Now I shall present to you the unwritten history of the village of Dobarsko and its wonderful Church St Theodore Tyron and St Theodore Stratilates. It is a reflection of the Bulgarian apocryphal legend or rather a remembrance and confirmation of this legend. Over the ages, the village life has mirrored the images of ancient civilizations, which flourished in these lands long time ago, and have laid their unique imprint on the historical and cultural picture of the Balkan Mountains.

It was several years ago that I first heard of Dobarsko village and the amazing frescoes in the old church. Since then I planned to visit the place several times, but for one reason or another I did not. Had I known what awaited me there, I would have set out right away, hitch-hiking if I had to. I would have walked through the hills at the junction of the road to Yakoruda and Velingrad and climb up to the village.

The village of Dobarsko has an extraordinary location, for its houses are perched on the hills around a small river. It is enough to go out on one of their balconies and the view just takes your breath away. The powerful bosom of the Rila Mountains could be seen at the end of the village, rising above the wooden barns and shielding the village from the northern winds. The whole Pirin Mountain is stretched right before your eyes and somewhere to the left you can see the low parts of the West Rhodopes. This place has gathered the positive energy of three mountains and when you walk on this land and breathe this air, you can feel the good force around you and inside you.

Few Bulgarian villages are equal to Dobarsko in terms of antiquity and rich historical past. Its vast glades and meadows with lush green grass, offering good pasture from early spring until late autumn, hundreds of crystal clear mountain springs with pure, ice-cold water, which merge into several rivers, and its virgin pine and broad-leaved woods, abundant in various game, attract visitors from far and wide. Add to this unearthly natural beauty the sunny exposure of the locality, which is for this reason called Pripeka (Sunny-side) and you become convinced that this unique place was once inhabited by our sensitive ancestors.

The Thracians had a stronger connection with the Mother Earth than we have now and they could sense the exact time and place for building a temple and establishing a settlement… The Bessi tribe lived in these lands thousands of years ago. They liked this place on the southern slope of the Rila Mountain, detached from the rest of the world, and they founded a settlement here. This happened so long ago, but the best thing is that Dobarsko still exists today. It is here and now! Thank God!

This is a unique place for various different reasons. Evidence of the Thracian origin of the settlement was found in the excavations at the end of the village, in the meadow near the road, which passes through Spasov Bridge. Without having a guiding clue, but following only local legends, a group of local researchers started the excavations and soon they uncovered the foundations of a church, a massive granite cross and a well-polished marble slab, with dimensions of about sixty by sixty cm, on which there was the image of a horseman. The slab was dated to about the seventh or sixth century B.C. The first settlers here and the founders of the village were, undoubtedly, the Thracians, because the horseman on the slab is no other than the Thracian Heros, or the so-called Thracian Horseman. The horseman is considered to have been connected with the villagers' belief in afterlife. In addition, the ancient people believed that he would give the people fertility, rich crop and welfare.

Historians say that by 313 part of the population in this region had already been converted to Christianity. After Emperor Constantine declared Christianity a legal religion, churches and monasteries were built throughout the Western Roman Empire, Byzantium.

Later, the Slavs came to these lands and mixed with the Thracians; and then the Bulgarians came and the village woke up for an impetuous progress.

In the time of the First Bulgarian State, Dobarsko was a densely populated settlement. In addition to stockbreeding and agriculture, its inhabitants were engaged in active trade with the whole mediaeval world and their children were sent to study in Constantinople and Thessalonica, so as to cope better with the family trade. They received the best education of their time, the one usually given to kings and clergymen.

When the revolts against Christianity were quelled, during the reign of Vladimir Rasate, boyars from the Bulgarian capital Pliska were forcibly interned in Dobarsko and were assimilated by the local population. They found here friendly and wealthy merchants and stockbreeders and permanently settled on these lands. An interesting mixture of people of rich mentality and patriotic zeal formed in this melting pot of Slavs, Thracians and Bulgarians.

Thenceforth Dobarsko became a rich cultural center with its ups and downs. Many libraries flourished here, giving the intellectuals a never-failing source of knowledge. The young people, who at the time often traveled to Constantinople and Thessalonica, donated invaluable books to the library fund.

Researcher Georgi Belyov, who was born in Dobarsko, collected pieces of information about the village for twelve long years. In his book Are All Secrets of Dobarsko Village Disclosed? he mentions one little-known fact. Belyov found evidence that a monk hermit lived in this place in 902 or 903; he passionately believed in the Christian teachings, but was unlettered. The local people sheltered him and brought him to school. With his extraordinary memory, diligence and vehement desire to learn to read and write, he not only became literate, but also continued striving for spiritual self-perfection. This was monk John, who went down in history as Saint John of Rila.

Georgi Belyov assumes that John of Rila established his most influential school among the wealthy, knowledgeable and able citizens of Dobarsko. After more than twenty years of service to God, he received enlightenment at this very place and from this moment on the divine force made him a saint, patron of the whole Bulgarian State.

This can be one explanation for the strong energy of this place, which radiates from every stone. The people, who inherited the divine power of the saint, became conductors of an amazing wave of light and faith, which can be felt in the air. Just let it enter you and harmony will set in inside you. Let yourself be cleansed.

During the period of the Ottoman Rule, the people of Dobarsko were writing books with patriotic content. The village of Dobarsko bred not only monks and clergymen, but also lay-clerks, who traveled the Empire, raising funds for the Monastery of Rila. They sang of the past of Bulgaria and kept the spirit of the Bulgarian people alive. A reverberation of this old school for singers could be heard nowadays in the songs of the elderly women of Dobarsko.

And it is only natural that a place with such divine atmosphere has given birth to sons of high mentality, who could pass on to the future generations the truth about the divine origin of man.

Such inspired masters created the mural paintings in the Church St Theodore Tyron and St Theodore Stratilates. The frescos were created in the beginning of the seventeenth century. Whenever I look at these paintings, they convey to me the spirit of the Renaissance Masters and could as well be compared to the best works of the Medieval Masters. They are reminiscent of the audacity of Hieronymus Bosch, but in a more modest and vague Balkan fashion. The style is reticent yet very expressive. Unparalleled.

I am firmly convinced that there is no other church like this anywhere in the world. And I would recommend you to go and see it with your own eyes. There is even a whole book, dedicated to this unique monument of the Medieval Bulgarian Art, which has no analogue in the world and is yet to become a focus of the world's attention.

In his book, Georgi Belyov proves that this is the oldest wholly preserved building of a church from 1122 and its frescos are dated to 1614. The church building was designed as a turret. The paints, used by the author of the frescos, were made of minerals and organic compounds. The small windows of the church have protected the mural paintings from the sunlight and thus the colors have remained vivid to this day.

Some of these frescos cannot be seen anywhere else in the world. For example, only here you could see Jesus in a rocket, the Holy Mother encapsulated in red light, even the whole life of Jesus is presented from his birth to the Doomsday, as well as an Egyptian saint in a spacesuit and many portraits of holy women, which are not very typical for the Christian churches.

So as to prove they were successors of the Proto-Bulgarians, the church founders left their ancient seal on one of the figures, on the eastern facade of the building – the Swastika. The origin of this symbol is rooted in the Wheel of the Sun also known as the Wheel of the Law. It could be seen in almost any temple of the Ancient World, and is the oldest symbol in the world, used by man. The two types of swastika occur on bronze talismans, on stones found in Pliska and Preslav, on tombstones in Great Bulgaria (Volga Bulgar), as well as on columns, appliques, ritual loaves used in baptism and wedding ceremonies, waits customs, and they are also present in the folk embroideries.

The word swastika is derived from the Sanskrit and means “conducive to well-being”. It symbolizes the sun and its eternal movement on the firmament. The bent arms of the swastika stand for the elements and it is also used as a lucky amulet. Swastika is the symbol of long life, prosperity and happiness. It is also called the Sacred Heart of Buddha.

The experience one receives in Dobarsko is as broad and profound as the symbols of the world, because the place is charged with light and goodness; all you need is some time, at least two days, to catch even a small bit of its energy inside you and bring it back to the city. Later, Dobarsko will become an addiction for you and each time you revisit it, you will discover something new; you will come back to see the new faces of the beautiful Mother Earth and to heal your soul… Come and visit Dobarsko!