Bulgaria’s St. John of Rila Monastery

 

Located in the northwestern part of Mount Rila at an altitude of 1150 m above sea level, the Monastery is only 120 km away from the Bulgarian capital city Sofia.

Founded in the 10th c. by the monk hermit, who was later named Bulgaria’s patron saint, John, and his disciples during the reign of King Petar (927-968 A.D.) the Monastery originated near the cave he dwelt. The saint preached incessantly the Orthodox faith, which the Bulgarian nation had adopted a century earlier. St. John of Rila became the forefather of the first monastic brotherhood in the Bulgarian lands. He was canonized in 946 soon after he passed away. His relics are being kept at the Monastery to this day.

Over the centuries Rila Monastery has known days of glory and decay. One thing is certain though: the site has always enjoyed the favour of the ruling medieval monarchs, who have made generous donations. Around 1335 the local lord Stefan Dragolov, nicknamed Hrelyo, built the initial compound, which consisted of a residential wing, a turret and a single nave church. Unfortunately, only the tower has survived to this day, and has been named after the lord’s name, Hrelyo Tower. On the top floor stands a small chapel, named after God’s Transfiguration. The chapel is richly decorated with murals and authentic icon paintings of intransient artistic value. The earliest among them date back to the 14th c. and represent three scenes from the life of St. John of Rila. The oldest preserved icon of the saint also dates back to that time.

During the centuries of Ottoman domination Rila Monastery had been set to fire and reduced to ashes, and the monks had been driven away. But in the late 15th c. three brothers set to the task of rebuilding the holy site, Joasaphus, David and Teophanous assisted by the Russian monastery on Mount Athos. Russian monarchs and Moldovan chieftains also gave their contribution to the preservation of the monastery as a stronghold of Orthodoxy and Orthodox literary legacy. With the onset of the National Revival Movement, after the second half of the 18th c., the Monastery experienced a period of upsurge.

The present-day compound was built in the early 19th c. It is rectangular in shape and spreads on a territory of 8 800 sq. m. The Hrelyo Tower and the Holy Virgin Nativity main church stand in the Monastery’s courtyard, whereas the four-winged residential area houses more than 300 monk cells and four smaller chapels. The Monastery’s murals and wood carved ceilings are the work of Bulgaria’s foremost icon painters and woodcarvers, amongst whom the names of Zacharias, the Icon Painter, Stanislav Dospevski, and Dimitar and Simeon Molerov stand out. The Gospel scenes are dominated by representations of Bulgarian, Russian and Serbian saints. The iconostasis at the main altar is pure tracery gilt woodwork, and has been covered in gold-late. It is one of the masterpieces of the Samokov School of Master Wood Carvers. Another invaluable work of art kept at the Monastery’s Museum is the only one of its kind wood carved crucifix made by monk Raphael in the 18th c. The piece is 81 by 43 cm and contains 104 religious scenes and 650 miniature figurines. It took the artist 12 years to complete, by which time he had gone completely blind.

The Rila Monastery is shelter to some 250 manuscripts from the 11th to the 19th c., 9 000 religious incunabula, music scores, etc. The most valuable among those are the Glagolithic Papers from the 10th-11th c., two Gospels on parchment from the 13th c., a psalm-book, the famous 1577 Gospel with a gild-plate by a famous 16th c. Sofia goldsmith, and of course, the Written Legacy of the Patron Saint to his followers. The most important thing in life is to have faith and to live by God’s laws. Gluttony and greed keep man off God’s path, the Legacy reads.

The Monastery has always served as a source of eternal comfort for the Bulgarian soul. It has always held services in the Religious Slavic language and the clergy has always preached to the parish in the Bulgarian language.