Cherepish Monastery - Rising above the Iskar river

History links the name of Sophronius of Vratsa also with another monastery quite remote from the Kapinovo one - the Cherepish Monastery. Like all other Bulgarian monasteries, it also rises above a river - the Iskar, more precisely in its pass through the Balkans. Sophronius of Vratsa hid here twice: 1798 & 1799. The future author of the first Bulgarian autobiographical novel probably did not choose Cherepish Monastery by accident as it possessed one of the richest libraries. Throughout centuries, it was inhabited by men of letters, translators and calligraphers who have left us with such valuable works as the Cherepish Gospel of the 16th century, bound in 1512 with gold covers and depicting scriptural scenes; the Gospel of the Monk Danail, Jacob's Book of Apostles (both dating from the 17th century), and the Margarit collection of sermons and precepts compiled by Priest Todor of Vratsa in 1762.

The approximate date of the monastery's emergence is certified in wilting: a deed recorded between 1390 and 1396 is kept today at Sofia's Church Historical and Archaeological Museum. Some of the murals in the old church were possibly painted about the mid-19th century by Tryavna artists, but are badly damaged. The loss is somewhat compensated by the skilfully carved iconostasis and bishop's throne.