On Bulgarian-Byzantine literary ties

Bulgarian-Byzantine cultural and literary ties continued for several centuries. Undoubtedly, the main and dominant influence here was the penetration and influence of Byzantine literature on Bulgarian medieval literature throughout its historical development. Still as strong, although slightly transformed, it continued during the difficult period of Turkish slavery. And the borrowings and ties continued because they had a socio-economic and political prerequisite. Every nation suffered the influence of other nations and, above all, of its neighbors. Moreover, "every society lives in its own special historical environment, which can be - and indeed often is - very similar to the historical environment surrounding other nations, but can never be and never is identical with it". 1 Nations can exert mutual influence only when there are certain points of contact in their social, political and cultural life. The strength of the influence is determined by the degree of community between them. "The influence of the literature of one country on the literature of another is directly proportional to the similarity between the social relations of these countries. It does not exist at all when this similarity is equal to zero... This influence is one-sided when one people, due to its backwardness, cannot give anything to the other either in terms of form or in terms of content... Finally, this influence is mutual when, due to the similarity of social life, and therefore of cultural development, each of the two exchanging peoples can borrow something from the other."