Rock Church of St. Petka Tran city

Overview

The rock chapel "St. Petka", also known as the Cave of St. Petka, is a Christianized prehistoric rock-cut sanctuary in Bulgaria, acting as a rock chapel.

It is located above the Barintsi neighborhood in the town of Tran. It can be reached from the neighborhood by steps from the church of the same name "St. Petka" from approx. 1700, located on a small square.

Water flows from the ceiling of the cave, which according to folklore is from a sacred healing water source.

The rock church is located in a natural cave, located on a small hill above the spring Ralcha, in the neighborhood Barintsi in the town of Tran. Inside the cave is observed the so-called. A "rock pie" with a hole in the middle where believers light candles. "Pitata" is a stone disk of monolithic rock, decorated with solar geometric motifs, having some analogues with the decoration of Easter and St. George's breads prepared by Bulgarian Christians for both holidays.

On Petkovden (the temple holiday of the church) sick people from all over the region come here on the holiday. This tradition has an analogue with the caves with healing holy springs, dedicated to Saint Marina of Strandzha Mountain. Here, as in the holy Christianized places of the Strandzha region, the sacred water source in the cave is considered by scientists as a symbol of the afterlife - a source of memory and oblivion - known from the texts on the Orphic gold plates.

The earliest traces of human settlements found in the caves in the municipality of Tran date back to the Neolithic era. Archaeologists have found traces of three prehistoric settlements on the territory of today's town of Tran. Archaeological materials from such a settlement were found during excavations at a depth of 1 m next to the high school in the town on the banks of the river Erma. From it comes a stone ax, thick-walled coarse clay pottery with impurities, pottery with plastic and cut decoration. Based on these materials, the settlement dates back to the Eneolithic era. Traces of the other prehistoric settlement were found on the rock massif on the left bank of the river Erma, under the rock church "St. Petka", where ceramic materials from the Hallstatt and Late epochs were found in the area around it. The cultural layer was probably quite thick enough to be preserved over the millennia over the small rock terrace. The terrain around the rock is built up and archeological materials have been found in the surrounding yards. Perhaps its synchronous silver coins from Dirachion and the island of Thassos, found in Tran, are connected with this settlement. The small area of ​​the rock, as well as the later built in it rock Christian church give reason to archaeologists and historians to suggest that in prehistoric times there may have been a sanctuary near the rock, which was used by the population of the village.

The third prehistoric settlement was discovered 1 km south of the city, on the left bank of the river Erma next to the gas station. Archaeological materials from a prehistoric settlement have been discovered during the excavations for the construction of the gas station at a depth of 1 m. The ceramic materials with their various shape, production technique and decoration date back to the Bronze Age. Built in close proximity to the eastern slopes of Rui Mountain and the banks of the fast mountain river, the prehistoric settlement has experienced many floods and backfills and today is under a thick sterile layer.

According to Prof. Vasil Markov, the sacred water source from the "Rock Church of St. Petka ”successfully correlates with the one at the sacralized cave under the rock arch Tsarevi porti (near the village of Kovachevitsa), as well as with the water sources from the sacralized caves from Prilep, Bitola and Tikves in Macedonia, which are possible megarons - sanctuaries dedicated to Antiquity. Demeter and Kore.

Inside the "Rock Church of St. Petka ”are carved 2 rock steps, which the folk memory points to the steps of the saint, which are left from the time when she managed to escape from her pursuers. Then, according to legend, the pie (rock disk) with the hole in the middle located inside the cave was petrified. The stone bread / bread / disk is very reminiscent of a solar symbol and according to Prof. Markov the site can be considered as a megalithic temple of the Great Goddess Mother, where in her womb (inside the cave) her son - the Sun God was born. As a symbol of this sacred marriage and the new birth can be thought of the rock arch facing northeast, which is located next to the cave.

In front of the arch, the sick pray to the east and look for health. The penetrations are performed from the bottom to the top, as the participant in the rite finds himself in a position at the top, at the top of the scale. During a field research carried out by a team led by Prof. Markov, many ceramic fragments of handmade Thracian pottery dating from the first millennium BC were noticed here, which is evidence of rituals performed here in antiquity.

Immediately after September 9, 1944, the chapel was desecrated and looted, and during the communist years the place was used as a goat barn.

The chapel was restored by locals with their own funds in the period 1990-1994. Stairs have been built next to it, with places for rest. The facade wall of the chapel, which was destroyed, has been restored.

In 2018, the church was declared a cultural monument of local significance.

According to a medieval legend, in the cave where Saint Petka hid, persecuted by the infidels, fingerprints and footprints and a petrified bread are still kept. The saint, hiding in the cave, lit a fire and kneaded and baked bread, but at that time the pursuers entered the cave. St. Petka saw in the smoke of the burning fire that there was another way out and ran away. When the pursuers reached for the bread, it petrified.

According to Assoc. Prof. Ivan Hristov, the analysis of the legend allows us to determine that behind the image of St. Petka hides the idea of ​​a female deity, close to the image of the Great Mother Goddess - probably the goddess Hestia. Hristov considers the finds discovered in 2009 in Chetinyova Mogila (near the village of Starosel) - inside the mound were found four "stone loaves" made of tuff, and the most accurate parallel to these finds is the stone cake from the Rock Church "St. Petka ”near the town of Tran.