Rozhen Monastery-the biggest monastery in the Pirin Mountains
If it had not been for the Rila Monastery, the Rozhen Monastery near Melnik would have been the largest one in Bulgaria today. And indeed this could have happened in the 9th Century. Legend has it that for some time hermit Ivan Rilski used to live in the area near Melnik where the Sveto Rozhestvo Bogorodichno, or Birth of the Holy Virgin, Monastery stands today. In search of a secluded and quiet spot, he took to the Rila Mountains and established the monastery which is Bulgaria’s most popular tourist landmark.
The Rozhen Monastery gives precedence to the Rila Monastery in terms of size and fame – but this is an advantage. You will meet fewer tourists in its magnificent environs or in front of its mediaeval frescoes.
When you drive along the asphalt road or walk up the tourist trail from Melnik to the Rozhen Monastery, you will get to a hilltop that affords a picturesque view of Melnik’s sandstone pyramids, the southern slopes of the Pirin and the Slavyanka Mountain, which separates Bulgaria from Greece.
In the 13th Century, the area was under the rule of Despot Aleksi Slav. He declared his political independence from the Bulgarian kings, but shared their views about the responsibilities of the good ruler and gave generous financial support for the construction of the cloister. In 1220, a century after it was founded, the Rozhen Monastery was already renowned for its calligraphic school. The manuscript with interpretations of the Book of Job and 117 miniatures that is now kept in the Church of the Holy Sepulche in Jerusalem was made there.
Nothing else has remained from those days. The monastic quarters, the farm buildings and the ossuary which from the hexagonal complex date from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. On entering the heavy, iron-clad gate – in the Middle Ages the monastery was often plundered and set on fire – you will find yourself in a splendid stone courtyard with white facades, wooden verandas and high walls.
The wonderworking icon in the Rozhen Monastery was made in 1790 by a monk named Jacob, who crafted a replica of the Moni Iviron icon of Panaga of Portaitissa. The legend attributes the original to the first icon painter in history, Like the Evangelist. For some reasons, it was in the possession of a widow in Nicea in the 9th Century. When the soldiers of iconoclastic Byzantine Emperor Theophilus invaded the city, she was worried about the icon and chose to throw it into the sea rather than see it destroyed. The icon did not sink, but floated on the waves. In 999 it reached the Georgian Iviron Monastery on Mount Athos, where it stood over its gate by itself. This is where its name Portaitissa, or Gate Keeper, comes from. This story as well as the miracles it performed on Mount Athos are the subject of the miniatures that are set in oval frames around the Rozhen icon.
In the centre of the courtyard stands the Sveta Bogoroditsa, or Holy Virgin, Church, in its version from the late 16th Century. Some of the murals on its western façade date from that tome too, but most were painted in 1732, when following a fire the church was restored on donations from the local population. The people living in the surrounding areas were not tightfisted.
The glass paintings, made in 1715, on one of the northern windows resembles that in Kordopulovata Kashta, or Kordopulov’s House, and other rich men’s homes in Melnik. The gilded, dark blue wood-carved iconostasis carries the vine-shaped signatures of the then famous masters of the Debar and Samokov schools.
Like any major monastery in Bulgaria, the one in Rozhen also boasts a wonderworking icon. The Holy Virgin is a replica of the Portaitissa icon, which performed miracles in the Iviron Monastery. The reason?
In 1761 the complex near Melnik became a convent of the monastery in Mount Athos and, in keeping with tradition, received a copy of the wonderworking icon. To see if you need to go into the St. ST. Kozma and Damyan Chapel.
After the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 the borderline location of the Rozhen Monastery became the object of an ownership dispute between Bulgaria and Greece. Initially, the Greeks prevailed and as a result a second church appeared some 200 yards from the monastery. The St. St. Cyril and Methodius Church was built for the Bulgarians in 1914 on Yane Sandanski’s initiative. When a year later the revolutionary was killed, he was buried in the church yard as he had wished. The dispute was settled in 1921, when the International Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled in favour of Bulgaria.
Today the only debatable issue could be why the monastery inn, which was built in the 18th Century with money from Melnik’s craftsmen and traders, does not function as what it was meant for. But most discussions are settled in favor of the excellent mehana, tavern, with a motel in the centre of the nearby village of Rozhen.
