site.btaBessarabian Bulgarians Can Be Proud of Slavonic-Bulgarian History Copy Made in Bessarabia, Moldovan Scholar Says

Bessarabian Bulgarians can be proud that one copy of Slavonic-Bulgarian History was made in Bessarabia, Dr Ivan Duminica of Moldova said here on Friday.

He spoke on the second day of an international forum on the Cyrillic alphabet titled "Alphabet. Language. Identity." The event opened in Sofia on Thursday, and its second session is held at the Plovdiv Regional History Museum on Friday.

Dr Duminica presented a paper on "The Role of the Clergy for the Preservation of Bulgarian Identity in Bessarabia in the 19th Century." The historian highlights the significance of clergymen who were instrumental in keeping Bulgarians' identity in Bessarabia. The paper focused on a copy of Slavonic-Bulgarian History made by Vasil Manoilov in 1841.

The first Bulgarians settled in Bessarabia (a historic region which is now divided between Ukraine and Moldova) in the late 18th and early 19th century. The main Bulgarian settlement, Bolhrad, was established in 1821, and its first church was built 17 years later.

Slavonic-Bulgarian History, written by Paisii of Hilandar in 1762, awakened Bulgarians to their identity as a nation and marked the outset of the National Revival in the 19th century.

"The clergy were a vehicle for the dissemination of Bulgarian National Revival ideas," the speaker said, describing Bulgarian priests in Bessarabia as "enlighteners" because they published books and newspapers.

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Paisii's History was copied in nearly 60 settlements, mainly in North Central Bulgaria and Northern Thrace, but also in the Southwest and the Northwest, and as far away as in Bessarabia, Moldova and Russia. The process went on for almost 120 years, from 1765 to 1882, and did not stop even after the work appeared in print in 1844. Copies were made from that edition and from other handwritten copies, and some copyists made several each, while multiple copies were produced in the same village or town. There is information about over 70 copied versions, of which 50 have survived to date. The largest number, 26, is owned by the Sts Cyril and Methodius National Library in Sofia, and the rest are in museums, libraries of academies of sciences, monasteries and patriarchates, and private collections in Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Serbia, Russia, and the US.