Rila Monastery

Rila Monastery

The RILA MONASTERY is situated in Southwestern Bulgaria, 117 km away from Sofia and 40 km away from Blagoevgrad. Rising at 1147 m above sea level, it lies amidst some of the most scenic recesses of the Rila Mountains, to which the monastery owes its name. On either side the swift and clear flowing rivers of Rilska and Drushlyavitsa flank it. The Malyovitsa peak, reaching a height of 2729 m, is within a four hours walking distance and within as many again is the Rila's highest point - Mount Moussala, rearing to 2925 m.

According to some sources, the monk hermit John of Rila who dwelt in a stone cave not far from the monastery’s main complex founded the Rila Monastery in the 10th century. The originator of the Rila foundation, who lived during the reign of the Bulgarian Tsar Peter (927-968), was raised to sainthood by the grateful Christians in sign of homage to his life work. The disciples of John of Rila, who lived at that same time, should also be merited for the creation of the monastery.

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In the middle Ages the Bulgarian rulers showed great interest in the personality of the monk and the Rila cloister of which John of Rila's life history gives valuable evidence. Byzantine and Bulgarian writers composed or made copies of sections of his lives which gave an account of moments of historical significance in the political, social and cultural life of these ages. The Bulgarian tsars Ivan Assen It (1218-1241), Kaliman I (1241-1246), Ivan Alexander and Ivan Shishman (1371-1393) made lavish gifts to the monastery. The Donation Deed of Tsar Ivan Shishman of 1378, which has been preserved until this day at the monastery museum, attests to the privileges that the monastery enjoyed and the extension of its estates. All through the 12th-14th centuries there was an upsurge of the monastery's cultural and artistic activities. Talented writers, painters and master-builders have left fascinating manuscripts, church and residential buildings, frescoes of high artistic value, remarkable works of the applied arts, woodcuts, church plates and icon paintings.

The fall of Bulgaria under the Turks at the turn of the 14th and beginning of the 15th centuries made the maintenance of the monastery's normal ways of spiritual life difficult, due to which it lost much of its power and influence inpublic life. Towards the mid-15th century it was plundered, set on fire

and destroyed. The monastic life declined. The turn of the 15th century witnessed the rebirth of the Rila establishment to a new spiritual and cultural life. The relics of John of Rila were transferred from the ruined royal city of Turnovo back to the Rila Monastery with the help of the three brothers clergymen David, Theophan and loasaph. Managing to procure a special deed from the Sultan of Constantinople, in 1466 they signed a compact for mutual assistance between the Rila Monastery and St Pantheleimon Monastery in Mount Athos. The original copy of this document is now treasured at the monastery museum. An eyewitness - Vladislav the Grammarian, in a remarkable writing, described the transfer of John of Rila’s relics. The relationships with Russia were intensified. In 1558 many monks from the Rila Monastery traveled to Russia and gathered donations in the form of money, church plates, vestment and books. In the 16th and 17th centuries the ties with the neighboring states of Serbia, Romania, Greece and mostly. with the Slav monasteries in Mount Athos, were also expanded. When Bulgaria fell under Ottoman rule in the 15th century the Rila Monastery was subordinated to the authority of the Bulgarian and Turnovo Patriarchate. Until 1766 it was within the diocese of the Ipek and Constantinople Patriarchate and up to 1870 when the Bulgarian Exarchate was proclaimed.

The National Revival Period in the 18th and 19th centuries gave a new impetus to the resurgence of the Rila cloister. Reconstructed, renovated and protected from the Turkish conquerors, the monastery turned into a center of spiritual, cultural and economic revival. Thousands of worshippers, donors, builders and painters made their way to it. Church-donors from Koprivshtitsa, Teteven, Chirpan, Stara Zagora, Gabrovo, Samokov, Sofia gave financial support for the construction or furnishing of complete premises, presented painted decoration, icons and church plates, a proof of which are the many names and portraits that have come down to us.

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The present-day appearance of the monastery is from the 19th century. The construction of the residential buildings started in 1816. Spread on an area of 8800 square meters in the shape of an irregular quadrangle, they form an enclosed ensemble. Rising in the middle of the courtyard is a high stone fortress tower built by the local feudal Sebastocrator Hrelyu in 1334-1335, and a small church dated to 1343. In 1844 added to the tower was a small belfry. Later on, the monumental building of the monastery's Principal Church of the Nativity of the Virgin was erected where the old Hrelyu Tower had once stood. It was built by master Pavel Ivanovich in 1834-1837, planned as a five-dome church with three altar niches, two side chapels and an open gallery. The richly decorated walls strengthen the impressiveness of the interior, a great diversity of compositions depicting religious scenes, and a unique woodcut iconostasis with azure fretwork.

Abundant light penetrating through the openings beneath the domes and the walls illuminates the mural paintings, gold-plated fretwork, lanterns and candlesticks thus lending optimism to the spiritual atmosphere as a whole. There is not less audacity in the master's approach to the plastic forms of the church's exterior. The three-curved balance-beam pediment is remarkable, crowning the church together with the three domes clearly emphasized above the roof. The open arcade gallery with stone columns and exquisitely curved arches with ornamental inscriptions, blind cupolas and a gallery of pictorial scenes representing subjects from the Gospel invite one to enter the temple. The execution of the monumental mural paintings carried on the traditions of the mediaeval art, yet the new age set its mark in the way of colour, purity of line and realism in the characteristic trend of the Bulgarian Revival Period. The individual stroke marks of many painters can be discerned in the frescoes of the principal church but only Zahari Zograph has signed and dated his works - 1844. By 1846, when the painting of the principal church was completed, the names of many other artists had already been entered into the monastery edifice to its present-day appearance. In 1846-1847 master-builders Milenko raised the southern wing and encircled the big monastery courtyard. In 1960 the state restored the half-ruined southeastern wing, which now houses the monastery museum.

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