ST IVAN, also known by the Anglicised name of St John, is thought to have been born in 876 in a village near Dupnitsa, south of Sofia. He was a herd keeper until the age of 25, when he decided to pursue a life of isolation and prayer. He wandered the Rila mountains and is reputed to have lived as a hermit in a cave for 12 years, refusing offerings of gold sent to him by Tsar Petar, Bulgaria’s ruler at the time. This solitary monk’s ideals attracted a band of followers, leading to the establishment of the Rila monastery. Rilski then returned to his life of seclusion in the hills, leaving his favourite pupil to take his place at the monastery. He died at the age of 70 in 946, reputedly having consumed large quantities of herbs and potions in order to embalm himself before his death, in a method similar to that practised by monks in China. However, his story does not end there. Said to have performed many miracles during his lifetime, the saint’s miraculous powers were thought to live on in his remains, which also carried a great symbolic value bound up with national identity. First, Tsar Petar had the remains taken to Sofia. In 1183 they were stolen by Hungarian King Bela III and taken to Ezstergom on the Danube. Legend has it that the archbishop of Ezstergom denied that these were the bones of a saint, for which, depending on your sources, he was either struck dumb or blind, only regaining his speech or sight after publicly changing his mind. In 1187, Byzantine emperor Isaac Angelus secured the return of the remains to Sofia, in the hope of gaining local support against the anti-Byzantine rebellion of Petar and Assen. Assen captured Sofia in 1194 and had the remains removed to his new capital at Veliko Turnovo. It was not until 1496 that these well-travelled relics finally came to rest in Rila. St Rilski’s right hand was taken to Russia in the 16th century and his left hand is now encased in silver and occasionally put on display by the monastery authorities.