Macedonia is constantly being plundered. Unfortunately, this has not been news for a long time, because it doesn't just happen today or yesterday, but for centuries.
According to Dr. Ilija Velev from the Institute of Literature in Skopje, who has been researching the Macedonian literary heritage for many years, a large number of our valuable manuscripts are in the most representative collections of the most prestigious European museums, libraries and other cultural institutions.
Unfortunately, no initiative has yet been taken for a possible return to Macedonia, as Serbia did, which has managed to bring back part of its literary cultural heritage. Thanks to the personal efforts of several Macedonian researchers, some of our old manuscripts have been registered with the countries and institutions in which they are archived or stored. Some of them already exist as copies in Macedonia.
For Dr. Velev, who has published more than 200 books, studies, and articles in the field of Macedonian literary history to date, however, most importantly, to set aside a continuous fund for research projects that will ensure the completion of at least photocopies or electronic publications of all Macedonian ancient manuscripts found throughout Europe more dispersed are to allow. At the same time, of course, we would continue the professional editing of all old manuscripts or collections of Macedonian manuscripts, which is of great importance for the Macedonian literary history.
On the other hand, records are completed about how, when and in what way Macedonian documents were stolen from monasteries and archives or libraries, which were sold and resold as valuable manuscripts and which are now kept in many European museums, libraries and other top cultural institutions abroad.
A handwritten Pentecostal from 1493 is kept in the Museum of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Belgrade. This manuscript, as published by Dr. Gjorgji Pop Atanasov, one of the leading Macedonian authorities in the field of manuscript and literary heritage, has been claimed to have been brought to Serbia directly from the Monastery of St. Pantelejmon in Nerezi, Skopje. It is from this monastery that the feast Meneon originates, which is now in the National Library of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Sofia, Bulgaria.
According to what has been discovered and recorded so far, many of our books are also in the St. Petersburg City Library in Russia, then in the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences and in the State Museum of History in Moscow, in the Kiev and Public Libraries Odessa (Ukraine), then in the Sofia National Library in the Library of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and Arts, the Plovdiv National Library and the Sofia Church Museum.
Our extremely valuable manuscript books are also kept in the National Library in Paris, in the Vatican Library, in the Vienna State Library, in the National Museum in Prague, in the Bucharest National Library, in the Romanian Patriarchate, in the Jagiellonian University Library and at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow ( Poland). As well as in the National Library in Athens and the British Museum in London and a dozen other institutions in the Balkans and in Europe.
These precious treasures are the pride of those who own it today, but of course Macedonia's obligation to reclaim what the country is entitled to its inheritance.
During their stay in our monasteries in the 19th and 20th centuries, many scholars in this field took with them many old books, but also many valuable icons from Macedonia, often without anything in return. Antun Mihanović, the Austrian consul in Salonica, traveled through Macedonia very often and collected an extremely valuable collection of manuscripts from our monasteries. The thirty-eight of our manuscript books that Mihanović had collected through diplomacy and other means are now in the representative collection of such rare books at the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Zagreb.
Almost at the same time as the Austrian consul Mihanović, the Russian scholar Victor Grigorovich traveled through Macedonia and also collected old manuscript books all over the country. These copies are now in the Moscow State Library, then in the Maxim Gorky Public Library in Odessa, in the Library of the Kazan University, as well as in the Kazan Spiritual Academy.
"Scientists" - Dealers
The ongoing plundering never really stopped. Our richest Macedonian monasteries have been systematically plundered for centuries, from adventurers to special occupiers and "looters" to so-called explorers, but also by local traders and priests and even monks who sold precious books for cheap money. Until the end of the 18th century, many Macedonian manuscripts were brought to various Belgrade institutions through such channels.
For example, ten extremely valuable manuscript books were brought to Serbia from the monastery in the village of Banjani near Skopje. These manuscripts are now kept in the National Library, the Serbian Academy of Sciences, the Serbian Church Museum and others. For example, the 45-page manuscript "Oktoih" from the 15th century comes from this monastery and was brought to Belgrade during the turmoil of the tragic year 1904 (after the Ilinden uprising a year earlier).
From the regions of Bitola, Prilep and Demir Hisar, in which many foreign "researchers" and collectors "operated", such as the Bulgarian Jordan Iwanov, the rector of the Serbian high school in Bitola Svetozar Tomić, the Serbian patrirach in Bitola Josif Cvijović and others a huge handwritten collection of books was plundered. Such activities were later carried out even by some officers of the Serbian army during World War I.
There is also a document that an "allied" French officer took a handwritten Gospel from the 16th century from a destroyed church in the village of Zagoričani, Prilep, and later given it to the National Library in Paris, where it is now kept.
Another manuscript was stolen by another officer, a Russian. The manuscript comes from the monastery in Gradište in Prilep, where the monk Spiridon wrote an extensive and very valuable menaeon in 1600. This precious book is now kept in the Moscow State Library, the Sevastyanov Collection.
The plundering of the Macedonian monasteries continued in the 19th century. In 1873 the so-called Orbelian Trio, a parchment manuscript from the 13th century, was looted from the monastery in the village of Orbele, Debar.
Pope Avram and his business with the Serb Verković
An extremely important manuscript was sold in 1891 by the resourceful Stjepan Verković to the St. Petersburg City Library, where the manuscript is located today. No data exist on how much money he received for this trade! The main "field agent" who supported him in his work was a certain Pavle from the village of Banište, but Pope Avram from Orbeli also presented Verković with many manuscripts for little money. Priest? Yes, the priests also traded the Macedonian cultural treasures. And how!
Several parchment manuscripts from the Debar region also went to the National Library in Sofia. Vasil Ikonomov was among other things a "contributor" to the "trade relationship" with Sofia. He “delivered” the precious gospel from the 13th century. According to research by Dr. Gjorgji Pop-Atanasov, the corporate Ikonomov sent a copy of this book to the Ministry of Education in Sofia in 1892.
A handwritten parchment octagon from the 14th century from the Debar region that was donated to the Sofia City Library in 1887 by Petar Sarafov, the father of the Macedonian revolutionary Boris Sarafov. This valuable parchment received the famous "antique dealer" Verković, who was a very active "discoverer" in Macedonian territory.
So in 1853 he took the time to visit the monastery in Zrze, among other places, but found only one valuable book there. Before him, the "work" was probably completed by the Bitola professor Lazar Duma, who collected all the valuable manuscripts from Treskavec, Slepče and Zrze for the Belgrade Serbian Scientific Society!
In the meantime, according to Dr. Ilija Velev on the other side of Macedonia in the Karpino Monastery some other "traders" were active with old manuscripts, books, icons and the like. In the State Museum of History in Moscow, Fludov's collection contains a parchment manuscript from the Karpin Monastery, known as the Karpinsky Gospel and Karpinsky Apostle. The "transport" of this precious specimen was carried out by Alexander Fjodorowitsch Hilferding, who stayed in the monastery in 1868.
The parchment manuscript "Fasten Triodion" comes from the same monastery from the 14th century and contains 250 lists. Data on this were published by M. Karlova. Karlova, who was in this monastery with Hilferding. Manuscripts from this monastery can also be found in Sofia, but there are no more manuscripts in Macedonia today.
A huge list of manuscript books was also plundered from the Lesnovo monastery. According to Dr. Velev, most of them are now in the most representative departments of the main cultural and scientific institutions in Zagreb, Moscow, Belgrade, St. Petersburg and other cities. Of course, the scriptorium of the Lesnovo Monastery was also involved in "business" and sold individual manuscripts to other churches and monasteries in Macedonia and abroad, but that is a different topic. And these are not the books that were taken away for no consideration.
Lucky charms from Matejče Monastery
Also interesting is the fate of the Holy Mother of God Monastery in Matejče, which experienced difficult days in the 2001 conflict when Albanian terrorists, as experts in restoration and conservation, even poked the eyes out of the frescoes of the saints - just like the Ottoman occupiers at the time. According to the reports, the Matejče Monastery had one of the richest, if not the richest library of any Macedonian monastery.
There is evidence that there were boxes full of books in this monastery that were plundered by foreign adventurers but also by the local Muslim population. It is certain that Matejče's literary treasure was removed from Macedonia, but it is known that much of the parchment manuscripts were also distributed by local Muslims who kept them as amulets in their homes.
Residents of this area say that sheets of parchment can still be found in some older Albanian families today. Of course, they are not kept as a valuable cultural asset, but as amulets, i.e. lucky charms that are supposed to protect them from adversity?! If so, then because of these relics, the local Albanians should have prevented the desecration of the Matejče Monastery, which was converted into a military headquarters by Albanian terrorists in 2001.
Otherwise, two manuscripts were found in this very important Macedonian monastery in 1885 while clearing a tower in the courtyard of the monastery: one on parchment and the other on paper. The two manuscripts were brought to the National Library of Belgrade. Jordan Hadzi Konstantinov-Djinot also reported on the robberies on Matejče and claimed that when he visited the monastery in 1848, there were "ten loads of Slavic manuscripts that were destroyed by the Arnauts (= Albanians) in the next few years".
Perhaps not like Matejče, but the monastery of St. Joakim von Osogovski also possessed a huge literary and handwritten treasure. One of the monastery's priceless manuscripts was the 13th century Menae, which are now in the Sofia National Library. The oldest church service of St. Joakim Osogovski and an original poetic work of St. Climent of Ohrid are preserved in the manuscripts. The manuscript has 114 sheets written on parchment.
When Dimitrij Marinov visited the monastery around 1890, there were no more manuscripts in the monastery library. He reveals that he only witnessed a large stove being cleaned with burned leather books. When this happened and who burned this precious treasure, unfortunately there are no records or certificates. Next to "St. Joakim von Osogovski", one of the most important Macedonian literary centers of the Middle Ages, but also later, was the monastery in Treskavec.
In the 1860s, the Russian folklorist Alexander Fyodorowitsch Hilferding stayed in the monastery, who was consul in Sarajevo at the time. From this Macedonian monastery he took several manuscripts, including the Treskavski work from the 17th century. This manuscript was brought to the St. Petersburg City Library, where it is kept today. In 1865 the Russian researcher Antonin Kapustin found only 15 manuscripts in Treskavec, and 30 years later there were only 11 Slavic manuscripts left. According to reports, many manuscripts were taken from the library in Treskavec by Jordan Hadzi Konstantinov-Djinot from Veles and sent them to various institutions in Serbia. For a little money, of course.
Pic.: Sveta Bogorodica Monastery in Matejče
In addition, many of the oldest manuscripts, most of which were written on parchment, were burned at the behest of Bishop Gerasim. This happened in 1863, the bishop was a Greek. For two weeks the monastery stove was stoked with old parchment manuscripts! The smoke covered the towers of Zlatovrv and the Markovi Kuli for days. The remaining old manuscript books with Bogomil texts were taken to safety from the monastery by Bishop Mojso Pazov and Abbot Pop Nikola to save them.
It is not known where these precious Bogomil manuscripts ended up. If one day miracles happen and are discovered, some very important facts about the Bogomil movement in Macedonia may be further clarified. Can they be found in the foundations of the old houses of the Pazov and Pop Nikola families in Prilep?
The big sale under Jordan Hadzi Konstantinov-Djinot
Fortunately, many of the stolen manuscripts have been properly registered by our specialists, and some have even made copies available. Nevertheless, our cultural treasure remains in foreign hands.
Today there are over 130 manuscript books in the St. Petersburg National Library and 55 in the State History Museum in Moscow. There is also a valuable collection of 84 manuscripts brought from Macedonian monasteries to the Russian Academy of Sciences in Petrograd.
There is a very valuable collection of six manuscripts in the Jagiellonian Library in Krakow. They were brought there in 1863 by Rudolf Gutovski, a doctor who operated on in Macedonia. If the Slavic scholars of Russia used so-called scientific arguments in favor of Pan-Slavism in their mission to discover ancient Slavic manuscripts, then Doctor Gutovski must have received the books in return for his medical treatments.
However, there were monks in our monasteries who also sold precious books for little money, the real value of which cannot be determined. Even a Jordan Hadji Konstantinov-Djinot sold old manuscripts in Belgrade. In the records of that time, a traveler traveling through Macedonia noticed that some monks from the Ohrid Monastery of the Holy Mother of God Perivlepta even sold the relics of St. Kliment for two barrels of wine!
During the Balkan Wars and World War I, a large number of extremely important and valuable manuscript books were extracted from Macedonia. In 1920 it was 964 according to records, three years later no more and no less, but 1,090 old Macedonian manuscripts had already been brought to Sofia.
On the other hand, the entire collection of 30 manuscripts from the Lesnovo monastery, which were allegedly only "taken away" for safekeeping, with the obligation to keep the collection after the end of the war, were brought to the National Library in Belgrade and are still there to this day To return Macedonia.
Of course, valuable manuscripts were brought to Bulgaria with the same declaration and never returned to our country. Documents about the plundering of Macedonian monasteries and churches during the First World War indicate that the Shroud of Andronikos Paleologus, the golden cap of St. Climent of Ohrid with priceless stones and decorations are "stored" in the National Museum in Sofia. Also his scepter, which was found in Plaošnik in 1911, where holy Kliment was buried, and a bronze chandelier.
On the other hand, at that time many manuscripts were brought to Belgrade from the monastery "St. Prohor Pčinjski", then from the monasteries in Lešok, Kriva Palanka, Kumanovo and many others.
Of course, the list of valuable cultural values, manuscripts and objects from Macedonia is much longer than mentioned here. At the same time, we did not mention the archaeological artifacts, money, jewelry and other valuables that the illegal treasure hunters have been selling to traders for years. Unfortunately, there is still no approximate estimate of the state of our archaeological sites in the country, nor is there any opinion on how and when the question of returning at least part of our cultural heritage from the various countries could be raised.
Some other countries have already done so, and some have even managed to regain some of their plundered cultural and national wealth. Can Macedonia finally make an attempt in this direction?
Ten loads of books burned in the Markov Monastery of Manastir
The famous Macedonian national enlightener Kiril Pejčinoviḱ left important evidence of the continued robbery of the Macedonian literary treasure. He was a cleric in the Markov Monastery near Skopje, where he was abbot from 1801 to 1818.
At that time he founded a literacy school and a rich monastery library, which kept manuscripts from several Macedonian centers. At the same time, of course, he also wrote his own original and compilation works.
Unfortunately, this prominent Macedonian resuscitator had to leave the monastery at the beginning of the 19th century because the Greek bishop could not agree with his Slavic reconnaissance activities and whistled him at the notorious Turkish Beg Ali Bey. When Abbot Kiril Pejčinoviḱ found out about this in time, he secretly left the monastery with a dozen valuable books and icons. With the caravan of precious cargo he went to his hometown Tearce, but reached Lešok and restored the destroyed Lešok monastery in a very short time.
Unfortunately, when he returned to the Markov Monastery, he found an Aromanian abbot who was a Greek with soul and education who, according to Pejčinoviḱ, burned more than 10 loads of manuscripts left in the monastery with satanic pleasure!
150 years ago our revivalist Jordan Hadzi Konstantinov-Djinot wrote: "In some of our monasteries there were even thirty manuscript books in the mid-eighteenth century." For example, in the monastery of Saint Pantelejmon in Nerezi, Skopje, according to an article by Djinot published in a Constantinople newspaper in 1855, there were up to 30 loads of manuscript books, most of which were written on parchment. In this monastery there were books written on dried skin. From this monastery alone, many valuable books were brought into foreign treasuries.
Source: Blaže Minevski for Fokus / 2013 (Macedonian), translated by Makedonien.mk
