Since then me and Baba Vanga got close. Very often we were together baptizing babies – myself as a priest and she as a godmother. Once I told her that I am having health problems, and before she even hears the rest of the story she said: “This kidney gives you a hard time eh? Stock up with water from the Rupite region, drink plenty of them, and together with that eat a lot of freash pumpkin seeds.” Indeed her recipe helped me control my symptoms to a tolerable level. She called me to serve at the her Church in the Rupite. I am not one of those spiritual people that claim that the conversation with dead people is a Satan’s act. If the Church preaches that there is an afterlife, then this means that it exists. I think we should ignore this very old canon which Father Natanail referred to when they were sanctifying St. Petka Church in the Rupite.
For me Baba Vanga was a very good person, and I don’t exclude the possibility that one day the Bulgarian church will canonize her. It should be noted that the canonization is a complicated ritual. The person to be canonized has to meet certain criteria with no exceptions such as: to have lived for a long time, to be a hermit, to be a prophet, to cure other people with his/her remedies, his/her body to be non-perishable, and to do miracles after his/her death. In reality Baba Vanga matches most of the criteria, but even if she doesn’t cover one of them, she cannot be recognized as a saint. I do believe that if people of Bulgaria had to choose – they would have recognized her. This recognition is unconditional – she is known not only in Bulgaria, but all over the world.
