Hewn from the pale limestone cliffs above the Rusenski Lom River in northeastern Bulgaria, the churches of Ivanovo feel remarkably untouched by the churn of the centuries. Their isolation preserves an atmosphere that belongs as much to the medieval world as to the present. The river winds through a deep, forested canyon, its banks lined with karst cliffs pocked with natural caves and hollows. It was there that the hermit monks began chiseling their cells and sanctuaries, boring into the stone, and hollowing out new chambers to distance themselves from the material world and deepen their prayer.
From Mount Athos to the Rusenski Lom
In the early 13th century, the monk Yoakim established the rock monastery of St. Archangel Michael, drawing the site into the orbit of the Second Bulgarian Empire. Yoakim began his spiritual formation on Mount Athos, a mountainous peninsula in northeastern Greece that functions as a self-governing center of Eastern Orthodox monasticism.Known as the Holy Mountain, it shelters 20 historic monasteries within its borders and has been home to communities of monks practicing contemplative life for more than a thousand years. After spending years in continuous prayer, fasting, and vigil there, Yoakim returned to Bulgaria and settled with three disciples in the gorges of the Rusenski Lom.
