On 19 December Bulgaria marked the 130th birth anniversary of famous healer Petar Dimkov. Fate gifted the man with the ability to help the others. He grew up in the family of a priest and a well-known medicaster. In 1899 he went to St. Petersburg, Russia, alongside his older brother Dimitar, to study with a scholarship at the military academy there. At the same time he attended lectures at the medical university, he completed a course in homeopathy and also showed interest in lectures in traditional Tibetan medicine. Since childhood he was attracted by the healing power of herbs. During his studies Dimkov read the books of Dr. Peczely, the father of iridology which would later on turn into a preferred diagnosis method for the healer.

After his return to Bulgaria Dimkov took part in three national unification wars – the Balkan one, the Second Balkan War and WWI. He was injured 8 times. At the same time he admitted that he never shot at anyone. During the Balkan War, when cholera burst out in his company, he ordered the delivery of a wagon full of garlic. He also made his men drink salt of lemon and boiled water. Then the sick ones began to heal… Dimkov also cured successfully soldiers who had typhus, dysentery and others illnesses. After one of the battles he was heavily wounded, with no sign of life. However, his troops decided to take his body with them. Thus the healer survived thanks to the affection of his fellow-soldiers.

The name of Petar Dimkov is also linked to the preservation of Bulgaria’s national hero Vassil Levski’s house. In 1933 Dimkov headed the 21st infantry company in Karlovo. Being in a bad state, the house had to be demolished with some road to be traced through the spot. However, Dimkov and feature movie pioneer Vasil Gendov defended the sacred for the Bulgarians place and so its restoration began. In the Black Sea port town of Varna Dimkov, then commanding the 8th Marine Regiment, supported the initiative for the turning of Asparuh’s shaft into a history park. In the Danube town of Svishtov he upheld another project – for the restoration of the Radetzky steamship, related to a bright page of the 1876 April Uprising and the unit of poet and revolutionary Hristo Botev.

Due to his republican stance in 1936 Dimkov was sent in reserve. However, he invested his energy into his healing activity. Many benefited the most precious thing – health over the years due to his passion to heal. Some 100,000 people are considered to have looked for his assistance. At the same time the healer didn’t get rich at all – he wouldn’t take a dime for the help he gave out.

Dimkov’s heritage has been gathered in the Bulgarian People’s Medicine trilogy. He also wrote the Eye Diagnosis and Hygiene and Healing of the Soul books.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev