Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1916-06-13
MONASTERY To
Be CRADLE Of
Ne " BULGARIA
Venerable Institution Near Ria
Is Preserving and Fostering
Ancient TrationS Of a
War torn People,
ea..ociated Press Correspondence,

Associated Press Correspondence
Rila, Bulgaria, May 20.-"The great
task of Risky monastery is about to
be finished" said Father Eugenius to
the correspondent. This monastery
/ is the cradle Of the new Bulgaria. 1t
! is the bridge which spans the period
Of suffering and subjugation which
| divides the Bulgaria OF today from the
great kingdom of the ancient Bulgar-
| ian kings"
Father Eugenius is the head 1f this
religious institution, one of the world &
| famous monasteres which is located
about fourteen miles from Ria. HIS
predecessors have presided over az
many as 800 Greek Catholic monks.
Today the monastery houses only
| thirty five
Preserved Bulgarian Traditions.
During the rule of the TURKS, the
Monks from the monastery were sta
! toned i'm every Bulgarian town and
large village teaching the 3ulgars
| their language ana keeping alive their
faith" continued the stalwart super
! Tor. Since then conditions nave
changed To-day our church has been
re-establshed and the government
maintains good schools. With that
has passed the nee assity Of Keeping
. the large number Of members We had
formerly"
Risky monastery was founded by
| Ivan Risky between 946 and 1909 ~
I'D. Ivan of the ltila Desert, as he
was called, was an ascetie, who ae-
duired the reputation of being 4 wise
man He is said to have lived in q
cabin near the site Of the present
monastery. Invited once to visit the
court Of the king of the Bulgarians
Ivan replied that the king had better
come TO him Around this man OF
force soon collected number of dis
ciples With them he founded the
monastery. King John Shishmann, II
1879 explained the superior, gave C
the monastery the entire surrounding
then consisting of large forests OF
beach, oak and pine, covering the
slopes of the Rila mountain range. Al
the same time the monastery was
granted the right Of autonomy. \
parchment some six feet in length is
displayed as proof of this.
sultan Aids Establishment.
Sultan M@raG continued the estab-
! lishment in its rights. as a token OF
which he presented the monastery
with five foot candle of wax. which
| is also still to be seen in the library
of the monastery Little by little the
| wealth of the institution increased
| so did the number of its buildings. In
! 1892 the monastery was almost total
! " destroyed by fire, nothing remain
| ing intact with the exception of a
tower built in 1891 In rebuilding the
monastery the old walls were made
use of and care was taken to preserve
the original ByZanthian architecture.
Today the establishment forms an
| irregular quadrangle around an inter
Tor court Of about 5000 square yards.
Most of the wings are four stories
high. Lofty areades, supporting the
galleries which give connection TO the
SOC rooms and halls of the buildings,
give the whole u majestic aspect. In
the center Of the court stands the
chapel Of the monastery, and over the
steep red-tiled roofs of the quadrangle
peep the snow covered peaks of the
Rila range, of which the Stag and
King SUBMITS, $500 feet above sea
level are the highest
some Turks UnfriendIy.
Not all of the Turkish sultans We're
the friends Of the monastery. Thus
it happened that the seclusion which
Ivan Risky had sought became time
and again the only protection Bulgars
from the vicinity had against the
perils of war and misrule The mon
asterv may he reached over "A pass
from Samolkoff. but its principal an
proach lies through fourteen mile
gorge from the village of Rila. These
two approaches could be easily de-
Tended by a small number Of men.
on lust one occasion was the mon
astery overcome by military force
in 1885 the Serbian fuedal lord. ChrL
entered it. The tower of the monas-
terry is the monument of his CONVEX
sion. 1t was he who erected it.
Used as Refuge.
Three decades ago Risky monas-
terry became often the refuse of the
Bulgarian comitadies. who had their
Headquarters in the Ilila forests. Even
today the monastery is nearly seventy
miles from the railroad, as inacces-
sible as ever. and far removed from
the beaten trail,
The institution owns approximately
$4,000 acre of land. of which about
1900 acres are under cultivation. the
labor being done by hired men.
"All YOU see here is ours, said
Father Eugenius. pointing to the
fields in the gorge, the splendid beach
and oak forests. and the mountain
glades still covered with snow. We
have about $500 sheep leo cows and
more than 100 horses"
\ Generous Custom.
Asked what was done with the rev.
enue from the forests and the fields
the superior said part # Il went to the
~ eyt,
feeding free all charges and for
three days all strangers passing that
way; and that the remainder was
given to schools aud seminaries.
I'VE know little OF the war here,
he said, though we get mail regular
ly. We follow our deyltions and hope
and pray that the strife viii soon be |
over. The good monks of Risky were
rnminded of The W.T. hnWhNnr lasi