John of Rila

An orphaned shepherd according to the later Lives, John withdrew into the Rila mountains and lived there for decades in a cave and then in the hollow of a tree. His reputation reached the court: Tsar Peter I climbed the mountain to see him and obtained only a conversation at a distance, the hermit refusing to accept gifts. The Testament attributed to him, dated 941, shows a community already under rule and names a successor for him, five years before his death. Under Ottoman rule the monastery of Rila was one of the few places where the Bulgarian language and letters were handed on — which made John, far more than an ascetic, the national saint of Bulgaria. 18 August is the day of his death, the date kept by the Roman calendar; the East celebrates him above all on 19 October, for the translation of his relics.