Post by Novi Pazar on Nov 9, 2009 18:59:41 GMT -5
"with the creation of the Exarchate," says Carl Ritter von Sax, "the Bulgarian name once more acquired official significance."
The edict establishing the Exarchate opened up considerable opportunities for spreading Bulgarian influence in all the Serbian lands under Turkish rule. The opportunities were amply exploited. Under the pretext of introducing Church services read in Slav and liberating the people from the authority of the Greek bishops, there began a bitter struggle for the Bulgarization of areas that had never been Bulgarian.
Gilber in der Maur:
"Those who declared themselves for the Exarchate were Bulgars, those who acknowledged the Patriarchate were Serbs. It was scarely possible at that time to trace any linguistic borderline."
Bulgarian agents, many of whom were from Macedonia and had been converted to the Bulgarian cause, inundated the whole of Macedonia and, under the aegis of the Exarchate, engaged in the work of bringing the people over to their side.
Article 10 of the firman required that at least 2/3 of the total Orthodox population in any area should decided in favor of the Exarchate, that it be included in the area of the Exarchate and that it be given the right to ask for Exarchate bishops and priests. Taken all in all, this edict subordinated to the Exarchate the dioceses of Pirot, Nish, Chustendil and Samokov, all of which had previously come under the Patriarchate of Pech. The omission of all reference to Skopje, Veles and Shtip in the edict is conspicuous.
Richard von Mach:
"In Macedonia and Eastern Thrace, in those areas that are today under direct Turkish administration, not one diocese was originally subordinated to the Bulgarian Exarchate."
In their efforts to obtain this 2/3rd's majority, Bulgarian propagandists did not scruple in their choice of methods.
Theodor von Sosnosky:
"What these methods were the Greeks, Serbs and Turks of this unhappy land felt on their own backs. By plunder and arson, rape and murder, armed bands tried to make them come over to the Bulgarian side. The obvious consequence of this terrorism was that other nations retailiated according to their strength. In this manner, one band raged against another."
Hugo Grothe:
"Their terrorism, brought them more enemies than friends. If power were to come into their hands today, there would be a danger that everything non-Bulgarian would be persecuted ten times bitterly as it was when Bulgaria was in Turkish hands."
"If, during the church plebiscite of 1872, 2/3rd's of the Christian Slavs voted for the Exarchate, this was by no means a confession of their Bulgarian descent."
The edict establishing the Exarchate opened up considerable opportunities for spreading Bulgarian influence in all the Serbian lands under Turkish rule. The opportunities were amply exploited. Under the pretext of introducing Church services read in Slav and liberating the people from the authority of the Greek bishops, there began a bitter struggle for the Bulgarization of areas that had never been Bulgarian.
Gilber in der Maur:
"Those who declared themselves for the Exarchate were Bulgars, those who acknowledged the Patriarchate were Serbs. It was scarely possible at that time to trace any linguistic borderline."
Bulgarian agents, many of whom were from Macedonia and had been converted to the Bulgarian cause, inundated the whole of Macedonia and, under the aegis of the Exarchate, engaged in the work of bringing the people over to their side.
Article 10 of the firman required that at least 2/3 of the total Orthodox population in any area should decided in favor of the Exarchate, that it be included in the area of the Exarchate and that it be given the right to ask for Exarchate bishops and priests. Taken all in all, this edict subordinated to the Exarchate the dioceses of Pirot, Nish, Chustendil and Samokov, all of which had previously come under the Patriarchate of Pech. The omission of all reference to Skopje, Veles and Shtip in the edict is conspicuous.
Richard von Mach:
"In Macedonia and Eastern Thrace, in those areas that are today under direct Turkish administration, not one diocese was originally subordinated to the Bulgarian Exarchate."
In their efforts to obtain this 2/3rd's majority, Bulgarian propagandists did not scruple in their choice of methods.
Theodor von Sosnosky:
"What these methods were the Greeks, Serbs and Turks of this unhappy land felt on their own backs. By plunder and arson, rape and murder, armed bands tried to make them come over to the Bulgarian side. The obvious consequence of this terrorism was that other nations retailiated according to their strength. In this manner, one band raged against another."
Hugo Grothe:
"Their terrorism, brought them more enemies than friends. If power were to come into their hands today, there would be a danger that everything non-Bulgarian would be persecuted ten times bitterly as it was when Bulgaria was in Turkish hands."
"If, during the church plebiscite of 1872, 2/3rd's of the Christian Slavs voted for the Exarchate, this was by no means a confession of their Bulgarian descent."