Location: Rozhen, 7 km (4 mi) Northeast of Melnik Map
Established: 13th century
Tel. (07437) 222
Open: 7am- 9pm daily
Service: 8am daily
The Rozhen Monastery of the Nativity of the Mother
of God is a medieval monastery, the largest in Pirin Macedonia,
Bulgaria. In the past the monastery was stauropegial, and today it
is subordinated to the Nevrokop diocese of the Bulgarian Orthodox
Church. The monastery was declared in 1973 a cultural monument of
national importance.
The monastery is located on the
southwestern slopes of Pirin, a few kilometers northeast of Melnik.
The monastery gave its name to the neighboring village of Rozhen.
The early history of the monastery is not clear. A large fire at the
end of the 17th century damaged the monastery buildings and probably
destroyed the monastery archives. During excavations in the
monastery yard were found jewelry and coins by the Byzantine Emperor
Michael VIII Palaeologus (1259 - 1282). Indirect data about the
existence of the monastery in the ΧΙΙΙ century are found in a note
in a Greek manuscript. According to Ventsislav Karavalchev, the
founder of the monastery was Callist Angelicud. The earliest
reliable information about the existence of the monastery is a note
in a manuscript from the library of the Great Lavra, which says that
the manuscript was copied in 1551 by Hieromonk Cosmas, abbot of the
monastery of the Blessed Virgin Rosinotis.
In the 16th
century the Rozhen monastery experienced a rise. Towards the middle
of the century the present southern monastery wing and the main
church were built. At the end of the century the church and the
dining room were decorated with frescoes. At the beginning of the
next XVII century the southern facade of the main church was
painted, and in 1662 it was decorated with frescoes and the newly
built monastery ossuary "St. John the Baptist". After a fire in the
second half of the 17th century, the monastery fell into a difficult
situation.
The monastery was rebuilt at the beginning of the
18th century with the financial help of rich Bulgarians from all
over the country. Reconstruction began in 1715, and the church was
fully completed in 1732.
In 1761, under the pretext that
there were financial difficulties, the Rozhen Monastery lost its
independence and became a convent of the Iversky Monastery in Mount
Athos. Iberian monks were appointed abbots. At the beginning of the
19th century the construction in the monastery continued. At the
same time, it is a regional spiritual center and owns many lands in
the vicinity. At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th
century, the monastery fell into disrepair again.
In 1891
Georgi Strezov wrote about the monastery:
"Above the village is
the eponymous monastery" Rozhna ", distorted by the" Nativity of the
Virgin ". An old building, above the village. This monastery depends
on the Iberian monastery on Mount Athos. [...] It is believed that
the icon, an old image, on the eve of the holiday itself moves from
its place wanting to come out. Then the monks grabbed her and took
her outside in front of the church door. Everyone present passes
under the health icon. At this time they are trembling, fighting
over who should go first. 20 monks live in the monastery; they read
Greek. "
After 1912, a dispute arose between Bulgaria and
Greece over the ownership of the Rozhen Monastery. The dispute was
finally resolved in 1921 by the Arbitration Court in The Hague in
favor of Bulgaria.
At the end of the 60s of the XX century
restoration and conservation works on the frescoes, icons and wood
carvings began, and they were completed in the early 90s of the XX
century by a restoration team led by Lozinka Koinova-Arnaudova and
Alexander Penev. In 1981 a team led by Hristina Staneva completed
architectural and construction conservation and restoration of the
monastery.
Birth of the bridegroom
The catholicon,
restored in 1715, was painted in 1727 by Theocharis and Nikolaos -
the two painters painted the scene of the Assumption of the Virgin
with a portrait of the patron on the east wall of the porch, leaving
the signature " Nicholas. In 1732 the painter Alexios from Ioannina
painted the iconostasis icons and frescoes in the church.
Holy Mother of God Gatekeeper
While the Rozhen Monastery is
subordinated to the Athos Monastery of Iviron, following a church
tradition, it receives a copy of the miraculous icon kept in the
monastery "mother" - in this case it is the icon of St. Our Lady of
Portaitis or in Bulgarian - Gatekeeper. The original icon guarded
the gates of Iviron and hence the epithet Portaitis. The copy was
created in 1790 by the monk painter Jacob Iversky, by order of the
leather guild in Melnik. Unlike the other copies of the icon, this
one, donated to the Rozhen Monastery, is made of sacred iron and is
surrounded by ten small compositions depicting its healing miracles.
It is signed by the author: ΝΚΑΝΚΑΤΗ ΤΑΜΠΑΚΗ Κ (ΑΙ) ΚΩΝCΤΑ (ΝΤΙΝΟY)
ΛΤΖΟΥΝΗΑΛΤΖΟΥΝΗ ΕΙC ΨΥΧΙΚ / ΗC ΤΩΝ CΩΤΗ / ΡΙΑC / ΔIΑ ΧΕΙΡΟC ΙΑΚΩΒΟΥ
ΙΒΗΡΙΤΟΥ “.
The icon is considered miraculous. Every year on September 7,
worshipers from all over the country and abroad bring their gifts to
the icon and spend the night in the temple for health. On September
8 - the Little Mother of God, a temple holiday of the monastery, a
liturgical procession with the miraculous icon, blessing of the
monastery sacrifice and its distribution for health is performed.
St. John the Baptist
Nativity of St. John the Baptist is an
Orthodox church in Bulgaria, a cemetery church-ossuary of the Rozhen
Monastery, subordinate to the Diocese of Nevrokop of the Bulgarian
Orthodox Church. The ossuary was built in 1597 50 m north of the
monastery walls. The church has a nave and a pronaos, from which one
enters the crypt-ossuary, where the bones of the deceased monks are
collected. According to the preserved donor inscription, in 1662 the
church was decorated with frescoes by the abbot Theodosius and
Metropolitan Sylvester of Melnik.
The frescoes are in two rows, with full-length saints in the lower
zone and 12 scenes from the life of John the Baptist in the upper
zone - this cycle is among the earliest and most complete in the
Balkans. The iconographic scheme of the frescoes is canonical and
characteristic of the epoch. The iconostasis icons are probably the
work of the painter who painted the murals. An icon in the church
“St. St. Peter and Paul ”in Melnik.
St. Cyril and Methodius
St. Cyril and Methodius is an Orthodox
church in Bulgaria, part of the Rozhen Monastery complex,
subordinate to the Nevrokop Diocese of the Bulgarian Orthodox
Church. The church was built in 1912-1914, 200 m northwest of the
monastery, to serve the Bulgarian exarchists, who were not allowed
in the Rozhen Monastery controlled by the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
The initiator of the construction is the voivode of VMORO Yane
Sandanski. Above the south door there is a marble plaque with the
inscription: “This church was built in honor and memory of St. Cyril
and Methodius on the initiative and assistance of the citizen Yani
Sandanski. Started in May 1912 and completed in October 1914. Ivan
Konstantinov, an icon painter from Petrich, took part in the
construction and painting of the church. The church houses icons
from 1858, the work of icon painter Jacob Nicolau from Melnik. About
5 m behind the altar apse in 1915 murdered Yane Sandanski was
buried.
There are no accommodations or restaurants in the Rozhen Monastery itself. However there is a guesthouse and a restaurant about half a mile away from the abbey. Additionally Melnik near by is a fairly large Bulgarian town with hotels, restaurants and etc. Unfortunately there is no reliable transport from Melnik to Rozhen so you need to make these arrangements before coming here.