Saint

Saint

A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...

 Enravota or Voin (Воин, "warrior") or Boyan

Boyan (given name)

Boyan is a Bulgarian and Slavic male given name. The short form of the name Boyan used in Bulgaria is Bobi or Bobby...

(Боян) was the eldest son of Omurtag of Bulgaria

Omurtag of Bulgaria

Omurtag was a Great Khan of Bulgaria from 814 to 831. He is known as "the Builder".In the very beginning of his reign he signed a 30-year peace treaty with the neighboring Eastern Roman Empire which remained in force to the end of his life...

 and the first Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

n Christian

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

 martyr

Martyr

A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...

, as well as the earliest Bulgarian saint to be canonized.

Born in the early 9th century, Enravota was the elder brother of Malamir of Bulgaria

Malamir of Bulgaria

Malamir was the ruler of Bulgaria 831–836.Malamir was a son of Omurtag and a grandson of Krum. His name may be of Slavic origin, and is claimed to be the first Bulgar khan to possess a Slavic name; however another theory is that it was an Iranian name, as there is an Iranian city named Malamir...

 who succeeded their father Omurtag to the Bulgarian throne in 831. Enravota was possibly deprived of the throne because of his favour of Christianity, which the boils

Boyar

A boyar, or bolyar , was a member of the highest rank of the feudal Moscovian, Kievan Rus'ian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, and Moldavian aristocracies, second only to the ruling princes , from the 10th century through the 17th century....

 feared might endanger the court. Not long after the death of Omurtag, Enravota asked his brother to release a pious Byzantine

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

 captive who had been dungeoned by Omurtag. The captive's sermons managed to persuade Enravota to convert to Christianity and be baptized.

Once informed of his brother's deeds, Malamir attempted to make him renounce Christianity, but did not succeed. Enravota died as a saint in the name of Christ, killed on the order of Malamir, around 833. 11th-century chronicler Theophylact of Bulgaria

Theophylact of Bulgaria

Theophylact of Ohrid was a Greek archbishop of Ohrid and commentator on the Bible.-Life:...

 claimed he delivered the following prophetic speech before his death:
In the Bulgarian Orthodox Church

Bulgarian Orthodox Church

The Bulgarian Orthodox Church - Bulgarian Patriarchate is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church with some 6.5 million members in the Republic of Bulgaria and between 1.5 and 2.0 million members in a number of European countries, the Americas and Australia...

, Enravota's feast day is 28 March.