Bible-Engraved Tablet Found Under Head Of Entombed 13th-Century Clergyman

Story ByMaja Mishevksa, Sub EditorMarija StojkoskaAgencyNewsflash

A tablet engraved with Biblical quotes has been discovered in a 13th-Century clergyman’s grave along with bronze brooches and remains of gold-woven textiles dating back to the early Byzantine and Christian periods.

The remains were discovered during recent excavations at the ruins of the ancient Monastery of Virgin Mary in the Tsarevets Fortress located in the district of Frank Hissar in the medieval Bulgarian town of Tarnovgrad, now called Veliko Tarnovo.

The brick, which was found placed under the clergyman’s skull, had the first four verses from the Gospel of John and a double patriarchal cross (the Cross of Lorraine) engraved on it.

Veliko Tarnovo Regional Museum of History/Newsflash

The inscription was written in the Old Bulgarian language spoken in the medieval Bulgarian Empire.

Archaeologists Prof. Hitko Vachev and Ilian Petrakiev from the Regional History Museum in Veliko Tarnovo believe that the clergyman was at least the monastery abbot or even one of the patriarchs of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in the 13th century.

Professor Hitko Vachev said: “These stones are placed under the heads of members of the highest clergy in their graves.

Veliko Tarnovo Regional Museum of History/Newsflash

“Perhaps it was a high-ranking clergyman named Yoan (Ivan, John) who asked to have a quote from the Gospel of John placed under his head in the grave.”

Besides the ‘pillow’ brick, archaeologists also found a cyst, a box-shaped burial structure made of stone slabs, which contained an urn with bones, among which two bronze brooches and a ceramic cup were found dating from the 4th century BC.

Research showed that the bones probably belonged to two individuals, male and female.

Veliko Tarnovo Regional Museum of History/Newsflash

In one of the graves, remains of gold-woven textiles framing a veil covering the buried woman’s head were also found.

The threads were made of 24-carat gold with a thickness of only 1/12 of a millimetre.

The ruins of the Monastery of the Holy Virgin Mary were discovered back in 2014.

Veliko Tarnovo Regional Museum of History/Newsflash

It is believed that the monastery was built in the 13th century and was the main monastery in the kingdom.

Today the Tsarevets Fortress is one of the most popular cultural tourism spots in Bulgaria and it remains open for tourists every day of the year.

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