John of Rila

Life events

1. Born — 876

   John of Rila was born around 876 in Skrino, at the foot of the Osogovo mountain, during the reign of Boris I of Bulgaria, and worked originally as a herder before his religious vocation.

2. Ordained — 901

   At approximately age 25, John became a priest at the monastery of St. Dimitrii, located beneath peak Ruen in the Osogovo range.

3. Tonsured — 901

   After ordination, John accepted the monastic habit and departed the monastery of St. Dimitrii to pursue a solitary life of prayer in isolation.

4. Pilgrimage

   John lived in isolation across several locations before settling in the Rila Mountains, dwelling in caves under conditions of severe austerity; his reputation for miracles drew growing numbers of disciples who established camps around his cave.

5. Other

   Tsar Peter I of Bulgaria traveled approximately 450 km to the Rila Mountains seeking John's counsel; John refused a direct meeting to avoid vanity, and the two exchanged bows from a distance. John returned the tsar's gold, advising that rulers need wealth to protect the country and aid the poor.

6. Wrote — 946

   Shortly before his death, John composed his Testament (Bulgarian: Завет, Zavet), a literary and moral instruction addressed to his successors and to the Bulgarian people.

7. Died — 946

   John of Rila died on 18 August 946. His dormition is commemorated in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church on August 18 and October 19 each year.

8. Translated

   John's relics — credited with wonder-working powers — were transferred successively: to Sofia under Peter I; to Esztergom when Hungarian King Béla III took Sofia in 1183; back to Sofia in 1187; to Veliko Tarnovo by Tsar Ivan Asen I in 1194; and finally returned to the Rila Monastery in 1469 at the request of Sultana Mara Branković, widow of Murad II.

Relationships

Documented claims

• John's full Bulgarian liturgical title is Свети преподобни Иван Рилски Чудотворец — 'Saint John of Rila the Wondermaker' — an explicit wonder-working epithet present from the earliest hagiographic accounts. (certain)
• The Rila Monastery — a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Bulgaria's foremost monastery — grew from the camps of disciples who gathered around John's cave; he is traditionally regarded as its founder. (likely)
• An icon of John of Rila appears on the national side of Bulgarian 1 euro coins, continuing a tradition from the 1999 1-lev banknote and the 2002 1-lev coin. (certain)
• The St. John of Rila Chapel, built in 2003 at St. Kliment Ohridski Base on Livingston Island, Antarctica, is the first Eastern Orthodox edifice on the continent and the southernmost Eastern Orthodox place of worship in the world. (certain)
• The Ioannovsky Convent in St. Petersburg — the largest convent in that city — commemorates John of Rila, extending his veneration from Bulgaria into Russian Orthodox practice. (certain)