John of Rila
Bulgarian hermit (876–946)
Feast: 18 August (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Saint Ivan of Rila, also known as Ivan Rilski (Bulgarian: Свети преподобни Иван Рилски Чудотворец, romanized: Sveti prepodobni Ivan Rilski Chudotvorets, lit. 'Saint John of Rila the Wondermaker'; c. 876 – 18 August 946), was the first Bulgarian hermit. He was revered as a saint while he was still alive. The legend surrounding him tells of wild animals that freely came up to him and birds that landed in his hands. His followers founded many churches in his honor, including the famous Rila Monastery. One of these churches, Saint John of Rila was only discovered in 2008 in the town of Veliko Tarnovo.
Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), until this page is written up in full.
The miracles
Limited information is available on this saint so far.
Why that counted as sanctity
Limited information is available on this saint so far.
- Santi e Beati — San Giovanni di Rila, anacoreta — santiebeati.it: 'San Giovanni di Rila, Anacoreta, Skrino, Bulgaria, 876 circa - Rila, Bulgaria, 18 agosto 946, festa 18 agosto' — listed without the 'Chiese Orientali' qualifier. Died 946, before the 1054 schism; honoure
- Wikidata Q351805 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — John of Rila (CC BY-SA)
Not yet written up in full. The Catholic source above names this person; the name, dates and step come from Wikidata and are not yet checked against Church records.