Kiril Peychinovich (or
Kiril Pejčinović; ; ) (c. 1770, Tearce, Ottoman Empire -17 March 1865, Leshok, Ottoman Empire) was a
BulgarianThe Bulgarians are a South Slavic people, generally associated with the Republic of Bulgaria and the Bulgarian language. Emigration has resulted in Bulgarian minorities or immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-Ethnogenesis:...
cleric, writer and enlightener, one of the first supporters of literature in modern Bulgarian (as opposed to Church Slavonic) and one of the early figures of the
Bulgarian National RevivalThe Bulgarian National Revival , sometimes called the Bulgarian Renaissance, was a period of socio-economic development and national integration among Bulgarian people under Ottoman rule...
.
Peychinovich is considered
MacedonianThe Macedonians also referred to as Macedonian Slavs are a South Slavic people who are primarily associated with the Republic of Macedonia. They speak the Macedonian language, a South Slavic language...
in the
Republic of MacedoniaMacedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country in the central Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
.
Peychinovich was born in the large
PologPolog also known as the Polog Valley , is located in the north-western part of the Republic of Macedonia. It is divided into Upper and Lower Polog. Tetovo and Gostivar are the largest populated towns in this valley....
village of
TearceTearce is a village located 12 km to the north of Tetovo, Republic of Macedonia. It is a seat of the Tearce municipality.Tearce has an Albanian majority. The remaining population is Macedonian, Turkish, and Roma. The village was affected by the conflict of 2001, which strained relations between...
(Теарце) in what is now the Republic of Macedonia (then part of the
Ottoman EmpireThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
).
Kiril Peychinovich (or
Kiril Pejčinović; ; ) (c. 1770, Tearce, Ottoman Empire -17 March 1865, Leshok, Ottoman Empire) was a
BulgarianThe Bulgarians are a South Slavic people, generally associated with the Republic of Bulgaria and the Bulgarian language. Emigration has resulted in Bulgarian minorities or immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-Ethnogenesis:...
cleric, writer and enlightener, one of the first supporters of literature in modern Bulgarian (as opposed to Church Slavonic) and one of the early figures of the
Bulgarian National RevivalThe Bulgarian National Revival , sometimes called the Bulgarian Renaissance, was a period of socio-economic development and national integration among Bulgarian people under Ottoman rule...
.
Peychinovich is considered
MacedonianThe Macedonians also referred to as Macedonian Slavs are a South Slavic people who are primarily associated with the Republic of Macedonia. They speak the Macedonian language, a South Slavic language...
in the
Republic of MacedoniaMacedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country in the central Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
.
Early life and Mount Athos
Peychinovich was born in the large
PologPolog also known as the Polog Valley , is located in the north-western part of the Republic of Macedonia. It is divided into Upper and Lower Polog. Tetovo and Gostivar are the largest populated towns in this valley....
village of
TearceTearce is a village located 12 km to the north of Tetovo, Republic of Macedonia. It is a seat of the Tearce municipality.Tearce has an Albanian majority. The remaining population is Macedonian, Turkish, and Roma. The village was affected by the conflict of 2001, which strained relations between...
(Теарце) in what is now the Republic of Macedonia (then part of the
Ottoman EmpireThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
). His secular name is unknown. According to his tombstone, he received his primary education in the village of Lešok (Лешок). He later possibly studied at the Debar Monastery of
Saint John-Scriptural saints:*John the Apostle, one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus*John the Baptist, preacher, ascetic and baptizer of Jesus Christ*John the Evangelist, author of the Gospel of John; in some traditions, including Roman Catholicism, the same person as John the Apostle*John of Patmos, author...
. Kiril's father, Peychin, sold out his property in Tearce and moved to the monastery of
HilandarHilandar is a Serbian Orthodox monastery on Mount Athos in Greece. It was founded in 1198 by the Serbian Saint Sava and his father, Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja of Raška...
in
Mount AthosMount Athos is a mountain on the peninsula of the same name in Macedonia, of northern Greece, called in Greek Agion Oros , or in English, "Holy Mountain". In Classical times, the peninsula was called Aktí...
, which then was predominantly Bulgarian monks populated. He with his brother and son, where the three became monks, with Peychin accepting Pimen, his brother — Dalmant, and his son — Kiril as a name in religion. Kiril then returned to
TetovoTetovo is a city in the northwestern part of Macedonia, built on the foothills of Šar Mountain and divided by the Pena River.The city covers an area of at above sea level, with a population of 86,580 citizens in the municipality.. It is home to the State University of Tetovo and South East...
and from there set out for the Kičevo Monastery of the Holy Immaculate
TheotokosTheotokos is the Greek title of Mary, the mother of Jesus used especially in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches. Its literal English translations include God-bearer and the one who gives birth to God. Less literal translations include Mother of God...
, where he became a
hieromonkHieromonk Hieromonk Hieromonk (Greek: Ἱερομόναχος, Ieromonachos; Slavonic: Ieromonakh, , also called a Priestmonk, is a monk who is also a *priest in Eastern Orthodox Christianity....
.
Hegumen of Marko's Monastery
Since 1801 Peychinovich was the
hegumenHegumen, hegumenos, or ihumen is the title for the head of a monastery of the Eastern Orthodox Church or Eastern Catholic Churches, similar to the one of abbot...
of Marko's Monastery of Saint Demetrius near
SkopjeSkopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia, with more than a quarter of the population of the country, as well as its political, cultural, economic, and academic centre. It was known in the Roman period under the name Scupi. The city developed rapidly after World War II,...
. Located in the region of Torbešija (Торбешия or Торбешија) along the valley of the Markova reka (Marko's River) among Pomak,
TurkishThe Turkish people , also known as the "Turks" are defined mainly as citizens of the Republic of Turkey. An early historic text provided the definition of being a Turk as "any individual within the Republic of Turkey; whatever his/her faith or racial/ethnic background; who speaks Turkish, grows up...
and
AlbanianAlbanians are a people from southeast Europe who live in Albania and neighboring countries. They speak the Albanian language. About half of them live in Albania, with other large groups residing in Kosovo, the Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, and Montenegro...
villages, before Peychinovich's arrival the monastery was in a miserable condition, as almost all buildings, except for the primary church, were destroyed. Through the course of 17 years, until 1898, father Kiril made serious efforts to revive the monastery, paying particular attention to the reconstruction and expansion of the monastical library.
In Marko's Monastery Kiril Peychinovich compiled one of his best known works,
Kniga Siya Zovomaya Ogledalo, printed in 1816 in
BudapestBudapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it serves as the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation center and is considered an important hub in Central Europe. In 2009, Budapest had 1,712,210 inhabitants, down from a mid-1980s...
.
Hegumen of the Lešok Monastery
It is not known why father Kiril left Marko's Monastery, but according to the legend, a conflict between him and the
GreekThe Greeks , also known as Hellenes, are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighbouring regions, who can also be found in diaspora communities around the world....
metropolitan of Skopje was the reason for his departure. In 1818 Peychinovich once again travelled to Mount Athos to see his father and uncle, and then became hegumen of the Monastery of Saint Athanasius (destroyed in 1710 by Janissaries) near the Polog village of Lešok in the proximity of his native Tearce. With the aid of the local Bulgarians Kiril restored the Lešok Monastery, abandoned for 100 years, and turned it into a centre of the Bulgarian national spirit. Kiril devoted himself considerable preacher's, literary and educational work. He opened a school and tried to establish a
printing pressA printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a medium , thereby transferring an image. The mechanical systems involved were first assembled in Germany by the goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg around 1440, based on existing screw-presses used to press...
, convinced of the printed book's importance. Father Kiril later helped
Teodosiy SinaitskiTheodosius of Sinai was a Bulgarian priest, writer and printer. He founded the first Bulgarian printing-house in Thesaloniki. Theodosius of Sinai is considered a Macedonian in the Republic of Macedonia....
(Теодосий Синаитски) restore his printing press in
ThessalonikiThessaloniki , Thessalonica, or Salonica is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the Greek region of Macedonia. It is honorarily called the Συμπρωτεύουσα Symprotevousa of Greece, as it was once called the συμβασιλεύουσα symvasilevousa of the Byzantine Empire...
that was burnt down in 1839. In 1840 Theodosius issued Peychinovich's second book,
Kniga Glagolemaya Uteshenie Greshnim. Father Kiril Peychinovich died on 12 March 1845 in the Lešok Monastery and was buried in the church yard. In 1934 the village of Burumli in Ruse Province was renamed Peychinovo in honour of father Kiril.
Works
Kiril Peychinovich is the author of three books, two printed and one manuscript (
Zhitie i Sluzhba na Tsar Lazar), all three devoted to religion.
Ogledalo
Ogledalo
("A mirror"
) is a religious collection of prayers and instructions, many of which written by father Kiril himself in modern Bulgarian. According to the book's title page, it was written in the 'most common and illiterary Bulgarian language of Lower Moesia' ('препростейшим и некнижним язиком Болгарским долния Мисии'). It was printed in 1816 in Budapest.
Utesheniе Greshnim
Peychinovich's second book, Utesheniе Greshnim
("Solace of the sinner"
), much like his first one is a ChristianChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
collection of instructions — including advice on how weddings should be organized and how those who had sinned should be consoled, as well as a number of instructive tales.
Utesheniе Greshnim was ready to be printed in 1831, as specified by father Kiril in a note in the original manuscript. It was send to BelgradeBelgrade Belgrade Belgrade (Serbian Cyrillic: Београд, Serbian Latin: Beograd (meaning "White City" in Serbian) is the capital and largest city of Serbia. The city lies on two international waterways, at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where Central Europe's Pannonian Plain meets...
to be printed, but this did not happen for an unknown reason, and it had to be printed in Thessaloniki nine years later, in 1840, by Theodosius of Sinaia. During the printing Theodosius substituted Peychinovich's original introduction with his own one, but still preserved the text that referred to the language of the work as the 'common Bulgarian language of Lower Moesia, of Skopje and TetovoTetovo is a city in the northwestern part of Macedonia, built on the foothills of Šar Mountain and divided by the Pena River.The city covers an area of at above sea level, with a population of 86,580 citizens in the municipality.. It is home to the State University of Tetovo and South East...
' ('простий язик болгарски долния Мисии Скопсский и Тетовский').
Poems
In 1835 Peychinovich composed an epitaphAn epitaph is a short text honoring a deceased person, strictly speaking that inscribed on their tombstone or plaque, but also used figuratively. Some are specified by the dead person beforehand, others chosen by those responsible for the burial...
for himself in verse. His Stihove na Glas Trapezachki constitute one of the first poetical attempts in modern Bulgarian.
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Теарце му негово рождение
Пречиста и Хилендар пострижение
Лешок му е негоо воспитание
Под плочава негоо почивание
От негово свое отшествие
До Христово второ пришествие
Молит вас бракя негои любимия
Хотящия прочитати сия
Да речете Бог да би го простил
Зере у гроб цръвите ги гостил
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Овде лежи Кирилово тело
У манастир и у Лешок село
Да Бог за доброе дело.
External links