One of the most enigmatic Bulgarian treasures is hidden away in … Greece. A secluded sanctuary of Orthodox Christianity, the Zograf Monastery on Mount Athos was named after St. George, who miraculously covered an empty piece of wood with his own image overnight.
The Saint George the Zograf Monastery – called Zografou in Greek and Zograf in Bulgarian, is the only Bulgarian monastery on Mount Athos. Located on the western coast of the peninsula, it is set the furthest inland, while most of the other monasteries are along the coats.

It was founded by three Bulgarian monks from Ohrid – Moses, Aaron and Ioannis, at the beginning of the tenth century. Story has it that they could not agree on a patron saint after which to name the monastery. So they prepared a wooden panel for the icon, left it in the church and retreated to pray to God to reveal them the name of the saint. In the morning, upon entering the church, they discovered the panel – left empty the night before, was bearing the image of Saint George, who they called Zograf – ‘the Painter’.

According to legend, at the same time that this miracle was taking place, the image of Saint George disappeared from a monastery in Syria as it was being attacked by Muslims. The monks from that monastery heard a heavenly voice telling them that Saint George the Miracle Maker had chosen a new monastery and they should follow him there.

Thus, the monastery was named after him and he is considered its patron saint. Its main church, also bearing the saint’s name, now keeps this icon of the Dragon Slayer, wearing armour decorated with medals.

Another of the monastery’s icons, also depicting Saint George, is worth mentioning as well, because of its origins and its ascribed miracle-making powers. Supposedly, it floated on the sea to the Vatopediou Monastery and was then brought to the Zograf Monastery by an untrained donkey.

In addition to the main church of Saint George, completed in 1817, the Bulgarian monastery has another church – the smaller Assumption church, from 1764, as well as numerous chapels scattered around its grounds.

One of the most important events that marked the monastery’s history was the burning of 26 men in 1275. When the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Paleologos ordered the formation of a union with Catholic Rome as a way to buttress his power, the monks on Mount Athos stood firmly against it. Since he did not want to attack the Greeks, he went after the Slavic monks. Crusaders, under the Emperor’s orders, attacked and burned 22 monks and four laymen in the Zograf Monastery’s tower, which was raised by Ivan Asen II, the medieval Bulgarian ruler and benefactor of the monastery.

A fresco in the Saint George Church depicts the event. The monks’ death is also commemorated by a monument in the monastery’s internal courtyard, raised in the tower’s place in 1873. The martyrdom of the 26 men is marked each year on October 10.

Another notable aspect of the Zograf Monastery is its rich library filled with about 100,000 printed books and around 500 precious manuscripts. Among them is the original rough copy of Istoriya Slavianobulgarska (Slavonic-Bulgarian History) by Paisius of Hilendar. The book, written in 1762, is credited with the restoration of Bulgarians’ national pride after centuries of Ottoman rule, and still has a major significance for their national and historical consciousness.

During the late socialist era, a Bulgarian secret agent sneaked the book into Bulgaria, provoking a long-standing bilateral dispute with Greece. The treasured medieval manuscript was returned to the monastery in 1998. Now negotiations are under way again, this time to legally transfer Paisius’s book back to Bulgaria.