Finding God's Grace: Rila Monastery and Boyana Church

Our driver, Calem, picked us up to take us to a monastery in the Rila mountains that is about 90 km from Sofia on Saturday since we were not allowed any more visits. We thought this was a good opportunity to learn a little bit more about our daughter's heritage. The drive took us through winding roads and small villages. We noticed that crops were grown in patches about the size of our house, homes all had vineyard trellises covering their small yards, car lots existed in the middle of nowhere, and horse drawn wagons and modern farm machinery were all part of the landscape. Bulgarians take pride in making their own rakia, wine or brandy, which is why vineyards were everywhere (we even noticed a grape trellis at the orphanage.)

The drive to the mountains was beautiful once we got out of the traffic jam of the city. The Rila Monastery, where we were visiting, was established in the 10th century by St. Ivan of Rila (Sveti Ivan Rilski) and is a source of national pride as it has endured fires and Ottoman oppression. The Rila Monks are credited with preserving the Bulgarian language and history. The Church of the Nativity is the central building and the frescos and gold covered wood carvings of the interior are unbelievable. Since photos were not allowed inside the church, check out this website to see the interior. http://www.rilamonastery.pmg-blg.com/Gallery_church_en.htm Another point to note is that our daughter's orphanage name, as listed in the documents, is St. Ivan Rilski children's home, so the orphanage was named after the Orthodox saint who established this monastery.

After leaving the monastery, we stopped at a roadside restaurant and ate on an open umbrella-covered patio. The fresh trout lunch was caught in the mountains and despite having the head and tail attached, was very tasty. The owner, a native Bulgarian, chatted with us and was very interested in where we were from since he had lived in Chicago for several years.

When we returned to Sofia, our guide took us to another national treasure that recently opened to the public, Boyana Church. According to our guide, who was an Art teacher for three years, Bulgaria was under Turkish oppression during the Renaissance, so they did not actually experience the Renaissance in Bulgaria. However, discovery of this church shows that local Bulgarian artists in the 11th century demonstrated artistic styles of detailed portraits prior to the emergence of this form of art in other areas. Basically, he believes that the Renaissance period actually began in Bulgaria. Our guide was very proud of this church and its meaning to the country.