Krupnik

Krupnik was an Orthodox episcopal centre whose links extended to the Rila Monastery. In 1577 its metropolitan, Ioasaph, donated the book known as the Krupnik Gospel to that monastery. Written in Middle Bulgarian in the early sixteenth century, it contained the four Gospels, prefaces by Theophylact of Bulgaria and tables arranging readings through the church year.

The manuscript's silver and gilded binding made it an object of both religious use and skilled metalwork. Its dated cover belongs to a wider tradition of precious Gospel bindings made under Ottoman rule. The gift connected a local bishopric with one of the region's principal monasteries, preserving a concrete trace of Krupnik's ecclesiastical patronage beyond the settlement itself.