![Isaya Mazhovki2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Isaya_Mazhovki2.jpg)
Isaija Radev Mažovski ( mk, Исаија Радев Мажовски, bg, Исая Радев Мажовски; 1852–1926) was a
Mijak painter and activist. Mažovski sought political solutions in the liberation of
Ottoman Macedonia. A
Slavophile
Slavophilia (russian: Славянофильство) was an intellectual movement originating from the 19th century that wanted the Russian Empire to be developed on the basis of values and institutions derived from Russia's early history. Slavoph ...
, he travelled to Russia to establish contacts with prominent individuals there including the Russian tsar, hoping to gain support for Macedonian liberation.
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Mažovski also advocated the idea of a joint Macedonian-Albanian effort against the Ottomans; he was a leader of the Macedonian-Albanian Revolutionary League. He had been imprisoned alongside Albanians in his life and knew the Albanian language. He wrote on the topic of Albanians and Macedonians achieving autonomy.
Mažovski was born on 9 March 1852 in
Lazaropole
Lazaropole ( mk, Лазарополе) is a village in the Municipality of Mavrovo and Rostuša, North Macedonia. Situated on a plateau at Mount Bistra and surrounded by beech and oak forest; at 1,350 m altitude, it is one of the highest settlem ...
, where he completed church school. As a painter, he was educated by fellow Mijak
Dičo Zograf
Dimitar Krstev Dičov ( Bulgarian: Димитър Кръстев Дичов, Macedonian: Димитар Крстев Дичов, Serbian: Димитар Крстевић), also known as Dičo Krstev (Дичо Крстев) and best known as Di ...
.
Mažovski emigrated finally to Bulgaria in 1899 where he settled in
Pleven
Pleven ( bg, Плèвен ) is the seventh most populous city in Bulgaria. Located in the northern part of the country, it is the administrative centre of Pleven Province, as well as of the subordinate Pleven municipality. It is the biggest ...
. Mažovski was married there earlier to his wife Dunava, with whom they had three sons and a daughter. He died in
Ugarchin
Ugarchin ( bg, Угърчин ) is a town located along the Kamenitsa river in the Lovech Province in central northern Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Ugarchin Municipality. The town is about 30 kilometers away in the ...
in 1926.
''Memoirs''
In 1922, he authored ''Memoirs'' (''Вѫзпоминания''), which expressed his personal ideology and desires for Macedonia, as well as recollections of everyday village life in his native Lazaropole and the Mijak region as a whole.
Mažovski claimed in the book that "the Old Slavic Macedonian nation came to Macedonia 2,500 years" prior and that
Philip II of Macedon
Philip II of Macedon ( grc-gre, Φίλιππος ; 382 – 21 October 336 BC) was the king ('' basileus'') of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia from 359 BC until his death in 336 BC. He was a member of the Argead dynasty, founders of the ...
and
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...
were "pure
Slavs
Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...
". In a request to the Russian Emperor
Nicholas II
Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Pola ...
from 1885, he wrote that the Macedonian Slavic-Bulgarians were resettled from Russia to Macedonia 2,600 years ago. He also recalls in an instance in Russia in 1897 when asked about his nation, he responded that "we are an Old Slavic nation, migrating from 'Great Mother Russia' much earlier than the Bulgarians and the Serbs, though our language is closer to the Bulgarian one" and that "we are followers of the Holy
Bulgarian Exarchate
The Bulgarian Exarchate ( bg, Българска екзархия, Balgarska ekzarhiya; tr, Bulgar Eksarhlığı) was the official name of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church before its autocephaly was recognized by the Ecumenical See in 1945 and th ...
."
Blaže Koneski
Blaže Koneski ( mk, Блаже Конески; 19 December 1921 – 7 December 1993) was a Macedonian poet, writer, literary translator, and linguistic scholar.
His major contribution was to the codification of standard Macedonian. He is the k ...
noted by what names Mažovski called the
Macedonian Slavs
Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia.
Macedonian(s) may specifically refer to:
People Modern
* Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with North Ma ...
. Regularly he
used for them the designations "Macedonians" or "Old Macedonian Slavic people", but also often wrote about the "Macedonian Slavic-Bulgarians". However, this name meant something different to him than just the name "Bulgarians". "Slavic-Bulgarian" for Mažovski was synonymous with "Macedonian", while only "Bulgarian" was a designation for the Bulgarian people in then Bulgaria. Similar
parahistorical plots connecting the Slavs and Paleo-Balkan peoples were characteristic for the 19th century in Ottoman Bulgaria and later in Ottoman Macedonia.
He also writes of encounters with Albanian tribal leaders in
Debar
Debar ( mk, Дебaр ; Albanian: ''Dibër''/''Dibra'' or ''Dibra e Madhe;'' ) is a city in the western part of North Macedonia, near the border with Albania, off the road from Struga to Gostivar. It is the seat of Debar Municipality. Debar has an ...
who told him they were preparing to
declare Albanian independence.
[
]
See also
*
Spiridon Gabrovski
Spiridon Gabrovski (1740; Gabrovo – 1824; Rila monastery), also known as Spiridon Rilski, was a Bulgarian clergyman and activist of the Bulgarian National Awakening in the Ottoman Empire.
Gabrovski was born in Gabrovo in 1740. He worked on Mou ...
*
Georgi Pulevski
Georgi Pulevski, sometimes also Gjorgji, Gjorgjija Pulevski or Đorđe Puljevski ( mk, Ѓорѓи Пулевски or Ѓорѓија Пулевски, bg, Георги Пулевски, sr, Ђорђе Пуљевски; 1817–1895) was a Mija ...
*
Ivan Gologanov
Ivan Gologanov ( bg, Иван Гологанов) was a Bulgarian folklorist and ethnographer.
Biography
Ivan Iliev Gologanov was a Bulgarian National Revival activist, a brother of Theodosius Gologanov. Gologanov himself was fluent in ancient ...
*
Antiquization
Antiquization ( mk, антиквизација), otherwise known as ancient Macedonism ( mk, links=no, антички македонизам), is a term used mainly to critically describe the identity policies conducted by the nationalist VMRO- ...
*
Autochthonous theory about the origin of the Bulgarians
External link
„Вѫзпоминания“ София, 1922 година
References
{{reflist
1852 births
1926 deaths
Macedonian painters
Macedonian writers
Macedonian Bulgarians
Early Macedonists
Bulgarian writers
Bulgarian painters
Macedonia under the Ottoman Empire
People from Mavrovo and Rostuša Municipality