Bolgar Cross

Also known as a Bulgar Cross, Bogar Cross, BNR Cross and Ratnik Cross

The Sun Cross pre-dates Christianity by thousands of years. It has been adopted by some Bulgarian National Socialists, who call it the Bolgar Cross.

The Bolgar Cross features a circle around a cross, exactly the same as the Sun Cross. The difference is only in the name and use.

The symbol has been named Bolgar Cross by a neo-Nazi group based in Bulgaria, known as BNR (Ратничество за напредък на българщината) "Bulgarian National Spirit" or simply "Ratnik".

The original BNR was founded in 1936 with an ideology sympathetic with National Socialism, anti-communism, racism and anti-Semitism. Their war cry is "Onward and upward".

Ratniks wear blood-red shirts, decorated with a circled cross, often overlaid by a hammer and sickle, sword and oak branches, which has been much to the annoyance of communists.


Ratnik Flag

Some members of the group have claimed that the symbol was favoured by Bulgarian Tsars, but offer no evidence to support this. Paintings and photographs of former Tsars show that they used a variety of symbols. The encircled cross is rarely seen.

The group identifies itself with the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, but this admiration is not reciprocated by the Church. As with the Tsars, the BNR states that the same emblem is favoured by the Church, yet again, there's no evidence to support this.

As is usual with Eastern Churches, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church has no denominational logo, but uses various crosses, especially the Eastern Orthodox Cross.

There are, of course, other claims made by extremist groups that are much more important than mere symbols, and such claims deserve much more scrutiny.

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