136
Information collected by
the
Russian Consul in Salonica about the state of public education in Macedonia is forwards diplomatic channels
to the Director of the Asian Department in Petersburg
at the request of the Slav Committee
in Odessa
June 8th 1873
Our Consul in Salonica
presented to me a list of the towns and Bulgarian villages in Macedonia,
which need schools for the people, as well as notes about the needs of the existing
schools. This
data was collected by our Consul at the request of the secretary of the
Slav
Committee in Odessa,
in view of his intention of collecting donations for the Bulgarian
schools
during the current year. I consider it my duty to forward this list for
the
information of Your Excellency.
Notes about the towns
and Bulgarian villages in Macedonia,
which need people's
schools and the needs of the existing
schools
Towns:
Salonica. There is one school,
where the basic subjects are taught; there is one teacher; pupils: 30 boys, 15 girls. The Bulgarian commune is
taking care both of the improvement of the teacher himself, and of the
building
of a church dedicated to the Slav enlighteners Cyril and Methodius in
Salonica,
the birthplace of these saints. At least 3,000
rubles per
year are necessary for the school alone. There are 40 settlements in the region of the town of Salonica, 8 of which are inhabited
by Greeks and all the rest - by Bulgarians. From the
latter settlements, only in Tserovo, which is at a distance of
8 hours from Salonica, is there a people's school
which is administered
from Salonica; in it there is one teacher and 60
pupils.
Church services in the Slav language started in Tserovo a year ago; six
months
ago the following villages started to express a wish to have their own
school
and church service in the Bulgarian language:
Kirechkyoi - 600 houses, at a distance of one hour from Salonica
Negovan - 350 houses, at 9 hours from Salonica
Vissoka - 250 houses, at a distance of
8 hours from Salonica
Aivatovo - 230 houses, at a distance of
3 hours from Salonica
Gyuvezna - 200 houses, at a distance of
4.5 hours from Salonica
Souho - 500 houses at a distance of 7 hours from Salonica. One school master and one
school mistress should be
appointed in Kirechkyoi and Souho, because of their
numerous
population; an annual upkeep of between 30 and 40 Turkish Uras should be provided;
the villages should also be supplied
with a set of church books each.
Seres - 6,000 houses; there are 150
Bulgarian
villages in the region of the town, one school in the town and one in
the village
of Gorno Brodi.
Nevrokop - 1,500 houses; 100 Bulgarian villages are included in the region;
in the town itself there
are two schools - a boys' and a girls' school.
Melnik - 1,500 houses; the region
covers 150 Bulgarian villages; there is one
school.
These three towns need
church
books
and cash aid tp open boys' and girls' schools in the neighbouring
villages with
more numerous population.
Bulgarian settlements
situated along the Salonica-Veles
(Kyupryuli) railway line
Topchin - 50 houses, at a distance of
4 hour from
Salonica
Vardarovtsi - 100 houses, at a distance of
6 hours from Salonica
Karassoule - 100 houses, at a distance of
9 hours from Salonica
Gevgeli — 200 houses, at 12 hours from Salonica
Sehovo - 60 houses, at 13 hours from Salonica
Bayaltsi — 60 houses, at 14 hours from Salonica
Gorichitsa - 50 houses, 16 hours from Salonica
Bogdanitsa — 200 houses, 16 hours from Salonica
Stoyakovo — 65 houses, 17 hours from Salonica
Valandovo - 100 houses, 15 hours from Salonica
All these settlements need
teachers
and church books, while Gevgeli and Bogdanitsa also need a school
mistress.
Tikvesh - in this region there are 50 villages, of which at least six should have a
teacher each, judging by
their population.
Goumendje - 500 houses, has two
churches. In one of them the church service is in Slav. There is one
school
under the administration of the Salonica school, with a teacher and 80 pupils. The settlement needs a school mistress.
There are 20 settlements around Goumendje, in at
least five of which a teacher should
be appointed, judging by their population, and a set of church books
should be
provided.
Polyana - a town of 1,200
houses, at 8 hours from Salonica. There are 20 villages in its region.
Strumitsa - 1,300 houses. In the region of that town there are 20 Bulgarian settlements. The only Bulgarian church
in Strumitsa burnt down
three years ago.
The Maleshevo district
near
Strumitsa covers 15 Bulgarian settlements. All need
teachers, school mistresses and church books.
Radovish - 1,000 houses, at 35 hours from Salonica. More than 35 villages are situated in
its vicinity. In Radovish there is one school with a school master and 80 pupils; a school mistress is needed as well as
church books for the
villages.
Settlements situated on
the Salonica-Bitola (Manastir) road
Gorno and Dolno
Koufalovo - 400 houses, 6 hours from Salonica
Litovoi - 60 houses, 8 hours from Salonica
Enidje Vardar - 600 houses, 9 hours from Salonica
Voden - 500 houses, 16 hours from Salonica; in the region there are 6 villages.
All these towns and
villages need school masters and school mistresses.
Kostour (Castoria) - 2,000 houses; there are 150
Bulgarian
villages in the region, of which only 3 have schools; Kostour
itself has neither teachers nor church books.
Available teachers in
the Bulgarian schools, in Macedonia
and where they have
received their education:
In Ohrid - G. Purlichev, educated in Athens,
but a zealous Bulgarian.
In Prilep - N. Ganchov, a student of Naiden Gerov
In Veles - F. Popovich,
educated in Russia
In Stip - G. Kovachev, also educated in Russia
In Salonica - M. Boubotinov, a student of Filaretov
In Koukoush - V. Machoukovski, studied in Russia.
In their work all these
teachers
are guided by the textbooks published by Danov in Plovdiv (Philippopolis); translations
from
the Russian are also used.
There is a shortage of books
with
religious, historical and philological contents in Ohrid, Prilep,
Veles, Stip,
Salonica and Koukoush-Seres.
NOTE
The schools in Salonica,
Tsarevo,
Kostour and Seres receive support from the Macedonian Society in Constantinople. In general, the Bulgarian
schools are far
from thriving. The Bulgarian people are sinking in poverty and
ignorance.
Those Bulgarians, who have received any education, in spite of their
zeal to be
of help to their compatriots, are deprived of funds. The Greeks take
advantage
of this weakness on the part of the Bulgarians to set up societies for
the
dissemination of the Greek alphabet and letters in Macedonia; they
train young
Greeks to occupy the posts of teachers; open new schools, give aid in
the form
of money and books to the existing Greek schools. The Society in Seres,
for
instance, is responsible for sending books and money to Kavala, Enidje,
Melnik,
Nevrokop and the vicinity. The Society in Salonica takes care of Voden,
Goumendje, Enidje Vardar, Negosh, Strumitsa (where a school master and
a school
mistress have been sent from Athens to teach free of charge), Polyana
(Doyran),
Veles (Kyupryuli), Prilep, Kostour (Castoria), Kroushevo and Ohrid.
The Seres Society is under the
secret chairmanship of the Metropolitan there, whereas that in Salonica
— under the secret chairmanship of the Greek
Consul; the two of them have
contacts with the Society in Athens, from where they receive money and
books;
what is more, they have patrons in Constantinople, Vienna and
Odessa from
among the Greeks living there.
Государственньiй исторический архив Ленинградской области (State Historical
Archive of the Leningrad District), ф.
500, on.
1, ед. хр. 8, л. 41—45; the
original is in Russian
137
A dispatch to the newspaper
Radenik1
about the Bulgarian-Greek conflict in Ohrid and Seres
July 5th, 1873
A report has come from Ohrid
that a
fierce struggle has flared up between Bulgarians and Greeks. Everything
that
has happened so far shows that the Bulgarians will be victorious. A
veritable
revolt has broken out in Seres. In no way do the people wish to accept
the
Greek bishops and they curse them. It has been reported that the
inhabitants of
several villages in the region of Dospat drove out the bishop's deacons
who had
been sent from Seres to collect the bishop's tax from the people. On
hearing
this, the bishop of Seres went himself, accompanied by several
zaptiehs, ‘to
enlighten’ the unenlightened people. But the disobedient Slavs rose and
threw
stones at the bishop.
В. „Раденик", Белград (Newspaper Radenik),
Belgrade, No. 80, August 5, 1873; the original is in Serbo-Croat
1 A
newspaper published by Svetozar Markovic,
Serbian revolutionary democrat and utopian socialist
138
A report to the newspaper
Pravo
from Seres describes how Phanariots attacked a Bulgarian teacher and
his wife
July 17th, 1873
The examinations at the
Bulgarian
school on June 29th this year took place under shocking circumstances.
While
the pupils were being examined, a group of Greeks
rushed into the school and cried: 'Damnation
to all Bulgarians!' After
saying this,
they
ran away.
The Bulgarians were magnanimous enough to
take no notice of this impudence, and the examinations were continuing
when a
group of Greek pupils appeared, and, noisily climbing the stairs of the
Bulgarian school, began stamping with their feet and hooting at those
present.
Most of the latter wanted to punish this impertinence; but, persuaded
by the
Bulgarian teacher, they gave up the idea and contented themselves
merely with
putting a watchman at the school gate. Owing to this measure, the
examinations
were able to proceed normally, without any further interruptions of
this kind.
Since that day, the
Bulgarian
teacher
has hardly been able to go out into the street alone, without being
exposed to
the imprecations of the Greeks or to the danger of being hit by stones
thrown
at him. Three days ago, on his return from a walk, together with his
family, he
approached a group of about ten young Greeks, who swore both at him and
at his
wife. Then the Greeks called them 'unsalted Bulgarians' and threw sand
at them,
saying that they wanted 'to salt' them. The next day, on her return
from
church, passing through a locality called St George the teacher's wife
was hit
senseless by a stone thrown at her.
On the third day of this
month, the
said teacher was going for a walk accompanied by his servant, when
about 30 Greeks, who had been following them, began to
swear and throw stones at
them.
Mr. Salgandjiev (this is
the
name
of the teacher) complained to the local myutesarif about all these
insults and
demanded that the governor of Kondou-Kosti, a member of the district
civil
court, be brought before the authorities, because the teacher accused
him of
being the instigator of all these outrages. The myutesarif sent a
zaptieh to
bring him there. The zaptieh returned and reported that the person
would come
in an hour. But he did not keep his promise. A representative of the
civil
authorities went to his house and took him under guard. But, on the
way, the
man managed to escape and hid in the Greek consulate.
On hearing of his escape,
the
myutesarif was very angry, so they say. Soon afterwards he was informed
that
the man was a Greek subject and as such he refused to submit to the
Turkish
authorities. Then the myutesarif gave an order that Athanasaki (the
Greek
member of the court) be told to bring his governor there himself.
Athanasaki
came to the town hall, but, without seeing the myutesarif, he talked
with the
binbashi for a while, and then went home. The teacher waited one whole
day for
the result of his complaint. When he went to the myutesarif again, the
latter
told him in Turkish: 'Come now, school master, you are a good man, go
mind your
business, I'll bring him here!'
This manner of giving
justice
surprised the plaintiff, but he had to submit.
If the interference of the
Greek
consuls in affairs in which they have no lawful right to meddle, is not
to the
liking of the Turkish authorities, that is then-affair, but it is not
fair that
the Bulgarians should suffer for it.
The patience of the
Bulgarians
is
really a miracle, but the miracles are decreasing day by day, and the
Greeks
must not abuse the favour which they have lately been enjoying on the
part of
the Turkish Government.
В. „Право", Цариград (Newspaper Pravo),
Constantinople, No. 20, July 30th, 1873; (Supplement) the original is in Bulgarian
139
A report from V.
Maximov, Russian Consul in Bitola, to N. P. Ignatiev, Russian
Ambassador in Constantinople,
concerning the church question in the Pelagonian
Diocese
October 14th, 1873
In the opinion of the local
Austro-Hungarian Consul Mr. Okuli, Bitola
and
its vicinity is 'Bulgaria'
and he considers that after the Bulgarian Bishop arrives here, the
Greek
prelate will have to leave the country because of lack of parishioners
and of
revenue for the maintenance of his bishopric.
I do not share the extreme
view of
my colleague, but nevertheless it is my duty to state that since the
existence
of two church administrations in the Eastern Orthodox Church in Turkey has become a necessity, the
Bulgarian
hierarchy has the indisputable right to stay in Manastir (Bitola) at feast
side by side with the Greek
bishop. Of the three thousand Christian households here, 2,200 are Bulgarian, while the other 800 are Hellenized Wallachians, Albanians and Greeks.
Thus, although in terms of
number
the country should undoubtedly belong to the Bulgarians, in moral terms
matters
are different.
Oppressed by the Turks, the
Bulgarians, poor and, with a few exceptions, extremely backward, have
hitherto
conceded the moral primacy, leadership and all the initiative in their
public
activities to the few but wealthy, mainly petty merchants, in the small
Turkish
towns - Wallachians (Kutsovlahs) who have
turned Greek and have entirely forgotten their original nationality.
These
Wallachians have had and still have, in part, such a strong influence
over the
Bulgarian majority that the latter are still under their sway to this
day. It
is for this reason that half of the Bitola Bulgarians still hesitate to
join
their native Church. This is the reason for the hesitation of the
Bulgarian
patriots to act in connection with their right to vote granted them by
Article 10 of the Firman.
Notwithstanding these
unfavourable
conditions, they are getting things done. They make their compatriots,
officially affiliated to the Greek party but actually its active
adversaries,
contribute funds to the initiatives of the people. The Robev brothers,
one of
the wealthiest families in Bitola,
are an example of this. Thanks to the zeal of these people and the
ardent
patriotism and devoted effort of Mishaykov (Pateli), the local town
physician,
in particular, who is a brother of the Plovdiv
bishop Panaret, a small church in honour of the Birth of Mother of God
was
built in the centre of the town during the last month and a half. They
call
this church here a chapel (a temporary church).
Frequented zealously by
the adherents of the Bulgarian clergy it exercises a strong influence
on the
way of thinking of the entire population and of the town folk, in
particular.
Proof of this is given in the passing over to the Bulgarian side of a
90-year-old priest, actually Albanian by nationality, known under the
name of
priest Atanas here, who has been under the aegis of Greek clergy since
his
early childhood. This transfer to the other camp took place while I was
already
in Bitola
and
it caused a great sensation.
And still the Bulgarians do
not
dare bring the question of voting before the Turks. His Worship
Evstati, who is
living in Constantinople for the time
being,
is encouraging them in this direction.
Because of the reasons
mentioned
above, and because they have no confidence in their own forces,
especially in
the villages homogeneous in terms of nationality in the Bitola
district, where
only 45 villages out of 118 adhere to the Exarchate, and because they fear
the Greek influence,
which has its defenders here, as I have already had the honour to state
in the
persons of the Wallachians, they are awaiting the result of the
plebiscite in
Ohrid and Skopje. In the former area, judging from private reports, the
plebiscite is proceeding in a way entirely favourable to the
Bulgarians; there
is hope that more than three-fourths of the Ohrid diocese will wish to
be
affiliated to the Bulgarian
Church.
The success of this
enterprise
and
the arrival of the Ohrid and Skopje bishops in their dioceses 'will
inspire',
in the words of the Bulgarian patriots of Bitola, 'their compatriots
here, will
encourage them to preserve their right to hear the word of God in their
own language,
and will give them the strength resolutely to defend what remains of
the
national individuality, that has been slipping away from them.'
It is for this reason that
they,
wishing to secure if possible the favourable outcome of the plebiscite
in the Bitola
diocese (in Bitola and its sandjak), intend to ask the Most Reverend
Evstati to
petition the Sublime Porte to be sent here temporarily, while the
plebiscite is
being held. If this request is not accepted, bishop Evstati should ask
the
Turkish government to exclude the Greek bishop from participation in
the
plebiscite.
These are the proposals of the
local Bulgarians, in the implementation of which they see a guarantee
for their
success.
They are based on the
procedures
for the plebiscite hitherto followed by the Turkish authorities: the
medjlis,
of which the bishop is member, summons the priest, the elder of the
quarter (if
the plebiscite takes place in a town), or of the village (if they wish
to know
the opinion of its inhabitants) and two of the most respected townsmen.
The elder and the priest
act
jointly as they have interests in common. Since they do not find the
rightful
members of the new clergy in the medjlis, and apprehensive lest they
lose their
revenue, they do not dare to take a stand against the Greek bishop in
his
presence. In such cases, under the most favourable circumstances, the
votes of
the persons questioned are split into two equal parts. And later the
medjlis
passes a decision which is doubtless, taken under the pressure from the
Greek
bishop.
On the basis of what has
been
so
far stated, I take the liberty to express the hope that Your Excellency
will
share in my opinion that justice urgently demands that the Bulgarians
be given
guarantees for an unbiased solution of this problem. I do not defend
the
impeccability of the above-mentioned proposals, and I am fully
convinced that
you, with your enlightened perspicacity and your experience in
Turkish
affairs, which is well known throughout Russia, can easily find more
efficient
means to preserve the frankness and sincerity of such an important
declaration
as that shortly to be made by the inhabitants of the Bitola diocese.
Being aware of the
importance
of
the moment for this area, with the surveillance of which I have
been entrusted
by the Imperial Ministry, and being aware of the great influence such
an
outcome of the plebiscite could have on the future developments and
trends
among the population of this country, and confident that Your
Excellency will
not leave me without instructions in the event of the Bulgarians
turning to me
for advice on this question, I deemed it my duty to present the above
report to
your high discretion.
Архив внешней
политики России, Главньiй архив
(Archive of Russia's, Foreign Policy. Main Archive), V-A2- 1873, д. 139, pp. 9-14; the original is
in Russian
140
Plebiscite in the Skopje and Ohrid
dioceses on the appointment
of Bulgarian bishops
1874
It was established, in
accordance
with the plebiscite held in the Skopje and Ohrid dioceses for
appointing
Bulgarian bishops by virtue of Article 10 of the Firman for the
setting up of a Bulgarian Exarchate, that only 567
households
out of 8 698 Christian households in the Skopje
diocese wish to remain under the Greek Patriarchate, while the other 8,131 households have expressed their wish to pass
under the
ecclesiastic jurisdiction of the Bulgarian Exarchate.
And, according to reports
supplied
by the Salonica vilayet, dated 21 Muharrem 1291
(February
27th, 1874), the plebiscite showed that only 139 people in the town of Ohrid and its
environs asked to stay under the Patriarchate, while 9,387 people expressed their desire to pass under the
jurisdiction of the Bulgarian Exarchate.
Документи за
българската история, т. IV, Документи из турските държавни архиви
(1863-1909)
(Documents
of Bulgarian History, vol. IV, Documents from the Turkish state archives), part II, Sofia,
1942, pp. 22-23; the original is in Тurkish
141
An article by Lyuben Karavelov
on the national and church struggle of the Bulgarian people
against the
Phanariots and on the situation in Macedonia
February 22nd, 1874
The justified unrest and the
severe
persecution and hatred against the Greek clergy which arose in the
Danubian
parts of Bulgaria
some years
ago, are being repeated also in the Western Bulgarian areas, which are
called Macedonia,
in accordance with the wish of Greek learned men. Numerous facts show
that the
struggle in these parts is more cruel, and more energetic and more
fierce.
Naturally fierce oppression and violent tempests call for fierce and
violent
resistance. And, in point of fact, we know of no other Bulgarian or
other
Eastern Orthodox land that has suffered as much from the blessed
Phanariots and
the Hellenistic Klephti (propagandists) as Western
Bulgaria. This unfortunate land has been placed
between several
fires. Greek propagandists have for a long time now been poisoning the
people
there and have been killing them morally; the Albanians have been
robbing the
property of the peasants, setting fire to their houses and destroying
them
materially; the Wallachian inn-keepers and wealthy people, who have
almost
always been Greek tools, have reduced this misfortunate part of the
country to a
terrible state, and the agents of Milos Milojevic, who should have been
apostles of South Slav unity and guardian angels of the defenceless and
the
half-dead, i.e. who should have defended the Bulgarian nationality and
the
Bulgarian name from foreign encroachment, are preaching retrograde
ideas,
sowing dissent, bringing forth controversies and compelling their
brothers and
allies to lose their last characteristic and to play into the hands of
the
adversaries of the Southern Slavs. The Messages of the
archimandrite
Pelagic and Kossovo Messages of Milos Milojevic provoke
disgust not
only in simple and innocent people, (who say that the Serb is a
Bulgarian and
the Bulgarian - a Serb, and having no idea
whatsoever about the fantasies of Mr. Milojevic), but also in those
prejudiced
personalities who know both archimandrite Pelagic and Milos Milojevic,
and also
Mr. Vizankov, i.e. the living source of Milojevic's great wisdom. And
the works
of these two idiots are spreading over all the Bulgarian lands because
they are
distributed free of charge. But let us leave that aside. On Western
Bulgarian
areas the hatred of the Bulgarian people for the Greek madmen has
reached a
point at which whole villages in the Salonica region have decided to
accept a
Uniate in order to deliver themselves from centuries-old suffering.
Naturally,
if an innocent, religious and patient people, like the Bulgarians, have
decided
to abandon their ancient customs and their religious rites and to
recognize the
Pope as head of their clergy, then their sufferings must indeed have
been very
great! The Bulgarian section of Levant Times states that even
the
Turkish officials in those areas are working against the unification of
the
Bulgarians and 'are forcing the population to act against the interests
of the
Turkish government as well.' 'When the local authorities,' this
newspaper says,
'ordered father Nil to return to Constantinople,
the inhabitants were offended and they advised the Bulgarian bishop to
adopt
the Uniate and to save them from the Greek bishop.' All this seems very
strange
to us. If the Bulgarians in the Salonica
diocese accepted the Uniate only to save themselves from the Greeks,
why then
was the schism proclaimed? Or could it be that the Greek bishops,
heading mixed
dioceses, have turned schismatic? In our opinion, the schism long ago
took the
Phanariot yoke from the Bulgarians' necks, and it has raised a strong
barrier
between the Bulgarian people and the Phanariot clergy. Naturally, when
Patriarch Antim proclaimed this unheard-of stupidity, he hi no way
thought of
differentiating between the Macedonian, Thracian and Danubian
Bulgarians. In
one word, he declared all his disobedient subjects who did not
recognize his
authority and who recognized the Exarchate to be schismatic. What more
do we
need? If the Greeks consider the Bulgarian clergy and the Bulgarian
church
schismatic, then they regard as schismatic also the Bulgarian people,
who make
up that church and who recognize their own clergy, and therefore the
Greek
bishops, priests and archimandrites no longer have any right to look
after the
flock which they have excommunicated from their so-called Orthodox
church and
which they have called heretical. Thus, if Nil belongs to the heretical
clergy,
and if the people accept him as their own bishop, then the Greeks have
no other
choice but to He on the bed which they themselves have made. And our
readers
can see from all this that the Bulgarians do not need to hide behind
the Pope's
tiara and to use against their adversaries measures harmful to the
Bulgarian
nation. Every Bulgarian is a schismatic, therefore he has already split
.away
from the Phanariot church and has a right to his own clergy. Yet a
number of
facts shows that both the Greeks and the Turkish government are putting
all their
efforts in stifling the schism and diminishing its significance. It is
well
known that there is no word about schisms in any of the Constantinople
newspapers and that, of late, the Turkish government has not been
attaching any
importance to it. And what are the reasons for all this? Here are the
reasons
for it. When the Patriarch proclaimed the schism, His Holiness believed
that
the Bulgarian people were so religious that they would be intimidated
by his
canonic arrows and would again bow their heads to their centuries-old
enemies.
The Turks thought likewise. Yet matters took an entirely different
turn. The
schism was welcomed with great joy and the Bulgarian people reorganized
the
Exarchate. Once the Phanariot clergy and the Greek 'bold fellows' had
seen how
their age-old torments and suffering had fallen at a pun of air, they
were
quick to change their policy. Patriarch Antim was deposed by those same
persons
that had forced him to proclaim the schism. Naturally, the new Greek
ruse did
not produce the result desired by the Greek diplomats. In addition,
almost all
Eastern Orthodox hierarchies, and particularly that of Russia,
in
which the 'Orthodox Phanariots' had large material interests,
opposed the
schism. The Turkish government, considering the Bulgarian church
question as a
controversy between priests, was also compelled to have second thoughts
after
the proclamation of the schism and the consequences thereof. That
schism
differentiated the Greeks from the Bulgarian people, and before the
eyes of the
government there rose six million living beings who were inspired
by the same
spirit and who had the same purpose, desire and aspirations. All this
made the
Greeks and Turks unite, embrace and work together. The Turkish
government
refused to recognize the schism and decided to change its Firman,
which, like
the schism, acknowledged the existence of a Bulgarian nationality; but
when it
met with such strong resistance on the part of the Bulgarian people, it
ordered
plebiscite to be held and, at the same time, ordered the heads of the
districts
to act against Bulgarian interests. Simultaneously, the government,
tried,
under various pretexts (revolutionary committees, Russian propaganda,
etc.) to
send into exile several hundred Bulgarian teachers and
instructors, who in
their opinion and in that of the Greeks, were inciting the Bulgarian
people and
stirring up discontent throughout the Empire. We all remember the case
of Hadji
Stavri. All these ^tragic comedies convinced the Bulgarian people that
the
Turkish government and the Greek clergy were of one mind and that the
Bulgarian
church question would be solved only when the Bulgarians freed
themselves of
both Turks and Greeks. These are the causes that made the Bulgarians in
Salonica diocese accept the Uniate. Whose fault is it? It is the fault
of the
government, who do not know what they are thinking or what they are
doing. This
is our opinion on this matter. The Bulgarian people should insist on
the schism
and should not take a step outside it. The Greek clergy have no
authority over
the schismatics. As far as the government is concerned, it will give
way only
in the face of our persistence and our sensible unification. 'Unite, do
not
split, be persistent, put all your efforts into the cause and you
are bound to
achieve complete success/ that is what all judicious people say.
В.
„Независимост", Букурещ (Newspaper Nezavisimost),1
Bucharest, No. 19, February 23rd, 1874; the original is in Bulgarian
1 The organ of the
Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee, successor to the newspaper Svoboda
142
An article by Lyuben
Karavelov on
the chauvinistic propaganda of Milos Milojevic in Macedonia
and
the attitude of the
progressive Serbian
public towards it
March 8th, 1874
‘When a dog cannot bark,
it brings the wolf to the fold,’' runs the proverb. And thus if one
follows up
with particular attention the activities of the South-Slav apostles,
one is
bound to know that this proverb has a philosophical meaning. Let us
explain
ourselves. Our readers are already aware of the fact that the
Constantinople
societies Bratstvo (Brotherhood) and Makedonskata
Drouzhina (The
Macedonian Company)' published an open letter in the newspaper Pravo
(Justice)
addressed to Mr. Marinovic, in which they condemned the activities
of the
former Serbian ministry and complained of Serbian propaganda and
propagandists,
who sow discord between the Bulgarian and the Serbian peoples and breed
not
brothers and friends, but enemies and adversaries. Almost all
independent
Serbian newspapers answered this letter and assured us that the honest
and
genuine Serbian patriots were not taking part in this farce, and that
none of
the Serbian ministries had given assistance to the group of Milos
Milojevic.
Recently, we received a private letter from Belgrade, which read in part as
follows: 'I
can never praise a person who undertakes to attack or to criticize
people
unfamiliar to him and of whom he has never demanded any explanation. I
refer to
the open letter to Mr. Marinovic. It is true that for a long time now
Mr.
Milojevic has been founding Serbian societies, which, in his own words,
have
the task of disseminating Serbianism not only in Macedonia and Thrace,
but also
along the shores of the Mediterranean, i.e. in Spain and Africa (Mr.
Milojevic
believes that the Spaniards and the Algerians are Serbs); it is true
that
several of Milojevic's followers are preaching retrograde ideas in
Macedonia,
and in Bosnia and Herzegovina; it is true that the books of Mr.
Milojevic and
of archimandrite Pelagic are being distributed free of charge to the
Bulgarians; and lastly, it is true that there are professors in the
Belgrade
theological school who say that "the Bulgarian language is coarse and
unrefined" and that "the Bulgarian people are simple and naive";
but the question is: what does all this lead to? - The
preaching of Milos Milojevic and the folly of archimandrite Pelagic
should make
one laugh, rather than be angry; the teachers, who (in the words of Mr.
M., who
published a rather patriotic and very witty protest in the newspaper Javnost)
go all over Macedonia sowing discord between the Bulgarian and
Serbian
peoples, should be driven away from the Bulgarian land, without waiting
for
protests or open letters; and finally the opinion of the Belgrade
professors
should not offend anybody because these are nothing more than opinions
and anybody
has the right to say both wise and stupid things. I am certain that
there are
people among the Bulgarians, too, who are of the opinion that the
Serbian
language is coarse and unrefined, and say so. But I can assure almost
anybody
that any language - provided that that language is
spoken by a wise and honest people -
is worthy of respect
and
that it is as good a language as all other languages are. Languages are
enriched and embellished by the people. As far as the "simplicity"
and the "naivety" of the Bulgarian people are concerned, I do not
know what to say, since the Serbian people, too, have not gone very far
ahead
of the Bulgarians in this respect. And now tell me, was it worthwhile
making a
mountain out of a mole-hill and raising a row over nothing? In my
opinion, the
honoured Constantinople societies
made a
serious mistake. It is the duty of all people of common sense to
eliminate
everything adverse to the people, otherwise it may lead to even worse
consequences'.
We find the same opinion expressed in the Serbian newspaper Javnost,
'We
would like to assure our brothers, the Bulgarians, that Serbian public
opinion
fully opposes the foolish and quixotic ideas of Milos Milojevic and his
group,'
the newspaper writes. 'We cannot even say how repugnant, insignificant
and mad
we consider this behaviour. For a long time now our literary circles
have
regarded Mr. M. Milojevic as a charlatan, or as a man much closer to
'blind
Jeremiah' and to his kin, than to people, who deal in scholarly truth.
Our
conclusion is supported also by the moderate criticism of Mr. Novakovic
and Mr.
Kojundzic, recently submitted to the Serbian Learned Society. We have
known for
a long time that Mr. Milojevic has been waging a war against the
Bulgarian
nationality in Macedonia,
but we never thought that any Serbian government could participate in
such
doings.' Another letter (written by a Bulgarian) reads thus: "Many
dupes,
fools and scoundrels have undertaken the job of sowing discord among
the South
Slavs and of pleasing our common enemies; yet their effort will be
futile,
because honest, intelligent and reasonable people are laughing both at
the
historical charlatanism of archimandrite Pelagic and at the
"lamentation
of Jeremiah" of the late, now blessed Pravo.' Milos
Milojevic's mud
cannot mar the honest name of the Serbian people, just as the acts of
our
officials in Constantinople cannot
dishonour
the honest Bulgarian people, who despise their advice and have nothing
in
common with them. But is it proper, in these crucial times, to go in
for futile
disputes and quarrel over a donkey's shadow when sharp axes are hanging
over
our heads and Macedonia
is
full of alien beasts who are tearing the body of South
Slavs apart and are getting ready to feast over our
dead bodies?
Is it now the proper moment to look for Serbians in India
when our own houses (in Bosnia,
in Herzegovina, in Turkey and in Austria)
are being violated by
Catholics and Mohammedans and Mongols and Phanariots, and by...? And finally, is it now the proper moment to
mourn over the dead and dig
out the bones of Simeon and Dusan, when the Turkish yoke is weighing
heavily on
the necks of both Bulgarians and Serbs? Let us also express our own
opinion.
Two years ago we said that a very strange custom had grown up among the
Bulgarians,
namely to complain and to pray to some super-natural forces to aid them
against
the numerous enemies which surround them on all sides; and now we say
that
these complaints are becoming both ridiculous and purposeless, and
harmful.
And, in truth, we have been complaining of everybody and
everything, crying
loudly and noisily. 'Russia is interested in its own affairs and
does not
think about us and about our happiness; general Ignatiev is trying hard
to
safeguard the importance of the oecumenical church and to split the
poor
Bulgarian people for the well-being of the church; Serbia is sending
its
propagandists to the Bulgarian land and is endeavouring to turn the
poor and
unfortunate Bulgarian people into Serbs; Romania has swallowed and is
swallowing
about a million poor and unfortunate Bulgarians; the cursed Greeks are
drinking
the blood of the poor Bulgarians and are devouring the bodies of the
poor
Bulgarians; the accursed Turks are oppressing the poor ray ah and
bringing
dishonour to our women and children; the ungodly papal agents are
striving to
turn the poor Bulgarian people into Catholics and make them good for
nothing;
the Armenians have taken all the trade into their hands and are not
giving the
poor Bulgarians a chance to live; the Jews, who betrayed Christ, are.
selling
their dishes cheaper than our own Gabrovo wooden bowls, thus
impoverishing the
poor Bulgarian people.' And what are our innocent and good Bulgarians
doing?
They are suffering, working, earning their bread, sweating and
complaining!
Such is our logic! As if the Bulgarian people had no brains, no head,
no arms
or legs; as if the Bulgarian people were dumb animals without a reason
or
common sense of their own, ready to follow anybody who entices them;
and
finally, as if we had been born only to trouble the world with our
complaints.
Naturally, with these complaints we only humiliate ourselves and
demonstrate to
our enemies that 'our Lordships' are worthless. A nation which is not
able to
alleviate its own plight, and to eliminate what is harmful to it, is
good for
nothing. And, listen to this, too. If the Bulgarians had had more
national
consciousness, if they had had more willpower and had been more mature,
then
neither Russia nor general Ignatiev, nor the Turkish government could
have
stifled their aims and aspirations, and the Exarchate would long ago
have been
acknowledged even by the Phanariots; if the Bulgarians had been more
active,
more patriotic and firmer in character, Milojevic's teachers would long
ago
have made themselves scarce, and archimandrite Pelagic's epistles,
right from
the very beginning, would have been distributed free of charge to the
grocers,
and, finally, if Bulgarians had been more judicious, more far-sighted
and more
resolute, they would not have been the slaves of a nomadic people and
would not
have complained thus naively about everybody, of everybody, to
everybody. But
Mr. M., whom we mentioned above, speaks thus in the newspaper Javnost:
They
(Milojevic's teachers) are preaching hatred of everything which is
Bulgarian
and which is sacred to the Bulgarian people (and the Bulgarian people
does not
beat them up! Ed.) and they are not spreading enlightenment but
depravity.
Naturally, in this they will not succeed as they have not succeeded up
till
now, except in the case of some mercenaries, who would sell not only
their
names, but also their own wives and mothers for money.' Mr. M.
considers that
this comedy may have adverse consequences which could easily bring
disaster to
the two nations. We are not of the same opinion. Stupidity scarcely
ever leaves
traces behind it. As for these mercenaries who sacrifice their wives
and their
mothers for money, even Milos Milojevic, it seems to us, is not
responsible.
But be that as it may, our sacred duty is to uproot the evil,
i.e. to weaken Milojevic's influence and to sweep
aside those mercenaries who are bowing their heads to Milojevic and who
are
selling their own children and mothers. And is this possible? - If our learned men and pupils do not strive to
educate the people, and
if, in the future also, they remain indifferent to their well-being and
if, in
the future, they continue to visit Russia, Serbia and Romania to
educate and to
preach to other nationalities, then the Bulgarian communities, even in
the Dobroudja,
will be compelled to welcome Milojevic's pupils with open arms. Who is
to
blame? If there are no dogs in a village, then people go there without
cudgels.
This is our final word on Milojevic's propaganda in Macedonia.
В. „Независимост", Букурещ (Newspaper Nezavisimost),
Bucharest, No. 21, March 9th, 1874; the original is in Bulgarian
143
A report from Skopje to the
newspaper The Levant Times on the solemn welcome
given to the Bulgarian bishop
April 10th, 1874
The news about the departure
of His
Grace from Salonica for our town, which we learned on April, 2nd gave great joy to the entire Bulgarian
population in our diocese. The
Bulgarians have no words to express their feelings of gratitude to the
Sultan
and his glorious Vizir Hyusein Avni Pasha for their mercy on
granting a Berat
to our bishop to come to us. All Christians were getting ready to give
a worthy
welcome to our spiritual shepherd. Our town commune got together in the
evening
to discuss how His Grace Dorotheus should be welcomed. A delegation was
sent on
their behalf to go to Salonica to welcome His Grace. On Good Friday at 2 o'clock a telegram informed us that the bishop
would arrive at
Zelenikovo railway station, which is 4
hours away from Skopje.
Immediately, some
250 people on horseback and in carriages went to
meet him.
The commune sent a special coach to take the Bishop to the neighbouring
village
of Drachevo,
where he was going to put up
for the night. That is the biggest village in the area. And at about 12.30 o'clock His Grace Dorotheus arrived at the
station
mentioned above and was ceremoniously escorted to the house specially
prepared
for him in that village. On the morning of Holy Saturday His Grace took
the
service surrounded by a vast multitude of believers. In the afternoon
the holy
father started for Skopje,
followed by the multitude. He climbed onto the carriage of Hadji
Mustapha Bey,
which His Excellency had explicitly sent for the bishop. Both the
Memusin and
Imer Bey had also sent their coaches for this purpose. First came the
horsemen,
2,500 strong; then followed two zaptiehs,
and, after them, His Grace, accompanied by a good Greek, named Spiro, a
telegraphist, and, behind them came some 120 carriages, and more.
When we approached the town, we saw that the people had assembled
there to
wait for the arrival of the holy father: the priests had lined up, also
the
teachers and the pupils. On reaching this spot, His Grace the bishop of
Skopje,
descended from
the carriage, donned his vestments and gave a blessing to the people.
In the
meantime the pupils sang a song appropriate to the occasion. Later, the
faithful kissed the hand of the father, and His Grace delivered a short
speech
in which he thanked the people for taking the trouble to come out to
meet him.
From there they started on foot towards the town. Up to 12,000 people accompanied the bishop. His Grace
Dorotheus
went straight to the church of the Holy Virgin, where, after the
service, he
made another short speech in which he recommended the people to be
obedient to
the Sultan and the royal laws. And Mr. V. Todorov delivered another
short
speech in which he asked the bishop to work always for the good of the
people
and, most of all, for the schools. After the ceremony had ended, the
people
again kissed the bishop's hand, and the bishop was taken to the school
where
rooms were prepared for him, since as you know, the metropolitan church
is
still in the hands of the Greek bishop. Thus His Grace the bishop of Skopje
was welcomed in the seat of our diocese.
(Newspaper
The Levant Times (Iztochno
Vreme), Constantinople, No. 18, May 11th, 1874;
the
original is in
Bulgarian
144
A report from Prilep on the
ceremonial welcome accorded to Nathanail,1 the Bulgarian
bishop of
Ohrid, in Bitola
April 13th, 1874
One cannot imagine the
great
joy
that the Bulgarian population felt at the news of the departure of
bishop
Nathanail of Ohrid for Bitola.
A few days before the arrival of these tidings, so important for the
Bulgarians
in Macedonia, news came that the bishops of Skopje and Ohrid had been
accorded
the Sultan's Berat (edict) and had departed from Constantinople, but
most
people doubted it, and kept saying 'Don't believe it before you see it
with
your own eyes'. The bishops' delay puzzled the credulous, while the
Hellenized
Kutsovlahs opened their mouths for the last time to coax those
Bulgarians who
had turned Greek into believing that such a thing was utterly
impossible, that
it was a lie, that only the bishops' official servants were coming.
Poor
things! How they were deceived and disgraced! Their jokes fell on their
own
heads; because it was not long before the happiest news reached the Bitola commune
that
Father Nathanail was coming to Pelagonia. This news struck the Greeks
like a
thunderbolt!
As soon as our commune had
been
informed about it, the people immediately assembled and chose five
priests to
meet the bishop on their behalf. The board of trustees, for their part,
could
not remain indifferent to the universal joy of the people, and
decided to go
with several of its members to greet the bishop of Ohrid. And so, the
two
delegations set out on the sixth of the month for Bitola. That day the weather was fine
and
warm; their hearts pounded with joy to get to Bitola the sooner. About twelve
o'clock
at night we
arrived there tired and put up at the Prilep inn. On the next
day,
archimandrite Cyril took the service in the new Bulgarian church,
together with
two of the Bitola
priests. After the service, we went to visit some of the leading
citizens of
the town and the visit lasted till noon. The appointed hour, when the
holy man
was going to arrive, was drawing near. All Macedonian Bulgarians were
looking
forward to his arrival. At seven o'clock the church bells rang loudly,
summoning
every Bulgarian to come out and joyously meet the shepherd of the
people.
Multitudes of people were streaming into town from all directions. We,
as
Bulgarians, went out to accompany our brothers. When we entered the
church yard
we found
there
schoolboys and
schoolgirls
with their schoolmasters and
the
schoolmistress, all carrying bunches of flowers in their hands, eagerly
waiting
to start. It was not long before we all set off, joyous and merry. At
the head
of the procession walked the pupils from the main school, after them
the girls,
followed by the younger pupils, then the holy klir /laymen elected to
perform
church functions/, who had come from the neighbouring towns and
villages and
whose number exceeded 50, and finally, the great
multitude of people. Our peasant brothers wore their gorgeous
costumes and
this filled the hearts of the townspeople with joy. On the road people
kept
saying: 'Oh, we have not seen a people's bishop since time immemorial,
nor have
we heard his teaching!' This is true. May the government hasten to
gratify this
need by allowing Evstatii, Holy Bishop of Pelagonia, to take up his
post in our
diocese. But let us return to our subject. Having walked for a while,
after we
left the church, we came into a large street; and the whole town was
excited to
the utmost: young and old were milling about, delegations and
representatives
from the neighbouring towns and villages had flocked to meet the
bishop. Never
had Pelagonia
had the good fortune to witness such a
celebration, never, I say, had the Bulgarian heart of the Macedonian
beaten so
exultantly! Having walked a considerable distance, we came to
Abdi-Pasha's
coffee-shop, where we sat in the deep shade on the green lawn, with
eyes turned
to the spot where the Holy Bishop of Ohrid was to appear. The sight was
one of
the most charming: here was a group sitting on the grass, chanting
slogans,
wishing long life to the Sultan and to his Holiness Antim I 2;
there
were multitudes of people with pipers and bagpipers at their head going
to meet
the Bulgarian bishop. Thick clouds of dust, raised by the horses and
carriages,
enveloped the road and engulfed the brightness of the sunshine; two
detachments
of the Sultan's troops maintained order among the multitude, another
cleared a
way through the crowd for Father Nathanail to pass. The people thronged
in
clusters around the place where he was to dismount. Their number
amounted to 15,000 or 20,000. There were Jews and
Mohammedans in the crowd, as well as curious Hellenized Bulgarians,
who, duped
by the Greeks, had to their shame given up their mother tongue. At
about
eight-thirty, the fast galloping of horses’ hooves, and the loud
rumbling of
carriage wheels was heard, heralding the approach of the Bishop. And
indeed, it
was not long before, to the great joy of all present, Father Nathanail
appeared, accompanied by three hundred horsemen and a number of
carriages.
Frequently the road was blocked by the people and he was forced to pull
up. The
joyous voices of the schoolchildren pierced the air. When Nathanail
reached the
priests, he rested for a while there, and then set forth for the house
of the
former bishop Genadius of Veles, where he was going to spend the night.
When we
came to the house, we had a few minutes’ rest, two speeches were
delivered, one
by Mr. Chonov, the other by Mr. Ganchev, which greatly pleased the
audience.
After we had kissed his holy hand, we went our separate ways. The next
day
bishop Nathanail of Ohrid paid a visit to the government and the high
officials. That was how the ceremonial welcome of His Grace ended. - Let the poor Kutsovlahs keep on trying to
convince the government that
there are no Bulgarians in Macedonia.
Newspaper The
Levant Times (Iztochno Vreme), Constantinople, No. 16, April 26th, 1874;
the
original is in Bulgarian
1 Nathanail
of Ohrid (1820 - 1906), born in the village of Kouchevitsa,
Skopje district.
Participant in the national church movement, active organizer of the
Kresna-Razlog uprising in 1878
2 Antim I (1816-1888), born in Lozengrad, the first Bulgarian Exarch,
eminent
ecclesiast and public figure
145
A dispatch from Bitola on
the
ceremonial welcome accorded to Nathanail, Bulgarian bishop of Ohrid
April 13th, 1874
On Saturday the 6th of
April we set off with six carts and fifty horsemen from Ohrid, Strouga,
Resen
and Kroushevo, together with about fifteen or twenty priests from the
same
towns, to meet the Holy Bishop Nathanaii, and we reached the village of
Voshtarani, district of Ohrid, which is six hours' distance from
our town,
where we found His Grace. There we also found fifty horsemen with a
priest from
Lerin and great numbers of peasants and priests from the villages near
by. That
evening the village represented a living panorama feast: there
were guests,
townspeople and countrymen - in every house; all
night long one could hear festivities, with singing; all villagers were
busy
giving a hearty welcome to their guests; the whole village was
illuminated with
the glow of burning pine branches. Next day was Sunday, and Father
Nathanail
conducted a service in the village church, which, though fairly large,
could
not hold the whole multitude. After the church service, we left
Voshtarani at
about eleven o'clock for the village of Negochani
(district of
Pelagonia) via the Ohrid villages of Neohazi, Ponazhani and Vurbyani.,
We
arrived there at nine o'clock in the evening. The procession to this
place was
like this: forty or fifty horsemen rode ahead, followed by about forty
of fifty
priests from towns and villages, then the carriage of the bishop,
followed by
our six or seven carriages, then another group of 100-150 horsemen. In Negochani we found a hearty lunch
awaiting us all. The peasants of this village, who till then had
acknowledged
the Greek Patriarch, now pleaded urgently to be honoured to meet their
national
bishop. The distance between this village and Voshtarani is only two
and a half
hours' walk but we travelled for five hours as we stopped for half an
hour, or
an hour at the villages of Neohazi, Ponazhani and Vurbyani, so that the
people
could kiss the holy hand of the bishop. The villagers, their heads
uncovered,
ran together with their wives and children to do so. In Negochani,,
where we
had lunch, sixty more horsemen arrived from Ohrid, Resen and Kroushevo.
We left
Negochani with the afore-said multitude at six o'clock and arrived at
the village
of Kravari,
Pelagonia district. There
Father Nathanail got into a splendid phaeton, but no longer alone, as
people on
foot and on horseback had lined the road on both sides up to the town.
Outside
the town, at half an hours' distance there is a royal kulukhana1
and
near it, is Abdi-Pasha's coffee-house, while in between them there is a
fairly
large area to walk about in: this space was tightly packed with people.
Near
this place, the schoolchildren were lined up reverentially, with
their
schoolmasters and the schoolmistress, ready to sing the songs. The
bishop
ascended a raised platform from which he blessed the people who rushed
to kiss
his holy hand. The multitude (which we do not doubt numbered 12,000-15,000) was so great and tightly packed that the
teachers
could not make their speeches, neither could the pupils sing their
songs. A
large number of soldiers was called out to keep the peace, which, glory
be to
God, was not broken. The road from this place to our town is very wide;
half-way to the town there are two royal kashli2 and
lots of
space in front of them: this place was filled with so many people that
the
phaetons and carriages seemed not to travel, but to sail on a human
sea. The
horses and carriages could not be seen, only the people, who had
climbed on
them were visible. The journey from Abdi Pasha's coffee-shop to the
house of Mr.
Genadius, which they had prepared to receive Father Nathanaii, lasted
an hour.
Father Nathanaii entered this house accompanied by as many people as
the house
could hold. Here the teachers, one from Prilep and the other from Bitola,
delivered
speeches. The multitude thronged the space outside the bishop's house
until
midnight. Such was the welcome. In the morning His Grace visited the
myutesarif, mushturin and other royal officials and, on the last day,
he was
visited by all whom he had visited on the previous days. May God help
us meet
the bishop of Pelagonia in the same way!
Yesterday the Holy
Bishop of Ohrid left for Tsapari, Gyavato, Resen and Ohrid. He set off
accompanied by 100-150 horsemen at the head of
whom rode another fifty horsemen from Ohrid, Strouga and Resen,
followed by
fifty priests, then two suvars,3 then came His
Grace on a
good gray horse which he had recently bought, after him there were four
yasakchii4
and other armed Christians. Today we learnt from travellers, coming
from
Ohrid that many people from Ohrid had gone to Resen to meet the
bishop there.
Newspaper The Levant Times (Iztochno Vreme), Constantinople, No. 18, May 11th, 1874; the original is in Bulgarian
1 i. e. a
military station
2 i.e. barracks
3 i. e. gendarmes on
horseback
4 i.e. bodyguards
146
Report from Voden on the
ceremonial
welcome accorded to Nathanail, Bulgarian bishop of Ohrid
April 26th, 1874
The more noticeable the joy
that
had seized the local Bulgarian population at the news of the
arrival in
Salonica of the two long-awaited people’s bishops, the more
evident was their impatience to see with their own eyes one of them,
who, they
knew, was sure to pass through their town on his way to his diocese. On
the
third day there came a telegram from Salonica informing them of the
arrival of
His Grace the bishop of Ohrid. The next day was Thursday, and crowds of
people
both men and women streamed onto the highway outside the town to meet
him, all
staring into the distance along the road on which our good guest was
going to
appear, he whom the national honour and the great royal mercy had, so
to speak,
sent to comfort us in our perennial sufferings in the struggle to win
rights
for the people. About half past four o'clock a horseman, sent ahead by
those
who had ridden out about two hours from town to meet the bishop and
help him
mount the horse specially chosen for him, came back to gladden the
hearts of
the impatient by saying that the bishop was coming. A number of
horsemen came
into view and all caught sight of the white-bearded old man, who was
riding in
front. The horse itself seemed to step proudly, as if it had realized
what
guest it was carrying on its back to the house of its master. The
pupils from
the Bulgarian schools and a few girls from the former girls' school,
lined both
sides of the road, and began to sing songs of thanks to the Sultan, in
turn,
now one group, now the other, while waving aloft the leafy green
branches that
all pupils and girls held in their hands. As soon as the holy old man
reached
the place where the crowd was thickest, all craned their necks to see
him the
sooner, and the schoolchildren began to sing a verse, especially
composed by
the teacher to greet the dear guest. The young voices resounded so
loudly, that
they reached the sky and rejoiced even the most insensitive
hearts. When the
old man stood before the people and began to bless them on both sides,
I did
not see anyone who did not weep for joy or try to kiss his holy hand
and
receive his blessing. The rain, that had been pouring since the
morning,
stopped that very minute; the clouds disappeared and the sun beamed its
greetings
and shed light into many a misled heart. Wonderful are the works of
God! From
there, the procession set forth to the town, the schoolchildren and the girls ahead, followed by
the priests and,
finally, Father Nathanail, surrounded by horsemen and people. The
singing
never ceased. The streets and the windows of the houses, along the
route which
the old man was going to follow, were filled with motley crowds. When
they
reached the house where the guest was going to stay the night, the
schoolchildren lined up outside, again divided in two rows, raised
their green
branches high above their heads and bade welcome to our beloved guest,
who, as
he walked between them, could not restrain the tears that welled up in
his old
eyes. When he dismounted from his horse, people again rushed to kiss
his holy
hand, some for the first time, others for the second and still others
for the
third time. Then the schoolchildren, who continued singing while the
old man
came into the big hall, sang one more song, and 'Christ Is Risen' and
then the
bishop made a short speech in which he tried to encourage the weak and
inspire
them with persistence, patience, and hope in God and the Sultan. The
speech
ended with all the people chanting 'Long live the Sultan, Antim I
and the whole Bulgarian people,' which the teacher took up, concluding
'Long
Live Father Nathanail!' The voices and the applause of the people shook
the
whole neighbourhood. All this lasted till ten o'clock after which the
crowd
dispersed with joy in their hearts. Late in the evening, His Grace paid
a visit
to the kaimakam, who received him very kindly.
The next day, which was the
fifth
day, the old man went to the national church, the Church of St
Bezsrebrenitsi,
where, when he entered, the people who had come from the neighbouring
villages,
looked at him with love and admiration. He entered the church in a
simple
manner and stood by the bishop's throne. After the teacher had
delivered a
speech based on the Gospel and, of course, suitable to the occasion,
His Grace
enlarged on the speech of the teacher, rejoiced with the people over
their good
fortune in having their rights defended by the sceptre of His Majesty
the
Sultan, and encouraged them in their hope of shortly seeing their
God-protected
diocese honoured by the acquisition of a people's pastor; he preached
perseverance and patience, enjoined them to live in love and peace and
to put
their hope in Providence and the Sultan's mercy. At the end, he said
warm
prayers, wishing long life to His Majesty the Sultan, the great vizir
and his
ministers.
After the service, he
visited
several houses of the people and then set out on his way, accompanied
by the
schoolchildren and crowds of people .Outside the town, great multitudes
were
waiting to see him off. The old man, after thanking the townspeople for
the
honour they had conferred on him, gave them his last fatherly advice
and
encouragement to persevere and hope, and then he showed his benevolence
by
giving a gold Turkish lira to the teacher in token of his great efforts
and activity.
Then he blessed the people again, got into his carriage and was
escorted by the
people as far as Vladovo, a village a quarter of an hour away from the
town,
which consists of fifty houses and whose population is purely
Bulgarian. The
villagers from Vladovo also welcomed their guest with great joy. Here,
too, the
old man delivered a short speech, which moved them so much that they
could
hardly keep still in their places. He drank a glass of clear cold water
sitting
on the rush mat spread on the green grass. After he had stayed here,
too, for
an hour, he set off again and was soon lost to their sight.
May our Merciful Lord and
Father
the Sultan soon implement Clause 1 of his firman and so
rejoice his faithful and humble subjects by sending them a people's
shepherd,
whose voice they know, and thus they will make great progress in their
development, on which the welfare of the people depends.
(Newspaper The
Levant Times (Iztochno Vreme), Constantinople,
No. 19, May 18th, 1874; the original is in
Bulgarian.
147
A report from the Austro-Hungarian Consul von Knapich to Count Andrassy
on the Bulgarian population in Salonica,
Bitola and other sandjaks
May 12th, 1874
As a continuation of my
previous
report of the 21st of last month No. 4
I have the honour to
give the following information about the ratio between the Greek and
Bulgarian
populations in this vilayet and the position of each on the church
dispute in
progress here.
In the sandjak of Salonica,
exclusively Greek population can be found only in the districts of
Kassandria
and Aineros - the, former Chalcidice Peninsula
- and farther on along the opposite western shores
of
the bay. This population which, naturally, is controlled by the
Patriarchate,
is not included in the church dispute. In contrast, the population in
the
districts of Doiran, Avret-hissar, Strumitsa, Voden, Enidje Yardar is
almost
exclusively Bulgarian. The population is of a more mixed character in
the two
counties Karaferia and Nyausta, where the Greek language, as is
generally the case
with all main towns, is predominantly used.
In these districts hitherto
only in
Doiran and Strumitsa and the main settlements has the population openly
sided
with the Exarchate, not without, of course, overcoming numerous and
various
obstacles on the part of the Greek clergy. The majority of the people
in the
provincial towns, as well as in the villages, are favourably disposed
towards
the Exarchate. Thus, for example, out of forty villages belonging to
the
diocese of Salonica, not less than thirty are faithful to the Bulgarian
cause.
They cannot, however, express their preference because the Greek party
of the
bishop of Salonica is working against them and has so far prevented
them from
forming their own organization.
In the principal city of Salonica, the
Greek party
has the upper hand, but the few followers that the Exarchate has here
at this
moment will soon grow into a strong party, if the Bulgarians succeed in
having
a national bishop appointed to the diocese of Salonica as well.
Naturally, the
numerous followers from the villages will go over to their side.
In the sandjak of Bitola - the centre of the Slav population in Macedonia - the districts of Lerin, Kichevo, Veles, Ohrid,
Prilep, Prespa, Resen,
Tikvesh, Roudnik, Ostrovo and Karadjovo are populated exclusively by
Bulgarians, while only in the two counties of Kozhani and Selfidje is
there an
insignificant minority of Greeks, the majority being Mohammedans, who
constitute almost three-thirds of the total population here.
In some of the
above-mentioned
districts, such as Lerin, Ohrid and Bitola, there are (along with the
Turkish
population, which is to be found everywhere) Wallachians whose
sympathies are
divided between the Exarchate and the Patriarchate; the majority,
however,
support the Patriarchate, while the Bulgarian population in all these
districts
sympathizes with the new national church, stands for it almost without
exception. The Bulgarians in the main towns would fall away from the
Patriarchate entirely, if it were not for the pressure exercised on
them by the
Greek clergy.
The impressive welcome
organized
for the recently appointed Bulgarian bishop of Ohrid is a proof of the
strength
of this party in the district of Bitola and of how seriously it is
thinking of
expanding still further its independent position and of compelling the
Turkish
government to permit (little by little) the appointment of Bulgarian
bishops in
other dioceses too.
The district of Seres,
Demir
Hissar, Melnik, Nevrokop, Razlog and Zuhna belong to the sandjak of
Seres, and
the Greek population is in the majority only in the mam towns: Seres,
Demir
Hissar and Melnik, and to some extent in the main town of Nevrokop and
the area
of Zuhna, while in all the other districts it dwindles to almost an
insignificant minority among the dominating Bulgarian population. With
the
exception of the main towns and of the region around Zuhna, as well as
parts of
the district of Seres, where the number of the villages populated with
Greeks
is almost equal to that populated by Bulgarians, all other districts
support
the Exarchate and expect to be allowed to have a corresponding
church
organization — dioceses with Bulgarian clergy and
Bulgarian schools. The unyielding devotion of the Bulgarians in the
sandjak of
Seres to the cause of the Exarchate is particularly striking. All
attempts by
the local authorities to win them back to the cause of the Patriarchate
not
only have not had the least success, but have had the opposite effect,
because
even those who did not have a definite stand, have now sided with their
compatriots and all are unanimous in their determination to suffer the
severest
persecution, rather than submit to the rule of the Greek church
hierarchy.
In the Drama sandjak, where
the
Christian population is poorly represented in comparison with the
Mohammedans,
relations among the different nationalities are more complex than in
the
above-mentioned districts.
In the Drama, Pravishta,
Kavala,
Sarushban and Enidje districts the Greek population predominates, with
the
exception only of the Ahuchelebi county, where nine villages are
exclusively
Bulgarian and support the Exarchate. The same goes, in part, for the
villages
of Plevnya, Prosechen, Volako and Kobalishte; the majority of houses, 370 as against 330,
belong to the Bulgarian
party, while the area governed by the kaimakam of Enidje is basically
Greek;
the village of Gabrovo is half Bulgarian and half Greek, while Enikyoi,
though
Bulgarian, acknowledges the Greek bishop of Xanthi.
In order to establish
more accurately the ratio between those Bulgarians who support the
Patriarchate
and those who support the Exarchate, one should make use of the
commission
about which I wrote in my previous report. Such a commission could not,
however, be set up because, as it is rumoured here, the Patriarchate
has
insisted on carrying out a second plebiscite to ask the Bulgarians
whether they
prefer to remain in the Greek religion or to become Schismatics,
whereas,
according to the Exarchate, the question should be put in this way: Do
they
support the Greek Patriarchate, or the Bulgarian Exarchate. Since the
Porte has
not resolutely interfered in this disagreement between the two supreme
church
powers, the commission has, of course, taken a decision in favour of
the Greek
Patriarchate, which will undoubtedly lose, if a second plebiscite is
carried
out conscientiously among the Bulgarians.
Since then, things have
taken
their
natural course. The cause of the Bulgarians seems to have been
abandoned by
their own leaders, who supported them openly before, while the Greek
clergy,
headed by the newly arrived influential bishop Ioakim and the
bishop of
Strumitsa are doubling their efforts to make the Bulgarian dissenters
come back
to them. For this purpose bishop Ioakim has undertaken a tour in his
diocese,
before which he publicly excommunicated the dissenting Bulgarians,
while the
bishop of Strumitsa is using all possible means to the same end, and is
supported by Omer Pasha, who left for Strumitsa with this aim in view.
As a result of this state
of
affairs I have lately been asked by various quarters whether the
Imperial and
Royal Consulate could not advise the Bulgarians as to how they should
act under
the present critical circumstances, and whether they could count on the
support
of the Imperial and Royal Government should they continue to side with
the
Bulgarian Exarchate.
I have reported the same to
the
Imperial and Royal Ambassador in Constantinople,
and I ask the Imperial and Royal Embassy to give me the necessary
instructions
as regards my attitude to the aforesaid plebiscite.
Христо Христов,
Николай Генчев, Българско възраждане
(Hristo Hristov, Nikolai Genchev, Bulgarian National Revival;), Sofia, 1969, pp. 224-227;
the original is
in German.
148
A letter from the Bulgarian
commune
in Yakorouda to Dossitei, Metropolitan of Samokov, expressing gratitude
for his
care
August 18th, 1874
We can find no words with
which to
express to you our deep gratitude and appreciation for your favourable
and most
sincere attitude, towards us. We cannot express and describe the
sincere love
and deep respect we cherish for you, for your glorious labour and the
efforts
you are making for our moral and intellectual enlightenment and
spiritual
education. Yes, our beloved arch-shepherd, you are the one who opens to
us the doors
of genuine happiness and prosperity; you are the one who leads us to an
improvement of the people's life. This great activity of yours, in
which you
engage for our sake, for our well-being, makes us rejoice and thank God
for
having provided us with such a good bishop of the people. We wish you
long
life, kind archbishop, long life!
Thus, bowing to your high
reverence, and kissing your sacred hand, we remain your obedient
servants.
The Bulgarian commune in
Yakorouda.
НБКМ, БИА, IIA, 6919; the original is in Bulgarian
149
In a dispatch from
Maleshevo to the
newspaper The Levant Times
the Phanariot bishop is reported to have caused
the arrest of several Bulgarians
September 5th, 1874
The sojourn of the Greek
bishop Ierotheus
in the diocese has led to many scandals. The people are suffering very
much and
the Imperial Government will show great mercy, if it condescends to
take into
account the lawful complaints of the population and free them from the
bishop
who has been imposed on them.
You know that
the Bulgarians in Macedonia, who were in a state of lethargy for a long
time,
have begun to shake off the torpour and, having realized, to a greater
or
lesser extent, the beneficial results of the church reviv undertaken by
their
brothers in Upper Bulgaria, are trying to join them i revival. No
doubt, this
is a noble and lawful aim. But it greatly dispie Greek clergy, and
lerotheus,
in particular, who finds comfort in slandering innocent people and
throwing
them into prison. This person extorts the 1 tax from the population at
a time
when it cannot even pay its taxes government.
Ierotheus, who
was driven away from Berovo, tried to compromise
in the eyes of Müdür Omer Aga half a score of notables
in the district. These men spent
more than sixty days in prison. They were finally released, b them were
taken
to Salonica, where they are still languishing in chains. Their names are Kostadin Georgiev
and Ivan Stoilov. We hope that
the Imperial Government, when it becomes convinced of their
innocence,
will order them to be
set free.
Telegrams were sent to
the Great Vizir in connection with this, and two representatives were
also sent
to Constantinople, to beg the
Imperial Government
to forbid the bishop to interfere further in the affairs of the
commune. It is
obvious that the Government has been informed and has ordered the
kaimakam of
Strumitsa to make inquiries on the spot. But the latter does everything
possible to suppress the voice of the people. But the population
insists that
the bishop be dismissed and that the two above-mentioned persons be
released.
Newspaper The Levant Times (Iztochno Vreme), Constantinople, No. 31, September 14th, 1874;
the
original is in Bulgarian
150
Letter from the Bulgarian
commune
in Petrich to Stefan
Verkovic, Seres,
with a request to send them Bulgarian newspapers
November 10th, 1874
The members of the
Bulgarian
commune in Petrich, signed below, wishing to stir in the hearts of the
young
Bulgarians and in general of the people living in our town a heart-felt
desire
for science and education in our national Bulgarian language, thought
it a good
idea to arrange for the regular arrival of one of our national
Bulgarian
newspapers for our Bulgarian school in the Martin neighbourhood.
But since for
the time being our commune has scanty funds, we need aid in the form of
material donations from some patriotic people and, therefore, we
decided to
address the present letter to your lordship to request you, if it be
possible,
to arrange for one Bulgarian newspaper to come regularly to our school,
of
which your lordship knows, and, if possible, the newspaper should be Vek
(Century).
If it should prove impossible to arrange for a present to be made of
one
newspaper subscription to the above-mentioned school, we humbly request
you to
send us your answer as soon as possible, so that we may somehow try to
arrange
for our poor commune to meet the expenses of a newspaper subscription
for our
school.
Let you be informed of the
fact
that his reverence, the patriotic Father Agapi, having taught for 14 months in the above-mentioned school, working
with praise-worthy
diligence for the education of the pupils entrusted to him, as well as
for the
enlightenment of our people, handed in his resignation on November 1st, and left for Salonica on the 6th of the same
month, and we appointed in
his place, as teacher in the above-mentioned school, the patriotic Mr.
Eftim P.
Trayanov from Peichevo (Malashevo district).
Looking hopefully forward
to
your
speedy answer, we offer you with deep respect our sincere greetings and
remain.
БАН, НА, ф. 14, on. 1, a.e. 157, л. 1;
Документи за Българското възраждане от архивата на Стефан И. Веркович.
Съст. и
подг. за печ. Д. Велева и Т. Вълов, под ред. и с предг. чл. кор. Хр.
Христов (Documents
on the Bulgarian National Revival in the
Archive of Stefan Verkovic, Compiled and prep, for publ. by D. Veleva
and T.
Vulov, edited and prefaced by H, Hristov, Corresponding Member of the
Academy
of Sciences), Sofia, 1969, pp. 555-557; the original is in Bulgarian
151
An obituary for Nako Stanishev from Koukoush,
one of the
prominent figures of the Bulgarian National Revival Movement in Macedonia
March 1875
Stricken with bitter sorrow,
we
announce that merciless death has snatched away from us one of our
first
citizens. This brother of ours is Nako Stanishev. His Honour was known
to
almost all our national revival workers in Constantinople,
with whom he worked actively and wholeheartedly on the church
plebiscite,
distinguishing himself with his maturity and experience. He was one of
the most
active champions of the Bulgarian cause in Macedonia.
Because of his
activities in the Revival Movement, he was often sentenced to exile,
but his
maturity and knowledge helped him to prove his innocence and thus avoid
punishment. Moreover, His Honour's excellent character and
praiseworthy deeds
deserve the attention of everyone, because he spent the better half of
his
possessions on our religious struggle against the Greeks. Eternal
memory! God
rest his soul!
Сп. „Ден",
Цариград (Magazine Den),
Constantinople, No. 10, April 16th, 1875; the original is in Bulgarian
152
The citizens of Bitola ask help
from the Russian Consul for
the Bulgarian churches and schools
March 28th, 1875
Everybody knows what
sacrifices the
Bulgarian commune in Bitola
has made ever since 1868 to set up and preserve
the national churches and schools in this town inhabited mainly by
Bulgarians.
But, as the people who constitute the commune and support these
establishments
pleasing to God belong to the poorer class, they were not able to meet
all the
needs of the schools. That was why the commune was compelled to dismiss
the
headmaster and to close the central school, where about sixty pupils
studied.
One part of them were forced to go to Greek schools which, being at an
incomparably higher level of perfection and which, financed by the
Wallachian
population and the wealthier Bulgarians, but mainly by the generous
subsidies
of the syllogosists1 in Athens and Constantinople, attracted
the
Bulgarian youth ...
(The petition is signed by 5 church wardens)
Архив внешней политики Росени,
Главньiй архив (Archive of
Russia's
Foreign Policy Main Archive), V-A2, 1875,д. 144pp.
7-8; the
original is in
Russian
1 Nationalistic organizations for
Megali-Greek propaganda in Macedonia
153
The Russian Consul in Bitola, V.
Maximov, forwards the petition of the
Bulgarian church wardens in Bitola
April 26th, 1875
I have the honour of
offering
to
the benevolent attention of Your Excellency the request of the
church wardens
of the Bulgarian commune in Bitola.
In this petition the church
wardens
of the above-mentioned commune implore the Consulate to intercede
with the
Imperial Ministry to grant subsidies to help the Bulgarian schools in Bitola in the
way that
the school in Ohrid has been honoured.
As the town of Bitola and the
surrounding area are inhabited
exclusively by Bulgarians, their language predominates among the whole
population, including the Mohammedans - Turks and Albanians. The
Wallachian children of the most ardent Graecomanes learn
to speak first in Bulgarian, as their wet-nurses are usually
Bulgarians ...
Архив внешней политики России,
Главньiй архив (Archive of
Russia's
Foreign Policy. Main Archive), V-A2 1875,д. 144 л-л . 3-6; the
original is in Russian.
154
A report from Skopje to the
newspaper Vek on the
setting up of a Bulgarian school society in the town
June 1875
It was this time last year
when
several young people — aware of the low
standard of the national schools, the inertia of the female sex, the
decay of
our peasants in gross ignorance and lack of culture, the poverty of the
needy
schoolboys and schoolgirls, and of similar obstacles to the prosperity
and
civilization of our dear country — decided that in the
future their only concern and desire should be the elimination of the
above-mentioned shortcomings, and, on the 1st of September, they set
up a society, called the Bulgarian School Society Razvitie (Development).
The programme of the projected society is as follows:
1.
To improve
the order and progress of our local national schools (be they boys' or
girls')
by the timely provision of good and worthy teachers.
2.
To ensure
that a girls' school is opened.
3.
To provide
in good time everything that is necessary for the progress of the
schools.
4. To attend to
opening of a Sunday school for our illiterate and half-illiterate
compatriots.
5.
To supply
all scientific books and newspapers that will help the further
intellectual
development both of its members and of those attending Sunday schools.
6.
To help
poor schoolboys and schoolgirls with textbooks and other teaching
materials,
and to help some (the poorest of them) with food and clothing.
7.
To strive,
in some places with its own resources, in others with village or
village
society resources, to open schools in the larger villages in the
district and
at the same time, to superintend the schools which have so far been
opened by
the villagers themselves in three or four villages, as well as those it
is
going to open in the future.
8.
To see to
it that one or two pupils are sent later to some higher schools in Bulgaria or Europe.
The sources from which
money can be collected in order to fulfil the above-mentioned tasks are
the
following:
a. Voluntary donations by
members
who founded the society.
b. Monthly contributions
from
the
foundation members and weekly ones from the associate members.
c. From farewell
celebrations
in
honour of local or other merchants who go to Salonica or other places
on
business.
d. From betrothals,
weddings,
baptisms and other religious services.
e. From philantropic
donations
by
rich Bulgarians, as well as by every Bulgarian craftsman, and finally
from
public money collected from churches and inns, fields, etc., belonging
to the
commune.
The last two sources
haven't
been
used yet, but there is hope they will be in one or two months. And so,
not only
is the number of the members of the society growing bigger every day,
but the
society is increasing its activities as well; i.e. on the one hand, you
see
people enrolling as foundation members, giving their voluntary help,
and
others, joining the society as associate members on the other hand,
according
to the statutes of the society and the instructions of the society
board, some
members go every morning to see off merchants from other parts; others
go to
collect the monthly and weekly contributions from the associate
members, while
still others distribute congratulatory cards to these Bulgarians
who have a
wedding party or baptism, as well as to every Bulgarian craftsman who
celebrates the day of his patron saint.
Finally, let us inform you
about
the results of the activities of the society. In the course of nine
months, the
society has in fact managed to open only one girls’ school in the town
and
another one in the village
of Divle, which
is four
hours' walk to the east of our town; it has provided the poor
schoolchildren with
books, textbooks and Bulgarian newspapers. The other purposes will be
pursued
later, since, for the time being, its purse cannot afford them.
В. „Век", Цариград (Newspaper Vek),
Constantinople, No. 27, July 5th, 1875; the original
is in Bulgarian
155
Hristo Botev's article to
the
editor of the newspaper Istok, (East) (Belgrade),
about the Serbian chauvinistic propaganda in Macedonia
June 20th, 1875
After our answer to your
article
entitled Bulgarian Espionage and Inquisition, we thought that
you would
be silenced or would at least change the tone of your trash. You have
tried to
do this with the few lines published in the 53rd number of your
paper directly aimed at us. However, we do not think that in our answer
we ‘have
been striking the air’, but that we have been 'striking' you and your
government, that is why it will be tactical to answer your lines again.
We do
not avoid polemics and explications; we are democrats, that is why we
can step
into the quagmire and see what you are doing there, trampled by the
public
opinion of the Serbian intelligentsia. Listen. You say that in the
article
'Bulgarian Espionage and Inquisition' you have been adducing facts,
while we
have been swearing and, at the same time, attacking Serbia, Russia and
everything the people themselves desire. (Which people? Our people?) We
do not
have enough room here to quote all the philological and ethnographical
vomit in
which your article abounds, and all the abominations and slanders you
heap not
only on the Exarchate, but on the whole Bulgarian people, and to show
you who
has been swearing - you or we. Just for a
second, we shall accept one of your accusations, just to prove to you
that, for
the above-mentioned article, you deserve not only to be cursed, but
even to be
sent to a madhouse. You adduce facts with which you accuse the
Bulgarians and
their Exarchate of using espionage and inquisition to Bulgarize the
poor,
unfortunate Serbians in Turkey,
and you say we do not answer your facts but swear instead. Well,
how are we to
answer facts which you yourselves base on the philological madness of
Milos
Milojevic, i.e. that Serbians have lived in the Balkan
Peninsula since time immemorial, that only a handful of 200,000 Bulgarian-Tartars came here and, in a short
time,
Bulgarized all these Serbians? How are we to answer these facts
when their
philological madness is clad in political tendencies, i.e. when you and
your
government are striving to ensure that there will really be only 200,000 Bulgarians, or, to use your words, Tartars,
while the
rest are Serbianized, i.e. Slavicized? Wise people respond to
philological
madness with laughter and scorn, while to your political charlatanism
we
respond with curses and indignation: the Bulgarian people have no other
weapon.
But even in this respect, we have proved to be much more tactful than
you. We
did not swear at the Serbian people (as you did at Bulgarian people),
or the
Serbian intellectuals or at the decent Serbian patriots, but attacked
only this
patriotic slum in whose noddles the horses of Dusan keep kicking around
and
whose aim is to act with a high hand wherever the Serbian
(Dragasevic's) 'God
bless you' is heard. We are not to blame that your government and
a great part
of your 'saintly' men belong to this patriotic scum. And we did that
only to
show you that our emigrants know the reasons why you raised such an
uproar
against our Exarchate and flung so many slanders against our people. It
was
pretty pleasant for you, on the one hand, to sing your methodist song
about
brotherhood and unity and to cheat us with the good intentions of
‘the
South-Slavonic Piedmont’ and, on the other, to sow proselytism in the
western
parts of our country and to weave your ethnographical and political
web. But
the Exarchate, at which from the very beginning, you looked askance and
the
emigrants whom you have been exploiting ever since 1862 up till now, have through their long and bitter
experience come to
realize who you are and what you are, while the Bulgarian people, whom
you have
been deceiving since the beginning of your liberation, have turned
their eyes,
as well as their hopes, away from you. It is natural, of course, after
all this
that, for you, the Exarchate should have become a den of spies and
inquisitors,
the emigrants - a band of millet-ale venders and
vagabonds, and the Bulgarian people (who according to you are not more
than 200,000) - Tartars, who, in order to be
liberated from the Turks,
should first be Serbianized. Prove to us that neither you nor your
government
think so. Why then do you say that we swear and do not answer your
facts? In
order to answer and refute your facts, you should first of all explain
to us
how far your ethnographic boundaries stretch to the south and which
places come
within the boundaries of your Old Serbia; because, judging by your
geographical
and ethnographical ideas, we see that the facts you adduce speak in our
favour
rattier, i.e. that it is not the Exarchate that is forcing the Serbians
to
accept Bulgarism, but that you and your government are doing this to
the
Bulgarian element in Macedonia. Thus, for example, we cannot understand
this
complaint of yours: "In May this year bishop Damaskin with the consent
of
the müdür closed the school (Serbian, of course) in Veles and
drove away the
pupils.’ Is Veles a Serbian town? Is Veles within the boundaries of
your Old
Serbia? We are stupid enough (and so are Hilferding1, Kanitz2,
and Grigorovich, and Liprandi3 and many other ethnographers)
to
think that Veles is a Bulgarian town and is situated in Macedonia:
consequently it is not
you who should complain that bishop Damaskin has closed your school but
we,
because your propaganda has poked its nose into other people's affairs.
Is it
not you, who keep saying that 'it is in the interests of both Serbians
and
Bulgarians not to exercise pressure, but to leave everyone to think,
work and
study, as he finds it best?’ What free thinking people! What then is
your
propaganda doing in Veles? And why do your teachers incite the people
not to
acknowledge the Exarchate? Or is this also a curse? And have you
forgotten the
scandal in Tetovo? But while you try to answer these questions, we
shall sum up
our other curses in a few questions. Tell us, if you please, is there
not in
Belgrade a society of patriots (which society we called 'scum')
under the
chairmanship of the 'philological ass' Milos Milojevic, and does that
society
not send money, books and teachers to purely Bulgarian villages and
towns in
Macedonia and to some parts in North-western Bulgaria? If it does, what
stands
behind these enormous sacrifices, is it to enlighten their brothers, or
to sow
proselytism among them? Tell us, is this society not founded by the
Tempter,
and is it not, both morally and materially, supported by your
'Piedmont'
government? If it is so, is not its purpose to prove in action
that only Serbians live on the Balkan Peninsula?
Answer all these vital questions, and
then we shall prove to you in the next number of Zname4 why
we attack 'Serbia, Russia and everything that the people themselves
desire',
and we shall prove to you that the people do not want what you and your
government are doing to them, and no longer listen to those who but yesterday cheated them.
Христо Ботев, Съчинения,
Автентично издание (Hristo Botev, Works, Authentic Edition), vol. II, Sofia, 1960;
p. 219-222; the original is in Bulgarian
1 A. F. Hilferding (1831-1872),
a Russian
historian and Slavophil. Author of Letters on the History of the
Serbians and
the Bulgarians', etc.
2 Felix Kanitz (1829-1904),
a Hungarian
ethnographer, archeologist and geographer
3 Ivan Petrovich Liprandi (about 1790-1880), a Russian general and scholar
4 A newspaper edited by Hristo Botev
156
Excerpts from the book by
Felix
Kanitz Danube Bulgaria and the Balkan Peninsula
about the Bulgarians on
the Balkan Peninsula, their frontiers
and
information about their numbers
1876
Comparing the line
indicated
here,
inside which the settlements of the old Slav tribes spread to the east
and
south of the Illyric Peninsula, with the territory, occupied by
present-day
Bulgarian Slavs, we are surprised to find out that the latter have lost
very
little territory, in spite of all adverse conditions, in spite of the
turbulent
Turkish flood, which has spread its troubled waves over them. In fact,
the
frontier regions of the Bulgarian territories have been dreadfully
gnawed by
Serbs, Greeks, Albanians and Turks; but it can be said that the
Bulgarian
people have preserved in the greatest integrity and completeness all
territories inhabited by them in the interior of the country which they
possessed up to the conquest of the Balkan Peninsula by the Turks.
In compact masses, only
sporadically merging with other nationalities, the Bulgarian people
inhabit the
whole territory from the Serbian frontier to the Yantra, to the
Bulgarian
Morava and the middle reaches of the Maritsa,
and further to the ends of the Western Balkan Range. Apart from this
region,
the Bulgarians also live west of the Maritsa up to Lake Ohrid,
where they exceed in numbers their neighbours -
Turks,
Greeks and Albanians. Moreover, in recent times, side by side with the
intensification of national feeling and the renunciation of
everything Greek,
they have started to move from that region to a more reliable and
lasting
domicile. Old Byzantine traditions inform us that the Greeks - that mercantile, enterprising people - ousted the Bulgarians,
insofar as that was possible, from the sea coast, and today the latter
have an
outlet to the sea only at the major commercial and political ports of Varna and
Salonica. Still
more territories, however, have been taken from them to the west,
during the
present century, by militant Albanians, who, descending from their
steep
mountains, invariably installed themselves firmly in the fertile
valleys of the
Toplitsa, of the upper Vardar and the Bulgarian Morava. Although the
greater
part of the place names there are Bulgarian, their Slav population
always
retreated before the physically stronger Albanian element. The Old
Turkish
government, far from defending them, observed with pleasure the
pressure which
their allies of the same faith exerted on the Christian people, who
always
showed their desire to be liberated from its bondage.
In the course of 15 years the Porte tried to disperse the solid mass
of the Bulgarian
population, by settling in their midst Tartars from the Crimea and
militant
Circassians, who had been ousted by the Russians from their
mountains, while,
on the north, it tried to drive wedges of other settlers into the
Bulgarian
element, and, as it seems, even contributed to the settlement of the
Danubian
bank by Romanian colonists. Thus the Bulgarian people, pressed on all
sides by
hostile elements, sought openings and ultimately found not only one but
several, in different directions. Because they were oppressed by the
Greek
clergy, the greater part of the Bulgarians of Roman Catholic religion
moved to Hungary
and Romania,
and later, early in the
present century, these migrations were resumed on a large scale. Later,
when Serbia
won her
independence, its Danubian parts became refuge to all rayah, who were
dissatisfied with the administration of pashas and Phanariots.
Even in recent
times, hundreds of families have resettled there. However, in Serbia,
the
Bulgarians soon lost their national identity amidst the population
related to
them in origin and language. Only several settlements like Bugar-Korito
and
Vratarnitsa in Knyazhevac region, Veliki Izvor in the region of
Zaichar,
Sharbanovets and Miloushinets in the district of Alexinat, have
preserved their
mother tongue. Therefore, the young Bulgarians spare no efforts to
prevent
their compatriots from emigrating to Serbia. In 1874 they openly protested against the endeavours of
the Serbs to keep up by
various means agitation along their southern frontier from Cherni Drin
to
Timok, in order to increase their numbers at the expense of the
Bulgarians.
The settlement of the
Bulgarians on
the Wallachian bank has also been considerable at all times. The
Wallachian
boyars and the Government readily accepted the industrious Bulgarians,
skilled
in the cultivation of the land. But there the same lot befell them as
in Serbia.
They
disappeared amidst the mass of the Romanian people, who have always
been
distinguished for their ability to absorb Slav tribes, as I have
already proved
by detailed conclusions in 1863 1 and later, in 1868, in my work Serbia. The
last
great migration, consisting of 10,000,
set out for the Crimea in 1861.
All these incessant
struggles
in
the course of whole centuries, together with the ensuing territorial
changes,
have made the ethnographic map of European Turkey, drawn by the
Consul began,
and the map of the Southern Slavs, drawn by Prof. Bradaska, most
erroneous reflections
of reality. They both appeared in Petermann's Geographical
Announcements; their
drawing consumed much labour and their virtues should not be
rejected; more
precise details were, however, lacking in them. How difficult it is to
define
these details I learnt from personal experience. My new ethnographic
map of
Danube Bulgaria and
the
Balkan Range will elucidate for the first time the proportion of the
nationalities in every settlement in the major regions of Turkey,
because
I drew it on the basis of information collected on the spot and I hope
that it
will prove as useful for scholarship as for political practice.
The same vagueness
dominates
the
statistics of the Turkish state as its ethnographic relationships.
These
figures cannot be discovered either in the numerous offices of the
Sublime
Porte, or in any provincial office. Even at present, the
establishment of the
total number of the population, as well as the quantitative ratio of
the
individual nationalities is based only on suppositions and estimates.
According
to the specificity of the Turkish system of taxation, women and
children are
not counted, and this practice is followed by all official statistics.
Under such adverse
conditions,
it
is hard to determine even approximately the numerical ratios of the
individual
nationalities in Turkey.
Depending on the interests of one of them, the number of the different
nationalities is inflated or slashed in most significant proportions.
In this
respect, clerks and religious persons are no exception: while
usually trying
to find out the truth, they also give false information in the
interests of the
party to which they belong. If the figures by which the patriotic
Turks, Serbs,
Bulgarians, Greek, Tsintsars, Albanians and Armenians separately define
their
number are totalled, Turkey
would be a country with the densest population in Europe;
and yet it is true and well-known that this is far from the case. In
the
semi-dependent principalities (Wallachia and Moldavia), where the
statistics of
the number of the population are kept very precisely, there is an
average of 1,800 people per sq. mile, while in
Serbia the figure is no
more than 1,400-1,500; we would not dare claim
that European Turkey has a denser population than those principalities...
The total number of
Bulgarians
inhabiting the European part of Turkey
is approximately 5 million, and, although they
themselves make it up to 6 or 7 million, I nevertheless claim, on the basis of
numerous statistics
collected by myself, that their estimate of their total number is too
high. In
the Western Balkan Range, which from olden times has been settled by
Bulgarians
only, where a non-Slav settlement is very rarely found, and where,
naturally,
the Bulgarian population is purest, it has completely preserved its
natural, unadulterated
type…
Ф. Каниц,
Дунайская Болгарiя и Балканскiй полуостров. Историческiя, географическiя
и зтнографическiя путевьiе наблюденiя,
1860—1875 Спб., тип. Путей сообщ. (А. Бенке), (F.
Kanitz, Danube Bulgaria
and
the Balkan Peninsula. Historical,
Geographical
and Ethnographical Travel Notes), pp. 51-54; the original is in Russian
1 Die
Linzaren. Mitth. der Wiener Geogr. Gesellschaft. 1863
157
An appeal to the Bulgarian
people
to rise in arms, drafted by the commission1 elected at
Oborishte
April I5th-l7th, 1876
Brother Bulgarians!
The end of the bestial
tyranny,
which we have been enduring for five centuries now, oppressed by
the Ottoman
rule has come. Every one of ms
has
been awaiting it with impatience. The day of the people's uprising of
all
Bulgarians from Bulgaria,
Thrace and Macedonia
will be... Every honest Bulgarian, in whose veins pure
Bulgarian blood flows, as it
flowed in the veins of our tsars of yore - Kroum, Simeon, Boris and
Assen, should rise in arms, so that we can stir the enemy with our very
first
blow.
Our courageous Bulgarians
should
not fear death in the least. They should not fear the self-decaying
Turkish
rule, which has long been on the point of collapse. Forward, brothers!
Take up
arms, and let us all together fight bravely against it, and thus defend
our
freedom and our homeland.
Oh, Bulgarian people, prove
that
you are alive, show that you know how to value your freedom! By rising
in arms
today, win your freedom in battle and with your own blood! Let the yoke
that
chafes our necks like a saw be broken!
You, who look for honour
and
the
right to freedom, defend the rights and freedom of those who seek
protection
from you! Be brave and courageous. Fight fearlessly against the enemy,
but do
not refuse magnanimity to those who have fallen captive.
As from today, on behalf of
our
people, we have declared before the whole civilized world: full freedom
or
death.
Forward, brothers, God is
with
us!2
НБКМ, БИА, IIA 9143; Априлско въстание 1876. (April 1876 Uprising) Vol. 3, Sofia, 1956,
pp. 15-16; the original copy is in Turkish
1 G. Benkovski, P. Volov, G. Ikonomov, I.
Machev, I. Sokolov, G. Neichev, N. Stoyanov, N. Karadjov, Dr
V.
Sokoiski, V. Petleshkov, H, Turnev, priest Grouyu and N. Gougov
2 Then follows the text: 'Signed.
Issued on behalf of
the Bulgarian apostles in Thrace.’
158
A report in the newspaper Istok
about
the revolutionary unrest in Macedonia
June 9th, 1876
The Bulgarian Uprising is
spreading
as never before. It is reported from Salonica that the old voivoda Iliya1
— the hero of heroes — has risen with a strong
detachment of well armed lads - in the mountains along
the Strouma. A great number of Bulgarians in Macedonia
have joined him, while
young people of an age to carry arms are flocking to him from other
parts of
the country. There are already 2,000 insurgents around
Shoumen. Circassians set two Bulgarian villages on fire, but the young
champion
Stoyan pursued and slew them.
В.
„Исток", Белград (Newspaper Istok),
Belgrade,
No. 62, June 9th, 1876; the original is in Serbo-Croat
1 A
reference to Ilyo
Markov from the village of Berovo, Bulgarian rebel and chief of
guerrillas,
well known under the name of Grandfather Ilyo.
159
On the request of the
Sultan's Chancellery, the Governor
of Bitola
gives
information about the revolutionary activities of several Bulgarians
September 24th, 1876
Attached to the present
letter
is a
declaration handed to us by the Mohammedan population in Bitola
protesting about the behaviour, crimes
and rebellious acts of some Bulgarians from the same town, whose names
are mentioned
in the enclosed list. Since the real situation is not clear to us, you
should
give orders for making the necessary investigations and, after
ascertaining the
results, send them duly to us with your opinion of the case.
6
sheval 1292 (Nov. 5th, 1875)
We have received report
number
141 of the 5 ramazan 1293 (24th of September 1876) from the Governor of
Bitola, his Excellency Dervish Pasha, confirming the receipt of the
letter and
reporting the following:
The town doctor Constantine
(Mishaykov), who had been exiled to Salonica some time ago, together
with some
other persons, has for years been trying to fan hatred among the
Christian
population by propagating Bulgarian ideas, which have already spread
through
several districts and which incite the Bulgarians to acknowledge the
authority
of the Exarchate. One of them is Iliya, born in Veles, who, after
having been
driven away from there, settled in Bitola
before
the creation of the vilayet and was appointed treasurer in the town of Lerin. He was
dismissed,
because he started spreading revolutionary ideas there, too. After the
vilayet
was formed, the Bulgarians bought a plot of land on which to build a
new
Bulgarian church, just opposite the Mohammedan quarter. The matter has
not yet
been decided by the Great Vizirate, with which we were in
correspondence.
At the elections that took
place
recently, Bulgarians were elected to the Council which aroused the
indignation
of the Mohammedan population and caused complaints among them. This
situation
made the authorities keep these people under observation to see how far
then1
hopes and revolutionary ideas would lead them. After the
above-mentioned town
doctor Constantine - the most inveterate rebel and
brother of the bishop of Plovdiv - was exiled to Salonica
and, from there, sent to Constantinople, on account of the riots in
Plovdiv, it
will not be advisable to exile other Bulgarians, guilty of seditious
acts, as
they have promised to live honestly and respectably. Although no
revolutionary
activity on their part has been observed, the authorities are watching
them as
well as others like them and as soon as there occur any open rebellious
acts,
of the kind which might cause repugnance, all necessary measures will
be taken
and you will be duly informed. The present memorandum is sent for
this
purpose.
Документи за българската
история, т. IV. Документи
из
турските държавни архиви (1863—1909) (Documents on
the Bulgarian. History, Documents from
the Turkish State Archives) vol. 4,
Sofia, 1942, pp. 31-32; the original is in
Turkish
160
The political Programme,1
adopted at the First Bulgarian National Assembly in Bucharest
November 19th, 1876
In order to establish peace
in
the
East, to eradicate the constant brutalities of the Turks, who have no
respect
for any human right, and to realize the just wishes of the Bulgarian
people, Europe is in duty bound to
promote the implementation of
the following programme:
1.
To restore
the Bulgarian state, comprising Bulgaria,
Thrace and Macedonia,
where the main and
predominant element is everywhere the Bulgarian element.
2.
The
Bulgarian state shall be governed independently and autonomously by a
Constitution,
drafted by a legislative body, elected by the people.
3.
Special
laws shall be written for all branches of administration in the spirit
of the
Statute and in conformity with the needs of the people.
4.
All foreign
nationalities, mingled with the Bulgarian people, shall enjoy, together
with
the latter, the same political and civil rights.
5.
Complete freedom of
conscience shall reign in the Bulgarian state.
6.
Military
service and general education shall be obligatory to every citizen of
the
Bulgarian state.
In order to implement this
programme and to avert a second blood bath, there must be internal
military
occupation of Turkey
under which the first Bulgarian provisional government will be formed.2
НБКМ, БИА, ф. 56, ПД 1021; the
original is in Bulgarian
1 Several
different
editions of this programme are known. The present version was most
probably the
final one and was translated into French and German and handed to the
representatives of the Great Powers
2 The programme is signed by Vladimir Yonin, S.
Atanassov, Peter Enchev, Todor Iliev, Ivan Vazov, Stefan Stambolov,
Dimiter P.
Ivanov, Olimpi Panov, Ivan Kavaldjiev, Kiriak Tsankov, Anton Teoharov
and
others
161
An excerpt from the draft
of a Basic
Statute drawn up by
the Constantinople
Conference of Ambassadors for the creation of two autonomous Bulgarian
regions
December 1876
- January 1877
Two Vilayets (regions) will
be
constituted from the territories, mentioned below, and in accordance
with the
attached map, and will be ruled according to the forms of government
given in
detail below:
The Eastern Vilayet, with
'Turnovo
as its centre, will consist of the sandjaks of Rouse, Turnovo, Toulcha,
Vratsa, Sliven,
Plovdiv
(except for
Sultan-Eri and Aha Chelebi) and of the districts of Kirklise,
Moustafapasha and
Kazil-Agach.
The Western Vilayet, with Sofia as the principle city, will consist of the
sandjaks
of Sofia, Vidin,
Nis, Skopje, Bitola (except for the two southern
districts),
one part of the sandjak of Seres (the three northern districts) and of
the
districts of Strumitsa, Tikvesh, Veles and
Kostour.
Международни актове и договори
(1648—1918),
Наука и изкуство (International Acts and
Treaties, 1648-1918), Publishing house Naouka i Izkustvo, Sofia, 1958,
p. 142;
the
original is in French
162
A letter from Nikolai pop
Fflipov,
Bansko, to archimandrite Ilarion of Lovech, Kyustendil,
in which
the former asks that Kostadin Ivanov be ordained priest
May 10th, 1877
The bearer of the present
letter,
Kostadin Ivanov, from the village of Ossikovo, Nevrokop region, has
been chosen
and approved by his fellow villagers to be ordained priest, because so
far they
have made do with foreign priests and it cost too much, as the village
consists
of 50 houses of Christians mixed with
Turks. He carries letters of recommendation from his village, from the
commune
of Nevrokop and a certificate from the priest Filaret Rilets.
When I told him that I was
acquainted with Your Reverence, he asked me, for greater certainty, to
write a
letter to you as well, to make sure that you accept as sincere the
people
recommending him. And, as though he does not possess the necessary
knowledge, I
ask you, on my own behalf as well, to ordain him, because need
requires this;
and he promised to come to me after his ordination and learn at least
the
things which are absolutely essential for his ordaining, and to hold
liturgies
for 40 days in our church.
Relying on your reasonable
benevolence, I hope that you will heed my request, wherefore I kiss
your
beneficial hand and ask your prayer and blessing, remaining for ever
the
spiritual servant of Your Reverence, in the name of Christ.
НБКМ, БИА, IIA, 5923; the original is in
Bulgarian
163
A letter from Stefan K.
Salgundjiev, Seres, to Stefan Verkovic, Moscow, whereby the former
informs the
latter about the situation in Macedonia and the wish of the Bulgarians
living
there to welcome the Russian liberators as soon as possible
May 21st,
1877
More than three months have
elapsed
since you went away from us, and I have had the honour of receiving
only one
letter from you while you were still in Agram. I have always wanted to
write to
you, but since you did not say where my letters could reach you, I
could not do
this, and today I do it, having learnt that you have arrived in the
glorious
capital of our benefactor and saviour.
My dear! My present letter,
and
probably all my letters while you are absent, turn mostly around
daily
questions, which are topical here. You know well the sentiments of the
local
Christian population, who are impatiently waiting for assistance for
salvation
to come from somewhere. Those who still cherish feelings of their true
national
identity, and who, happily, are the majority, from the day when the
cannon of
the Emperor of Holy Mother Russia, who is so dear to every Bulgarian
heart,
began to thunder have been beside themselves with joy, impatiently
waiting to see
and welcome their brothers in race, their benefactors and saviours,
although
the authorities intend to strip them of everything. Better naked, they
say, but
free; if we have only one soul left, we shall have plenty, so long as
we are
wrested from the iron clutches of a tyrannical government. The
news of the
surrender of Ardahan in Asia created
indescribable
joy among them, while reducing the Turks to despair. The progress and
achievements of our brothers by race and faith, indeed, dishearten the
Turks,
on the one hand, and, on the other, arouse malice and hatred in the
champions
of Hellenic-German propaganda in our town. The chiefs of these, who
constantly
repeat the words, 'Better Turks and Gypsies than Russians or any other
Slav
tribe', severely persecute our people. The teacher and apostate Maroul
has
again started his sermons in the churches against Pan-Slavic
sentiments, while
Handrou, Yanoul the physician, who was appointed Italian vice-consul
here with
the assistance of Teodoridi, Greek vice-consul in our town, and others,
are
forcing the bishop to give orders for vigils to be held in every church
every
third day in favour of the Turkish government. It is only in our small
chapel,
which is about to be closed for lack of funds, that prayers are sung
every
Sunday and holiday according to the rules printed in the church-Russian
books
which we use, and those standing outside 4drown the chants
of the
priest with shouts 'Have mercy on us' and 'Amen'. For the time being
this
propaganda is serving the Turkish government as a secret police; it
persecutes
the Bulgarian movement terribly, both here and in the villages. Now
Maroul has
again gathered 2-3 boys and girls from every Bulgarian
village to educate them using his own (the committee's) subsidies, and
what is
more, he has also made encroachments on our school, from which he
managed to
wrest, using big promises and presents, four of the older and more
alert
pupils. To have is strength and we have not. Our committees have
nothing left
for schools, either. Last summer's adventure and the present government
taxes
to support a war not for life but for the death of the government, have
left us
without charitable and educational establishments, apart from the
exarchy,
which also suffers from lack of means, and, therefore, it is evident
that our
future work for progress in Seres has been frustrated, and I shall be
forced to
abandon it, in spite of all my will and heartfelt desire to guard its
interests, but... Let then Maroul and his ilk
rejoice!
The Turkish government have
called
the reservists to the centres of the sandjaks, and, for two months now,
they
have been staying in the inns, without uniforms or arms. A government
order
said that the population must clothe and arm them at its expense. This
order
had not yet been carried out, when a second one arrived, stating that
the
population of the Salonica vilayet must buy 2,000
horses,
hire mercenary horsemen, and clothe and arm them at its own expense as
well as
the first. All taxes of whatever kind are demanded for two years in
advance.
Cash aids were given twice; and, in all these cases, the
population here gives
and is dormant. The malpractices are the most numerous: the fiercest
haidouks
and robbers are the state authorities, God help us.
In addition, I would
like to inform you that a daughter was born to me on St George's Day
and that, at present, both
she and her mother are in the best о
health. At the holy
baptism, which, in spite of my desire to take place from your home, did
not
take place there because of some mistaken interpretations in the
invitation, as
he, whom we had sent to make the invitation, had misunderstood us,
we named her
Olga.
As you see from my
description, it
is improbable that I will stay longer in Seres, because the Exarchy is
not in a
position to support us. If there are signs favourable to our school, as
we have
been encouraged to believe by your latest letter to your family, which
was
given to me to read, first inform me so that I may know what to
undertake.
At last, offering the
cordial
greetings from myself and from my family, I remain.
If you can, try to get me
Russian
or Austrian citizenship through your friends. I could send you later my
picture, my place of birth, name and surname. I need this badly,
the cause
requires it.
БАН, НА, ф. 14, on. 1, a.e. 254, л. 27-28;
Документи за Българското възраждане от архивата на Стефан И.
Веркович. Съст. и
подг. за печ. Д. Велева и Т. Вълов, под ред. и с предг. чл, кор.
Хр, Христов. (Documents on the Bulgarian National Revival
from the Archive
of Stefan Verkovic. Compiled and prep, for publ. by D. Veleva and T.
Vulov,
edited and prefaced by H. Hristov, Corresponding Member of the Academy
of
Sciences), Sofia, 1969, pp. 576-577; the original is in Bulgarian
164
An excerpt
from Prof. Dr. Konstantin Irecek's book History of the
Bulgarians,
in which the ethnographic boundaries of the Bulgarian people in
the Balkan Peninsula are indicated,
together with the regions they inhabit in
it and outside it and their numbers
1878
APPENDIX
SETTLEMENTS AND NUMBERS OF
THE
BULGARIANS
The Bulgarians inhabit the
ancient
regions of Moesia, Thrace
and Macedonia, or,
according
to the latest Turkish terminology, the Danubian, Adrianople, Salonica
and Bitola vilayets, as well
as part of Bessarabia. They occupy a
total territory of
approximately 4,000 sq. miles.
The boundary line of the
area
inhabited by people speaking the Bulgarian language coincides to the
north with
the lower reaches of the Danube, from its estuaries to Vidin;
then it continues on land to the Timok, follows the Serbian frontier,
which it
crosses here and there, and then turns south as far as Prokuplje on the
Topolnitsa. Following the heights on the left of the valley
of Morava, it circumvents the
town of Vranja, reaches Montenegro,
extends along the Šar Mountain, includes Upper Debur and ends on
the
eastern shore of Lake Ohrid at the village of Lin.
The region south of the Ohrid
Lake - the valley of Korcha and of the river Devol - has a mixed population (Albanians, Bulgarians
and Wallachians). Further
on the frontier goes from the Devol through Lake Kostour, the towns of
Vlashka
Klissoura, Negoush, Salonica and Seres, includes the neighbourhood of
Drama,
reaches the southern slopes of the Rhodopes,1 and from there
goes on
to Dimotika, Uzun-Kyupria, Bounar-Hissar (at Kirklise, called Lozen in
Bulgarian) and Malki Samokov to the Black Sea. In addition, in our
century
(19th century), the Bulgarian settlements have been drawing
increasingly close
to the capital (Constantinople). There
are
isolated Bulgarian villages already at Rodosto, Sarai, Chorlu and
particularly
at Derkos. Many Bulgarians live in Constantinople
itself.
In Russia,
the Bulgarians live in the Herson, Bessarabia
and Tavria provinces. It may be assumed that many Bulgarians have lived
in Odessa
because, there,
there is a street called 'Bulgarian.' Moreover, Bulgarians have settled
in the
region of Odessa and the former
colonies:
Koshkovo, Katarzhina, Koubanka, Golyam and Maluk Bouyaluk; in Parkani,
Bender
region, in Ternovka close to Nikolaev and in the Crimea
- the Old Crimea, Kishlava and Balta-Chokrak.
The Bessarabian colonies settled by
Bulgarians
bear the following names: Dezgindje, Komrat, Chok-Megdan, Kirsovo, Beshalma, Tomai, Terapontevka, Avdarma, Bashkalia, Djoltai, Beshgyoz, Gaidar, Baurchi, Kyuretne, Chadur-Lounga, Valeperzhe, Tvurditsa, Kiriet-Loung, Nvotroyan, Ivanovka, Devlet-Agach, Kouparan, Choumelkyoi, Dyulemen, Isserlia, Dimitrovka, Sataluk-Hadji, Chiishia, Taraklia, Kairaklia, Tatar-Kopchak, Kazayaklia, Bolgaria, Koubei, Kalchova, Golitsa, Padaklia, Hassan-Batur, Zadounevo, Kod-Kitai, Seliolou, Glavan, Bourgoudji, Delzheler, Kamchik, Kyulevche. These Bessarabian Bulgarian
colonies were particularly carefully governed by counsellor I.S.
Ivanov,
Bulgarian by birth, now (1878), governor of Sliven.
The colonies in
the Tavria province are: Preslav, Banovo, Troyan, Nikolaevka II, Andreevo, Palaouzovo, Sofievka, Elissavetovka, Radolovka, Gyunevka, Nelgovka, Zelena, Romanovka, Vyacheslavovka, Mariino, Manouilovo, Diyanovo, Inzovka, Rainovka, Strogonovka, Tsarevodarovka,
Bogdanovka, Stepanovka, Annovka, Nikolaevka I, Teodorovka, Elenovka, Varvarovka, Nadezhdina, Denevka, Hamovka, Tsaritsina, Georgievka, Dounaevka, Hirsovka, Vulkaneshti, Dimitrovka, Alexandrovka,
Bolgrad, Turnovka.
All Bulgarian colonies
which
were
under the administration of the former Committee of Trustees for
Foreign
Immigrants in the southern parts of Russia, passed after the abolition
of that
institution and after the change in their land status, under the
Ministry of
Internal Affairs, and the former 'colonists' are now called
settler-owners.
In Romania
- in Romanian Bessarabia, and, after that, in the
towns Galati, Braila,
Ploiesti, Bucharest,
Oltenifa, Giurgiu, Alexandria
and Craiova
the
Bulgarians are easily assimilated by the Romanians, although, here and
there,
there are Bulgarian churches and schools. In Serbia
initially the whole region of the Timok was Bulgarian; however, now the
Bulgarian element has been preserved intact in a few villages only.2
In Hungary, there are Bulgarian colonies in Banat (p. 615), and some remnants in the region of the Seven
Cities (Transylvania) (p. 612). And in Asia Minor there
is one Bulgarian village - Kuz Dervent (from the
17th century) between Nicomedia
(Izmit) and Nicea.
The Bulgarians, especially
the
Macedonian Bulgarians, continue to this day to be divided into many
groupings,
which differ in their dialect and costumes, and which are sometimes of
very old
origin. The Miyatsi live in the valley of Radika (28 villages, 3,000
houses, 1/3 Moslems) and in Kroushovo; the Polentsi - in Upper Debur; the Bursyashti (p. 147) in Prespa and around Bitola, Prilep and Veles; Babouni
- at
Babouna; Kopanovtsi - around Skopje and
Koumanovo; Piyantsi (p. 138)
- at the sources of
Bregalnitsa, The Polivakovtsi branch out into Gorno-Polyantsi
in
Maglena and at Ostrov, Voden and Negoush, and Dolno-Polyantsi - around Enidje Vardar. The villages of the Sirakovtsi
are
scattered from Belassitsa to Melnik: on the Lake Boutovo
live the Arizvanovtsi. The Shops (p. 137) live in the foothills of Mount Vitosha
and Rila and over
the whole mountainous area between Kratovo, Sofia and Pirot. In the
Rhodopes
there are the Murvatsi —
between Seres,
Valovishte and Nevrokop; the Aryani (Moslems) - between Nevrokop and Tatar-Pazardjik, and the Rouptsi
all over
the Eastern Rhodopes. Shafarik,
Grigorovic and
Verkovic (Chapter I, footnote 45) have written about these
groupings.
Settlements of 12 other nationalities are scattered all over Bulgaria.
Greeks live in Melnik, Plovdiv, Stanimaka, in the three neighbouring
villages of
Ambelo, Voden, Kouklen, in Adrianople
and in
some places close to it. On the Black Sea one can find them in Sozopol,
Bourgas, Anhialo, Messemvria and Varna,
although
there are also Bulgarian communes there; and further up in
approximately 20 coastal villages (3,421 people in the Varna sandjak). The Greek
village
of Alibeikyoi
near Tulcha is isolated (in
the Toulcha sandjak there are 217 men in all). The Gagaouzi
are probably of Greek origin, who like the Karamanli from
Asia Minor
and the Bazaryani from the Sea of Azov, speak in Turkish as in
their
mother tongue, but write in Greek letters. They live at Cape
Emine, in Varna,
in all ports of the Dobroudja and are scattered in Bessarabia.
The southern Romanians
(Wallachians, Tsintsars, etc. pp. 140,
288) amounting to 200,000 live chiefly in the Pindos as far as the Devol.
Among
the Bulgarians, they have settlements around Pelister (Turnovo - 400 families), Magarevo, Nedjo-pole, Gopishte,
Molovishte,
Dragovo, Pissoderi, Neveska, Belikamen, in the towns of Vlashka
Klissoura (1,000 houses) and Kroushevo (p. 590), in Maglena, in which there are five Romanian
villages
which embraced Islam in the 18th century, around Prilep (one village),
at
Purnar (Pangai). There are smaller Wallachian communities in Kostour,
Salonica,
Seres, Ohrid (110 houses), Resen
(100 houses), in Bitola, Prilep (150 people), Veles (80 families), Kichevo, etc.
The Wallachian shepherds, the so-called Karakachans, spend the
winter on
the Aegean, and, in summer, roam the
high
mountains, reaching sometimes as far as the Troyan area of the Balkan
Range. So
far, the Wallachians have maintained close relations with the Greeks,
and many
of them have become Hellenized; a Romanian national anti-Greek movement
is,
however, now
spreading
among them, namely,
in Vlashka
Klissoura, Kroushevo and in the Pindos Mountains.
In 1874 in the Pindos there were already
seven Romanian schools (in Vlashka Klissoura, Nedjo-pole, Gopishte,
Kroushevo,
Ohrid, in Star-Abel in the Pindos, and at Nov-Abel between Ber and
Vozhana).3
The northern Romanians live in big colonies on the right bank of the
Danube at
Vidin (14,690 men in 26 villages partially members of the Uniate) and in
the Dobroudja (15,512 men), and in the smaller colonies
near Oryahovo and
Nikopol. Altogether there are 30,702
men in the Danubian
vilayet. The dense settlements of Romanians around Vratsa indicated on many maps are,
according
to Slaveikov and Kanitz, an ungrounded fiction. On the other hand,
there are 127,326 Romanians in Serbia
(Rad., XI, 249). They are divided into the
indigenous tsarani (tsara-terra)
and the ungureni, settlers during the Austrian domination (1718-1739) and later from Banat, Transylvania and
Wallachia in
the mountainous region between Morava
and
Timok.
The Albanians (also called Arbanassi
in Bulgarian and Arnaouti in Turkish) border on the
Bulgarians
between Prokuplje and Devol. There are also individual villages on the
right
bank of the Morava (Mazouritsa), in the Karadag, in the Sar Mountains,
on the
Tetovo plain, around Kroushevo, in Deburtsa (p. 61),
etc.; in
Arnaout-kyoi near Razgrad (p. 588).
Malko and Golyamo
Arbanassi in the Rhodopes are now Bulgarian. The number of Albanians in
Turkey
is 1,300,000.
The Turks (Ottomans) can be
met in
every fortress and in the big cities. Their main settlements are in Southern Dobroudja from Razgrad and Shoumen to
the sea.
Their quantity, incidentally, has been greatly exaggerated on
ethnographic maps
drawn so far, because a considerable number of Bulgarians also live
around
Shoumen and Provadia, in Eski-Djoumaya and on the coast near Varna,
Balchik, Mangalia and Constanta.
There are many Turkish villages in Touzlouka and Gerlovo (p. 620), in Eastern Thrace,
around Tatar-Pazardjik and along the middle reaches of the Strouma. Yurouks
live
in Maglena, near Salonica, and on the coastal plains south of the
Rhodopes, and
konyars — around the Ostrov Lake.
The number of Turks is usually very much exaggerated by adding to them
Moslems
in general, i.e. Bulgarians converted to the Moslem faith, Boshnyaks
(Serbs),
Albanians, Tartars and Circassians; the Turks proper (including those
living in
Constantinople) are no more than one million. Tartars (more than 50,000) settled in the Northern Dobroudja in the 13th
century
and, during the past few decades, in 20
villages around Nikopol and in 18
around Vidin, where
today too, they often wear
Bulgarian costumes and speak Bulgarian. They are mostly farmers and
market-gardeners. Circassians (up to 150,000)
live by the
Danube, in the Balkan Range, near the Serbian frontier and in
Eastern Thrace;
apart from the Nis, Turnovo and Sofia sandjaks,
in the Danubian vilayet there
are 30,573 men.
Gypsies (p. 492), partly nomadic, partly settled, are to be found
everywhere. In the Danubian vilayet there are 7,559
Christians,
and 24,835 Mohammedans (men); in the
Adrianople vilayet there are 4,626 Christians and 22,709 Mohammedans (men), of whom 10,564 live in the Plovdiv
sandjak alone; there are up to 140,000
in the whole of
European
Turkey.
Armenian and Jewish
communities are
frequently found in the towns. The Armenians, most of whom speak
Turkish and
write in the Armenian alphabet, live in Toulcha, Rouse, Varna, Bourgas,
Sliven,
Plovdiv, Tatar-Pazardjik, etc. (In the Danubian vilayet there are 4,684 men and in Plovdiv -
571). Jews
(mostly Spanish), have their own settlements in Toulcha, Rouse, Lorn, Vidin, Vratsa,
Pirot, Nis, Sofia,
Samokov,
Kyustendil, Tatar-Pazardjik, Plovdiv, Yambol, etc., and in Macedonia
- only in Salonica and Bitola. Their number is 5,735 men in the Danubian vilayet (2,374 in the Sofia
sandjak
alone), 8,216 in the Adrianople vilayet (in Plovdiv sandjak
alone 1,415 men): their total number in
European Turkey is 95,000.
There are also several
insignificant Serbian settlements (Bratjevac -
along the
lower reaches of Timok and in several places around Nis), Russian
settlements (of
the old faith) at the mouth of the Danube (1,330
houses, Cf.
Slav Collection, published in St.-Petersburg in 1875, 610) and German settlements near Toulcha (600 people in four villages; Peters Oest.
Revues, 1866, XII, 234). There are no Serbian
colonies around Ohrid and Bitola,
although such have been indicated on many maps.
The number of Bulgarians is
differently calculated between 2 and 7 million: Venelin (1838) estimates them at 2,545,000, Boue - at 4,500,000, Šafarik (1842)
at 3,587,000, and the Turks (1844)
at 4,000,000, Yacsič (1874)
at barely 2,000,000, Bogorov (1851)
at 5,500,000, Grouev, Bradaska and Kanitz accept that they are
more
than 5,000,000, Budilovich estimates them at 5,123,952, while according to some Bulgarian information
they are
6,620,000 and even 7,000,000.
In Turkey
the clerks count only adult men, and the bishops, only weddings (men
and women)
and not family communities (p. 121).
In the 17 dioceses, subordinated to the Bulgarian Exarch,
in 1875 the number of such weddings was up to 410,000
(Boudilovich,
Statistical Tables of the Distribution of Slavs, St.-Petersburg
1875, 16). In any case, neither Government nor Church
statistics
are reliable for many reasons, while the statistics of Eastern Thrace
and Macedonia
leave
us totally helpless.
The official statistics
about
the
Danubian vilayet (1874) have been given in Yanko
Kovachev's Letostroui (Calendar)for 1376,
p. 198.
According
to him, in the Toulcha sandjak there are 12,720,
in the
Rouse sandjak 114,792, in Varna sandjak - 21,359, in Turnovo sandjak -
148,713, in
Vidin sandjak -121,279, in Sofia - 179,920, in Nis (according to Geogr. Yahrbuch, Behm,
III, Gotha,
1870, p. 45)
100,625, or a total of
699,408 Bulgarians (men, without women and children of
both
sexes).
In the dioceses (according
to
the
Bulgarian newspapers) the Bulgarians are distributed in the following
manner:
Rouschouk-Silistra 21,038 weddings (districts in 1874: Rouse-6,790, Razgrad - 5,315, Toutrakan - 571,
Silistra
- 4,682, Toulcha -
3,680), in Shoumen - 12,000, Turnovo -
65,000, Lovech - 22,163,
Vratsa - 28,000, Vidin (1874)
24,357, Sofia - 26,885, Samokov -
17,450, Kyustendil - 22,500, Pirot -
19,000, Nis - 27,500, or a total of 285,893
weddings in
the Danubian vilayet. It should also be noted that the church and
political
frontiers do not coincide. Thus, for instance, Stara and Nova Zagora in
Thrace
are both
included in the Turnovo diocese.
According to official
Turkish statistics there are 468,527
men, Orthodox
Christians
in the Adrianople vilayet (Svetozor,
1876, 343), from whom, however, the Greeks
should be subtracted
both in the country's interior and in the coastal regions. The Plovdiv sandjak
was described in Letostroui
(Calendar) for 1870 and 1872 by Grouev. According to him in the Kazanluk
county, there were 11,278 men (5,299 marriages), in
Zhelyaznik or Stara Zagora -16,111
(9,200), in Haskovo 18,361 (6,644), in Chirpan -
14,232
(5,397), in
Plovdiv - 63,763, together with the Greeks, (22,813 Bulgarian marriages), in Tatar-Pazardjik 41,531 (11,960), in Sultan-eri -
102, in Ahu-Chelebi 4,517 (1,650) or a total of 62,936
marriages and 170,345 men, out of which, however, several thousand
Greeks
should be subtracted from Plovdiv (in the town itself there were 1,480 Bulgarian marriages) and in Stanimaka. In the
Sliven
diocese there were 12,000 marriages, in that of
Adrianople - 280 Bulgarian villages, in the Galipoli
sandjak (Behm und Wagner, Bevolkerung der Erde, Gotha, 1874, 32) 10,000 Bulgarian men, and in Constantinople more than 40,000 Bulgarians.
I have the following data
about
Macedonia: Prilep county - 18,981 Bulgarian men
(Shapkarev, Chitalishte 1873),
Nevrokop - 5,168 Christian houses (Dozon), the Veles diocese - 6,415 marriages, the Ohrid district -11,500 men without the old men and children (Hahn, Wardarreise,
135).
Outside the Ottoman Empire: in Russia
-- 97,032 (Budilovich), in Hungary
-
26,000 (Picker),
in Romanian Bessarabia - up to 50,000 and in the rest of Romania up to 100,000. We have no idea how many Bulgarians there are in
Serbia.
If we distribute them
according to
creed, the Mohammedan-Bulgarians (pomaks) live in the surroundings of
Lovech
and Pleven (about 100,000 men) all over the
Rhodopes (Sultan-eri -10,303 men, Ahu-Chelebi-5,811
men, Nevrokop - 6,614 houses), at Salonica, along the
Vardar, in Maglena, Prespa and Gorni Debur, 500,000
people in
all. Of these very few understand only Turkish. The Bulgarians from
Banat (34,000) and about 8,000 'Pavlikyans' near Plovdiv (4 villages) and in 6 surrounding smaller
villages are of the Catholic religion. According to Turkish statistics,
in the Adrianople vilayet, there is a
total of 6,072 male Catholics. Adherents of the
Uniate live in
Adrianople and its vicinities, and since 1874 near Salonica (Koukoush,
Vardar, Enidje) and at Svishtov (p. 665).
I estimate all Bulgarians
from
all
creeds and in all regions to be about 5,500,000.
The
available statistical materials do not allow
more precise calculation.
K. J. Иречек.
Исторiя Болгаръ. Сочиненiе
профессора Пражского университета д-ра Конст. Joc. Иречека. Перевод
Заслуженного профессора Новороссiйского
университета Ф. К. Бруна и магистранта тогоже
университета В. Н. Палаузова... Одесса, тип. Л. Нитче, 1878,Х, с.
743-750. К. J. Irecek, History of the Bulgarians, Translated
into
Russian by F. K. Brim and V. N. Palaouzov, Odessa, 1878,
pp. 743-750;
The
original is in Russian
1At Dede-Agach — starting point of the railway line connecting
Adrianople and the Aegean — there are several Bulgarian
villages (e.g. the village
of Dervent).
2 According to Miličevič (Serbia, 923), the Bulgarian language can also be heard in
Zaichar
itself, in Grljano and in Veliki Izvor (from there purely Bulgarian
folk songs
have been cited, ibid., 931-938). The Serbian dialect in
the counties of Alexinača, Knjaževačka, Crnorečka and Krajinska is
still considerably
mixed with Bulgarian words; cf. folk songs from there, quoted in Miličevič, Serbia,
856-923 and ff.
3 Picot, Les Roumains
de la Macédoine, Paris,
1875
165
A letter from the
archimandrite Metodi Koussev1
(Adrianople) to N.P.
Ignatiev
on the
necessity for the unification of the Bulgarian peopie
February 12th, 1878
If it is true that, in
spite
of all
your efforts, it is impossible, due to obviously higher
considerations, to
liberate the other half of our nation, which has the misfortune to live
in Thrace
and Macedonia, which are inhabited by the purest Bulgarian population,
particularly in the former, and represent the majority among the other
nationalities, we hope that these unfortunate people, who have suffered
most
under the Turkish yoke and under the oppression of the Greek clergy and
have
gone through the horrors and destruction of the present war, will not
be left
out of consideration when the signing of the peace treaty takes place.
We do
not doubt that you will do something for them, so that, if their
situation
cannot be alleviated now, at least when peace is proclaimed, they
should not
find themselves in a plight even more pitiable than their former one,
as a
result of not only political but, what is worse, religious separation
from
their brothers.
Your Excellency,
Please, excuse me if, thus
expressing my beliefs, I allow myself, as one authorized (a letter to
this
effect was delivered to you) by the Macedonian Bulgarians who live now
in
Adrianople, to appeal to you, on the one hand, and to our Church
authorities
and the Turkish government, on the other, for the unification of
our people
under one independent Church, to draw Your Excellency's attention
to the fact,
guided by life-long experience, that the Bulgarians in Macedonia, who,
in spite
of the fact that they have lived as though in hell under the
unspeakable
atrocities of the Turks, of which all ministers have repeatedly been
informed
ever since the summer of 1869, will again have to
suffer even more bitterly under the heavy yoke of the Turks who, as
Your
Excellency knows perfectly well and had the goodness to inform the
members of
the Constantinople Conference, will never cease to be the cruel
torturers of the Bulgarians, who, in their opinion,
are brothers of the
Moscovites and infidels like them (that is why they call us Moscovite
giaours)
while they have power in their hands. Neither control nor threats can
restrain
them, unless power is taken away from them, and yet, I say, the
Macedonian
Bulgarians will still cherish hopes of preserving both their faith and
nationality in the future if and on condition that, when politically
separated
from their brothers, everything should be done so that the heavy yoke
of the
Greek Church authorities be not imposed upon them, a yoke that is
inimical to
our language and nationality and which they managed to throw off after
a
struggle lasting many years, and full of horrors and sacrifices. The
other
condition, which is no less important, is to prevent the Turkish
immigrants
from the liberated parts of Bulgaria
from moving to Macedonia.
Otherwise, if the
Bulgarians from the unliberated parts are not guaranteed in these two
respects,
you should know, Your Excellency, that the liberation of the one half
of our
people will be the cause of the destruction of the other half, the
common
people of which will be lost to Slavdom, and those with livelier minds - to Orthodoxy.
Your Excellency, one of my
last
duties to my country as a Bulgarian Macedonian, who has devoted his
life to the
unification of our people, and to the Orthodox Faith, as a priest, is,
I
consider, to write this letter at this eleventh hour, imploring Your
Highness
to pay attention to these two matters (the subjection of the
Bulgarian
Macedonians to the authority of the Greek Patriarchate and the
immigration of
the Turks to those parts) which, in spite of all measures and hopes,
will bring
about the final annihilation of the Orthodox Bulgarians in the
unliberated
parts.
With deep respect to Your
Excellency, your obedient,
Archimandrite Metodi Koussev.
Освобождение Болгарии от
Турецкого ига (The Liberation of Bulgaria from Turkish Yoke),
v. II,
Moscow, 1964, pp. 515-516; the original is in
Bulgarian
1 Metodi
Koussev (1837-1922), born in Prilep, patriot
and fighter for Bulgarian spiritual and political independence
166
A petition from the
population in
the region of Razlog to Nikolai Nikolayevich
in
which they beseech him to liberate them from
the power of the Sultan
March 2nd,
1878
Most glorious Russia,
our kind sister, seeing the
sufferings of our people who are subjected to the brutal arbitrariness
of
despotic Turkish rule, ardently desired the liberation of this people.
But the
opportune moment had not yet come. But finally, when the malice and
hatred of
the enemy became insufferable, when the blood of the people was
shed most
mercilessly, when tragic, heart-rending events shook the lands of the
Bulgarians, then, compassionate Russia
was fired with boundless, burning pity for her brothers of one race,
and
hastened quickly, quickly to their aid. She wiped away the tears of
thousands
and thousands of those who wept. From the Danube to Pirin
Mountain and the coasts
of Asia Minor thousands and thousands
of our brothers praise
the name of Great Russia. The whole of Bulgaria
and Thrace
saw a free life and bright days. When we heard about the happiness of
our
brothers in Thrace
and Moesia we sobbed in hope and
expectation of seeing this
happy blessed hour, the hour of our liberation from the Turkish
tyranny. But
our expectations and hopes did not come true. Our lives are still
fading and
withering away, sighs and groans are still breaking our hearts, our
voices are
still choked with weeping, the age-long chains are still clanking on
our
bodies. For us there is still no day, we are still wrapped in the
swaddling
clothes of slavery, we are still rotting in dungeons. The cruel Turks
are
blasting our lives and possessions. Yet, relying on the mercy and
generosity of
our most kind sister, most glorious Russia, who has undertaken the
liberation
of the Bulgarian people who are perishing, we still cherish hopes that
she will
not neglect our poor, suffering land but will condescend to look at it
with
merciful eyes. We fervently desire to see the hand that has wipect away
and is
still wiping away so many tears, to see this benevolent hand which
brings back
life to the dying. We will kiss this holy hand after it has wiped our
sad and
sorrowful tears in reverence and then will shed tears on it again, but
tears
not of sorrow but of joy. So we beseech you, Your Highness, to accept
our
humble plea to send some Russian soldiers to our places to liberate us
and
bring us back to life.
Praying for the glory,
grandeur and
long life of his Imperial Majesty, the great ruler, Alexander, and for
the
glory and honour of his high officials and brave soldiers, we remain
fully
confident that your noble and sympathetic heart will respond to our
humble
petition.
Villages in the district of
Raziog:
Purely Bulgarian: Bansko,
Godlevo,
Gorna Draglishta, Dolna Draglishta, Dobretsko.
Mixed with Turks: Mehomiya,
Banya,
Yakorouda, Belitsa, Bachevo.
Освобождение
Болгарии от Турецкого ига (The Liberation of
Bulgaria from Turkish Yoke), v. Ill, Moscow, 1967,
p. 33-34;
the
original is in Bulgarian
167
In a letter to Vladimir
Ivanovich Lamanski 1, Stefan Verkovic defines
the boundary line between Bulgaria
and Serbia,
and exposes Serbian pretensions to purely Bulgarian lands
March 17th, 1878
...
I don't
know when I shall be there, but since the destiny of the Balkan
Peninsula is
now being decided, I find it appropriate to send a copy of the letter I
wrote
on the 6th of December last year simply to draw your attention to the
true
frontier between Bulgaria and Serbia both from the ethnographical and
geographical point of view, and I must say in advance that here
Russia's attitude
to the Slavs is like that of a mother to her children.
Just as good parents do not
show
preference for one of their children, so also I think, our dear mother Russia
acted
when defining the Serbo-Bulgarian frontier. As is evident from the
newspapers,
the Serbs have thoroughly unscrupulous pretensions in defining
their
frontiers, basing their rights on some fantastic and incredible
historical
traditions, because they should discuss matters not on the basis of the
past,
but on the basis of the present, i.e. they should place the natural
boundaries
of each people as far as the territories in which their language is
spoken.
According to this natural, inalienable right, not only are the sandjaks
of
Skopje, Nis and Vidin not Serbian, because the people there speak
the same
language as that spoken in Salonica and Adrianople, but, even in the
Serbian
kingdom itself, there are about 200,000
people who speak the
language of the above-mentioned three sandjaks, i.e. pure Bulgarian;
consequently they belong to the Bulgarian branch and not to the
Serbian. These 200,000 Bulgarians live in the region of
Kroushevats, Negotin
and Alexinats up to Kyupriya on the Morava.
In
my opinion, if we apply the Serbian theory of nationalities, all
territories as
far as Parakin, and the town of Kyupriya
on the
Morava in Serbia
should
belong to Bulgaria,
whereas
on the contrary, the Serbians have appropriated almost 3/4 of Bulgaria,
calling it 'Old Serbia.' The unheard-of outrages of the Serbs go so far
that
they are not ashamed to lie to the whole world by saying ‘A Serbian
from Niš, a
Serb from Pirot, a Serb from Leskovats, from Vranja, Koumanovo, Voden, Skopje, Veles, Debur, Kyustendil, Samokov, Vidin
and so on. If the
above-mentioned towns belong to the Serbs by virtue of language, then
one can
say that there are no Bulgarians in the world, and thus the Serbs
should be
given the whole of the Balkan Peninsula.
Let
them then freely Serbianize anyone they like. As you will see from the
copy of
my letter to Uzefovich, dear sir, the real frontier between Bulgaria and Serbia
is the Šar
Mountain. But even
according to the
frontier defined by me, the Serbs gain more in comparison with the
Bulgarians,
because the whole Gilyany county, which borders on Prishtina county, is
populated by Bulgarians, with the exception of twelve villages of
Albanians,
speaking Bulgarian, and also because, in all villages situated in the
district
of the Šar Mountain, not only is the language Bulgarian, but the accent
and the
national type are Bulgarian. It would be proper and in the interests of
all
Slavs, if they were forbidden to touch other people's property even
with the
tips of their fingers. To my great surprise, it seems to me that what I
foresaw
in my last letter about Serbia
will soon be proved correct... One can make inferences
on the basis of the Belgrade
articles, published in Naroden Zagrebski vestnik. They express
no less
selfish and egotistical desires than do the sons of proud Albion.
They slander Russia
by
saying that she does not desire the good of the Serbs, because they
have heard
that she wants some purely Serbian places such as Niš, Vidin,
Skopje and Kyustendil to be acceded to Bulgaria.
Ristic,2 who is by nature malicious and quarrelsome, on
hearing what
great injustice was going to be done to the Serbs, began to compose a
memorandum to Tsar Alexander II to dissuade him from doing this.
Moreover, at
the next Congress3 he intends to present a memorandum in
which he
will try to prove with incontestible facts
that the areas where Serbian troops are now stationed are
Serbian
not only by historical but also by ethnographical right. Anyone even
slightly
familiar with the Balkan Peninsula
cannot
regard such treacherously seductive complaints and false pretensions
with
anything other than complete revulsion. St Paul has said that faith without
works is dead. The
same can be applied to political beliefs. Just as a man is in duty
bound to act
according to the teachings of St
Paul
in spiritual matters, so also should he act in wordly matters towards
the
people to which he belongs.
What kind of person I am in
this
respect can be judged by the reports I sent to the Department of Asia,
to Mr.
Aksakov,4 to you and to the Minister of Education and
Ecclesiastical
Matters. My political belief rests on the following theory - 'one is friendly to one's feelow-men by
necessity' and 'every living
creature grieves over its own wrongs.' This is brilliantly confirmed by
the
fact that Russia
has no friends among alien people, therefore she can have strong
alliances only
with her fellow Slavs; they are, however, still slaves, and not free,
and that
is why she cannot gain from such alliances before they are liberated
and
established. The first steps are now being made in Turkey.
Fate ordained that Russia
should be the head and mother of the Slav peoples, and when she defines
the
frontiers, she must act as a good mother acts with her children, i.e.
not to
give in to the insinuations of the selfish Serbs, but to define the
frontiers justly
- where Serbian is spoken, let it be Serbian,
where
Bulgarian - Bulgarian.
In this way, all the
intrigues
that
may be used by Russia's enemies in the future as regards her rights in
the
Balkan Peninsula will be defeated and will have no effect, because that
which
is founded on truth is as solid and firm as a wall. Not only as member
of the
great Slav family but also as a man who from his early youth has
cherished the
best of feelings towards our holy Russia and the happily ruling, most
august
House of the Romanovs, which has distinguished itself among all
other ruling houses
with its love for mankind and its magnanimity, I would like to express
through
you, dear Sir, my most humble opinion as to how to establish relations
on the
Balkan Peninsula in such a way as to prevent the Serbs, backed by their
present
protectors, from misinforming the Imperial Government about the real
state of
affairs in Turkey, because apart from my other studies, I have studied
and know
the statistics and ethnography of the European part of Turkey,
particularly of
Macedonia, and I think I know them well.
Сп. „Свободно мнение", София; Magazine Svobodno Mnenie (Free opinion), Sofia, No. 51, Dec. 20th, 1914,
p. 707 and ff; the original is in
Serbo-Croat
1 Vladimir Ivanovach Lamanski (1833-1914), a Russian slavist
2 Jovan Ristic (1831-1899), a Serbian politician and historian, consistently
implementing the nationalistic programme of Carasanin
3 A reference to the coming Berlin Congress
4 Ivan S. Aksakov (1823-1886), Russian publicist and Slavophil
168
The Greek Consul in Bitola
Peter
Logothete, in his report to the Greek Consul in Salonica, Theodore
Deliyani,
writes about the desire of the
Macedonian Bulgarians to be annexed to Bulgaria
March 31st, 1878
The Bulgarian Slavs in Ohrid,
Prilep, Veles and Skopje, who have
always been
fanatical adherents of Russia,
are firmly convinced that Russia
will overcome her enemies and that these cities with their
districts as well
as other districts situated further south will be included within
the
boundaries of the Bulgarian state. News from a Russian source often
reach the
Bulgarian Slavs here, making them believe that all barriers on the way
to their
liberation will be removed, and that it is necessary for them
vigorously to
oppose the political counter-actions of the Greek element in Macedonia.
169
A petition from
representatives of
the Bulgarian church
sent from Constantinople to Nikolai Nikolayevich
asking for the Russian liberators
to enter Macedonia
immediately
April 7th, 1878
The victorious Russian
arms,
which
liberated our long oppressed, unfortunate Bulgarian people from
the Turkish
yoke, oblige them to be for ever grateful to Russia and her anointed
one, the
great Liberator of the Bulgarians, and to pray sincerely for the long
life and
prosperity of His Imperial Majesty and his most august House.
The Macedonian Bulgarians,
being
deprived of the direct protection of their liberators, find it
impossible, to
their utmost regret, to express formally as their brothers do, by
collecting
signatures, their feeling of gratitude to their liberators, whom they
are
eagerly and devotedly expecting in their country, the cradle of the
Slav
language and the centre of the dissemination of the Christian religion — a cradle that, however, even now cannot stop
rocking under the unbearable
oppression of its tyrants and the hostile declarations of her
neighbours of one
religion.
Moreover, we venture to
report
to
Your Imperial Highness that some ill-wishers of the Bulgarian people,
mainly
Greek prelates, are now trying to collect signatures by force and to
prove that
the inhabitants of Macedonia, who, according to the San Stefano Peace
Treaty,
are included in the Bulgarian Principality consist predominantly of
Greeks who
do not, it seems, wish to be part of a principality. But the
groundlessness of
this assertion was proved both by numerous historical facts, as well as
by the
statistics compiled at the time of the Constantinople Conference.
Moreover, as
is well-known, we, the Macedonian population, maintain with
certainty that the
Greek population in this part of Macedonia, as far as
ethnography is
concerced, comprises a very small minority, without, of course,
including the
Mohammedan population. That is why we protest against every groundless
assertion of this kind, since the validity of our protest can be
firmly proved
to Europe merely by a European
committee
conducting a thorough investigation on the spot.
Your Imperial Highness!
Fully
convinced of your humane intentions, we venture to express our wish and
the
most humble request of the Macedonian Bulgarian people for the speedy
occupation of Macedonia
by the victorious Russian troops, so that an end may be put to the
age-long
sufferings of this province.
Representative of the
Ohrid diocese Nahum Sprostranov
Representative of the
Kostour diocese Dimiter Popov
Representative of the Moglena
diocese Dimitri Popov
Representative of the
Drama-Seres
diocese Archimandrite Theodosi
Representative of
the Debur diocese Archimandrite Kosma Prechistyanski
Освобождение Болгарии от
Турецкого ига (The Liberation of Bulgaria from Turkish Yoke),
vol. 3, Moscow, 1967, pp. 79-80; the original is in
Bulgaria
170
An appeal from the
Macedonian
Bulgarians to the Great Powers
begging them not to sever them from
Bulgaria,
their common motherland
May 20th, 1878
The whole world already
knows
of
the age-long sufferings and torments to which the defenceless
Christians have
been subjected under fanatical Turkish rule. It is also well-known that
the
hellish tortures which the peace-loving Bulgarian people have, of late,
endured
through the unparalleled barbarism of the Turks all over their paternal
hearth
in Moesia, Thrace and Macedonia, aroused general indignation throughout
the
civilized world, and finally provoked the Russo-Turkish War, which
recently
ended with the conclusion in San Stefano of a Peace Treaty between the
two
warring sides. The whole Bulgarian people rejoices to see that their
wishes
have been fulfilled and their needs satisfied, and we, all the
Bulgarians in
Macedonia, by virtue of the San Stefano Treaty, were impatiently
awaiting our
liberation from the Turkish barbarism which still rages over us.
But instead
of this, we see with great regret that the local authorities, on the
one hand,
and the Greek clergy, on the other, have extorted signatures by various
means
from some of our innocent brothers, in order to misuse them, by
alleging before
the Great Powers that we are Greeks and
want only an improved status quo and not unification with the
newly
formed Bulgarian Principality. This unpunished mockery of our
signatures,
indeed, of our name and feeling, has deeply grieved us all, especially
since a
false declaration of this kind from the Macedonian Bulgarians may have
been
presented to Your Excellency. That is why, we, the obedient
representatives of different
communes in Macedonia venture to present most humbly our petition,
protesting
against every abuse of our signatures and at the same time imploring
Your
Excellency, in the name of justice and humanity, to condescend to
intercede
with the honourable Government of His Majesty ...,
to set up, if it is necessary, a committee to
carry out impartial and reliable investigations, and assure itself
that our
wishes and needs are common with and inseparable from those of our
Bulgarian
brothers in Moesia and Thrace, thus stifling once and for all the shameless
shouts of the insignificant Greek eleme here, who never cease bothering
philanthropic Europe, with its not feelings and intentions towards the
suffering.
Firmly convinced that you
will
mercifully consider this humble petition ours, we have the
honour to call ourselves Your Excellency's most obedie
servants.
Macedonian Bulgarians,
representatives of different communes in Macedonia.
Salonica, May 20, 1878
Representatives
from
Veles:
Seal of the Church board of
Trustees
Sazdo Petroushev
Shoulev
in Veles, 1868
A.
Georgov
Seal of the Strumitsa Representatives from
Strumitsa:
Church Commune, 1870
Stavrush Timov
Konstandin
Rousovich
Seal of the Skopje Bulgarian Representatives from Skopje:
Society, 1870
Todor
Stevkovich
Yovan
Karageorov
Seal of the Bulgarian
Commune in Bitola,
1872
Seal of the
Bulgarian Commune in Representatives from Prilep:
Prilep,
Hristo
Hadji Iliov
Seal of the Bulgarian Representatives from Tikvesh:
Commune in Negotin, 1871
Hadji Arso
Hristo
Nikolov
Hristo Foukara
Seal of the Bulgarian Representatives from
Gevgeli:
Commune in Gevgeli, 1871
Georgi
Bayaltsali
Icho Doganov
Seal of the Bulgarian Representatives from
Koukoush:
Commune in Koukoush
Andon Hadji
Stoikov
Mihail
Hadji Dinov
Seal of the Bulgarian Representatives from
Salonica:
Commune in Salonica
Paounchev Nikola
Nasko
Stoyanov
Seal of the Commune Representatives
from Vatasha:
in Vatasha
Mishe
Rizov
Rizo Dobrev
(The names are not very legible)
Seal of the Bulgarian Representatives
from Tetovo:
Commune in Tetovo, 1869
Ikonom
papa Serafim
Zafir
Nikolov
Seal of the Bulgarian Representatives
from Koumanovo:
Commune in Koumanovo, 1870
priest Bozhin
Dime
Ivanov
Representatives from Radovish:
Hristofor Konstantinov
Hristo Ikonomov
Representatives from Voden:
Trpche Stoyanov
Yovan Bezo
Seal of the teachers'
School Trustees:
Society in Seres, Melnik, Stefan
Shamandjiev
Drama and Nevrokop
Georgi
Lyubahovski
Seal of the Petrich District Representatives
from Petrich:
Council
Stoyan Georgiev
Georgi Ouroumov
Seal of the Bulgarian Commune Representatives
from Nevrokop
in Nevrokop
Seal of the District Council Representatives
from Demir Hissar
of Demir Hissar:
Priest Dimitraki Kurchevski
Ivan Gologanov
Seal of the Bulgarian Commune Representatives
from Stip:
in Stip, Kyustendil diocese
Mano
Panayotov
Lazo Hadji Dimitrov
Seal of the Bulgarian Church
Representatives
from Seres:
Commune in Seres
Iliya
Yovanov Kasarov
Ivan
Bratanov
Seal of the Bulgarian Church Representatives
from Drama:
Commune in Drama
Pechou
Hadji Oglou
Alexi Chanov
Йордан Иванов,
Български старини из Македония (Yordan Ivanov, Bulgarian Antiquities Macedonia), Sofia, 1931, pp.
655-659; the original in
Bulgarian