The life of St John of Rila
Giving away what little he had, he withdrew while still a young man into the wilderness to live alone in prayer and extreme poverty, for years at a time in caves and hollow trees; where and when he received monastic tonsure is not recorded. Word of his holiness spread despite his efforts at concealment, and disciples began to seek him out and settle near him, forming the community that would grow into Rila Monastery.
Some years before his death he wrote by his own hand a testament of counsel to his disciples, still treasured as one of the finest works of early Bulgarian literature. He reposed in the year 946, in his seventies. His relics were later moved more than once amid the wars of the region, at one point carried off to Hungary for several years before being returned, and became a focus of devotion across Bulgaria. He is remembered as the founder of Bulgarian monasticism and one of the most beloved patrons of the Bulgarian people.
