ABOUT THE MONASTERY
Bassarbovo monastery is the only active rock monastery in Bulgaria today. It is situated in the canyon-like valley of the river
Lom, home of another three hundred rock premises, forty of which has been used as churches. Most of the monasteries were inhabited after XIIth century AD and some of them even before that. Some of them were naturally formed, while others were cut out by man. The name of Bassarbovo monastery is mentioned for the first time in 1431 in the Turkish tax records. In XVI century the monastery was abandoned. In 1973 it was restored by monk Chrisant. In 1937 the chapel was also errected. On the 21st of May 1953 the Romanian Patriarch Yustinian accompanied by Romanian and Bulgarian Episcops visited the monastery. The 300th anniversary of the death of St. Dimitar Bassarbovski was solemnly celebrated on the 27th of October 1985. The Bulgarian Patriarch Maxim and the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church officiated a Holy Mass. Since then the public fair of the monastery is celebrated on the 27 th of October.
Nowadays the monastery is very beautiful and well preserved. The green yard is decorated with lots of flowers, bushes and fruit trees. The path in the yard leads to a well, dug out by St. Dimitar. The water within is healing and many of the visitors after tasting it come back to the monastery again. At the rock’s foot there are 2 living rooms and a cave refectory entirely renovated in the last few years. 48 stairs lead to the rock terrace exhibiting a fascinating view to Lom’s valley . There are the small encove, where according to the legend St. Dimitar used to sleep, and the rock church with wood-craved iconostasis. Across the church are situated 2 monk’s cells, where lived father Chrisant. Other stairs lead to a naturally formed cave where father Chrisant was buried. There is a wall painting of the father painted by Petar (artist from
Razgrad).
Bassarbovo monastery is visited by a lot of pilgrims and tourists from all over the world.
Ivanovo rock churches are situated 15 km from Bassarbovo monastery. They have been included in the List of UNESCO protected historical monuments as ones of worldwide significance.
THE LEGEND
There is little information about the life of Bulgarian saint Dimitry Bassarbovsky (St. Dimitry of Bassarbovo). From his hagiography we learn that he was born in the village of Bassarbovo, which is situated 15 km of
Russe.
One day he decided to go to a monastery, not far from his native village. He became a monk and lived there to the end of his life. He died on the bank of the river
Lom, between two rocks. After a hard rain, the river flooded, the saint's body fell into the water and was buried under the river sand. A blind girl had a dream about the saint. On the next morning she described the exact place in the river, were his body lay. His intact body was taken out from the water and placed into the village church. The saint performed a lot of miracles there.
In 1774 the first Russian-Turkish war ended. Russian general Peter Saltikov took the relics of St. Dimitry from Bassarbovo intending to transport them to Russia. In the city of Bucharest, Romania, his translator and counselor asked the general to give the body of the saint to Vlahia as reparation for its losses during the war and the general agreed.
Nowadays the body of St. Dimitry Bassarbovsky is kept in a coffin with a silver cover in the Patriarchal Cathedral "St. St. Constantine and Elena" in Bucharest and the saint is the protector of the Romanian capital city.
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