Greece to transfer remains of Tsar Samuil to Bulgaria

Greece is to transfer the mortal remains of Tsar Samuil – who ruled from 997 to 1014 CE – to Bulgaria, it was officially confirmed on September 29 following reports in Greek media.

The grave of Tsar Samuil was discovered in 1965 by Greek professor Nikolaos Moutsopoulos in the Church of St Achillios on the eponymous island in Lake Prespa.

They are currently kept in the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki.

Bulgaria’s request for their return has been raised repeatedly in recent decades, for example by then-president Rossen Plevneliev in June 2015.

Then-president Rossen Plevneliev reveres the bones of Tsar Samuil in Thessaloniki in October 2014.

In 2022, the issue was raised again during the administration of then-prime minister Kiril Petkov. At that time, Bulgaria and Greece were strengthening their cooperation in the field of energy and infrastructure against the backdrop of the energy crisis following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Greek media noted.

Kiril Petkov and Kyriakos Mitsotakis in July 2022. Photo: Ministry of Energy

Within the framework of these contacts, Petkov and the then Deputy Prime Minister Assen Vassilev again raised the issue of the return of the remains of Tsar Samuil.

The procedure is also complicated by Greek demands for the return of church treasures, manuscripts and relics taken from monasteries in northern Greece during the two world wars. The transfer of Samuel’s remains also required the consent of the Greek Orthodox Church, Greek website Nautemporiki said.

“In the context of these close contacts, Kiril Petkov had also renewed the request for the remains of Samuil, seeking a solution to a case of exceptional importance for Bulgarian historical memory,” Naftemboriki said.

There were disputes over the personality of Tsar Samuil with North Macedonia, but in 2022 the Joint Bulgarian-Macedonian Historical Commission decided: “Tsar Samuil is the ruler of a large mediaeval state, which the main part of modern historical science defines as the Bulgarian Kingdom with its centre on the territory of today’s Republic of North Macedonia.”

In a post on Facebook on September 28, former prime minister Nikolai Denkov, parliamentary leader of We Continue the Changem said: “It took longer than expected and many diplomatic efforts from several Bulgarian governments – but one of our dreams came true today”.

“The remains of Tsar Samuil will finally be placed in a Bulgarian church. And the Bulgarians can once again bow before their heroic ruler of their homeland,” Denkov said.

“We thank Prime Minister Mitsotakis for this gesture, which raises friendly Bulgarian-Greek relations, which have been developing especially actively since 2022, to an even higher level,” he said.

“This is an exceptional success for our national self-esteem and memory. And it is coming at the right time to show that only with joint efforts can we build Bulgaria, which respects its past, values its present, and looks confidently towards its future,” Denkov said.

Current Prime Minister Roumen Radev, speaking at the start of the September 29 Cabinet meeting, said: “After intensive negotiations, Bulgaria and Greece have reached a historic agreement – for the return of the mortal remains of the Bulgarian Tsar Samuil to his homeland.

“At today’s meeting of the Cabinet, we will approve the text of this agreement and authorise the Minister of Culture to sign it together with his Greek counterpart,” Radev said.

“The agreement provides for the reciprocal transfer for safekeeping of historical artifacts, religious and cultural artifacts and relics, he said.

“For six decades, the efforts of the Bulgarian state to return the mortal remains of one of its greatest rulers have not ceased. We have the historic honor of achieving it,” Radev said.

October 3, at 12:30 p.m., a ceremony to welcome the mortal remains of Tsar Samuil will be held at Battenberg Square in Sofia.

“On the morning of October 3, Saturday, I will be at the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki, where, at a ceremony hosted by the Prime Minister of Greece, the mortal remains of Tsar Samuil will be officially handed over to the Bulgarian state,” Radev said.

“The remains of two other sarcophagi, discovered in the same church, belonging to Tsar Gavril Radomir and other members of the royal family, will also be handed over to us.”

After the transportation of the mortal remains of Tsar Samuil to Sofia by Spartan aircraft, they will be laid in a special sarcophagus in the Church of St. Sophia, where as a child the future Tsar of Bulgaria was introduced to Christianity, he said.

(Main photo: Clive Leviev-Sawyer)