Иоанн рыльский

John of Rila, a stern desert dweller, saint of the Bulgarian church and patron of the Bulgarian people, founder of the Rila Monastery, famous in the history of Bulgaria; born about 876; during the reign of Tsar Boris, shortly after the Bulgarians adopted Christianity. His young years fell during the reign of Simeon, when the Bulgarian kingdom reached its greatest prosperity, and during the apostolic activity of St. sevenths, disciples of St. Cyril and Methodius, in Macedonian land. Tales preserved in the lives of St. John, they put him into relations with the Bulgarian Tsar Peter (927–969), during which time his ascetic activity mainly ceased. St. died John in 946, October 19, in the 70th year of his life. In those first Christian times, four hermits emerged from among the population of the peninsula, to whom the foundation of four monasteries that still exist today belongs. Tradition puts this “quaternary” in the closest connection, with St. John is the main person, and the other three are his disciples. These three persons, whose monasteries are still located on Turkish territory, were: Prokhor of Pilena, Gabriel of Lesnov and Joachim of Osogov or Sarandapor. The most famous of these four hermits, however, was St. John, the place of whose exploits was the “Rila desert.” By origin, St. John was from the village of Skrino, from the borders of Sredech or Sofia. After the death of his parents, who were people of average wealth (neither rich nor poor), St. John retired to a monastery located under Mount Ruen, near his native village. And now, near the village of Skrino there is a mountain called Ruen, where (according to current folk legend) St. lived. John. Traces of ancient buildings (“dzidina”, “obrochishche”) have been preserved on this mountain; The villagers gather there on St. Valentine's Day. John (“Clear Day”) and here, after performing prayers, an ox is slaughtered and treated to baked meat. The inclination of St. John was drawn to a completely solitary, contemplative life in more inaccessible mountain areas. And after that he lived somewhere on the banks of the Struma River, between the village of Pernik and Mount Vitosha. Finally, he retired to the wildest Ryl desert. There he lived first in a hollow tree, then in a cave, where he was visited by shepherds and the surrounding population, especially when it became known that the holy hermit expelled evil spirits and healed all sorts of ailments - the deaf, lame, blind and possessed. Soon a small hermit community gathered around it, whose members built shacks for cells and a small church under the cave. An hour's journey from the present-day Rila Monastery, high above the valley, under the slopes of the “Elenin Top”, two small buildings can be seen. The eastern one is the old monastery of St. John (“starata fast”), the place of his exploits. There are three small cold caves there. One of them, where the stone on which St. stood is located. John, has an upward exit, in the form of a small hole. Devotees visiting the old monastery of St. John, they tend to crawl through this hole, but - according to popular belief - whoever is a big sinner will not crawl through. Below there is a church, the western part of which with the original tomb of St. John is also located in the cave, and the rest of the building was built in 1820. Under it, under an overhanging rock, there are four low cells, at which there is a small source (spring). Only one old monk lives here. The second, western, building, half an hour away from the first, is called the monastery (“fasting place”) of St. Luke - named after the nephew of St. John, who lived here with him. Nobody lives here now. According to monastic legends, the older, more extensive monastery was located in the valley, just under the monastery of St. Luke, where traces of old buildings are still visible. St. relics of St. John did not stay in his cave for a long time. By order of Tsar Peter, they were transferred to Sredets-Sophia. Old services in honor of Rev. John were compiled just at the time when the relics of St. John were in Sofia because they call him the “Sredechsky lamp”, “Sredechsky praise”. In Sofia St. the relics were kept until 1183. In this year, the Hungarian king Bela III, having taken the cities of Belgrade, Nis and Sredets, the relics of St. John was transferred to the Hungarian city of Gran (Strigonium, Hungarian Esztergom). 4 years later, precisely in 1187, during the Thorn uprising raised by Peter and Asen against the Greeks, the Byzantine emperor Isaac Angel managed to intercede with the Hungarians so that the relics of St. John were returned back, and he himself solemnly met them when they were transferred to the city of Sredets. He hoped that the influence of St. John, which extended especially to western Bulgaria, will help him in the fight against the rebels. But in 1194, Tsar Asen took Sredets and soon after issued an order to transfer the relics of the saint to the city of Ternovo. The transfer, in which the monks of the Rila Monastery also took part, took place very solemnly. In Ternovo St. the relics remained all the time until the Bulgarian capital was taken by the Turks and the Bulgarian kingdom lost its independence, until 1469, when they were again transferred to the Rila monastery, renewed (after the Turkish destruction) by three brothers - zealots Joasaph, David and Theophilus. The latter managed, through Sultana Maria, the daughter of the Serbian despot George Brankovich and the widow of Sultan Murat II, to petition the Sultan for permission to transfer the relics of St. John from the former Bulgarian capital to the place where he spent his ascetic life. The transfer was carried out quietly, without a solemn farewell. On the way, the procession stopped for 6 days in Sredets-Sofia, where the whole city flocked to worship St. relics. The holy relics were solemnly greeted by the abbot and the brotherhood of the Rila Monastery, as well as by numerous people far in front of the Rila Monastery, where they were brought on June 30. From that time until now St. the relics rest in the monastery church in a special ark, to the right of the royal doors. There are 6 lives of St. John and different times. The oldest life is from the 12th century, written when the relics of St. John were still in Sofia. Its author is unknown. It was first published by Hilferding (in collected works I, 124–131) according to a copy of the 17th century, Serbian edition. Recently, this life was again published by Prof. Sofia University by Dr. L. Miletich, already according to the list in the Middle Bulgarian language, XIV century (“Appendix to the Church Bulletin” 1902, books IV, V and VI). Second Life of St. John, also from the 12th century, written by the Byzantine dignitary George Skylitzes. It already tells about the transfer of the relics of St. John to Hungary and Ternovo. Posted in Vel. Chetyih-Mineiah Met. Macaria (October 18). The third is the prologue life of St. John was compiled in the 13th century, when the relics of St. John had already been transferred to Ternovo; published several times - by V. Kachanovsky, according to a list of the 15th century (“Christ. Reading” 1882, vol. II), in Vel. Chetikh-Mineiah m. Makaria (October, 20), St. Petersburg. 1860; in “Izvestia of the Academy of Sciences”, vol. VIII, according to the list of the 16th century, and in Russian – from † Archbishop. Philaret, St. Southern Slavs, dept. II. The fourth life was compiled on the basis of the first three by the last Patriarch of Tern, Euthymius, in the 2nd half of the 14th century; for the first time it was published in Kyiv in 1671, for the second time in Belgrade in 1896 (by Neophyte Rylski) and for the third, most scientifically, by Stojan Novakovic in Glasnik, book. V, link XXII, 1867, and in Russian. language - in A. N. Muravyov, Life of St. Russian Church, Iveron and Slavic, 1859. The fifth and sixth - both XV centuries, were written after the transfer of the relics of St. John from Ternovo to the Rila Monastery; the first belongs to Demetrius Kantakouzin, the second (printed in Glasnik, XXII) to Vladislav the Grammar.