saint John of Rila as he is The Greatest venerated Bulgarian Saint as of today his birthplace nearby today's Ruen Monastery as well as my inspiration from the Night Vigil prayer gatherings in the Monastery in his Memoriam in German. But I'm pretty sure this spiritual giant  is under estimated and little known to the public not only the non-bulgarian English speakers but even to Bulgarian and the saint deserves much greater veneration and honour than it has received through the ages for the fact he has been among the greatest prayer intercessors for the world until the beginning of ages.

For his immerse hermit achievements in a similar way as Saint Anthony the Great he has been granted All the innumerous Gifts of The Holy Spirit.
The humble hermit even in his life time he has been defined as "Angel in flesh" and a "Citizen of heaven".
The life of Saint John has been a X-th century continuation of the life of Saint Simeon the Stylites and Saint Simeon Stylites the Younger attempted to be repeated as far as possible by more contemporary saints such as Saint Siluan the Athonite.
 

He has been a teacher (even though he ran away from people) all his life. He has been the major establisher of Monasticism in Bulgaria, 

In 18 of August year 946 Anno Dommini saint John has departed this world. Dying with a painless way called in Church language with the term Dormition or Assumption – (meeling he did not felt any kind of fleshly pain as normally one goes through when he ends his life unsanctified). His Dormition  in a similar way as The Mother of God (Theotokos), an end of life who has been granted throughout human history only to few other saints.

Assumption_Dormition_of_Saint_John_of_Rila_by_Toma_Vishanov

Saint John who spend his hermit lifetime in Mountain of Rila was born circa y. 876 AD and passed away to Christ on August 18, 946 A.D.
Thirthy four years after his dormition, he appeared in a dream to his pupils and has commanded them to dig out his incorruptable body and move it to in Sredetz (today the city of Sofia capital of Bulgaria). In Sredetz the holy relics of the saint has been kept in honour for 200 years.

Saint John has been a contemporary to Saint King Boris I the Baptizer of Bulgaria, King Simeon the Great (Son of King Boris, who raised Bulgaria to Empire reaching to 3 Oceans, who has been one of the largest empires of All times) and King Petar (Peter) the First. His glory as a Wonderworker who has been desired to been seen by many to receive physical healing or spiritual advice has been mostly through the rule of King Petar I (927 – 969). In Medieval times the Glory of Saint John of Rila has been widely known throughout all the Christianized Lands (including Byzantine Empire) and the West in the Catholic Church. The implication of his importance as a medieval healer saint and a model for hermit life and saintship and image for truthful spiritual life is well seen as his Biography (Living) is seen as he has about 15 Known different livings saying varyious details about his lifetime written in different centuries in Old Bulgarian Language and in Middle centuries in the new transformed form of Old Bulgarian writting called Church Slavonic, where saint has been simply adressed by monk name Ioan (John).

According to his biography we found until the age of 25 Saint John has been a simple shepherd. Until the yough age in his heart John had the burning love in his heart and a desire to dedicate himself completely to God. When his parents has passed away, he gave away all his received inheritance to the poor and sick people and entered as a aprentice in the monastery of today Boboshevski Saint Dimitar under the Ruen Monastery in the Mountain of Vlahina.

There in he received a Theological education, studied the liturgical books, received a spiritual dignity and prepared himself for the great spiritual mission of hermitage and life long prayer for the world. Receiving the monks schima, he gave away completely to fasting and prayer, initially establishing himself in Vitosha Mountain (most likely in today Monastery of German Monastery St. John of Rila (convent of Mount Athos Monastery of Zograph) nearby Sofia

Saint_Ivan_Rilski_Zemen-ikona

St. John of Rila Wall Painting XIV century from the Church Zemen Monastery Saint John the Theologian

In German Monastery often times the ancient Christian tradition of Night Vigil is followed on hist feast Major Christian feasts even today.
Later he has been for a while in the small Village  "Dobarsko" near The Europe Famous Resort of Bansko.
A short after 20 km of Dobarsko he has established The Most Famous Monastery for the Balkans, the Rila Monastery, a pivotal place whose light has shined upon practically all parts of the land as it become a school for tens of thousands hundred monks throughout the last 20 centuries. Many manuscript works prepared in Rila Monastery has been later on transferred in Today Ukraine, Russia, Serbia, Greece and even the Western Catholic lands.
There is no exact place in history when Saint John was officially canonized as in Medival Times, saints did not go through an official canonization but has been testified by the multitudes of peoples who has been cured by their wonder-working prayers. By the prayers of Saint John many has been able to conceive childs, leppers get cured and could walk, eye diseases were healed, full health has been restored or the gift of faith has been giving, not to mention the multitudes of people who came to Christian faith thanks to the prayers of St. John.

The-Meeting-of-Saint-John-of-Rila-and-King-Peter-First-of-Bulgaria

King Petar I-st meets the Hermit Holy Father John of Rila (Wall Painting)

The story of the powerful medieval Bulgarian ruler Peter the First who travelled 450 Kilometers only to see the saint is well known. Travelling about 450 kilometers from the capital of Bulgaria Veliki Preslav to the Cave of Saint John of Rila only to meet him.

Cave-of-Saint-John-of-Rila-Peshterata-na-sv-Ioan-Rilski

The Cave of Saint John of Rila Cave exit

The monk however refused to meet him due to his immerse humility, where King Peter I-st was able to talk in a long distance via a valley with the saint, offering him gold and fruits. St. John refused to receive the king's gold, as he said he did not left the world and everyhing to it to attain gold or anything but to save his soul. He received the fruits not wanting to insult the king. Many people who deserved to learn a true monasticism and ascetism has quickly reached the saint and asked them to create a monastic brotherhood and wanting to be useful his poor brothers and having revelation of God that it is the will of God to establish the monsatery he accepted and become the first Abbot of Rila Monastery.

He passed to the Savior Christ about in year on 18 of August 946 AD being aged about 70 years old he has been buried in the Church porch in a stone tomb, preserved even today.

The-Testament-of-Saint-John-of-Rila-Given-to-his-pupils-monks
Saint John Giving his Written Testament to his Monks (The Testament is Famous for the quote "I beg you children to mostly fear from the snake of avarice which is the root of all evils".


Until his death he has departed from the brotherhood in complete solitude and wrote his famous "Testament".  The Testament of Saint John of Rila he left for his pupils on 25 of March on the feast of the Annunciation in year 941. The text of the Saint John Testament is preserved in a copy manuscripts dated from the XVIII and XIX century and contains a multitude of quotes from The Scriptures of Old and New Testament

Engravement-of-the-Living-of-Saint-John-of_Rila_monastery-icon

The Living of Saint John of Rila


Saint_John_of-Kronstadt-Ioann_Kronshtadtskij

 

A little known fact is that the Russian All Famous Saint Father John of Kronstadt (also a wonderworker) (Ivan Ilyich Sergiyev, born: 31 October [O.S. 19 October] 1829 + Passed to Christ: 2 January 1909 [O.S. 20 December 1908]) has received his Baptizmal name after Saint John of Rila as he has been born on his feast day and his parents following the Russian tradition to name the baby after the Saint honour in the Church Calendar gave the name John of St. John of Kronstadt. St. John of Kronstadt deeply venerated Saint John of Rila and asked his prayer intercession alway until his life time.
​In 1900, Father John established the women's monastery of Ioannovsky Convent, named for his name patron John of Rila, as a branch of the Sura Monastery of St. John the Theologian, where he was later also buried.

Recognition of Saint John of Rila Holiness shortly after his death


After his death in y. 946, st John has been buried nearby the established by him Holy Rila Convent, shortly after King Peter I-st ordered to be transferred to Sredetz (Sofia). Most likely this can be considered for original date of canonization of the saint. About y. 989 – 992 y. his holy relics has been transferred by King Samul and then Patriarch German-Gabvril (German-Gabriel) in Sredetz. This happened on 19 of October and since then on this date is venerated his bright memory.
Initially his holy relics has been kept for venerateion in the Church of "Saint Great Martyr Georgi the Glorybringer" and later on moved to Church of "Saint Apostle and Evangelist Luke". In the XII century in his honour the Church of "Saint Luka (Saint Luke)" was built near which a monastery has been established. The Byzantine writter Ioannis Skylitzes / John Skylitzes testifies that in Sredetz the Holy Relics of Saint John has miraculously cured emperor Manuel I Komnenos.

In 1183 during the consequential Hungarian-Byzantine war, the Hungarian King Bela III of Hungar conquered Sredetz and moved the holy relics of Saint John in his capitzal Estergom today the Komárom-Esztergom County. According to tradition the local Roman Catholic archibishop declared he has not been aware for the existence of a saint John of Rila and because of his words the saint has punished him with immediate numbness. Once he venerated the holy relics of the reliquary and begged for forgiveness, his speech was recovered. Amazed and worried about this miracle, in year 1187 hungarians transferred back the holy relics of the saint to Tarnovo? Bulgaria.

The-Return-of-Holy-Relics-of-Saint-John-of-Rila

The Return of the Holy Relics of St. John to Trnovo Bulgaria

On 1st of June the Church celebrates the return of the holy relics of saint John of Rila from Tarnovo to Rila monastery. In 1195 Bulgarian king Ivan Asen the First solemnly transferred the Holy relics once again to Tarnovo in the church still being built St. 40 Martyrs (dedicated to 40 Martyrs of Nikomidia). Until the church was completed the holy relics has been kept on Krastec Peak, now the place has a small chapel in honour of St. John of Rila The Wonderworker".

In 1469 year Bulgaria is already invaded by the Ottoman Turks, thus  after a permission from the Sultan, the monks of Rila convent brought the holy relics of the saint from Veliko Tarnovo to his established Rila Monastery, where holy relics are kept to this date and where anyone who needs a spiritual fortification, restorement of health, or suffering from unclean spirits (devils) could ask with faith and hope for healing for the saint and wait for the miracle.
I myself have had the chance to meet a man who has being to a Night Vigil to Rila monastery and testified that he and his life both being in his old age of fifties after not being able to have kids and trying out everything has asked the saint during a night vigil to pray for them to able to conceive a child and the saint heard their prayers and granted them a kid and she conceived right after that and brought to the earth after 9 months a very healthy and lively baby 🙂

Another modern miracle I'm personally aware of made by Saint John is the Gift of Faith in God which was granted to a Greek architect, I've personally met while being on a pilgrimage visit to Holy Mount Athos. The Greek shared that he had never been a believed in God and was a grown atheist, until he had a work duty to do some reconstruction restoration works in Bulgarian Rila monastery. Spending a few months as part of his business-trip duties, he has received the gift of faith. I've met the Greek (unfortunately no longer remember his name), nearby the monastery of Xenophontos.

 

The troparion of our rev. father John of Rila, tone 1

A foundation of the repentance, an example of the tenderness,
a model of the consolation and of the spiritual perfection,
oh Reverend Father, was your equal to the Angels life therefore
staying in prayers and fasts and in tears
pray to the Christ God for our souls.


Today the holy relics are miraculously still incorruptable and emit a specific nice odor  which is typical for many of other saints, a testify to the unbelievers for their saintship. The saints relics in a special reliquarium in the right corner behind the iconostasis icons. The right hand of the saint is kept in nun convent in Island of Tinos Greece and the story how it ended there is a worthy for a small pamphlet and I'll try to say few words on that in some of the next posts.

Let by the Holy Prayers of Saint John of Rila our Home Land Bulgaria and all Countries are granted more Peace, Love, Faith and Kindness and relief from the terrible diseases that are plaguing the world today !

Holy Father John of Rila Pray the mercyful Lord Jesus with All the Saints and The Most Holy Theotokos to save our Souls and grant mercies to us the sinners !

Saint Petka Paraskeva of Bulgaria of Epivates Thracia (famous as St. Petka of Tarnovo) feast day 14 October

Friday, October 16th, 2020


Sveta-Petka-Paraskeva-Bylgarska-Balkanska-Epivatska

The inhabitants of Thracia are of a great and royal origin and due to recent historical studies, Thracians have been one of the most developed nations for its time they're developments and achievements especially in crafts such as vessel creation even up to day are perhaps the most unique.
It is still unknown of the exact technology used to create such a elegant and precise vessels. A little is known of the Thracians society as they have reached their bloom in a high speed and the place of the later Roman Empire province Thracia has been in a place where it was destroyed to the ground and robbed at multiple times eradicating unique piece of one of the best created ever forms of art.
Territories of Thrakia has been geographically today located in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to the north, the Aegean Sea to the south, and the Black Sea to the east.

Thrace_and_Thracians-present-day_state_borderlines-picture

Territy of Thracia shown on a contemporary European (Balkans Maps)

World-famous-Thracian-Treasury-picture-1

One of the most famous piece of such art is the World Famous Thracian's Treasuary.

World-famous-Thracian-Treasury-picture

The thrakians Empire and civillization has its bloom from 5th – 4th century before Christ era (B.C.). 
Saint Petka of Epivates region Thrakia was of a Bulgarian origin and lived much later in Xth – XI-th century A.D in Thracia. It is known she was of Bulgarian origin (her mother and father was of Bulgarian origin.) of the first generations who has received in 9-th century Baptism, in the times of the Baptism of Bulgaria conducted by the Apostle equal Saint King Boris I the Baptizer of Bulgaria in year 864 AD.  Thracians as an ancient and a blessed nation in craftship and arts was among the nations who received baptism on a good 'soil', as the seed of beauty and goodness has already been in their civillization.
 

The short Living of Saint Petka of Bulgaria (of Epivates)


Out of this Christian atmosphere has rised Saint Petka also known as (Parashkeva). Saint Petka name means literally translated Friday and due to being born in Thracia on today territory of Balkans she is been venerated highly not only in Bulgaria but across all Orthodox Christians nations on the Balkans – Bulgarians, Romanians, Serbs, Greeks, Macedonians. Due to that Saint Petka is also famous as "Saint Petka of The Bulkans".
Saint Petka could be therefore heard to be called often Petka of Serbs (of Belgrade), Saint Petka of Moldova (of Iași), Mother Paraskeva / ParashkevaParascheva the New, Parascheva the Young, Ancient Greek: Ὁσία Παρασκευὴ ἡ Ἐπιβατινή, Greek: Οσία Παρασκευή η Επιβατινή ή Νέα, Romanian: Cuvioasa Parascheva, Bulgarian / Serbian : Света Петка / Sveta Petka or Петка Параскева / Petka Paraskeva, Paraskeva Pyatnitsa, Parascheva of Tirnovo).

The first information about her living is found in a local educated person (writter) which as of the time were too little and writter  in Greek in short. It did not follow the Church cannons and due to that by an order of Patriarch of Constantinople Nikolas IV Musalon of Constantinople deacon Vaslik has described in a more well systemized way her living, the Greek original unfortunately is now lost. At the time of writting her biography, she has been mostly popular in the realms of Byzantine Empire Thracia.

Bulgarian-Empire-under-King-Ivan-Asen-II-map-1917

The Bulgarian Empire during the reign of Ivan Asen II. Atlas of Dimitar Rizov year 1917

Since the time of King Ivan Asen II a new biogprahy of saint has been written in Bulgarian which included narration of the transfer of her holy relics to Medieval Capital of Bulgaria Tarnovo. However peak and the key towards the immerse veneration to St. Petka that is evident to this very date has played the biography written by last Bulgarian Patriarch also a saint – st. Euthymius of Tarnovo. in year 1385 AD short before the fall under Turkish Slavery of Bulgaria in y. 1393.

Saint Patriarch Eutymious was the last person who in 1393 has actively parcipated in the protection of the fortified Tarnovo and see with his eyes the fall down of the city (by treachery).

When asked by the terrified people 'To whom do you leave us holy father, when the Turkish were taking him away?' He replied heart tearingly 'To the Holy Trinity The Father, The Son and The Holy Trinity our God I leave you and to the most Blessed Mother of God Theotokos now and For Eternity !!!'

Saint-Patriarch-Eutymious-the-last-Blessing-picture-sveti_Evtimij_seten_blagoslov

Saint Patriarch Eutymius (Evtimij) blessing the people in Medieval Bulgarian city Tarnovo for a last time before the Turkish took him away for imprisonment
Picture source Pravoslavieto.com

St Euthymius of Tarnovo work is one of the most unique bibliographies and a precious piece of medieval literature it is innovative for its time and spectacular, emotion rich creation, who become famous far before the borders of Bulgaria in the whole Slavonic world of that time, especially in todays territory of ex soviet countries Romania, Moldova, Ukraine and even far Russia.

Saint_Patriarch-Eutymius-last-bulgarian-patriarch-before-Turkish-Slavery

Saint Patriarch Eutymious of Bulgaria
Picture source Pravoslavieto.com

The veneration of Saint Petka of Bulgaria as a protector of family and a warm prayerer for all those who venerate her in this country has slowly spread in the coming centuries by pupils of St. Euthymius of Tarnovo who according to some historians whose works came to us in the form of the a bit more standardized Church Slavonic used in the Eastern Orthodox Churches as a fruit of the works of St. Euthymus.

The Living of Saint Petka Parashkeva

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Saint Petka Parashkeva Picture source Pravoslavieto.com

Tropion 4-th voice

 Desertous and silent living you loved after Christ your groom, diligently you ran to and his good yoke you took in your younghood,
with the Sign of the Cross against the thought enemies you have manly armed, with fasting feats and prayer and with tear drops the coals of passions extinguished oh highly famed Paraskevo. And now in the Heavenly halls with the wise virgins you stay in front of Christ, pray for us who venerate your holy remembrance.

Kontakion, voice 6

Let us piusly sung our reverend  mother Saint Petka, because by living the corruptable in live, received the imperishable in eternity, becoming holy intercessor for all in trouble and exhausting from the evils of life. For the reason she received from God imperishable fame, glory and grace to be a wonder worker.

Sveta-Petka-Zakrilnica-Bylgarska-Saint_Petka-Protectress-of-Bulgarian-lands

NB ! St. Petka of Epivates has not to be confused with Saint Petka (from Inokia who lived in 303 AD venerated on 28 of October) or  St Petka the Roman (feast day 26 July).

St. Petka's  has been born in city of Epivates in Byzantium (today city called Selim Pasha nearby Odrin's Aegian City) in 10-th Century from a famous and respectful family, her father Nikita has been very rich landowner.

She lived in the second part of X-th century. According to hear living by Patriarch Eutymious, her smaller brother Eutymious who become a monk has been a Metropolitan of Maditos for 40 years and in year (989 – 996) died aged 81 and is shortly after canonized as saint, his younger sister St. Paraskeva passed away after him in the new 11-th century and is aged at least 85 in the time of passing in the city of Kallikrateia. 

The living continues that near the age of 10 year old she heard in a Christian temple a voice by Jesus Christ himself in resemblance to Saint Apostle Paul and said the Evangelical New Testamental words:
"Whoever wants to walk after me, let him deny himself, to take his cross and follow me !".

The unexpected vision convinced the young Paraskeva to immediately exchange her new clothes to a beggers to leave all her belongings to the poor and live a silent living similarto begger for a time in work and prayer, though she did not leave her parents home. On a few occasions all she had worked for has been distributed to the poor.

Sveta-Petka-Bylgarska-Balkanska

Greek typical depiction of Saint Petka of Epivates

When her parents died, her brother as already a monk and Bishop. St. Petka leave her house and travelled to Constanople and received a nun tonsure and as a nun she lived for 5 years near the deserted Church of the "Protection of the Virgin Mary" in the capital suburb of Heraklia. She travelled to the Holy lands visiting Jerusalem and Church of Holy Sepulchre.
Following the example of the blessed famed Saint Mary of Egypt, she lived in Jordan's desert many years till eldership.

Feeling and foreseeing her death, she travelled back through Constantinople to city of Epivates. Settle near the Church "Holy Apostles", where after 2 years of living in deep prayer and fasting labours living in solitary in holiness passed away silently to Christ in heavenly life. Compassionate Christians immediately buried her body of the nun outside of the city walls as a foreigner. A shortly after numerous miracles started happening on her grave.

St_Petka-Parashkeva-Epivatska-Klisura_Monastery_Holy_Icon

Saint Petka Parashkeva Bulgarian Icon from Klisura Monastery located nearby Sofia Bulgaria

In 1230 King Ivan Asen II the most powerful South-eastern European ruler demanded from the the Knights of the Crusaders to submit him her holy relics who are found still in Tracian city Kaliakratea ruled at that time by the Holy Latin Empire. King Ivan Asen II together with the patriach Joachim the first receives her holy relics with honor and settles her incorruptabilities into the newly creates Church in honour of herself St. Petka behind Tsarevets Fortress. Saint Petka became from that point considered as a protectress of the city, the throne and the country.
Her holy relics arrived from Kallikrateia in Tarnovo, the Capital of Second Bulgarian Empire in year 1230 AD, she has been thus called Paraskeva of Tarnovo and has been venerated as a protectress of the Tarnovo city the Bulgarian nation and the country. The attitude towards Saint Petka Tarnovska as a protectress of Bulgarian nation and contry is been clearly seen by the mention in the Bulgarian and International acts (documents) and manuscripts of that XII – XII century.

Saint_Petka-Epivatska-Bylgarska-Romanian-in-Iashi-Romania-veneration-of-romanian-monks

Romanian Monks and Priests venerate the holy relics of Saint Petka of Epivates in Iashi Romania

In subsequent years, St. Petka Paraskevi’s holy relics were transferred to various churches in the region.

In 1393 due to the fall of Bulgarian capital to save them her holy relics were transferred to fortress of Bdin today city of Vidin Bulgaria, but 3 years later 1396 Vidin's fortress also fall under the ungodly yatagan of  the muslim enslaver and to protect the relics they were again transferred to Belgrade, specifically the Ružica Church. When Belgrade fell to Ottoman forces in 1521, the relics were transferred to Constantinople. In 1641, the relics were transferred to Trei Ierarhi Monastery, in Iaşi, Moldavia (nowadays, eastern part of Romania). In 1888, they were transferred to the Metropolitan Cathedral of Iaşi.

Since 1888 they are kept in Romanian city of Iaşi and are a target of pilgrims from all around Romania, Bulgaria and other Orthodox Christian countries of the Balkans. For the day her memory is remembered in the Romanian Church usually about 200 000 people mostly from Romania and others travel to Iaşi's Cathedral in the Trei Ierarhi Monastery (Three Hierarchs – saint John Crysostom, St. Basilius the Great and St. Gregory the Great) of the  for a blessing and to beg the saint for her families, personal issues, curings especially of eye diseases

A severe drought in 1946-47 affected Moldavia, adding to the misery left by the war. Metropolitan Justinian Marina permitted the first procession featuring the coffin containing the relics of Saint Paraskevi, kept at Iaşi since then. The relics wended their way through the drought-deserted villages of Iaşi, Vaslui, Roman, Bacău, Putna, Neamţ, Baia and Botoşani Counties. The offerings collected on this occasion were distributed, based on Metropolitan Justinian's decisions, to orphans, widows, invalids, school cafeterias, churches under construction, and to monasteries in order to feed the sick, and old or feeble monks.

In the historical document with Venezia as of (year 1347), King Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria swears in the name of most holy considered matters, the document says – quote "in the name of God, The Most Holy Theotokos, The Holy Cross and The Most Holy Paraskeva of Tarnovo".

 
Since Second Bulgarian Kingdom, St. Petka has been venerated as a main patroness and protector of Bulgarian nation and country, protectress of countries of Moldova, Romania and Bulgarian cities of Veliko Tarnovo, Gabrovo and Troyan.

In Bulgaria it is an old tradition to name our childs in favour of Saint Petka, my grand-grand mother God Forgive us has also been called Parashkeva in favor of Saint Petka.

Holy Mother Petka Paraskeva (Parashkevo) Pray the Lord Jesus Christ to have mercy on All us the sinners !

Howto debug and remount NFS hangled filesystem on Linux

Monday, August 12th, 2019

nfsnetwork-file-system-architecture-diagram

If you're using actively NFS remote storage attached to your Linux server it is very useful to get the number of dropped NFS connections and in that way to assure you don't have a remote NFS server issues or Network connectivity drops out due to broken network switch a Cisco hub or other network hop device that is routing the traffic from Source Host (SRC) to Destination Host (DST) thus, at perfect case if NFS storage and mounted Linux Network filesystem should be at (0) zero dropped connectios or their number should be low. Firewall connectivity between Source NFS client host and Destination NFS Server and mount should be there (set up fine) as well as proper permissions assigned on the server, as well as the DST NFS should be not experiencing I/O overheads as well as no DNS issues should be present (if NFS is not accessed directly via IP address).
In below article which is mostly for NFS novice admins is described shortly few of the nuances of working with NFS.
 

1. Check nfsstat and portmap for issues

One indicator that everything is fine with a configured NFS mount is the number of dropped NFS connections
or with a very low count of dropped connections, to check them if you happen to administer NFS

nfsstat

 

linux:~# nfsstat -o net
Server packet stats:
packets    udp        tcp        tcpconn
0          0          0          0  


nfsstat is useful if you have to debug why occasionally NFS mounts are getting unresponsive.

As NFS is so dependent upon portmap service for mapping the ports, one other point to check in case of Hanged NFSes is the portmap service whether it did not crashed due to some reason.

 

linux:~# service portmap status
portmap (pid 7428) is running…   [portmap service is started.]

 

linux:~# ps axu|grep -i rpcbind
_rpc       421  0.0  0.0   6824  3568 ?        Ss   10:30   0:00 /sbin/rpcbind -f -w


A useful commands to debug further rcp caused issues are:

On client side:

 

rpcdebug -m nfs -c

 

On server side:

 

rpcdebug -m nfsd -c

 

It might be also useful to check whether remote NFS permissions did not changed with the good old showmount cmd

linux:~# showmount -e rem_nfs_server_host


Also it is useful to check whether /etc/exports file was not modified somehow and whether the NFS did not hanged due to attempt of NFS daemon to reload the new configuration from there, another file to check while debugging is /etc/nfs.conf – are there group / permissions issues as well as the usual /var/log/messages and the kernel log with dmesg command for weird produced NFS client / server or network messages.

nfs-utils disabled serving NFS over UDP in version 2.2.1. Arch core updated to 2.3.1 on 21 Dec 2017 (skipping over 2.2.1.) If UDP stopped working then, add udp=y under [nfsd] in /etc/nfs.conf. Then restart nfs-server.service.

If the remote NFS server is running also Linux it is useful to check its /etc/default/nfs-kernel-server configuration

At some stall cases it might be also useful to remount the NFS (but as there might be a process on the Linux server) trying to read / write data from the remote NFS mounted FS it is a good idea to check (whether a process / service) on the server is not doing I/O operations on the NFS and if such is existing to kill the process in question with fuser
 

linux:~# fuser -k [mounted-filesystem]
 

 

2. Diagnose the problem interactively with htop


    Htop should be your first port of call. The most obvious symptom will be a maxed-out CPU.
    Press F2, and under "Display options", enable "Detailed CPU time". Press F1 for an explanation of the colours used in the CPU bars. In particular, is the CPU spending most of its time responding to IRQs, or in Wait-IO (wio)?
 

3. Get more extensive Mount info with mountstats

 

nfs-utils package contains mountstats command which is very useful in debugging further the issues identified

$ mountstats
Stats for example:/tank mounted on /tank:
  NFS mount options: rw,sync,vers=4.2,rsize=524288,wsize=524288,namlen=255,acregmin=3,acregmax=60,acdirmin=30,acdirmax=60,soft,proto=tcp,port=0,timeo=15,retrans=2,sec=sys,clientaddr=xx.yy.zz.tt,local_lock=none
  NFS server capabilities: caps=0xfbffdf,wtmult=512,dtsize=32768,bsize=0,namlen=255
  NFSv4 capability flags: bm0=0xfdffbfff,bm1=0x40f9be3e,bm2=0x803,acl=0x3,sessions,pnfs=notconfigured
  NFS security flavor: 1  pseudoflavor: 0

 

NFS byte counts:
  applications read 248542089 bytes via read(2)
  applications wrote 0 bytes via write(2)
  applications read 0 bytes via O_DIRECT read(2)
  applications wrote 0 bytes via O_DIRECT write(2)
  client read 171375125 bytes via NFS READ
  client wrote 0 bytes via NFS WRITE

RPC statistics:
  699 RPC requests sent, 699 RPC replies received (0 XIDs not found)
  average backlog queue length: 0

READ:
    338 ops (48%)
    avg bytes sent per op: 216    avg bytes received per op: 507131
    backlog wait: 0.005917     RTT: 548.736686     total execute time: 548.775148 (milliseconds)
GETATTR:
    115 ops (16%)
    avg bytes sent per op: 199    avg bytes received per op: 240
    backlog wait: 0.008696     RTT: 15.756522     total execute time: 15.843478 (milliseconds)
ACCESS:
    93 ops (13%)
    avg bytes sent per op: 203    avg bytes received per op: 168
    backlog wait: 0.010753     RTT: 2.967742     total execute time: 3.032258 (milliseconds)
LOOKUP:
    32 ops (4%)
    avg bytes sent per op: 220    avg bytes received per op: 274
    backlog wait: 0.000000     RTT: 3.906250     total execute time: 3.968750 (milliseconds)
OPEN_NOATTR:
    25 ops (3%)
    avg bytes sent per op: 268    avg bytes received per op: 350
    backlog wait: 0.000000     RTT: 2.320000     total execute time: 2.360000 (milliseconds)
CLOSE:
    24 ops (3%)
    avg bytes sent per op: 224    avg bytes received per op: 176
    backlog wait: 0.000000     RTT: 30.250000     total execute time: 30.291667 (milliseconds)
DELEGRETURN:
    23 ops (3%)
    avg bytes sent per op: 220    avg bytes received per op: 160
    backlog wait: 0.000000     RTT: 6.782609     total execute time: 6.826087 (milliseconds)
READDIR:
    4 ops (0%)
    avg bytes sent per op: 224    avg bytes received per op: 14372
    backlog wait: 0.000000     RTT: 198.000000     total execute time: 198.250000 (milliseconds)
SERVER_CAPS:
    2 ops (0%)
    avg bytes sent per op: 172    avg bytes received per op: 164
    backlog wait: 0.000000     RTT: 1.500000     total execute time: 1.500000 (milliseconds)
FSINFO:
    1 ops (0%)
    avg bytes sent per op: 172    avg bytes received per op: 164
    backlog wait: 0.000000     RTT: 2.000000     total execute time: 2.000000 (milliseconds)
PATHCONF:
    1 ops (0%)
    avg bytes sent per op: 164    avg bytes received per op: 116
    backlog wait: 0.000000     RTT: 1.000000     total execute time: 1.000000 (milliseconds)


nfs-utils disabled serving NFS over UDP in version 2.2.1. Arch core updated to 2.3.1 on 21 Dec 2017 (skipping over 2.2.1.) If UDP stopped working then, add udp=y under [nfsd] in /etc/nfs.conf. Then restart nfs-server.service.
 

4. Check for firewall issues
 

If all fails make sure you don't have any kind of firewall issues. Sometimes firewall changes on remote server or somewhere in the routing servers might lead to stalled NFS mounts.

 

To use properly NFS as you should know as a minimum you need to have opened as ports is Port 111 (TCP and UDP) and 2049 (TCP and UDP) on the NFS server (side) as well as any traffic inspection routers on the road from SRC (Linux client host) and NFS Storage destination DST server.

There are also ports for Cluster and client status (Port 1110 TCP for the former, and 1110 UDP for the latter) as well as a port for the NFS lock manager (Port 4045 TCP and UDP) but having this opened or not depends on how the NFS is configured. You can further determine which ports you need to allow depending on which services are needed cross-gateway.
 

5. How to Remount a Stalled unresponsive NFS filesystem mount

 

At many cases situation with remounting stalled NFS filesystem is not so easy but if you're lucky a standard mount and remount should do the trick.

Most simple way to remout the NFS (once you're sure this might not disrupt any service) – don't blame me if you break something is with:
 

umount -l /mnt/NFS_mnt_point
mount /mnt/NFS_mnt_point


Note that the lazy mount (-l) umount opt is provided here as very often this is the only way to unmount a stalled NFS mount.

Sometimes if you have a lot of NFS mounts and all are inacessible it is useful to remount all NFS mounts, if the remote NFS is responsive this should be possible with a simple for bash loop:

for P in $(mount | awk '/type nfs / {print $3;}'); do echo $P; echo "sudo umount $P && sudo mount $P" && echo "ok :)"; done


If you cd /mnt/NFS_mnt_point and try ls and you get

$ ls
.: Stale File Handle

 

You will need to unmount the FS with forceful mount flag

umount -f /mnt/NFS_mnt_point
 

Sum it up


In this article, I've shown you a few simple ways to debug what is wrong with a Stalled / Hanged NFS filesystem present on a NFS server mounted on a Linux client server.
Above was explained the common issues caused by NFS portmap (rpcbind) dependency, how to its status is fine, some further diagnosis with htop and mountstat was pointed. I've pointed the minimum amount of TCP / UDP ports 2049 and 111 that needs to be opened for the NFS communication to work and finally explained on how to remount a stalled NFS single or all attached mount on a NFS client to restore to normal operations.
As NFS is a whole ocean of things and the number of ways it is used are too extensive this article is just a general info useful for the NFS dummy admin for more robust configs read some good book on NFS such as Managing NFS and NIS, 2nd Edition – O'Reilly Media and for Kernel related NFS debugging make sure you check as a minimum ArchLinux's NFS troubleshooting guide and sourceforge's NFS Troubleshoting and Optimizing NFS Performance guides.

 

Nokia Communicator 9300i Call Register (Received Calls, Missed Calls, Dialed Calls) cannot delete problem

Sunday, December 13th, 2009

There is a terrible bug in the Nokia Communicator firmware (the bug appears
in Nokia 9300i running Symbian Software Series 80 v2,
my Nokia (Control Center -> About Product) reports
version 5.50. The bug is really ugly since the phone fails to delete,
received calls, missed calls, dialed calls records.
It took me a while to track the error, however finally I got it,
thanks to a friend of mine who has experienced already the same on his phone.
The error was caused by something pretty dumb. OK enough gibberish,the problem is caused by a wrong system date!, how stupid, fixing the
date from Control Center is simply and effective fix. Even though that would
fix your phone so you can successfully delete in the future from call register,
you won’t be able to see your received calls before you fix the issue.
Therefore after some googling I’ve found a nice software that is able to manageyour call register logs in a much bug free way the soft I’ve found from rapidshare,
and luckily comes with a crack. You can download (Advanced Call Manager)
from the mirrored copy I made for you here Download Advanced Call Manager (ACM) version 2.51 (Cracked) .
Another great thing about Advanced Call Manager is that all
your in and out calls + missed calls are logged and ready to be found,
even those not showing up in the normal Call Register software that comes bundled with the phone.