The St. Paraskeva church is one of the smallest sized churches in Varna, however it’s one of the oldest. A small church which was built as a family chapel and its base dates from the 14th century. The chapel is currently located in the Greek neighbourhood, close to the Varna centre and it’s one of the few buildings left with architecture akin to the Ottoman rule where the houses of the Greek population of Varna were. After the rebuild was done in 2006 the chapel is working and it welcomes believers for regular services.

History of St. Paraskeva church

The church was built in 1785 during the time of the metropolitan Filotey with funding from the Greek family Rode. They were merchants and transported their goods by ship on the road Venetia – Constantinople – Varna – Kyustendja. During one of its voyages the family were struck by a sea storm and gave the promise that if they live to tell the tale they will build a chapel in honour of St. Paraskeva. After their safe return the Greek merchants fulfilled their promise and bought a place to build the church near their house.

Having in mind the limitations from the law regarding building churches the chapel was built into the ground with four steps. It’s a single-ship single-apse basilica. It was built in the place of an older christian church from the late mediaeval period of the 14th century. Some 100 years after it was built, the building began to fall apart.

A Varna citizen with Greek roots under the name of Evtimiya initiated the fundraising to rebuild the church. She collected funds by knocking on doors and after a long and persistent labour the church was reconstructed. From its construction until 1914 the chapel was served by Greek priests, afterwards it was served by Bulgarian ones. The church never had it’s own permanent priests but it was rather ran by priests from other holy sites. From March 1939 the Russian priest Kiril Popov began to serve in it. In 1965 the church was under the leadership of the Bulgarian Ivan Valkov.

Recent history

The church needed an immediate reconstruction however funds could not be gathered. In 1985 on its 200 year anniversary father Ivan started reconstruction on his own. Some christians manage to help and provide resources to save the building. From 1992 an initiative to rebuild the church was made and it was finished in 2006. In 2012 during excavations in front of the church, the remains of an ancient chapel from Odessos were found which proves that the site was a holy place from earlier times.

If you wish to visit St. Paraskeva church you can take advantage of My Rent a Car by getting a car of your choosing anywhere from Varna Airport, the centre itself, Golden Sands, St. St. Constantine and Helena, Sunny day or other points within Varna.