Revolutionary Sergiy Plakovski

Sergiy Plakovski, known by the hajduk nickname Sergiy the Sinful, was a Bulgarian clergyman and hieromonk who participated in Velcho's Conspiracy in 1835. His secular name was Stanyo Fermandzhiev, and he was born in the second half of the eighteenth century in the hamlet of Ruhovtsi in the Elena region.

He is thought to have received some education from the teacher and priest Stoyan Gramatik in Elena. He joined Dobri the Voivode's detachment and became a hajduk. After his exile in Diyarbakır, from which he escaped, he joined Kuman the Voivode's detachment. He subsequently entered Mount Athos as a novice.

The pilgrim was initiated into the hajduk way of life by Father Stoyko, at whose insistence he visited the Holy Sepulchre. After returning from the shrine, he again formed a detachment and operated in the Elena and Tarnovo regions. He frequently visited the Plakovo, Kapinovo and Prisovo monasteries, where he received refuge in return for protection.

In 1803 he became abbot of Plakovo Monastery and opened a school there, inviting teachers from Mount Athos. During Velcho's Conspiracy, as abbot, he gave shelter to Velcho Atanasov-Dzhamdzhiyata, Captain Georgi Mamarchev and their companions.

In 1835, after Velcho's Conspiracy was uncovered, he was tortured and exiled to Maglizh Monastery, where he later died from his wounds. The Turkish authorities subjected him to exceptionally brutal torture. Georgi Rakovski placed Sergiy Plakovski among the holy great martyrs, honouring his courage and steadfastness in defending his faith and homeland.