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This is on the territory of St Ivan Rilski Monastery in Bulgaria, one of the oldest operating monasteries in the Balkans (founded in the 10th century). St Ivan Rilski, the first Bulgarian monk founded it; it’s so old that it predates the Baptism of Russia in 988. It has been in continuous operation since its foundation, although the oldest extant buildings date from the 14th century. The monastery is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
This is why so much convert vapouring on the internet is so shallow, vacuous, and without any merit whatsoever. They have none of the grounding and rootedness found in holy places such as Rila… you can see the vapid shallowness in Rod Dreher, Maximos Weimar, Josiah Trenham, Patrick Reardon, and those who ape them… you can see the barely hidden heterodoxy just popping out of all their pores. Keep the rootedness of real Holy Orthodoxy uppermost in your mind… the Church’s focus is NOT on homosexuality and abortion… the Church does NOT bless rightwing politics at all… the Church blesses the State and its mission in the world; it always has, it still does, and it always will (it does NOT bless the anti-state “libertarian” rants of American “conservatives”). The Church believes that the love of money is the root of the worst evils… “conservatism” blesses the love of money… sadly, many konvertsy line up behind “conservatism”, not the Church.
Bite the coin… there be counterfeits about… long beards and self-righteous moralising do NOT equal holiness… keep the image of the truly righteous and holy always in your soul… we live in parlous times.
BMD
Voices From Russia, Too 
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