Sofia Seminary of St John of Rila

The Sofia Seminary of St John of Rila, located in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, is the main seminary of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and an ecclesiastical institution of high education.

Founded in 1876 as the Samokov Theological School in the Sts. Peter and Paul Monastery in Lyaskovets, it later moved to the capital of Bulgaria as the city council donated a lot for the construction of a separate seminary building.

The Sofia Seminary's construction began in 1902, when Knyaz Ferdinand of Bulgaria laid the foundation stone together with the chairman of the Holy Synod, Metropolitan Simeon of Varna and Veliki Preslav, in the presence of ministers and other influential figures.