14th February-Day of St. Tryphon and wine

Other than St. Valentine's Day in Bulgaria, we also celebrate St. Tryphon's Day and the day of the wine.

Saint Tryphon is said to have been born at Kampsade (Campsada, also known as Lampsakon), on the Hellespont in modern Turkey and as a boy took care of geese. His name is derived from the Greek τρυφη (tryphe) meaning "softness, delicacy". He acquired fame as a healer, especially of animals, and is considered one of the Holy Unmercenaries, particularly invoked on farms. During the Decian persecution he was taken to Nicaea about the year 250 and was tortured in a horrible manner. He was beheaded with a sword after he had converted the heathen prefect Licius. Fabulous stories are interwoven with his hagiography. His relics were first buried in his native city of Campsada. Later on, they were translated to Constantinople, and then to Rome. His feast day is on 14 February in both the Eastern Orthodox Church and (now) in the Roman Catholic Church. He is greatly venerated in the Eastern Orthodox Church, in which he is also the patron saint of gardeners and winegrowers. Many churches were dedicated to him, and the Eastern Emperor, Leo VI the Wise (d. 912), delivered a eulogy in Tryphon's honour. He is the protector saint of the town of Kotor in Montenegro, and one of the patron saints of Moscow. In Russian icons of the saint, he is often shown holding a falcon, a reference to a miracle attributed to his intercessions. Prayers attributed to him are used against infestations of rodents and locusts; one such prayer appears in the Great Euchologion. The Cathedral of Saint Tryphon in Kotor is dedicated to him.