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Town of Chirpan

The town of Chirpan is located in South-Central Bulgaria (Stara Zagora District) and includes a part of the Sredna Gora mountains (the Chirpan heights), and a the Maritsa River valley which runs through the Upper Thracian Plains. It is administrative center of Chirpan Municipality. The town is situated 180 meters above the sea level, on a hilly place formed by the southern slopes of Sredna Gora mountain, along the banks of the Tekirska river. It is located 201km. south-east of Sofia, 51 km. east of Plovdiv and 39 km. south-west of Stara Zagora.
Chirpan is the cultural and economic center of their region and the residence of the municipal administration. The town is the birthplace of a number of famous Bulgarian artists and musicians, most notably Peyo Yavorov, one of Bulgaria`s greatest poets.

Chirpan Monastery

The Chirpan monastery “St Atanasii” is situated just above the village of Zlatna Livada, on the right-hand bank of the Stara Reka River. The village of Zlatna Livada in turn lies about 15km to the southeast of the town of Chirpan. The monastery is built on a well-shaped hill, while on the other bank of the river one could still see remains of an old Roman fortress.

History and general info

The “St Atanasii” monastery is considered to be the oldest cloister not only in Bulgaria, but also in the whole of Europe. Moreover, it is believed that St Atanasii himself established the monastery in 344 AC. Shortly afterwards, the Candida Casa monastery was founded in Scotland in 360 and two more monasteries were built between 373 and 375 in present-day France by St Martin.
In 344 the Alexandria Patriarch Atanasii visited Bulgaria’s lands in connection to the Ecumenical Council held in the city of Serdika (343-344). According to the saint’s biography, he stopped by Beroe (present-day Stara Zagora) and established a monastery. The choice of the place by the saint is connected to his zealous support for the purity of the Orthodox religion in the context of struggles against the then-popular heresy of Arianism. It was exactly during that period that Mizia and Thrace represented one of the main “battlefields” in the struggle between the two main currents of Christianity then. Besides, the site was also chosen due to its strategic location, as it lay on the main road connecting Constantinople (present-day Istanbul) and Serdica. Last, but not least, the proximity to an important fortress, the remains of which can still be seen above the monastery, as well as the nearby Thracian holy spring must have also played their part. It is believed that most likely St Atanasii himself transformed the Thracian holy spring into a Christian one – a practice quite common at that time of transition to the new Christian religion. About 50m. away from the monastery, visitors can see the rock hermitage of the saint and his followers. The small cave was used for praying and isolation by monks during fasting periods.

As many other cloisters, the Chirpan monastery has been repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt. There is undisputed archeological evidence about its existence in the Middle Ages, while according to legends the famous Bulgarian revolutionary Vassil Levski and other rebels found shelter there during the struggle for liberation from Ottoman rule. During the socialist regime the monastery was initially transformed into a shepherds’ house but later it was restored as a monks’ cloister. In the early 80es of the 20th c., the daughter of Bulgaria’s socialist dictator herself, Lyudmila Zhivkova, supported the construction of a new spacious building within the monastery complex. One of the more recent valuable acquisitions of the monastery is an Egyptian icon of St Atanasii, gifted during the visit of the Alexandria Patriarch Petros VII in 2003.