About 3.7km northeast of Rila Monastery, on the road to Kiril Meadow, a left-hand trail leads to St Luke’s Hermitage; look for Sveti Ivan’s picture by the steps. Built in 1798, the hermitage features a large courtyard and the Church of Sveti Luka . Take the trail for about 15 minutes to St Ivan’s Cave, where Ivan Rilski lived and is buried. Legend states that anyone able to pass through the aperture in the cave’s roof has not sinned; the generous size of the hole would seem to indicate that gluttony is the only significant one of the seven deadly sins.
