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# Bulgaria Puts Images of Orthodox Saints on the Obverses of Its National Euro Coins
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/bolgariia-pomestila-obrazy-pravoslavnykh-sviatykh-na-aversy-natsionalnykh-evromonet/
- Published: 2026-02-16T15:34:14.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T05:26:58.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Faith, Observations, Heritage, Society

The 2-euro coin depicts Saint Paisius of Hilendar, who lived in the 18th century, a key figure of the Bulgarian National Revival and the author of the *Slavonic-Bulgarian History* of the Bulgarian peoples and tsars.

The 1-euro coin shows Saint John of Rila, who lived in the 9th and 10th centuries, holding a cross and a scroll. He was the founder of the Rila Monastery, the heavenly patron of Bulgaria, and a hermit monk who healed the sick and instructed his fellow monastics.

The design of the coins includes the year of issue, the inscription «БЪЛГАРИЯ» and the word «евро» in Cyrillic, as well as the prayer «БОЖЕ ПАЗИ БЪЛГАРИЯ» ("God save Bulgaria"), inscribed twice along the coin's edge.

*I would remind readers that on the banknotes of Russia, the country with the largest Orthodox population in the world, neither Orthodox saints nor sacred sites are depicted. In 2023 an image of an Orthodox church was printed with its crosses removed, and in 2024 the National Bank* [renounced](https://theparnassian.com/zampred-tsentrobanka-sergei-belov-rasskazal-v-interviu-izvestiiam-chto-tsb-reshil-polnostiu-otkazatsia-ot-kultovykh-sooruzhenii-v-kachestve-izobrazhenii-na-kupiurakh/?ref=theparnassian.com) *altogether the printing of money bearing places of worship and objects of religious significance.*

The Bulgarian euro-cent coins will bear an image of the Madara Rider, a bas-relief carved into the rock, an archaeological monument of the 8th century in north-eastern Bulgaria and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_19751@16-02-2026_18-34-14.jpg)