（看到一个中文介绍，就查找了一下，觉得有些差别。还是转贴WIKI 准一些。崇敬之心油然而生）

Dobri Dobrev

For the association football player, see Dobri Dobrev (footballer).

Dobri Dimitrov Dobrev
Dobri Dimitrov Dobrev in 2010
Born	20 July 1914 (age 100) Bailovo, Bulgaria
Nationality	Bulgarian
Other names	Elder Dobri, Grandpa Dobri
Occupation	Ascetic
Known for	Charity

Dobri Dimitrov Dobrev (Bulgarian: Добри Димитров Добрев) (born 20 July 1914), better known as Grandpa Dobri, Elder Dobri (Bulgarian: дядо Добри), or The Saint of Bailovo^[1] is a Bulgarian ascetic who walks several kilometers each day to sit or stand in front of the Cathedral of Alexander Nevsky in Sofia to collect money for charitable causes. Dobrev ^[1] donates all the money he collects to charities, orphanages, churches and monasteries and he turned 100 in July 2014.^[2]

Contents

Life

Dobrev was born 20 July 1914 in the village of Bailovo. His father died in World War I and his mother had to raise their children by herself. Dobrev does not remember his youth and school years. He decided to marry around 1940, which is around when Bulgaria joined World War II. In one of the bombings of Sofia a bomb fell near him and he lost almost all his hearing. Dobrev and his wife had four kids, two of which he outlived.

Over the years Dobrev became detached from the material aspects of life and devoted himself entirely to the spirit world. Around the year 2000, he decided to donate all his belongings to the Orthodox church and now he lives very modestly in a small extension to the Saints Cyril and Methodius parish church in his native village of Bailovo. About that time he embarked on his mission to raise funds for the restoration of churches and monasteries across Bulgaria.^[3] It is this new direction in life and the example he gives with his asceticism that led many to call him The Saint of Bailovo.^[4]

Charity

Over the course of his lifetime, Dobrev has donated over 80,000 Bulgarian lev (40,000 euros)^[5] to churches, monasteries and other noble deeds. Among his biggest donations are:

• 10,000 Bulgarian lev (5,000 euros) to the Saints Cyril and Methodius parish church in his native Bailovo^[6]
• 25,000 Bulgarian lev (12,500 euros) for restoration of the Eleshnishki Monastery Mother Mary located to the east of Sofia, and the local church in the village of Gorno Kamartsi.^[6]
• 35,700 Bulgarian lev (~20,000 euros) for the Cathedral of Alexander Nevsky in Sofia, which is the biggest donation in the known history of the over 100-year-old cathedral.^[7]

Legacy

The good will is just and true. Everything in it is good. We must not lie, nor steal, nor commit adultery. We must love each other as God loves us.

—Dobri Dobrev

References