Description
The truth St. Ivan Rilski searches in God, books and morality. Devoted to monasticism and hermitage. He spent 12 years in a stone cave. Then he settled in the hollow of a tree. The sick and unfortunate began to come there from everywhere, they blessed the strange hermit, and he begged God for health for many.
When the fame turned out to be big and noisy, he ran away to the mountains, where he discovered the wonderful Rila desert and knew in it his home forever. Many came to the place, wanting to join the sanctity of this Bulgarian. Thus was laid the beginning of the temple, which today is a shrine in Bulgarian history – the Rila Monastery, whose first abbot was Ivan Rila himself.
St. Ivan Rilski is the patron saint of Bulgarians, mining and geological workers.
The Orthodox calendar honors him on October 19 – Father’s Day.
