Ivan Diviziev

In connection with the celebration of the 200th anniversary of "History of Slavs and Bulgarians", the question of the birthplace of its author was again raised in the press. The first to initiate this was Sl. Angelov with his article "The Question is Still Open" (Otechestven Front newspaper, issue 5397 of this year). To prove that Paisius was not from Bansko, he based himself mainly on the "irremovability" of the abbots of the monasteries. Elsewhere I prove in detail that this thesis is false, and therefore the conclusions drawn from it are incorrect. Here I will only be content with the following: Slavcho Angelov is wrong, since the abbots, as elected positions (and not titles), could be replaced or demoted. Such is, for example, the case of the nesfit Rilski in the Rila Monastery.

The reason for writing the present commentary was given to me by the previously unknown letters of Anton Strashimirov to Naicho Tsanov, published by comrade Trifon Valov, and in particular some of the historical explanations that he gave to them. This publication is useful because it really contributes to clarifying some moments of the writer's life and activity, namely, when his restless spirit, albeit temporarily, took refuge under the wing of the radical democratic party that was then forming in our country. Incidentally, the published letters show how much Anton Strashimirov was interested in the course of the Macedonian liberation movement and how much this movement was connected with political life in Sofia.