http://historyofmacedonia.

org/

Documents of the Continued Existence of Macedonia and

the Macedonian Nation for a period of over 2500 years

http://www.historyofmacedonia.org/ConciseMacedonia/Documents.html

What follows are documents that speak of the continued existence of

Macedonia and of the Macedonian nation through the last 25 centuries.
Macedonia is clearly distinguished from Greece (Hellas), Thrace, Illyria,
Bulgaria, Serbia, and the Macedonians are likewise distinguished as
distinct nation from the Greeks, Thracians, Illyrians, Bulgarians, Serbs,
Albanians, as nation which continued to exist and survive trough the
centuries (makedonika.org).

500 B.C. - 500 A.D.

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Macedonia and the Macedonians as distinct nation in the works of the
ancient Greek, Roman, and Jewish historians, as well in the works of the
modern German, French, English, American historians.

586 A.D.

From the "Miracles of St. Demetrius of Salonika, I ": "...For if one was to
imagine them in a heap, not only the Macedonians gathered in Salonika...
Certainly he who inspired the Macedonians with courage..." Mirac. I, 13,
p.1285-14; 1313

758-759 A.D.

From the Chronographia of Theophanes the Confessor "That year

Constantine plundered the Sclavinii throughout Macedonia and subjugated
the rest." Theoph., I, p.430, 21-22.

From the Chronographia Tripertita by Anastasius Bibliothecarius: "In the

eighteenth year of his reign, Constantine enslaved the Sclavinii of
Macedonia and he subjugated the rest." A. B., p.282, 20-21.

8th Century

From Strabonos Epithomatus: "And now, in that way almost all of Epirus,
Hellada, the Peloponnese and Macedonia have also been settled by the
Skiti-Slavs." C. Muller, Geographi graeci minores, Paris 1882, p.574.

821-823 A.D.

From the letter of Michael II to the honorable Ludwig: "Thomas...having

gathered our barges and dromon, had the opportunity to arrive in (some)
parts of Thrace and Macedonia." Mansi, Michaelis Belbi et
Theophilii....Florentinae, 1759

904

From On the Capture of Salonika by John Cametinae: "...I introduce you

to the same, the great and the first city of the Macedonians..." J.K.
Begunov, Kozma Prezviter v slavjanskih literaturah, Sofia 1976, p. 297

First half of 10th C.

From On the Themes by Constantine Porphyrogenitus: "... So from a

kingdom Macedonia turned into a province and now it has reached the
position of a theme and strategy." C. Porfirogenito, De thematibus, Citta
del Vaticano, 1952.

986

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From the History of Leo the Deacon: "...since they robbed the region of
the Macedonians mercilessly, destroying all adults.". Leonis Diaconi
Historiae, Paris 1864, p. 311.

1041

From the Annals of Bari: "...he had already written to Sicily from where
the unfortunate Macedonians, Paulicians and Calbrians arrived." G.H.
Pertz, Annales Barenses, Monumenta Germaniae historica, Scriptores V,
p.53.

1064

From the Chronicle of John Zonaras: "The Uzians...invaded Macedonia and

plundered it, and reached Hellada". Ioannis Zonorae Epitomae
historiarum, Vol. VIII, Ed. Th. Buttner-Wobst, Bonnae 1897, p.678.

1072-1073

From the History of Necephorus Vryenius: "...for the Scythians were

carrying out sudden attacks in Thrace and Macedonia." Nicephori Bryenii
commentarii, Ed. A. Meicke, Bonnae 1836, p.100, 102.

1083-1085

From De expeditione Yerosolymitana by Radulfo Cadonis: "...Beomund

Guiscard sailed across the Adriatic and occupied Macedonia." Tancredi in
expeditione Yerosolymitana ....Paris, 1854, p.499.

c. 1106

From the letter of Theophylactes of Ohrid to Gregorius Camaterus: "...do

not retain such a man in the narrow regions of our Macedonia...".
Theophylacti, col. 496, B-C.

Beginning of 12th Century

From the Byzantine satire Timarion: "The day of Saint Demetrius in

(Salonika) is as great a festival as the Panathinei in Athens or Panionii in
Miletus; it is a grand Macedonian celebration in which not only the
Macedonian people gather, but people of all sorts and from all directions:
Greeks from different regions of Hellada, the Mizian tribes...". Vizantiiski
Vremenik, Moscow VI 1953, p. 367.

1185

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"Woe, woe, the city of Salonika is captured, I say, the metropolis of the
Macedonians." Ephraimi Chronologici caesares; Ed. J.P. Migne - PG 143 ,
Paris 1891, p.198.

Beginning of 13th C.

From the synod records of the Ohrid Archibishopric: "Ioannis Ierakar by

birth Macedonian". J. Pitra, Analacta sacra et classica specilegio
Solesmensi parta, t. VI Juris ecclesiastici graecorum selecta paralipomena.
Parissis et Romae 1891, col. 315.

1246

Ser was one a large city, but the Bulgarian Ivan had demolished when
besieging it and other Macedonian cities. Georgii Acropolitae Opera,
Recensuit A. Haisenberg vol. I, Lipsiae 1903, p.74-75, 77

1282-1321

...that king's alliance is certain and unanswering, just as long as he can

settle near to Macedonia. While he was spending his time on these
(matters), the protostrator Theodore Sinadinus, once freed from the West,
arrived in Byzantium. He governed Prilep, the neighbouring regions and
the lower Macedonian towns. Ioan Cantacuzeni Historiarum libri IV, Ed.
J.P.Migne - PG Paris 1866, p.94

1305

At the battle of Apros in 1305 there were five syntaxeis, differentiated by

ethnicity: the Alans and Tourkopouloi in the van, followed by the
Macedonians, the Anatolians, the Vlach infantry and the Thelematarioi. 
The Late Byzantine Army. Mark C. Bartusis 1992. p.256

1326

...I beleive you know that Strimon...is the largest of all those that biscet
Thrace and Macedonia... Nicephore Gregoras, Correspondence. Paris
1927, p.30-50.

Middle 14th C.

...Stefan became king of the Tribals. After he had set off from the region
of the Ionian Sea, he razed Epidamnus to the ground, went into
Macedonia and made Skopje the capital... The king left the city of Skopje,
taking with him men experienced in battle and a strong army and
subordinated to his rule the places in the vicinity of Kastoria. Then having
moved camp, he subjugated all of Macedonia, except for Terma... Laonici

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Chalcocondiae Historiarum. Ed. J. P. Migne - PG t.CLIX (Paris, 1866) col.
36, B-37, C.

1349

(Code of) the honorable and Christ-loving Macedonian Tsar Stefan,

Serbian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Dalmation, Arbanasian, Hungarian
Wallachian and indipendent ruler of many other regions and lands... Lj.
Stojanovic, Stari srpski zapisi i natpisi. Knj. III, Beograd 1905, p. 41
(nbr.4949).

Middle of the 14th C.

A Slav inscription from the church of St. George at Upper Kozjak in which
a man called Bratan signs himself as being from Macedonia. Z.
Rosolkovska-Nikolovska, Crkvata Sv. Georgi vo Goren Kozjak vo svetlinata
na novite ispituvanja - Zbornik "Kiril Solunski", Kn. I, Skopje, MANU 1970,
p. 222.

15th C.

I remember the great subordination under which the Turk holds the
emperor in Constantinople and all the Greeks, Macedonians and
Bulgarians....As I said earlier, there are many Christians who are forced to
serve the Turk, such as Greeks, Bulgarians, Macedonians, Albanians,
Esclavinians, Rasians and Serbians... Bertrand de la Brocuiere, Putovanje
preko mora, Beograd 1950, p.134-135, 140-141.

13th Century - 15th Century

Byzantine historians of the Palaiologan period (13 th Century - 15th

Century) rarely make any distinction more specific then "Thrace" and
"Macedonia".  Thus we read of the "Thracians" and "Macedonians", the
"Thracian and Macedonian armies", the "army" or "forces from Thrace and
Macedonia"… For these historians the border between the two areas was
the Nestos River or Kavalla.  To the west was Macedonia to the east was
Thrace.  The Late Byzantine Army. Mark C. Bartusis 1992. p.65

1461-1462

When the enemy forces are battered, no one doubts that the whole of
Serbia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Epirus, Thessaly, Greece or Attica and the
Peloponnese will return to the faithful....Inspired by this example the
Thessalians, the Greeks, the Poloponnesians, the Epirans and the
Macedonians will all rebel and will win ... Jovan Radonic, Gjurac Kastriot
Skenderbeg i Arbanija u XV veku - Spomenik XCV (1942), p. 128-129.

August 8th, 1470.

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The Sultan stopped and spent the night ...in afield that represented the
Macedonian border...The River Vardar is nearby, which flows through
Macedonia...of which some are Greeks, others Macedonians, Wallachs and
even Italians, as well as other nations....Greeks and Macedonians live
there... Gio Mario degli Angiolelo, A. Matkovski i P. Angelkova, Nekolku
kratki patopisi za Makedonija, Glasnik na INI, VXI/1 (1972), p. 246-247.

1557

...It is located in Thessaly, which borders on Macedonia, where the plague

has reduced much of the population... Nbljudeni na mnozhestvo redki i
zabelezhitelni neshta, videni v Grcija, Azija, Judea, Egipet, Arabia i drugi
chuzhdi strani ot Pierre Belon d'Man, Sofia 1953, p.132-133; Frenski
patepisi za Balkanite, XV-XVIII v. Sofia 1975, p. 95-98.

1566

...called Jakov; I laboured for much time and many years for this work (in
order to contribute) to the holy books. I came out of Macedonia, my
fatherland, and I entered.... Lj. Stojanovich, Stari srpski zapisi i natpisi I,
p. 203-204.

1579

German ruler Rudolph II to the Pope: ..the deliverer of this letter, don
Petar Crnovic...born in Salonika and the other parts of Macedonia... A.
Theiner, Vitera monumenta Slavorum meridionalium illustrantia. II.
Zagrabiae 1875, p. 70.

1589

Gavril, Archbishop of Ohrid to Archduke Ferdinand of Habsburg: ...the

Turk, who from day to day has pursued and blackmailed us and our
ancestors ....in the whole of Macedonia, Greece and the nearby
countries...then among our countries we have Bulgaria, Serbia,
Macedonia, Oltenia... Landesregierungsarchive - Innsbruck, VI 50.

1593

Project by Alexander Komulovic to expel the Ottomans from the

Balkans ...In other parts of Epirus and Macedonia almost all are Christians
of the Greek ritual... Biblioth. Barberiana cod. mnc. LVIII, 33, - Starine
(Zagreb), Knj. XIV (1882), p. 86-87.

August 11th, 1607

The Duke of Savoy, Charles Emmanuel I, sends his own man of trust to
Macedonia. ...who had arrived from Albania and Macedonia... V.

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Makrusev, Istoriski spomenici Juznih Slovena i okolnih naroda, Beograd
1882, p. 297-299.

April 6-24, 1618

(Senato Secreta. 337. Macedonia) ...The nobility of Macedon do not wish

to have anything to do with the king of Spain... Calendar of State Papers
and Manuscripts relating to English Affairs existing in the Archives and
Collections of Venice and other libraries in Northern Italy, London 1864,
Vol XV, p. 201-202.

1624

A letter from Pope Urban VIII to the Archbishop of Ohrid, Porphyrius

Palaelogus To the respected brothers Porphyrius Paleologus, Patriarch of
Justiniana Prima of Ohrid and the other subordinate archbishops, bishops
of Bulgaria, Serbia, Albania and of the other side of Macedonia. A.
Theiner, Vetera monumenta Slavorum II, (Zagrebiae 1875), p. 123.

1690

Manifesto of the Austrian Emperor Leopold I to the Nations of the

Balkans ...Therefier we kindly call all the people who live throughout
Albania, Servia, Mysia, Bulgaria, Silistria, Illyria, Macedonia and Rashka...
J. Radonjic and M. Kostic, Srpske privilegije od 1690 do 1792. SAN,
Posebna izdanja CCXXV, Beograd 1954, p. 26-27.

April 26th, 1690

Letter of protection from Leopold I. ...This is to inform you that two

Macedonians, Marko Kraida born in Kosana and Dimitri Georgi Popovic,
born in Macedonian Salonika, have told us that the Macedonian people,
with respect for our most righteous task, with devotion and zeal towards
our service....we graciously accept them under our imperial and royal
mercy and in any case and way the above mantioned Macedonian people,
cordially recommending to each and all of our willing commanders not to
attack the Macedonian people....Issued in Vienna, April 26th, 1690.
Representatives: defenders of the Macedonian people.... J. Radonic, Prilozi
za istoriju Srba u Ungarskoj u XVI, XVII and XVIII veku. Knj. I, Matice
srpske, nbr 25 and 26, Novi Sad 1908, p. 52-53.

1704

The French treveller and writer Paul Luca on Macedonia ...and hour after
midnight for Kavalla, which is six miles away and once was a large
Macedonian city by the sea coast. We should note that almost all the
villages in Macedonia are full of Christians and there are few Turks. A.

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Matkovski and P. Angelakova, Patuvanjata na francuskiot petepisec Pol
Luka niz Makedonija od 1704 do 1714-Istorija v/2 (1969). p. 101.

End of 18th C.

Reports by the French Consul in Salonika, Felix de Beaujour, about

Macedonia. The pashalik of Salonika includes the whole of Lower
Macedonia and covers 700 sq. miles....it must be noted that here I am
only speaking about the most populated part of Macedonia; since Upper
Macedonia and Epirus are less populated....In Macedonia, as in Poland,
the peasants die from hunger, while the masters live in abundance of
gold... Felix de Beaujour, Voyage militaire dans l'Empire Othoman, I, Paris
1829, p. 127-128. n.1; p.130, 132.

1821

Macedonians pertecipate in the Romanian uprising ...At that time there

was a man they called Sludzar Todor who urged all the foreigners (mostly
Macedonians) to rebel against the boyar... Marko K. Cepenkov,
Makedonsko narodno tvoreshtvo, Kn. X, Skopje 1972, p.308

1846

...I learnt the Slav alphabet from my father Makedonski, who calls himself
so because we are Macedonians, and not Greeks.... Georgija Makedonski,
Bogosluzhbena kniga "Opshti minej" - vo crkvata vo s. Radibush, Kriva
Palanka, posledna nepagirana stranica.

1851

Bulgarian Comments on the language of J.H. Dzinot ...May the inhabitants

of Skopje and those who speak similarly forgive me, but they do not
understand our language and cannot speak either... "Bolgarski",
Tsarigradski Vestnik, nbr. 55 (6.X.1851, p. 19).

1858

Education in Veles ....Archbishop Antim declared to his peers that all

peoples have been enlightened by the Greeks and so it is necessary that
Greek should be taught in the schools of Veles, and not Macedonian, since
the children alrady know their own language from their home... J. N. Iz
Velesa u Makedoniji: Srbski Dnevnik, nbr. 44 (1858) (according to
Branislav Vraneshevic, Vojvodinska javnost, p. 320-321).

1865

A note from the priest Demetrius: In the name of the Father, the Son and
the Holy Spirit, I, priest Demetrius, was born in the village of Ogut, in the

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Kriva Palanka region. and held the services in my native village, when in
the year of our Lord 1848, the champions of the town of Kriva Palanka
employed me as a priest against the will of His Grace, the Greek priest Kir
Gavrail. Mr. Mikhail Makedonski interceded most in favor of my
appointment, because I'm a Macedonian by birth and hold the services in
the Slav language. Such was the Fate of my fatherland Macedonia, to
suffer from the Greeks, so that they will not give us peace even today,
although everyone knows that Macedonia is an older state then their
kingdom. We had our own Slav educators, Cyril and Methodius, who left
us our Slav alphabet. They were Macedonians born in Salonika, the
glorious capital of Macedonia. Our Greek bishop does not admit this, so we
do not want him to be our priest, but we want to have our own arch-
priest, a Slav, for time everlasting. Amen. Zapis vo knigata Zitie Svetih vo
Krivopalaneckata crkva. Pretposledna nepagirana strana.

January 28, 1867

To the Editor of "Makedonija" newspaper: ...The Greeks and the

greacomans have met the newspaper with sorrow, since they always tried
to hellenize the Macedonians, destroying also the Archibishopric of Ohrid -
The Spark of Our Future. Yet, however hard they have tried to stop us
from making progress, they could not entirely uproot the feelings of the
Macedonians that they are Macedonians. T.I. Kusev, Makedonija, Istanbul,
Nbr. I (1/28/1867)

March 25, 1870

...lets us consider those of the present Macedonians who blinded by

concealed glow of Hellenic wisdom, accept that they should scorn and
revoke their own nationality...the time seems opportune for me to
exclaim:Ah, how far away the time really is when Hellas, as everybody
calls her today, was subjected to Macedonian authority... Stefan Zahariev,
Chitalishte, Istanbul, I/7, 1871, p.214-216.

November 30, 1870

...A teacher named Mr. Shapkarevic...has come to visit me...the same day
the books you had sent me...arrived. But as soon as he saw them he said
that they should not be taught in the Macedonian schools, since they were
in the Bulgarian dialect; and that we should take his books which are in
the Macedonian dialect... Pravo of 10/30/1870 (according to B. Koneski,
Kon Makedonskata prerodba, p.68).

February 1874

A letter from P.R. Slaveykov to the Bulgarian Exarch: Your Grace, I

arrived in Salonika on the evening of the 14th of last month (January
1874). I immediately went to meet all the important local people and

9
some others from the other Macedonian towns. My aim was to gather
information as son as possible on what was to be necessary for the succes
of the mission with which you had entrusted me. I first met Father Averkij
Zografski, and the following day Father Petar Dimitrov as well, the local
president of the community. I may inform you, Your Grace, that the wind
from here, from Salonika, blows and scatters to all sides. These two
clergyman, to my mind, are the leaders of the movement fot the
restoration of the Archbishopric of Ohrid, although one should not neglect
Ohrid and to certain extent Bitola, Veles and Skopje either. The Uniate
movement here is not without roots, as they think in Constantinople,
especially His Grace, Count Ignatiev. During the time I have been in
Macedonia I have ascertained the same we had formerly known and
written three years ago. Now, as then or twenty years ago, we are dealing
with the Macedonian question. In talks with few Macedonian "patriots" I
have understood that this movement, which had been only bare words till
a few years ago, is now clear and precise thought - "The Macedonians are
not Bulgarians" and they persistenly strive, regardless of the price, to
obtain a separate church of their own.

They also have the support in their separatism of smoe high clergyman in
Constantinople, especially His Grace Nathaniel Ohridski, Panariot
Plovdivski, and Archimandrite Hariton Karpuzov. I have understood this
month from reliable sources that there are letters which arrive every day
from Constantinople to the Salonika community, and are then sent to the
other communities in the provinces. The letters are written in this spirit.
One such letter, which the Salonika community sent to the community of
Voden, calls upon the inhabitants of Voden to break off all their relations
with theExarchate until the Macedonian Church question is settled,
because "now is the moment". Mr. Kuzman Shapkarev from Ohrid, who is
well known to us, has done a great deal to spread the idea of the
restoration of the Archbishopric of Ohrid; he consatnly travels between
Kukish and Ohrid and v.v., but at whose expanse, I do not know. Mr.
Dimitar Makedonski, "the Macedonian textbook writer", is no less active,
reciving salary as a teacher from the Exarchate and from local Lazarists.

Owing to such unreasonable sermons by the Macedonian patriots that the

church question has been settled only in favor of the Bulgarians, there is
discontent among the people towrds the eparchies of th4 Danube and
Adrianople vilayets as well as envy because of the earlier awakening of
the Bulgarians. One can especially feel a great resistance against the East
Bulgarian variant in literature. A general impression is that the local
people think that the Macedonians have been done a great harm with the
settlement of the church question in favor of the Danubian and Thracian
Bulgarians. This discontent has already grown into distrust of the
Exarchate and its higher echalons. and there is an attitude formed that
the local Macedonian dialect should be declared a literary language and a
Macedonian hiearchy established.

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Great attention, Your Grace, should be paid to His Grace Nathaniel, who
promised the local people taht as soon as he comes to his eparchy he will
take steps for the restoration of the Archbishopric of Ohrid. He seems to
be connected with the Macedonian craftsman in Constantinople, among
whom he spreads the news about the agreement with the Patriarchate.
For their own part they inform their own people in Macedonia about this.
It causes great discontent here. Consequently, separatism has its roots in
the secret circle of Constantinople. If you press them there, the
commotion wil calm down here. Silence the trumpet, there won't be any
echo!

The question of Father Nil is a highly delicate one, because he has

barricaded himself in Kukush and does not want to return. His ambition
seems to have made him to this. He stuffed his head with the thought of
becoming the Archbishop of Ohrid ar at least Metropolitan of Salonika. As
an Exarchate delegate he spreads the news about the agreement with the
Patriarchate as the " most informed person". He decribes the Exarchate to
the people as indifferent and passive in saving the Macedonian population
from Greek spiritual slavery. Father Nil, who proved to be completely
immature, seems to be a hireling of the highest Turkish vilayet
authorities. However, his disobidiance to his headquarters began at the
moment when he was summoned to return to Constantinople. Instead of
obeying orders, he remained waiting there. His disobidiance also comes as
a result of the suggestions that have been arriving from Constatinople. He
maintains constant relations with Bishop Panaret and Nathaniel especially
with the latter, who has suggested he stay in Macedonia until he gets an
appointment for Ohrid and arrives in Macedonia. I think that Father Nil
should be cast out of Macedonia at any cost and sent to Constatinople,
because he is dangerous here. He already acts under the protection of the
local Lazarists and the French consul.

Thoughts of the restoration of the Archbishop of Ohrid at the moment are

most prevalent here, in Salonika. Here the schemes are being devised and
here the hotheads are gathering. These thoughts of course are not based
upon mature foundation, especially since Midhat-Pasha has been
dismissed from Salonika. But they are gradually spreading to northern
Macedonia, although they are not very clear. Some say one thing to the
people and others say another. There is danger, if steps are not taken
from spme authoritative place, of creating a genral ideal. Then the
consequences would be much more serious. The best thing would be if His
Grace, Count Ignatiev, were to visit Macedonia, because the population
feels a secret hope thet only Russia could help them.

Tomorrow, with Gos's help, I intend to meet some of the elders from the
local community. I shall try to convince them of the groundlessnes of their
aspirations for a separarte Church when they already have one in the form
of the Exarchate. Certainly the most difficult question will be that of the

11
appointment of bishops of Macedonian origin and especially that of the
cheirotonia of Father Hariton. I kiss Your Grace's right hand.

Salonika, Fabruary 1874. Your obedient P.R. Slaveykov

Another letter from P.R. Slaveykov: Your Grace,

I sent you a letter via a trustworthy man two days ago, in which I briefly
described to you the situation in Salonika and Macedonia in connection
with the unreasonable movement for the restoration of the Archbishopric
of Ohrid in union with the Roman Catholic Church. After the meeting with
some of the local elders I have understood that there were everywhere
wide discussions for a broader plan, namely, to create a Uniate Church in
Macedonia.

According to reliable sources, only the cheirotonia of Father Hariton is

awaited before action will be taken. Until the blessing of the Pope for the
proclamation of the Uniate Archbishopric of Ohrid arrives, the bishops with
their eparchies will be constituent apart of the Uniate Church with their
seat in Adrianople. Then Father Nathaniel will be appointed Archbishop of
Ohrid and the following appointments will be made in the eparchies:
Father Panaret for the Pelagonia eparchy, Brother Kozma Prechistenski for
the Debar eparchy, Father Nil Izvorov for the Salonika eparchy and Father
Dorotej for the Skopje eparchy. The other eparchies, for which there are
no candidates proposed, will temporarily be governed by the neighboring
archpriests. Father Nil will be Bishop of Salonika, Kukush and Voden.
Father Hariton, after his ordination, will also become bishop of the Serez
and Melnik eparchies. Father Dionisij, as an archimandrite, will
temporarily govern the Strumica eparchy.

I have personal impression, Your Grace, that nobody here is asking for a
real union with the Roman Catholic Church. It is simply a means of
restoration of the Archbishopric of Ohrid. Catholic circles also feel this and
therefore have no great confidence in the people with whom they are
negotiating. So I do not think it is too late to actin order to overcome the
discontent, which later could be subdued. The Uniate movement is more
dangerous in the places where formerly there was a Union because of
similar reasons. Kukush comes in the first place, followed by Dojran with
sympathy from Strumica, Maleshevo and Voden. The Salonika, Serez,
Melnik and Drama villages lag behind them. There is not any powerful
stirring of the Uniate propaganda indeed, but where there is smoke there
must be fire. The appointment of Bishop Nil is expected for the fire to
blaze forth. The Poljanin eparchy will immediately turn into a Union and
the Strumica and Voden eparchies will join in, as well as a huge number of
villages in Salonika, Drama, Serres and other eparchies. The other
Macedonian eparchies will certainly be shattered, too, first the Veles
eparchy and then the Skopje one. The Veles eparchy is also dissatisfied
with its bishop, Damaskin, while at the same time the citizens of Veles,

12
aroused by a craving for power, believe that they should govern
Macedonia in religious matters.

The causes of such a situation in the whole of Macedonia are very obvious.
The Macedonian eparchies and towns I have already mentioned are
extremely embittered by the serious position of the Church and the people
in which they find themselves. The spreading of the idea of restoration of
the Archbishopric of Ohrid upon an Uniate basis is also helped by the
French and Austrian consuls, who promise full protection before the
Turkish authorities and persecution of the Constantinople Patriarchate.
The Greeks themselves indirectly help the spreading of the Union in
Macedonia, expecting the Exarchate to become weak because of the Union
and thus finding allies in the liquidation of the Catholic propaganda in
Macedonia. I have concluded this from the talks I had with the Greek
consul in Salonika. He was not in the least worried at the danger of the
spread of the Union in Macedonia. On the contrary, Greece is seeking
support for its economic and national activity in Macedonia. According to
the opinion of the Greek consul, the part of the people who will not accept
the Union, disillusioned with the Exarchate, will remain under the
jurisdiction of the Patriarchate.

In the talks I had it was not by chance that the agents and adherents of
the Union mentioned that the "Macedonian question" could only be settled
through the Union. In order to make full use of the discontent and
bitterness of the people against the Exarchate, they strengthen their
accusation against the Exarchate. They speak about the Macedonian
question upon a religious basis, but at the same time stir up the old
separatist trends among the Macedonians - to create a new ethnic region
through the Union - in the spirit of Midhat-Pasha's schemes. As the Roman
Catholic agents worked out a cultural and national program for the Union
in 1860 for the liberation of the Bulgarian people from the Patriarchate,
they now also appear with a specific program for the spiritual and national
liberation of the Macedonian eparchies through the Union. The Macedonian
activists already widely use the expression the Macedonian movement in
their language of communication, by which one should understand
independent national and church liberation. I must emphasize strongly,
Your Excellency, that this is a factor of an important political character -
separatism is being spread starting from a religious basis towards a
broader national one.

After the talks I had with Father Petar Dimov I felt that he has slowly
retired from being drawn into the Union. Today he has officially renounced
the Union and sent a letter to You expressing his loyalty to the Exarchate.
I also talked to Father Averkij. He told me that he would also withdraw
from the movement if appointments for the Exarchate bishops were issued
by the autumn. My attitude towards these two Church dignitaries was
moderate and friendly, because any repressive measures could stir up
spirits.

13
.... Your spiritual child P.R. Slaveykov S. Dimevski, Dve pisma na P. R.
Slaveykov za makedonizmot. - Razgledi XIV, 5(1972), p.561-566

April 6, 1878

in Salonika To the Right Honorable Austen Henry Layard "...Russian

agents are busy in the country, and even here, trying to get petitions that
the whole of Macedonia be included in Bulgaria... They tell the people: If
you remain out, your state (and you see what it is) will be worse then it
was before, while if you attach yourselves to us and our cause, you will
get all the benefits accruing to a large and powerful Kingdom, under
Russian protection... I remain... Edward B. Barker British Museum,
London, Dmss Layard Papers, Vol. LXXXIX Addd. 39.019, 186-187.

1878

From the record of the Imperial Russian secret archives on the

arrangement and government of the Balkan regions. ...Count Shuvalev
demands that all the necessary measures for pacification of Macedonia be
undertaken. For its purpose, it would be desirable to send competent
agents there, and to proclaim to the Macedonians on behalf of the
Governor, the Emperor, that His Highness is concerned about their fate,
as much as for the other Slavs, and they will be granted the same
freedom as that of the Bulgarians, now already liberated.... Dokumenti iz
sekretnite arhivi na Ruskoto pravitelstvo. Sofia 1893, p.11-12.

1878

The rules of the Macedonian Rebel Commitee of the Kresna Uprising It is

well known to all of us that this ill-fated country of ours, Macedonia, owing
to the egoistic aims of the Great Powers, was gain left to Turkey after the
Congress of Berlin. As a result of that, in certain regions of our fatherland
many scenes full full of blood, known to all of us, took place....We rebelled
as advocates of freedom. With the blood we shed all over Macedonian
fields and forests, we serve freedom, as the Macedonian army of
Alexander of Macedon did, with our slogan "Freedom or Death!" The aim
of the Uprising in Macedonia 1.The uprising in Macedonia...should be
extended all over Macedonia. 2. Those people from Macedonia who feel
themselves to be Macedonians and love the freedom of their fatherland
are taking part in the uprising. From the private archives of Cyril,
Patriarch of Bulgaria, Arch. of Act 2341, AE 50, pp. 30-61. The Residence
of the monastery of Dragolevci, Sofia, P.R. Bulgaria.

June 8, 1879

Georgi Pulevski to Despot Badzovic: ...The Bulgarians here are playing

tricks with us and are turning the water to their mill alongside divine
Nathaniel, who is a Macedonian, but rather inclined towards the

14
Bulgarians... Arhiv Srbije (Beograd) Fond: Ministarstvo prosvete, P. nbr.
981/8.VI.1879; Razgledi XIV/10 (1972), p. 1132.

March 23, 1881

Manifesto of the Provisional Government of Macedonia: ...our dear

Macedonia, our dear homeland is calling upon you: you who are my
faithful children, you who are descendants of Aristotle and Alexandar the
Great, you in whose veins Macedonian blood flows, do not let me die, but
help me!... President Vasil Chomo, Secretary Nikola Trajkov in Kjustendil
Centralnii Gosudartsvenii Arhiv Okjabarskii revoljucii i socialtieskoga
stroitelstva SSSR, Moskva - Fond Gr.Ignatieva No.730 - opis No. 1,
ed.hr.79; Lj. lape, Odbrani tekstovi za istorijata na makedonskio narod, II
del, Skopje 1976, p.256-258.

May 9, 1888

Salonika. Temko Popov to Despot Badzovic ...I shall try to write to you, as
far as possible, in our language, replacing the words I don't know with
Bulgarian ones. What else can I do, Despot? While our language could one
dictate to the other Slav languages, it has now remained the poorest of
all, and like a begger, it serves either Bulgarian or Serbian....Let us no lie
to ourselves, Despot, tha national spirit in Macedonia has reached such a
stage today that even if Jesus Christ had come to the Earth, he would not
have been able to persuade the Macedonian that he was a Bulgarian or a
Serb, excepting those Macedonians in whom Bulgarian propaganda has
already taken root. In order to convince yourself of this, you must have
Bulgarianism in view. Bulgarian propaganda has now been working for 20
years in Macedonia, in the blindest of times - when Hellenism, coming
from and entirely alien nation, started to take root in the Macedonian
heart; but the Macedonians, seeing a ray of Slavism, rejected everything
as if eyeless, without paying attention to the difference. It was sufficient
for them to have broken with Hellenism. But what is to be done now i.e.
after twenty years of Bulgarian striving, indoctrination and unsparing
pecuniary sacrifaces? My dear Despot, everybody does what is natural,
but unexpected for the Bulgarians, that is, now every Macedonian admits
he is not a Bulgarian and declares loudly his nation, even though he may
stilluse Bulgarian means, not having his own, of course. ... Your friend T.
Popov Narodna Biblioteka, Belgrade - fond - Jovan Hadzi Vasiljevic II
413/III May 9 1988.

1890

A request by the citizens of Ohrid for the restoration of the Archbishopric

of Ohrid To His Holiness, the Great Patriarch, Constantinople, We, loyal
subjects to His Majesty, the Emperor Sultan Abdul Hamid II, for a long
time did not have freedom for our Church, and since 1872 have become
an even more misled flock, for we came under the Bulgarian Exarchate,

15
deceived by Bulgarian propaganda. Thus we became schismatics, as
well. ...Apart from the fact that Bulgarians deceived and beguiled us, they
also reject our language, change our holy customs and alter our
character, too. We cannot tolerate it any more and we do not want our
children to curse us and the graves of our forefathers... (signatures of 120
citizens of Ohrid) DA DSIP - Beograd - PPO, F.7, d.6, p.br. 962, 1890.

June 22, 1891

Skopje Theodosius, Metropolitan of Skopje, to Archimandrite Dionysius in

Sofia. ...our Holy Exarchate headed by His Holiness Exarch Joseph I does
everything possible to persuade the wretched Macedonian people that it
has good intentions, that it cares for their present and future and that it
wants to draw them out of the darkness of national unawareness and
create holy Bulgarians of them. But I would not have to persuade you too
long, my dearest brother in Christ, that our Holy Exarchate, with its
religious and educational activity here, in Macedonia, in fact carries out a
most miserable task, it deprives a people of its name and replaces it with
another, it deprives them of their mother tongue and replaces it with
another, alien one, in order to allow its government and its Bulgarian
masters to extend their commerce to foreign territories, too. And what
else would you call this, my dear brother, other then a new slavery, even
more terrible then the Turkish one? The Turks take the property and the
lives of the people, but do not encroach upon their spirit. They destroy the
body but respect the soul. And our Holy Exarchate kills the latter, the
perpetual... I have written this to you, so that you would not be amazed
by my previous letter in which I stated my opinion that we clergyman,
Macedonians in origin, should unite and urge our people to awaken, throw
off foreign authority, throw off even the Patriarchate and the Exarchate,
and spiritually unified under the wing of the Archbishopric of Ohrid, their
only true Mother Church. Is it not high time to put an end to the national
movements of a single people among which some recognize the
Patriarchate, some the Exarchate and some even bow to Mohammed? Is it
not high time to put an end to hatred between blood brothers? And how
could this be achieved if not by the way of our national Church , by way of
the Archbishopric of Ohrid? I shall be sincere, my dear brother in Christ,
and shall openly declare to you: we, the Macedonians, to not suffer as
much by the Turks, long live our Padishah, as by the Greeks, the
Bulgarians and the Serbs, who have set upon us like vultures upon a
carcass in this tortured land and want to split it up. ("And they parted
Your garments, Jesus")..... ...Theodosius of Skopje Centralen D'rzhaven
istoricheski archiv (Sofia) 176, op. 1. arh.ed. 595, l.5-42 - Razgledi, X/8
(1968), p.996-1000.

December 4, 1891

Theodosius, Metropolitan of Skopje, to Pope Leo XIII I, the undersigned

Metropolitan of Skopje, Theodosius, by God's Mercy head of Skopje

16
eparchy, am submitting this request both in my name and in the name of
of the whole Orthodox flock of Macedonia, in which we are begging His
Holiness to accept us under the wing of the Roman Catholic Church...Our
desire springs from the historical right of the Orthodox Macedonian people
to be freed from the jurisdiction of foreign Churches - the Bulgarian
Exarchate and the Constantinople Patriarchate - ....The borders of the
Archbishopric should conform to the present borders of Macedonia...
Archivio della S. Congregazione de Propaganda Fide - Roma: Indice della
Potenza - Marzo 1892-93, Somm.XV, f.132-141.

August 20, 1892

Serbian Consul in Bitola, Dimitrije Bodi, to Minister of Foreign Affairs,

Vladan Djordjevic, in Belgrade. I have to inform you, dear Sir, that some
intellectualist movement among the local teachers has recently appeared
in the town of Kostur, which insists upon rejection of Greek and Bulgarian
propaganda, and the introduction of the Macedonian dialect as the
language of teaching in the schools. This initiative has in fact been
started....If you are interested in these matters, Sir, please answer me
with a ciphered telegram. DA - DSIP. P odd.I red 278 (1892).

August 26, 1892

Serbian Consul in Bitola, Dimitrije Bodi, to Minister of Foreign Affairs,

Vladan Djordjevic, in Belgrade. ....I have heard from my own people that
the local community at its meeting of 22nd Auguts this year, decided that
the teaching in the new 1892/1893 school year should be done in the
Macedonian dialect. The town teachers were given the task of working a
program for the language teaching and a provisional grammar of the
Macedonian dialect.... DA - DSIP. P odd.I red 278 (1892).

1890

Karl Hron: "The Nationality of the Macedonian Slavs": ...From my own

studies of the Serbo-Bulgarian dispute I came to the conviction that the
Macedonians are an individual nation, both by their history and their
language; thus, they are neither Serbs nor Bulgarians... Karl Hron, Das
Volksthum der Slaven Makedoniens, Wien 1890, S. 4-5, 15-17, 20, 22,26

1896

Paul Argyriades (A French socialist born in Macedonia): ...Present day

Macedonia is one of the European provinces of the Turkish Empire. It
borders on the south with Epirus, Thessaly and the Mediterranean, on the
east with Thrace and the Mediterranean, on the north with Mount Hemus,
Bulgaria and Serbia and with Albania on the west....Macedonia, as the
homeland of the two greatest personalities of the Ancient World - Aristotle
and Alexander the Great, who conquered the world. should it anew

17
conquer its independence and its autonomy?...And if an autonomous
Macedonian administration were to be introduced in this land in ten years
only, it would be the earthly paradise of the world...The small states - the
Greek, Bulgaria and Serbian ones -argue for the acquisition of Macedonia,
using all kinds of proofs - chauvinist and historical - invented in support of
their interests, while no one seems to realize that if the historical truth
were to be respected, Macedonia should rather have the right to possess
all those countries, which would like to devour it, since once it governed
and ruled them itself....The Macedonians do not want the kind of caresses
which may strangle them. They want to remain Macedonians without any
other epithet, guarding for themselves their beautiful Macedonia...
Almanach de la Question Sociale. Illustre'. (Paris), Pour 1896, pp. 240-
244.

1897

From "Maleshevski Balkan" journal: At Least Do Not Hinder Us There is

hardly any harsher situation then that of the Macedonian cause. Aroused
by sympathy, feelings and tradition to maintain always the closest links
with its direct neighbors, the Bulgarians, Serbs, and others, today it
surprises us most mercilessly and makes us repent. Nobody, undoubtedly
nobody, would deny the justification of our hopes in the Bulgarians and
the Serbs, as people who stand closest to us, as people with the same
past as ours, etc. ... From "Maleshevski Balkan", Sofia, I, 16, 1 (1897).

1897

William Gladstone ...Next to the Ottoman Govt. nothing can be more

deplorable and blameworthy then jealousies between Greek and Slav, and
plans by the States already existing for appropriating other territory. Why
not Macedonia for Macedonians, as well as Bulgaria for Bulgarians and
Servia for Servians. And if they are small and weak, let them bind
themselves together for defence, so that they may not be devoured by
others, either great and small, which would probably be the effect of their
quarreling among themselves. The Times (London), 6th January 1897,
p.12

1898

Petar Mandzukov to Kostadin Kirkov ...Perhaps our slavery would not have
been so difficult if various kinds of propaganda had not interfered in our
affairs, which under the name of "brothers" and "benefactors" divide
brothers from brothers and make the Turks commit the worst of crimes.
Those "brothers" of ours do everything possible to prevent the unity of our
freedom-loving forces. And what has been the result of such propaganda?
Even the true sons of our country, those whoa re really not afraid to
sacrifice their lives at the altar of our Fatherland, often wrongly think that
the liberation of Macedonia could not be conceived without the

18
interference of this or that state. They go over to the side of this or that
people and forget their own people. Instead of uniting their forces in favor
of their own people and striving in unison to liberate it from bondage, they
cannot agree whom they should serve. We know, Kostadin, that our
fatherland differs by its population from one Bulgaria, Greece or Serbia,
which are homogenous countries. There are various nationalities and
religions in our country. There are Macedonians, Greeks, Wallachians,
Turks, Jews, Albanians, even a few Armenians. and let us not forget the
Gypsies.... CDIA (Sofia), f.70, on., AE70-74; - Razgledi, X/7 (1968),
p.847-851

1900

A. Brutus (A. Drandar): Concerning a movement in Macedonia A

considerable section of the European press does not cease to inform us of
the immense sufferings undergone by the Christian population of
Macedonia....It was the sad fate of that population that made us publish
this booklet, based upon our experience and personal observations I had
acquired impartially, as a foreigner, during my stay in Macedonia of
several years...If one takes a retrospective view of the history of
Macedonia to the most ancient of times, one remains amazed by the great
role this small country, this classical country par excellance, played in the
world....The Macedonian, born in a land to which nature was so favorable,
has always longed for heroic feats and aspired to great deeds...Even the
glorious cradle of Ancient Hellenism is subjected to the Macedonian
kings...We find Macedonians on the Byzantine throne at the time when
this empire was at its peak. Following the course of history, we see how
the star of Macedonia shone with the same intensity. It plays the chief
role in the revival of the Slav people. Thus, the two brothers exalted to
apostles, Cyril and Methodius, objects of general admiration for the Slav
world, are Macedonians, and owing to the very existence of these two
apostles, this small land becomes the cradle of the Slav people to whom it
gives its religion and art...The inhabitants of Macedonia do not want to be
annexed either to Bulgaria or Serbia, or Greece; they want, they want so
strongly, to live a human life in an autonomous country. Their slogan is:
Macedonia to the Macedonians. A. Brutus, A Propos d'un Mouvement en
Macedonie, Bruxelles 1900, pp.12-13, 15, 56.

1901

A.V. Amfiteatrov: The Land of Discord Each Slav should and is obliged to
feel sympathy for Macedonian freedom. But Macedonian freedom cannot
be achieved with their own, Macedonian means. The land is too small and
weak to fight against the power of Constantinople, which only has to give
a sign and tens of thousands of soldiers will attack the Rumalian vilayets
and strangle them like mice before Europe could compose itself, even
before Europe could know it. Hence, Macedonia cannot be freed with its
own forces. Only an evil enemy, an unconscious enemy of Slavism could

19
desire an armed movement in Macedonia now when the land is totally
unprepared for an uprising, in circumstances of tied hands of the whole
Europe, of Serbo-Bulgarian clashes, of huge preparations of the Turks
against the slightest possibilities of movement. Or a real fool. These were
the exact words of one of the high-ranking persons deciding the fate of
Balkan Slavism in a discussion with me concerning the Macedonian
committees. Nobody in Europe, none of the Great Powers can actively
intercede in favor of the Macedonians against the Turks at the present
moment - except, perhaps, Austria. Bu the very name of Austria causes
panic in the Macedonian Slav element, who will allow Austria to reign in
Macedonia? For it would be the destruction of all ideas of pan-Slavism, it
would be the end of the Eastern Question, it would be the decisive and
last victory of the German world over the Slav world. Then, we the
Russians, would only be humbly left to falling out of step with that state
with the projected historical tasks, with the repudiation of racial ideals - a
state similar to modern Italy or Spain, only in greater proportions. The
young Slav states, adjacent to Macedonia, are too young and too poor to
go into struggle for it. At the same time, these states are disintegrating
both from the internal situation and external family hostilities. The
Bulgarians and the Serbians cannot stand each other; each consider
Macedonia as their lawful property. Neither the Bulgarians nor the Serbs
have even the slightest desire to create Macedonia for Macedonia.
Enthusiast for an autonomous Macedonia can only be found among the
Macedonian natives. Neither the Serb nor the Bulgarian wants the
autonomy of Macedonia. As far as the question of whether Macedonia
should become Bulgarian or Serbian is concerned, every Bulgarian would
tell you with utter sincerity: -It would be better that the Turks ruled there
eternally then to give the Serbs a chance to spread towards the Aegean
Sea. And the Serb would say: - It would be better that the Turks did there
whatever they allow your damned brothers to achieve their Greater
Bulgaria from one sea to the other! The question of nationality has not
been settled in Macedonia and it is hard to assume that it will ever be
settled in a satisfactory manner. If we are to believe Gopcevic and
Jasterbov there are almost no Bulgarians - all of the are Serbs. If we are
to believe Ofejkov and Miljukov, there are no Serbs, all of them are
Bulgarians. It is more probable that where we are dealing with a perfectly
branch of Slavs, transitional between the Bulgarians and the Serbs. But
that branch taken alone is insufficiently significant to win its freedom and
turn itself into a state unit. Consequently, no matter how the question of
its nationality is resolved, it is deprived of the possibility to exist, so to
say; it is cursed in itself to serve as political material directly for its
neighbors, and deviously and indirectly for Europe, which governs its
naighbours. The basic reason for the failures of the Macedonian
revolutionary organization lies in the fact that it is fed by means that have
historically proved their ineffectiveness against state order of a European
kind to overthrow the system and authority that have nothing in common
with European order; since with the tactics, which have overthrown many

20
European government, it attempts to erase military slavery, which has
continued in Macedonia and Old Serbia for five centuries now; since the
arms, victorious in the civil war, are also used in external war, because
the Turk is not a fellow-citizen and compatriot of the Slavs, but he was, is
and will be their external enemy... - They consider me a Bulgarophile, I.A.
Zinovjev told me. But it isn't so at all. I behave in perfectly equal manner
to all Slavs, and, if a person is decent and likable, it is all the same to me
whether he is a Bulgarian, a Serb or a Macedonian. But I am a Russian
representative and I have been sent here to protect, first of all, Russian
interests. Permanent patronage over the Balkan Slavs is inseparably
linked with Russian interests. We are their natural patrons. But this
patronage does not mean Russia's following of Slav leaders; patronage is
not characterless yielding. However, as far as the Macedonian question is
concerned, the Bulgarians, as our most spoilt children in the whole of the
Slav world, would like precisely to lead Russia with them where they have
blindly started closing their eyes, demanding that the patronage be turned
into yielding. The activities of the Macedonian committees, long under the
patronage (with) our tolerance of the Bulgarian government, had the
following direct calculation: - We shall force the Turks to abandon their
reserved behavior they have taken up and borne with difficulty - wit a
series of small explosions, murders and blackmails we shall arose the
fanatic excitement of the Moslems, the Sultan will be forced to give in to
the demands of his subjects of the same faith, and Turkish atrocities will
start in Macedonia, blood will be shed, villages will be burnt. For the
attainment of the sublime goal it is of no consequence whether fifty or
fifty thousand people will be killed - the main thing is: slaughter must be
caused, which will in turn cause the necessity of European intervention,
and since the protection of the Slavs is the perennial deed of Russia and it
will never leave the Macedonian question to Austria - consequently,
volens-nolens, Russia shall have to send again hundred of thousands of
soldiers to the Balkan Peninsula and achieve the freedom of Macedonia
with its bayonets, i.e. it should put the land into the mouth of the
Bulgarians. For they don't recognize any other nationality in Macedonia
except the Bulgarian one. Consequently, the future freedom of Macedonia
for them is either the fulfillment of the Treaty of San Stefano and
unification of Macedonia with the Bulgarian Principality, or a creation of a
new autonomous Bulgarian body, which will sooner or later be merged
with the former into an 'integral Bulgaria'.... Cvetan Stanoevski, Kako ja
vidoa Makedonija, Skopje 1978, pp.189-190,193-194.

1902

Appeal of the "National Macedonian-Albanian League" Brother

Macedonians! Brother Albanians! ...There is no need that the Bulgarians,
the Greeks or others amend our homeland... Executive Committee British
Museum (British Library), London, 1902

1902

21
Nikola Karev to Goce Delchev ...Let us not expect freedom either from the
Greeks or the Bulgarians; it is we, the Macedonians, who should fight for
our Macedonia ourselves... Neobjaveno pismo, Nova Makedonija,
(Skopje), XXIV, nbr.7744 (May 5 1968), p.8

1903

Victor Berard on the Macedonians. The ambition for a small homeland, the
egotism of a small nation, is not the ultimate ideal of the Macedonians. To
replace Turkish subjugation with Greek, Serbian or Bulgarian dependence
does not seem to them to represent some great gain...Until recently
France did not know the Macedonians. They were Thracian, Peons,
Sclavins for us, a wild and almost a mythical people, that lived somewhere
at the bottom of some unknown land for us. We either did not know them
or despised them, since we heard of them from the malicious notes of the
ancient and modern Greeks... La Revue de Paris, Juin 1903.

1904

A Macedonian Theory Was it so long before the liberation of the Bulgarians

that throughout Bulgaria, in answer to the question as to what they were
(by nationality), the Bulgarians said they were "Christians" or raya (non-
Moslem Turkish subjects)?And even now it is not so rare on occasion to
hear a Bulgarian answering in court as to the question of his nationality
that he is a "Christian". The notion of nationality has still not become a
new accomplishment of his mind. During the Turkish period, the Bulgarian
peasant referred to the Bulgarians in the towns as "Greeks" and city lother
were "Greek dress" for him. And since the Greeks designated that peasant
as a "fat-headed Bulgar", his brother from the town loved to be called a
"Hellene", so that he should not be scorned for his real national name. It
is not exactly the same case with what Mr. Misirkov elaborates concerning
the name of the Macedonian Slav? The name "Bulgar" fell even in Bulgaria
to such position which earned only the contempt of the others. This name
appeared so empty even in the mouth of the Bulgarians themselves that it
became a synonym for "Christian"; the later designated the whole ethnic
contents of Bulgarian individual and social consciousness. When our
peasant used to say "we are Bulgars", he meant "we are Christians", i.e.
Orthodox. The Russian Tsar was a "Bulgarian Tsar" for him not by
nationality, but by Orthodox Christianity. A. Teodorov-Balan, Edna
makedonska teorija - Periodichesko spisanie (Sofia), LXV (1904), p.818

1907-1908

The Macedonian Villages ...I asked him what language they spoke, and my
Greek interpreter carelessly rendered the answer Bulgare. The man
himself had said Makedonski. I drew attention to this word and the
witness explained that he did not consider the rural dialect used in
Macedonia the same as Bulgarian, and refused to call it by that name. It

22
was Macedonian, a word to which he gave the Slav form of Makedonski,
but which I was to hear farther north in the Greek form of Makedonike.
And so the "Bulgarophone" villagers are no longer willing to admit that
they speak Bulgarian. They have coined a new term of their own accord,
and henceforth their dialect, until they have got rid of it, is to be known as
"Macedonian". My Athenian friends were delighted when I told them of
this on my return. It should give even greater pleasure to those Bulgarian
agents who are so anxious to see the Macedonians thought they are
Macedonians. Allen Upward, The East End of Europe, London 1908, pp.
204-205

June 25, 1910

Archimandrite Neophyte in Skopje to Bulgarian Exarch Joseph in

Constantinople: Starting from some time ago, as I have already informed
You several times, matters in the eparchy, and especially here have not
developed as they should. The Eparchy Council, which, as You know,
consists of the town's elders, has decided to send You a letter in which it
strongly condemns the candidature of the former Metropolitan of Skopje,
Theodosius, and among other things, upon my suggestion writes the
following in the protest: "Outraged, we read in the newspapers that a
group of villains wishes at any cost to urge the population - the voters of
the Skopje Eparchy - to bring back that typical intransigent, Theodosious,
as the Metropolitan of the Skopje Eparchy. This is the same Theodosius
who 17 or 18 years ago wanted to separate the Skopje Eparchy from the
Exarchate and proclaim himself an independent Metropolitan. For this
purpose, he then made a special seal on which he deleted the words
"Bulgarian Exarchate", so sacred to us, and printed his own baptismal
certificates, marriage certificates and other documents; he did not fulfill
the circular letters and the orders of the Exarchate, etc. Yet, since at that
time there were not such a strong anti-Bulgarian movement among the
local Bulgarians, it was possible for the Exarchate to remove this
dangerous schismatic in time and thereby preserve the unity of the
Bulgarian Church in Turkey. Now this same schismatic, contrary to
Exarchist interests, wishes to restore his eparchy and continue his
dishonest business of disuniting our Bulgarian people. We protest most
strongly against his nomination as Metropolitan of Skopje, because he
insults the Bulgarian feeling among the population". Unfortunately, Your
Grace, if the Eparchy Council has such people with common sense, this is
not the case with some craftsman's circles, which have come under the
influence of Mr. Petar Pop Arsov, a teacher, who has taken the idea into
his head that he is a leader of the people. He constantly speaks against
the Exarchate and its leadership, including myself, and urges the
craftsman to support Metropolitan Theodosios' candidature, since he once
suffered for defending the interests of the Macedonians. It would not be
superfluous if I informed You about another problem, which, I presume,
will represent a kind of plot in this whole election propaganda. I have
understood from some members of the Council that Krste Petkov, who at

23
one time started "Misirkovism", had requested from certain relative of his,
living here in Skopje, that he put him in touch with this teacher, Petar Pop
Arsov, in connection with collecting songs about Krale Marko in the Skopje
district, and Mr. Pop Arsov was so kind as to agree immediately. I am
writing this to you, Your Grace, a justified suspicion that schismatic forces
are being brought to life here. The said Mr. Krste Misirkov expressed in a
letter to his relative has desire to return to Macedonia, more precisely, to
come to Skopje as soon as Macedonia was liberated. The man wished to
be a professor at the Skopje university (?!). If this is true, and there are
no reasons for lying to me, then You may conclude Yourself what danger
threatens the Bulgarian idea in these historic times. Just imagine if the
"Misirkovism" of Mr. Krste, the "separatism' of His Grace Theodosius and
the "autonomism" of Mr. Petar Pop Arsov joined together! I am of the
opinion, Your Grace, upon the basis of the protest by the Eparchy Council
(which was, after all, published in the press) that the candidature of His
Grace Theodosius should be withdrawn, by which a danger of as yet
unseen proportions for the Bulgarian cause in Macedonia would be
evaded. I remain Your Grace's younger brother in Jesus Christ and I pray
for You. S. Dimevski, Diskusija - K.P. Misirkov i nacionalno-kulturniot
razvoj na makedonskiot narod do Osloboduvanjeto - Zbornik Misirkov.
Simpozium. Skopje, Institut za makedonski jazik, 1975, pp.338-339.

1905

Sveta Simic, representative of the Kingdom of Serbia in Bulgaria, to Jovan

Jovanovich-Pizon, head of the consular department of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs in Belgrade. D. Gruev again visited me last Saturday. D.
Hristov also chanced to be in my house, so we spent more then 3 hours in
discussion. The Macedonians have been afraid that the Bulgarians and we
agreed to divide them, and accordingly they are the only ones left to
frown at the Imperial Alliance. They suspect it hides something else. They
continually make agreements and preparations but undertake nothing
more serious. They constantly send smaller bands and ammunition into
their country. All their activity is reduced to this only in present. They
would like to make an agreement with us, but such as to sacrifice nothing
of what they call their autonomy. They have come to see more and more
that there are obstacles before them which they cannot fight successfully,
and under the influence of which they continually lose their importance as
an authoritative factor in the development of the Maced(onian) question.
This is what hurts them immensely. They are divided among themselves,
just as before. The differences of their views also intensify their personal
hatred, which makes some of them avoid the others, plotting among
themselves....Unfavorable rumors reach us from Macedonia, too. The
people, craving for freedom, would like to reject their yoke and
uncertainty as soon as possible, so that they would be ready for some
decisive steps as well, but their distrust both of their leaders and Bulgaria
prevent them. Under the influence of the news about the Imperial Alliance
a mood has been created in which they would like to be freed from their

24
yoke at any cost, even if they were compelled to come under Bulgaria and
Serbia. And if these two did not help them, they would gladly accept
Austrian occupation, as well... Arhiv SFR Jugoslavije (Belgrade) - Fond
Jovan Jovanovic-Pizon, 80 (1905).

1906

To my brother in arms, Dushan, voyvoda from the village of Bistrica

Brother, you should know that I have received your letter and understood
all that you wrote me. We have put the people in great trouble, it is true,
but who is to blame for this? You say we are to blame, we say you are to
blame. As far as I know, ten years have passed (and) has never been over
those years any bloodshed between ourselves or division into Serbomans
or Bulgarophils. We have been Macedonian fighters and we will fight to
the end for the Macedonian people, but we do not fight for Bulgaria or
Serbia, nor Greece; they are free and live freely and drink in shaded inns;
they have the right to drink so since they shed their blood earlier. We,
who come from this Macedonian land should work for Macedonia, because
our Macedonian brothers are murdered on the roads and our Macedonian
sisters are disgraced by the bloody Turk, by the fat Turk. We are not
against any nationality of either Bulgaria, Serbia, or Greece; we should
recognize the merit of those who would help us. If there had been any
Serbian, Bulgarian or Greek land here, they should not have waited for us
to die in the mountains but should have liberated Macedonia with their
armies; only then they could have demanded Serbia, Bulgarian or Greek
land here... Blazhe Krusheski DA SSID - Fond Izvrshnog odbora Srpske
narodne organizacije F-6 (1906)

1912

A.V. Amfiteatrov: Macedonia ...Following the Russian war, Turkey of the

old regime finally turned into a "sick man", and the heirs of the executors
of the expected will gathered around his death-bed. The future destiny of
Macedonia came to depend not as much on the will of Turkey itself as on
the sympathies of the European guardians. In the 19th century Europe
learned through Germany, Italy and Greece to consider the right to
national self-determination a little. Thus, all the states and countries
bordering on Macedonia have started intensive propaganda in favor of
their nationalities, as it were a race or along jump for an award. They
have taken care, as much as they have means and power, to persuade
Europe by truth and lies, that allegedly the national self-determination of
the Macedonian inclines in their favor, and not in favor of the neighboring
nation. In this respect the Bulgarians proved more swift the their rivals. In
order to make Macedonia Bulgarian, they had to Bulgarize the
Macedonians. Thus, following the Bulgaro-Serbian War of 1885, the
greatest powers and considerable sacrifices of the Bulgarian state
apparatus were given to the Bulgarization of the Macedonian Slavs.
Bulgarian agents were the priests and the teachers; the comitajis and

25
band-members became the secret government of the country and,
allegedly, its soul. In the beginning the propaganda was exceedingly
successful. Miljukov, who visited Macedonia towards the end of the
nineties, looked at it too much through Bulgarian glasses and - so to say -
proclaimed all the Macedonians to be full-blooded Bulgarians. But his
mistake can be considered as made with clear conscience. He found
Macedonia so profoundly and brilliantly Bulgarized that it is no wonder
that he took the clothes for the body - the culture for the nationality.
Those who have read The Land of Discord know my view about the
Macedonians. They are neither Serbs nor Bulgarians, but a primordial Slav
people with simple basic language which is to a great degree able to be
subject to any form offered by another, more influential and more
developed Slav culture. There are Macedonian Bulgarians where the
Bulgarian school and Church are firmly established, and Serbs where
literacy is in the hands of the Serbs. They could have been turned with the
same ease, under the influence of education, religion and commerce, into
Little Russians, Great Russians or Poles. Their language is melted metal
which can easily be molded into any kindred form. But - a related one. So,
it is national kinship which is the main reason for making Macedonia a
center of confrontation between the Slavs and for destroying the Greek
influence in it. Statistics about Macedonia are confusing, tendentious and
fantastic. In spite of that, even according to Greek sources, it is easy to
see the Hellenes represent a minority in the Macedonian vilayets. As a
result of this and aiming to create a majority, the Greeks had to resort to
sufficiently unscrupulous falsifications, counting all Slav Patriarchists as
Greeks. These are Slavs who have not acknowledged the Exarchate but
remained faithful to the Constatinople Patriarchate, although they speak
only Slavic. In this way the Greeks have come to understand one's
nationality in the same manner as the Turks - religion equals nationality.
A patriarchist - means a Greek... C. Stanoevski, Kako ja vidoa
Makedonija, pp.210-211.

1912

Bulgarian statesman Dimitar Rizov on his nationality ....In the golden

months of the successful beginning of the war against the Turks, he spoke
to me as a convinced Yugoslav (South Slav). He explained to me, I being
a Croat, the real situation of matters in Macedonia and said that it was
shame that the first free Slav state had not been founded in Macedonia,
which would equally attract to union the Bulgarians and the Serbs, and
would be a bond and not a cause of discord between the Serbs and the
Bulgarians...He told me that the Macedonians, to tell the objective truth,
were neither Bulgarians nor Serbs, but Macedonian Slavs who spoke in
their own individual Macedonian language or dialect. ..."Our people", he
said, "were only 'Macedonian Christians,' and then, when Greek
propaganda developed they become 'Macedonian Christian Slavs'. It was
all the same to us which Christian country would help us to free ourselves
from the Turks. I was born in Bitola. There were several grammar-schools

26
in Bitola: Turkish, Greek, Serbian and Bulgarian. It was all the same to us,
the Slavs, which Slav grammar-school we attended. For example,
alongside many of my friends who later became Bulgarians, I attended the
Serbian grammar-school. It is true that the teachers in the grammar-
school told we were Serbs, just as those in the Bulgarian grammar-school
were told that we were Bulgarians, but we kept our own counsel, and that
was what our parents told us at home: it does not matter, let them talk,
but we are Macedonian Christian Slavs..." Ivan Meshtrovic, famous
Croatian sculptor, Uspomene na politichke ljude i dogagjaje. Zagreb 1969,
pp. 25-26, 39.

March 1, 1913

Memorandum on the Independence of Macedonia submitted by the

Macedonian colony in St. Petersburg to the Conference of the
representatives of the Great Powers in London. ...it is more suitable for all
the neighbors of Macedonia that this country remain undivided, since by
any division, sections of our living compatriots will remain under foreign
authority and will perish. The Macedonians have won their right to self-
determination over their whole recent history, as well...The Serbs and the
Bulgarians deliberately say nothing about these huge Macedonian victories
and permit nobody to write about them...As a result of all this, the
Macedonian Colony in St.Petersburg, fulfilling its sacred duty towards its
fatherland and conscientiously applying the slogan "Macedonia to the
Macedonians", protests and cannot remain indifferent when the allied
Balkan states (Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece) - our brothers in blood and
faith - aim to dismember our fatherland....Here is what is needed for the
Macedonian people; 1. Macedonia should remain a single, indivisible and
independent Balkan state with it geographic, ethnographic, historical,
economic and political borders. 2. A Macedonian national assembly should
be established on the basis of general elections in Salonika in the soonest
possible time, which would work out in detail the internal structure of the
state and determine its relations with the neighboring states. Makedonskii
Golos, St. Petersburg 1913-1914

1913

Nace Dimov Chupovski: A Political Survey of Macedonia and the

Macedonians. In examining the Macedonian question from the political
point of view, I shall not deal with the old times....Condemned at first to
Roman rule, and then to Byzantine oppression, and finally to Turkish
slavery, the terrible name of Macedonian found shelter from generation to
generation in Macedonian hearts only...In the same towns and villages,
the priests that receive salary from the Bulgarian Exarchate call
themselves Bulgarians, those that receive salary from the Serbian
Metropolitan office call themselves Serbians...Besides, the Macedonians
were always allies and participants both in the liberation of the Greeks,
Serbs and Bulgarians....From all that has been previously mentioned, I

27
dare say that the Macedonians have a one hundred percent right to
autonomy and not to being subjected to dismembering among the Greeks,
the Serbs and Bulgarians. Disregarding this fact, the Serbian, Greek and
Bulgarian governments, aiming to extend their frontiers into Macedonians
territory, spare no means and exterminate the Macedonians who refuse to
call themselves Greeks, Serbs and Bulgarians...The Macedonian people
will not reconcile themselves either with those who aspire to deprive them
of their language, customs and the natural desire to be free masters of
their own house. Hence, only if the Serbs, Greeks and Bulgarians
renounce their aspirations will Macedonia live in a friendly way .... N.D.
Dimov, Istoricheskii ocherk Makedonii i makedonskih slavjan - Peterburg,
1913

June 7, 1913

To the Governments and the Public of the Allied Balkans States The
Macedonians have continually, over the centuries, risen up and fought for
independence and freedom, and by their persistent struggle aided the
liberation of Serbia, Greece and Bulgaria....More then on hundred
thousand Macedonian fighters have fought shoulder to shoulder with the
allied armies....Instead of Macedonia, celebrated by Alexander of
Macedon, consecrated by the Apostle St. Paul, dignified by the activity of
the holy brothers SS. Cyril and Methodius....instead of united, integral and
free Macedonia, European diplomacy, and alongside it, you, too, our
brothers - allies and liberators, are tearing us into pieces and defiling our
sacred ideals....Remember, brother Bulgarians, Serbs and Greeks, that
you were reborn to start a new life only after 14 bloody wars of Russia
against the Ottoman Empire...Remember that a dismembered Macedonia
will be an eternal apple of discord among you. Remember that also in the
past times of history one after another state perished in the struggle for
Macedonia and do not continue the bloody list of the dead in the present
time.... Macedonia should be an independent state within its ethnographic,
geographical, cultural and historical boundaries, with a government
accountable to a national assembly...a national representative body
should be established...in the city of Salonika, elected by general vote.
Brother allies and liberators! We hope that our words will reach your
hearts and minds.... St. Petersburg Signed by the authorized
representatives Makedonskii Golos, St. Petersburg, pp. 52-55

September 5, 1913

Dimitrija Chupovski: What did Bulgaria represent for Macedonia The

Bucharest Conference of the Balkan states completely destroyed Article 23
of the Berlin Congress which stipulated the introduction of reforms in
Macedonia as a self-governing province of Turkey. At the time this
stipulation gave wings to the hopes of the Macedonians for the possibility
of creating an autonomous Macedonia and proved to be a counter-balance
to the stipulations of the Treaty of San Stefano, which defaced Macedonia

28
by its inclusion within the boundaries of Greater Bulgaria. However,
regardless of the stipulations of the Berlin Congress, the Treaty of San
Stefano constantly instigated the Bulgarians to actions for creating a
Greater Bulgaria at the expanse of Macedonia and they continually spent
millions of rubles for agitation in Macedonia by opening their own, purely
Bulgarian, schools and churches. As a result of this, Bulgaria began
regarding itself as the only future liberator of Macedonia, comparing its
role in the cause of the liberation of Macedonia with the role of Russia in
the liberating Russo-Turksih War. We, however, cannot agree at all with
such a comparison....Russia was Bulgaria's liberator, and accordingly, to
compare its role with the role of Bulgaria in the present war is, at the very
least, absurd and ridiculous for our contemporaries, before whose eyes
this tragicomedy was being acted. The role of Bulgaria as regards to
Macedonia was from the very beginning criminal; it was first to
violate...the article of the Berlin Treaty which bound Turkey to introduce
reforms in Macedonia. Moreover, carrying out unbearable, extremely
chauvinist, propaganda among the Macedonians through its
Constantinople Patriarchate, Bulgaria was the first to cause rivalry and the
introduction of similar propaganda by the Greeks and the Serbs, thus
instilling discord among the Macedonians. During the whole 30 years of its
existence as a state, Bulgaria has carried out anti-Macedonian policy.
Flattering and attracting the Macedonians to its side. at the same time it
persecuted them with ferocity and hatred and strove to destroy in them
any idea of an autonomous Macedonia; while doing so, the Bulgarians did
not shrink from using any means. Thus, in 1888, the Bulgarian
Government destroyed the 'Macedonian Literary Society' under the
presidency of Georgi Pulevski....Two years later, in that same Sofia, the
Bulgarian Government closed the evening schools, specially opened for
the emigrant Macedonian craftsman, and the heads of those schools.
Macedonian patriots - Damjan Gruev, Delchev, Petre Pop Arsov and many
others - were expelled from Bulgaria. In addition, let us consider just
those persecution to which the so-called Internal Macedonian Organization
was exposed, working on the spiritual revival of Macedonia and its political
liberation. Its members were persecuted both by the Bulgarian
government and the Exarchate, the local instrument of those
governments. In order to paralyze the successes resulting from the
activity of the Internal Macedonian Organization, the Bulgarian
government formed with Macedonian emigrant a requisite counter-
Macedonian organization (made of the dregs(?) of society), known under
the name of the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee, the task of
which was to trumpet to the whole world that Macedonia is a purely
Bulgarian country. Who does not know the shameful role of this
Committee shown through its activity on the partition of Macedonia as a
whole and of the Macedonian intelligentsia in particular? Guided by the
Bulgarian government through its teachers and generals of the type of
Mihajlovski and Conchev, this Committee acted against the Macedonian
liberation movement and worked with all means on the annexation of

29
Macedonia to Bulgaria. Still more criminal was the role of Bulgaria in this
shameful 'liberation' war. Did not Bulgaria hold long negotiations
concerning the division of Macedonia with its present occupiers? Did it not,
according to the treaty of 29th February 1912 with the Serbs, give to
them the whole western section of Macedonia and thus violate its
integrity? Did not Bulgaria, which attracted Greece, too, to the Serbo-
Bulgarian alliance, start to divide Macedonia? Could it not know that the
Greeks might join the alliance only because they had in mind the
acquisition of the southern section of Macedonia? Is not Bulgaria to be
blamed for the partition of Macedonia, hiding the real aim of the war from
the representatives of the Macedonian people, which it had to reckon with.
On the contrary, starting the war, it declared to the Macedonians that it
was fighting against Turkey alongside the allies for their liberation.
Allowing the Macedonians to organize themselves into military units,
Bulgaria committed a hunderdfold crime, because it did not allow them to
fight against Turkey in their native land, but directed them to Thrace,
towards the shore of the Sea of Marmara, under the walls of Adrianople
and the trenches of Chataldzha, which weren't needed, except for a bunch
of Bulgarian glory-hunters; and the happened at the same time when the
allied Bulgarians, Serbs and Greeks were conquering Macedonia. How can
we explain this criminal act of the Bulgarians towards the Macedonians, if
not by the fear that those same Macedonians with arms in their hands
would defend their homeland equally from any encroachments upon its
independence? But in fact Bulgaria thus ruined not only Macedonia but
also all its future. Shedding now crocodile tears for the lost Macedonia, did
Bulgaria at the proper time make any attempt to preserve the indivisibility
of Macedonia, which it likes to call its younger sister? How can some
Bulgarian patriots claim that Bulgaria was in respect to Macedonia that
biblical mother which appeared before Solomon's court? Would not a
mother worthy of setting an example rather prefer to renounce her own
son in only he could thus remain intact? However, as we all know,
Bulgaria was the first to agree to the partition of Macedonia. Why has not
Bulgaria up to this moment acted like a real "native mother" with her
unselfishness, with motherly generosity towards Macedonia, with a project
for its autonomy? This is exactly the attitude of Bulgaria which could have
ensured the integrity and indivisibility of Macedonia, peace among the
Balkan peoples and would have preserved the dignity of the "native
mother" herself - Bulgaria. What hindered it, having included the item
about the autonomy of Macedonia in the treaty, from raising at the proper
time the question about the realization of that item? Nobody hinder it at
all, but it did not make any attempts itself to raise this question. It did not
make this attempt after the end of the first half of the war, when it
realized that its allies of yesterday, the Serbs and the Greeks, having
occupied Macedonia, would not like to leave it. And instead of submitting a
project for autonomy, it decided to go to war, in order to gain as great as
possible a section of Macedonia for itself. Even following the defeat, when
the question was posed not for Macedonia but for Bulgaria itself - I am

30
referring here to the Conference of Bucharest, where Bulgaria was
"generously" offered an eighth or tenth part of Macedonia - here, too, it
preferred to take that part, and did not follow the example of the biblical
mother, renouncing its share of the child. I repeat, the following of this,
there are some people again who compare the present position of Bulgaria
to the position of Russia in the liberating Russo-Turksih War, with a desire
in this way to represent it in the role of the same unselfish liberator as
Russia was with regard to Bulgaria itself, refusing to see that the main
reason for the misfortunes of Macedonia were precisely the Bulgaria
aspiration towards this long tortured land. Dimitrija Chupovski,
Makednoskii Golos, pp. 130-133

July 20, 1916

Rene Picard: The Autonomy of Macedonia The idea of Macedonia

autonomy is familiar to all those who are acquainted with Balkan history
and politics. If we asked the Christians of Macedonia they would answer
that autonomy was the most desirable solution for them. There is and, in
fact, there has always been a Macedonian spirit in Macedonia.
Geographically, Macedonia has its own unity. Its borders are the
following: to the south - Mt. Olympus, the mountains on the north bank of
the River Bistrica, Lake Prespa and Lake Ohrid; to the west - the Drim
from Debar; to the northwest and north - the Shar Mountains, the
highlands north of Skopje, the defile of Kumanovo, the mountains that
mark the Serbo-Bulgarian frontiers of before 1912; to the east - the
Rhodope Mountains. The borderline with Thrace on this side is not clear.
The regions of Drama and Kavalla can either be adjoined to Macedonia or
separated from it; the plain of Drama is populated mostly by Turks; the
town of Kavalla, like all the ports, has a strong Greek colony. To the
south, the Chalcidice Peninsula is geographically Macedonian, but
ethnographically Greek; the line of lakes separates it by a natural border
from the rest of Macedonia... Les archives du Ministere des affiars
etrangeres (Paris). Guerre 1914-1918, Balkans, Dossier generale, pp.158-
165.

Dimitar Blagoev on the nationality of the Macedonians (Bulgarian

Parliament session) December 10, 1917...D. Blagoev: Subordinate, but
independent in their internal affairs. Someone from the left: Don't forget
history. D.B.: What history? The one you falsify? (Laughter) We do not
recognize such history. We see how things are in reality. It is a fact,
gentleman national delegates, that there was a great struggle between
the Bulgarian and the Slav peoples in the Balkan peninsula. And that
process, described by Mr. Sakszov and supported by others, was not
aimed at the unification of the Bulgarian people but at domination over
the Slav peoples in the Balkan Peninsula who moved en masse to
Byzantium and Asia Minor, and on the other hand, went to the south,
towards Macedonia

31
1918

Rudolph Archibald Reiss on the Macedonians I said I would rather call your
Bulgarophones Macedonians. You call these people Bulgarophones, owing
to their language which is similar to Bulgarian. But, is it Bulgarian, is the
same language spoken in Sofia? No. Macedonian is just as similar to
Serbian as it is to Bulgarian. I am not a linguist and I would not allow
myself a personal judgment, but disinterested Balaknologist have asserted
to me that Macedonian is more similar to Serbian the Bulgarian. It is
possible that there are linguists who assert the opposite. But it is a fact
that the Macedonia language is spoken neither in Sofia nor in Belgrade. It
is an individual Slav language, just as we have the Romansch in
Switzerland, spoken in Grisons, apart from Italian. To my mind, the
Macedonian can be called neither Bulgarian nor Serb, but simply
Macedonian. R.A. Reiss, Sur la situation des Macedonianes et des
musulmans dans les nouvelles provinces grecques. Paris, 1918, pp.6-7.

January 4, 1919

Sister Augustine Bewicke on the Macedonian autonomy St. Paul's Hospital,

Salonika Dear Sir, Please excuse the liberty I take in writing you, it is
because the final settlement in the Balkans is of vital interest to the
Catholics in these countries. - I have been 33 years in this Mission, the
Uniate Catholic Mission, which at the beginning of the Second Balkan War
counted about 10,000 Catholics. The Treaty of Bucharest, which divided
Macedonia without any regard to justice, was the cause of these poor
people being dispersed on account of their Slav language, which was
forbidden in Churches and schools. - The Bishop had his residence in
Salonika, he has now been in exile more then 3 years, his priests are
dispersed, his flock is indeed without pastors, nor do we have any hope of
his return to any place under Greek or Serbian rule. - The Greeks will not
admit the Slav language in Churches or schools; the inhabitants of
Macedonia are in the great majority Slavs; they call themselves
Macedonians, and what they desire and what we ardently desire for them
is an autonomy under European control. - I whatever way Macedonia
might be divided, the people would be always discontented, and would
fight again as soon as possible. The only hope I can foresee is in strong
autonomy, which neither Greeks nor Bulgars nor Serbs would dare attack;
then the Macedonians, who are really intelligent and docile when they are
well treated. would peacefully develop this beautiful fertile country...
Surely Europe will not leave Macedonia under people whom the
Macedonians hate, and whom they will continually fight... Public Record
Office (London) - FO 608/44. Peace Conference (British delegation), 1919.

April 10, 1919

Protest from the Provisional representative of the IMRO to the Paris Peace
Conference To His Excellency, Monsieur Clemanceau, President of the

32
Council: It is duty of my honor, as a delegate of the Macedonian
Committees to the High Peace Conference, to protest against the
maneuvers of certain suspicious persons who claim to speak in the name
of Macedonia and represent some so-called "Executive Committee of the
Macedonian Societies". Let me be allowed to indicate that the Macedonian
emigrants to Bulgaria have over the past 30 years created quite a small
class of Macedonians Bulgarized to such a point that they sacrifice
completely the interests of their native land to those of Bulgaria. People
who have two homelands are generally suspicious; what to say, on the
other hand, about those who do not hesitate to propose as delegates to
the Conference two persons such as Aleksandrov and Protogerov,
adherents to the Kaiser and Ferdinand, and organizers of the massacres in
Nish? Indeed, there is noone else who could more compromise the cause
of "Autonomous Macedonia" before the Aeropagus of the victors! Hence I
have the honor to point out that the only Macedonian Societies free from
any Bulgarian political influence, or any other, and representing loyally the
whole of Macedonia, without distinction of language or religion, are the
Macedonian Committees, which starting from the 1893 constituted the
IMRO... It is in their name, and by no means in the name of Bulgaria or
the Bulgarians, that I have already had the honor to request and now I
am requesting again from Your Excellency to grant me an audience so
that I may present to You the desires of the Macedonian people...
Archimandrite Paul Christoff, General Vicar of Thrace, delegate of the
Macedonian Committees. A. Lainovich, Jugoslavika u biblioteci za
savremenu - medzhunarodnu dokumentaciju u Parizu - Godishen zbornik
na FF, 24-25 (1972-73) pp. 88-89

July 1919

Bulgarian Nikola Pushkarov on "The Economic Wealth of Macedonia and its

Neighbors" All the neighbors of Macedonia wish her well. Each of them
tries through all means to convince the Macedonians of its significance as
a savior. When the population of Macedonia doubts the sincerity of the
unwanted liberators, they even prove to it the opposite by the sword. And
each of the neighbors denies the other the right to be a liberator. The
neighbors waged wars in this dispute, they had been fighting among
themselves for years to the right of Macedonia's liberators. They
exhausted the three neighboring peoples and almost exterminated the
Macedonian people. The wars ended, because the peoples realized that
the liberation of Macedonia had turned into enormous increase of the
capital of the false patriots at the expanse of the peoples ' blood and
sweat. Today the exhausted peoples, exasperated by the terrible patriotic
deeds of the false patriots, demand payment for the lies, for the terrible
lies which threw them into terrible rows. But the false patriots of the
neighbors do not despair; they have created special agencies of
mercenaries responsible for proving by excusable and inexcusable means
how the Macedonians most closely belong to the "homeland" of their
patrons. They have called the population of this unfortunate land either

33
"Bulgarophone Greeks", or "Macedonians Slavo-Serbs,: or "brothers
beyond Mount Rila."... ...It is the wealth of Macedonia which makes the
false patriots of her neighbors mad with "patriotism". Makes them burn
with desire to cut off as large as possible a portion of Macedonia for
themselves to "liberate" it, i.e. to deprive the Macedonians of the chance
of governing themselves. But you must keep your land, Macedonians,
from the false good wishes of those individuals. They will bring you a new
slavery, harsher then the former. Your land is entirely capable of an
independent existence. ...Unite around the banner of the autonomy of
your homeland, because it is the only banner which you will not be
persecuted for not being a Greek, Serb or Bulgarian, but simply
Macedonian. Bjoletin br. 8 (19.VII.1919) pp.7-8

November 18, 1919

Telegram from the General Council of the Macedonian Societies in

Switzerland to the Peace Conference in Paris ..Assembled at its plenary
session and working in the name of the whole of the Macedonian people,
without serving any foreign policy, energetically protest against the clause
allowing the Macedonians the right to opt for Bulgarian nationality. We do
not want to be made instruments of Bulgarian irredentism in Macedonia.
Macedonia has never been a part of the present Bulgarian Kingdom. The
Bulgarian diplomats, who bear part of the responsibilities for the
misfortunes of the Macedonian population, are by no means qualified to
intercede in favor of our cause and have no right to do it... Secretary: Bl.
Bojadziev; Vice-Persident: G. Nikolov Lj. Lape, Aktivnosta na Glavniot
odbor, p. 190

1991

The Constitution of the independent Republic of Macedonia

Taking as the points of departure the historical, cultural, spiritual and

statehood heritage of the Macedonian people and their struggle over
centuries for national and social freedom as well as the creation of their
own state, and particularly the traditions of statehood and legality of the
Krushevo Republic and the historic decisions of the Anti-Fascist Assembly
of the People's Liberation of Macedonia, together with the constitutional
and legal continuity of the Macedonian state as a sovereign republic within
Federal Yugoslavia and freely manifested will of the citizens of the
Republic of Macedonia in the referendum of September 8th, 1991, as well
as the historical fact that Macedonia is established as a national state of
the Macedonian people, in which full equality as citizens and permanent
co-existence with the Macedonian people is provided for Albanians, Turks,
Vlachs, Romanics and other nationalities living in the Republic of
Macedonia, and intent on:
 

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the establishment of the Republic of Macedonia as a sovereign and
independent state, as well as a civil and democratic one; the
establishment and consolidation of the rule of law as a fundamental
system of government; the guaranteeing of human rights, citizens'
freedoms and ethnic equality; the provision of peace and a common home
for the Macedonian people with the nationalities living in the Republic of
Macedonia; and on the provision of social justice, economic wellbeing and
prosperity in the life of the individual and the community.

1995

The 80-page human rights violation report on Greece entitled "Denying

Ethnic Identity - Macedonians of Greece" was published in May 1994. 
After visiting Aegean Macedonia, the part of Macedonia that Greece took
in 1913 after the partition of the country, the Human Rights
Watch/Helsinki concluded:

"Although ethnic Macedonians in northern Greece make up large

minority with their own language and culture, their internationally
recognized human rights and even their existence are vigorously
denied by the Greek government. Free expression is restricted;
several Macedonians have been persecuted and convicted for their
peaceful expression of their views. Moreover, ethnic Macedonians
are discriminated against by the government's failure to permit
the teaching of the Macedonian language. And ethnic
Macedonians, particularly rights activists, are harassed by the
government - followed and threatened by the security forces - and
subjected to economic and social pressure resulting from this
harassment. All of these actions have led to a marked climate of
fear in which a large number of ethnic Macedonians are reluctant
to assert their Macedonian identity or to express their views
openly. Ultimately, the government is pursuing every avenue to
deny the Macedonians of Greece their ethnic identity."
 
2001
 
The remarkable results of the recent genetic scientific research
(NATIONAL CENTER FOR BIOTECHNOLOGY INFORMATION, Universidad
Complutense, Madrid, Spain) on the Macedonians and Greeks scientifically
confirmed that TODAY'S MACEDONIAN NATION IS DIRECT
DESCENDENT OF THE ANCIENT MACEDONIANS, NOT RELATED
NEITHER TO THE BULGARIANS, NOR TO THE GREEKS. The genetic
study showed that the ancient Macedonian Genes found in today's
Macedonians belong to the "older" Mediterranean substratum along with
the remains of the ancient nations of Phrygia (Anatolia), Carthage (North
Africa), Rome (Italy), Phoenicia (Lebanon). The Greeks on the other hand,
do not belong to this group, but rather have a substantial relatedness to

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sub-Saharan (Ethiopian) people, which separate them from other
Mediterranean groups.
 
HLA alleles have been determined in individuals from the Republic of
Macedonia by DNA typing and sequencing. HLA-A, -B, -DR, -DQ allele
frequencies and extended haplotypes have been for the first time
determined and the results compared to those of other Mediterraneans,
particularly with their neighbouring Greeks. Genetic distances, neighbor-
joining dendrograms and correspondence analysis have been performed.
The following conclusions have been reached:

1) Macedonians belong to the "older" Mediterranean substratum, like

Iberians (including Basques), North Africans, Italians, French, Cretans,
Jews, Lebanese, Turks (Anatolians), Armenians and Iranians,

2) Macedonians are not related with geographically close Greeks, who do

not belong to the "older" Mediterranenan substratum,

3) Greeks are found to have a substantial relatedness to sub-Saharan

(Ethiopian) people, which separate them from other Mediterranean
groups. Both Greeks and Ethiopians share quasi-specific DRB1 alleles,
such as *0305, *0307, *0411, *0413, *0416, *0417, *0420, *1110,
*1112, *1304 and *1310. Genetic distances are closer between Greeks
and Ethiopian/sub-Saharan groups than to any other Mediterranean group
and finally Greeks cluster with Ethiopians/sub-Saharans in both neighbour
joining dendrograms and correspondence analyses. The time period when
these relationships might have occurred was ancient but uncertain and
might be related to the displacement of Egyptian-Ethiopian people living in
pharaonic Egypt.

NCBI SOURCE: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?

cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11260506&dopt=Abstract

NCBI Website: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/

Other NCBI genetical reserches on the Cretans, Palestinians, Morocans,

Algerians, Spanish, Basques, Italians, Mexican Mazatecans, Thais,
Lebanese, and other peoples.

           

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