[1] He was born in the southwestern town of Bansko (or possibly in the village of Guliyna Banya) of Pirin Macedonia.

[2] Benin was educated to become a teacher, initially by his father Petar, and later at the Rila Monastery, where he studied iconography and had access to Greek and Church Slavonic books.

He stayed in the monastery despite being offered higher positions in the Orthodox hierarchy, such as becoming a bishop or the rector of the projected Tarnovo seminary.

In 1835, Rilski issued his Bolgarska gramatika, the first grammar book of modern Bulgarian language.

Neofit Rilski made the first popular translation of the New Testament in modern Bulgarian language (not a mixture between Church Slavonic and vernacular elements), commissioned, edited and distributed by the American missionary Elias Riggs.