Holy Trinity Monastery Medkovets

Overview

The Rasovo Monastery of the Holy Trinity is located in the village of Rasovo, 30 km north of the town of Montana.
It is not known when the monastery was founded, but it was rebuilt in the 19th century. The village church "St. George" was also part of the monastery. In place of today's church there was an old one, which in the middle of the XIX century was completely ruined. Then, at the request of the villagers, they were allowed with a official decree from the Turkish sultan, issued on February 18, 1858 to build a new church of the same name. The original of this decree, published in Turkish, has been preserved and is kept in the Lom Museum. In 1865 the church was consecrated.
During the Turkish rule, the Rasovo Monastery was associated with the struggle for liberation in this area, and especially with the name of Priest Valcho Ivanov, born in Rasovo in 1768, also known as Priest Valcho Rasovski. Priest and rebel, bandit and assistant to the voivode Strahil and the voivode Ivan Kulin, priest Valcho gave his whole life for the Liberation of Bulgaria and lived to see the liberation - he lived 110 years. Sofroniy Vrachanski visited Priest Valcho and gave him a manuscript from Father Paisius to transcribe and distribute it. One of these manuscripts, written by priest Valcho, is still preserved in the Sofia National Library.
In addition to the church, the monastery also includes residential and farm buildings, which have been abandoned for decades and their condition is in dire straits.