Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker Sabotkovtsi village

Overview

The church "St. Nicholas the Wonderworker" in the village of Sabotkovtsi, Gabrovo municipality, is one of the oldest temples preserved in the Gabrovo region. It was built with funds from the local population in 1867 by Usta Gencho, a student of Kolyo Ficheto.
It is completely preserved in the interior, and between 2004 and 2014 people from the village and other donors managed to save the roof of the church and reconstruct it.
The iconostasis of the temple dates from the 1960s. At the same time, a bell weighing 360 kilograms was brought from Odessa. Over the years, it burst and attempts to weld it were unsuccessful. The locals decide to cast the bell again. In one of the guest houses in the village, a group from the naval school in Atia spent the night, offering to make it, but since there was no such big mold, they decided to make four smaller bells.
When the cutting of the bell begins, the disk of the flex with which the old bell is cut breaks. They replace it with a laser, and the bell bursts and a piece with an engraved image of St. George falls from it. It turns out that the next day is St. George's Day according to the Orthodox calendar. The piece was returned to the village and can be seen in the church today.