The beggar who donated nearly $ 5 million to the Church

He was a beggar and the most generous donor of the church Bulgarian. It was about “Grandfather” Dobri, an old man much loved by the faithful, who died in 2018, when he was 103 years old. His name was Dobri Dobrev, whose first name comes from the word “kindness”. Many Bulgarians describe him as a saint for having devoted himself for decades to collecting money for the restoration of churches.

Sporting his long white beard, eternally dressed in a black cloak, as befits him, he begged particularly in the great cathedral of Sofia, Alexander Nevsky, to whom he donated over $ 25,000. Several monasteries and churches across the country have confirmed receiving sums ranging from $ 3,000 to $ 12,000 each, and it is assumed that during his lifetime he gave approximately $ 5 million in donations.

Dobri traveled 20 kilometers every day from his hometown of Baylovo in Bulgaria to Sofia to raise funds. Money he then gave to the Church and to the poor. For his gesture, he received in 2013 the award for personality of the year in his country from the press agency Sofia News Agency, which declared during its presentation: “There is still room for charity and good works “.

Many residents of the Bulgarian capital had met him once, but were unaware of his history. Until a few decades ago, he led a normal, ordinary life, until he decided to become a beggar for religious reasons. And those who knew him, in addition to leaving him alms, asked him for a blessing.

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His father died in World War I and he was raised by his mother. During one of the bombings of Sofia during World War II, a projectile fell near him and the impact caused him to almost complete hearing loss. His admirers propose his canonization. And many wonder what he went through. Today we know: a monthly pension of 95 dollars that he also gave.

Dobri Dobrev died in 2018 of natural causes. By this time, he was already widely recognized for his kindness. But his legacy has had a bigger impact lately.

A piece of bread and half a tomato

“Grandfather” Dobri lived in a small, poor room in the cemetery of his hometown, Baylovo, Bulgaria. Even if he had a bed instead, he preferred to sleep on the floor. When after his death, they went to his room, they found all his things on a table: a piece of bread and half a tomato. That, plus the clothes she wore, was all she had. His portrait carrying a candle, the work of graffiti artists, adorns the wall of a ten-story building in eastern Sofia.