St John of Rila Day
19 October 2026 — May the little lamp light your way through the quiet Rila night.
St John of Rila is regarded as the first Bulgarian hermit and, according to tradition, the founder of the Rila Monastery. He was born in the 9th century near Skrino and later withdrew to the Rila Mountains, where he lived an ascetic life. He is believed to have died on 18 August 946. The Church honours him as the heavenly protector of the Bulgarian people. His memory is marked on 19 October, the day linked to the transfer of his relics from Sredets (today’s Sofia) to Tarnovo around 1195; they were returned to the Rila Monastery in 1469. On this day there are services, processions and pilgrimages to the monastery, often with candles and oil lamps (kandila). It is a fixed feast, so the date is the same every year. By October the nights are long and the stars appear early above the mountain, so a quiet lamp is a fitting symbol: a small light in the dark, recalling faith, humility and care for others.
Flying across the sky: An ethereal, bluish-silver figure made of luminous dots and fine connecting lines, like a constellation drifting across the sky: a small oil lamp (kandilo) with a softly flickering flame, gliding in front of the outline of a monastery with a tall tower and arched galleries
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