Dimitar Dimitrov from Zurich – When the heavenly icon painter holds the brush

Dimitar Dimitrov is originally from Sofia, but in 2022 he moved to Zurich to study Materials Science. He chose ETH Zurich (Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich – ETH) because it is one of the most prestigious universities in Europe, and at the time the tuition fees were affordable for his family. Subsequently, tuition fees have risen significantly — they have tripled since last year. However, the Bulgarian student is about to begin a master’s degree, so Dimitar’s life in the Swiss Confederation continues.

The team behind the specialized podcast “Bridge of Faith” met the young man during an icon-painting course led by Bulgarian priest Father Yordan Pashev in Zurich. The conversation took place as he was painting an icon of Saint John of Rila, on which he was fully focused.

As a child, Dimitar attended church only occasionally. In his own words, it was “not very seriously and not very regularly, just on holidays.” In recent years, however, Orthodox Christianity and church life have taken on a much greater significance for him.

“I went to church for the first time here in Zurich at the beginning of the year. I met Father Yordan, and he invited me to come”, Dimitar Dimitrov said while mixing his paints. His path to the Church began with a personal crisis, and he turned to faith and church life in search of a way forward. Soon after, he joined Father Yordan Pashev’s icon-painting group. He struggles to pinpoint exactly what brought him to the church, but he describes his state of mind beforehand as being far from good. After moving to Switzerland alone, during a period of existential crisis when everything seemed to lose meaning and significance, he came to see Christianity as a lifeline, a ray of hope. It was not merely an intellectual search for answers to existential questions or an attempt to overcome the deficiencies he felt in his soul and life, but rather a matter of his survival as a healthy and whole person.  

“I was truly in a critical state. I was afraid to go outside. I didn’t even know whether there was any point in doing anything at all. Then, little by little, I began to look into the subject and became curious. I started asking myself: why not take a closer look, read, and learn about the entire culture of Christianity — where it comes from, and so on”, says Dimitar.

Over time, he has come to understand more and more about Christianity, although he does not claim in the slightest that he has grasped the essence of the Christian faith or that he knows the depths of the Orthodox way of life.

Since the beginning of this year, he has regularly attended services led by Father Yordan Pashev at the Bulgarian church in Zurich’s Leimbach district or at other churches in the city. He takes part in the church life of the Bulgarian Orthodox Community of “St. George the Victorious” and feels a sense of belonging there. His concerns that he would find himself among strangers and have difficulty becoming part of the community have turned out to be entirely unfounded.

“That’s why I hadn’t gone to church earlier — I was embarrassed and thought I wouldn’t be able to talk to anyone. But everyone turned out to be very welcoming”,Dimitar says, searching for the word at first. “Yes, everyone was very kind”, Dimitar Dimitrov added.

•  Saint George - the heavenly patron of Orthodox Bulgarians in Zurich
  

We also saw Dimitar the next day at the church for the Divine Liturgy, and later at the Sunday lunch, where the young man interacted with members of the parish, his peers, and older people in the community. He was cheerful, open and helpful— even the most skeptical observer would not have been able to detect the slightest sign of unease or isolation. He summed up these lively and heartfelt interactions we witnessed by saying: “I found a community. I found a Bulgarian community abroad. It was a good feeling”, referring to the gift of communicating with God while also belonging to a community of compatriots and fellow believers.

Archpriest Yordan Pashev, who was appointed by the leadership of the Diocese of Western and Central Europe to provide spiritual care for Bulgarians in Zurich and the German-speaking part of Switzerland, has played an important role in transforming Dimitar’s life and worldview. He welcomed the young student with his characteristic warmth and an open heart. As Dimitar says, the priest has worked “with all his strength” to help him become part of the parish community and embrace the life of the Church. When trying to describe what the priest means to his parishioners, Dimitar carefully chooses his words, which clearly come from the heart: “A very good person. Simply a good person. Someone who would help with anything you asked of him. He is very responsive. Loving toward everyone. And he is a very pleasant person.”

Dimitar will soon complete his bachelor’s degree and will spend another two years pursuing a master’s degree in Zurich. However, he is adamant that even if one day he leaves the city and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church community there, he will continue to seek the Church wherever life’s path may take him.

And if he once again finds himself in a difficult situation, faces trials, or stand at a crossroads, he now has a reliable compass. He knows where to seek help, support, comfort and hope; he knows how to find the right path, meaning and purpose. He knows that God is only a sigh away — only one “Lord!” away from us.

Throughout our conversation, Dimitar continued painting his icon of Saint John of Rila, his eyes fixed on at the prototype placed on the table in front of him. Several years ago, he and his mother had visited the Rila Monastery and climbed to the place where Saint John had lived and spent his final days. Beside the rock where the Rila wonderworker had devoted himself to prayer, Dimitar read an inscription — the words the saint left as a testament to his disciples — and they deeply moved him.

“Have I covered everything on this icon?” he wondered aloud, looking alternately at his own work and the prototype in front of him. With each delicate brushstroke on the wooden panel, the image of the Rila wonderworker emerged more clearly, and under the brush of the young icon painter, the depiction came closer and closer to its original — a living illustration of the Christian life that Dimitar has has embarked upon.

Translated by Kostadin Atanasov