The Kilifarevo Monastery "Saint Dimiter" is situated in a valley at a distance of 5 km from Kilifarevo, Veliko Tarnovo District. At the time of Ivan Alexander around 1348 Teodosii Tarnovski built a big monastery over a high hill. The archaeological excavations revealed remains of this ancient sacred place, which was a spiritual centre of medieval Bulgaria during the second half of XIV c. The main merit for the boom of the old monastery belongs to Teodosii Tarnovski. He came from a noble boyar's kin close to the king. Devoting his life to good deeds and piety he travelled round the Bulgarian monasteries. He spent some time at Paroria, where he met the great Byzantine theologian Grigorius Sanait - one of the ideologists of the isihasm in Byzantine. Teodosii Tarnovski was accepted at the Parorian monastery and became deeply convinced isihast. After the death of Grigorii Sanait he travelled round the Bulgarian monasteries and after long wandering he settled near the village of Kilifarevo. The monastery there was built with the help of the king. It grew fast and became famous among the Balkan Orthodox people. Here was concentrated the book school of the capital. The great literary man and future Bulgarian patriarch Evtimii also studied in this monastery. After the fall of Bulgaria under the Ottoman yoke the monastery was burned down by the Turks. In 1718 at the foot of the hill was rebuilt the present-day monastery. However, during the Kardzhali outrages at the end of XVIII c. and the beginning of XIX c. the church sustained serious damages in the western part. At the renovations the builder stuck a new building to the old one. The new church was considerably more spacious. In 1840 Kolyo Ficheto built third church which is the biggest one. Its internal space is in the form of a cross. The housing and farming buildings are arranged in a chain to the south of the church forming a rainbow spreading to the river. Most interesting are the mural paintings from 1718. The Kilifarevo Monastery possesses some precious icons made by the Tryavna icon-painters Ionko Popvitanov and Dosyo Koyuv, as well as the famous icon of Joan Rilski with scenes from his life, painted by Krustyo Zahariev.
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Icon of Saint Dimiter
