Trip to Kabile nun monastery (Nativity of
Theotokos) near Yambol Bulgaria
Yesterday for few hours on our way back from
Shipchenski
Monastery, we went through Kabile Monastery (a nun monastery
located 6 kilometers from Yambol Bulgaria and just 1 km away from
the nearest village
Kabile. According to Church tradition in
V-th century during the reign of Byzantine emperor Constantine on
the same place used to a huge early Christian cloister
Also according to local Church tradition,
st. Helena (Elena) - the Mother of Emperor Constantine
regularly sent her servents to take
Holy Water from the
Monastic Holy Spring. Even in the ancient times of existence
the monastery is very probably the monastery was inhabited by
nuns.
It is known the monastery continued its existence until the falling
of Bulgaria under Ottoman Turkish 5 centuries (yoke) Slavery.
According to some annalist
saint Bulgarian
patriarch Evtimiy of Tarnovo (the last bulgarian Church
autonomous patriarch before the fall of Bulgaria under the Turkish
yoke) passed through Kabile cloister during his exile by Turkish
sultan in
Bachkovo Monastery. Tradition says Turkish
soldiers believed there is a hidden treasure somewhere in the
monastery(the monasteries at 12th, 13th century was rich and often
contained many treasures). Because invaders couldn't find any
precious stones or hidden gold inside monastery Turkish soldiers
decided to burn down the monastery to the ground and buried the
holy (healing water) spring.
Onwards for many centuries the monastic holy land was deserted, but
locals from generation to generation kept the memory of the once
great monatery alive. The consequential story on how the monatery
was restored is quite long. A short version of the history goes
like this. />
In year 1919, God appeared in a vision to old village lady
Maria and told her where she has to dig to find the
centuries "hidden" holy spring. In the vision the lady was told the
monastic holy spring will be for restoration and healing of
multitudes of people suffering from all kind of diseases.
The news about the re-finding of the Holy Spring, spread in the
whole region and people started coming to drink from the Holy
Spring to cure themselves from all kind of incurable diseases. The
field where the monastery nowdays is was donated soon after by its
owner
Stoian Ganev
By God's providence in period 1919 - 1945, the monastery was
rebuilt. The monastery was restored thanks to big efforts of Georgi
Nikolov (a humble Christian) who travelled continously for years
from village to village in Yambol and Sliven region collecting
donations for rebuilding.
Kabile Monastic Yard
The monastery official name is
Birth (Nativity) of Holy
Theotokos Virgin Marry (Rojdestvo Bogorodichno) and currently
is inhabited by 7 nuns. In the monastery there is a regular
everyday morning and evening prayer service, a holy liturgy is
served every Sunday. Similar to ancient times, the monastery has a
special
baptizmal chamber. Many people choose to baptize
there children as a blessing in there. Abbot of the Monastery in
present times is the lady
Minodora.
The little "spiritual desert" of The
Nativity of Theotokos
is great place for anyone looking for a silent place for pilgrimage
to spend some time in solitude and prayer to the Lord God.
Here are few pictures from the monastery, I didn't bring a camera
with me hence I hold no copyright over pictures (copyright belong
to there respective authors):
Kabile Nun Monastery (Bulgaria) - Healing Spring water
photo
Inside the little Church of Kabile Monastery
Thanks be to God for all his kindness in showing me this nice
spiritual place :)