The Bulgarian Orthodox Church marks today the Dormition of St. John of Rila (Ivan Rilski), patron saint of Bulgaria and the Bulgarian People. St. John of Rila was born around 876 in the village of Skrino located at the foot of the Osogovo Mountain. He was a contemporary of the reign of Knyaz Boris I and his son Vladimir, Tsar Simeon I the Great and his son Tsar Peter I, when Christianity was spreading across Bulgaria.
At the age of 25, St. John of Rila became a priest at St Demetrius monastery located under Ruen peak. After accepting the life of a monk, he left the monastery in order to continue his life in solitude and prayer. Later he settled in Rila and founded the Rila Monastery. He died in 946 and was buried in the small church in the Rila Monastery. St. John of Rila was canonized around 980.
Volunteers joined the efforts to clean and restore the monastery St. Spas near Bakadzhik peak. The campaign is being organized on 2 November by Stoimen Petrov, mayor of the nearby village of Chargan, the Bulgarian news agency BTA reports. The..
There are three special days on the calendar of the Bulgarian Orthodox church, on which believers pray to God and give alms to honour the memory of their dear departed. The three All Souls’ Days always fall on the Saturdays before Meat..
One frosty November morning in 1917, as World War I was raging, a Zeppelin L 59 took off from the air base near Yambol bound for Tanzania. The purpose of the flight was to deliver ammunition and materials to the German military units in a remote..
The Patriarchal Cathedral of St Alexander Nevsky is celebrating its temple feast today. The cathedral, a symbol of the Bulgarian capital, was built "in..
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