Софиянецът Бали ефенди — мюсюлмански светец от XVI в.
Bali Effendi of Sofia, a Moslem Saint of the 16th Century

Summary/Abstract: The objective we have set ourselves here is to consider the problem of the worship of the Moslem saint Bali Effendi, which has continued for nearly four and a half centuries among the Turkish, Bulgarian and Gipsy population in Bulgaria. In order to elucidate in greater detail that problem, we have first described the life and activities of Bali Effendi, as well as the history of his tomb, which is now in the courtyard of the Church of St. Elijah, the Prophet, in the Sofia district of Knyazhevo. The following conclusions can be made: 1. The tomb of Bali Effendi, the Church of St. Elijah, the Prophet, and the votive stone cross of St George make up a sacral compound rarely encountered, in which the Islaam and Eastern Orthodox Christianity have been coexisting on the basis of mutual respect. 2. The tomb of Bali Effendi is an example of a sacred place, whereby the faith in the wonderful and curative power of the saint brings together representatives of different ethnic groups of different religious denominatioins, regardless of the religious and ethnic identity of the saint himself. 3. A transformation has been witnessed of the historical personality of Bali Effendi into a folklore hero Ali (Bali) Baba, who from an extreme follower of Sunnism and fighter against the heretics turns into the defender and patron of all people, regardless of their ethnic and religious affiliations.

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