The Macedonian Society or Secret Macedonian Committee ( mk, Таен македонски комитет, Taen makedonski komitet; sr, Тајни македонски комитет, Tajni makedonski komitet), was secret organization established in 1885 by

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 ...

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

, to promote а Slav Macedonian identity, distinguished especially from the ethnic identity of the

Bulgarians Bulgarians ( bg, българи, Bǎlgari, ) are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and the rest of Southeast Europe. Etymology Bulgarians derive their ethnonym from the Bulgars. Their name is not completely understo ...

, the establishment of the

Archbishopric of Ohrid The Archbishopric of Ohrid, also known as the Bulgarian Archbishopric of Ohrid *T. Kamusella in The Politics of Language and Nationalism in Modern Central Europe, Springer, 2008, p. 276 *Aisling Lyon, Decentralisation and the Management of Ethni ...

separate from the

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 ...

and the promotion of the

Macedonian language Macedonian (; , , ) is an Eastern South Slavic language. It is part of the Indo-European language family, and is one of the Slavic languages, which are part of a larger Balto-Slavic branch. Spoken as a first language by around two million ...

. Its leaders were Naum Evrov, Kosta Grupčev, Vasilij Karajovev and

Temko Popov Temko Popov ( Macedonian: Темко Попов) was a pro-Macedonian activist and Serbian national worker in the Ottoman Empire. He espoused in his youth, according to Bulgarian sources, developed a kind of Macedonian pro-Serbian identity. Per Se ...

. In 1886 the Bulgarian government revealеd the organization and it was disbanded. Some of its leaders went in the same year back to Belgrade, where the Government of Serbia established a cooperation with that ''ephemeral'' Macedonian Society. Through support to the Macedonian movement the Government of Serbia had intention to suppress the process of

Bulgarisation Bulgarisation ( bg, българизация), also known as Bulgarianisation ( bg, побългаряване) is the spread of Bulgarian culture beyond the Bulgarian ethnic space. History A number of government policies are considered to be exam ...

of Macedonian

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

Slavs or to debulgarize them. In accordance with the Serbo-Macedonian cooperation in the same year in Constantinople was founded the

Association of Serbo-Macedonians The Association of Serbo-Macedonians ( sr, Друштво Србо-Македонци / ''Društvo Srbo-Makedonci'') was a group founded by intellectuals from the Macedonia (region), region of Macedonia in 1886, and based in Istanbul, Ottoman Empire ...

. This compromise with the Serbian interests in Macedonia, led it later to abandonment of its separatist program altogether. As result, later its members promoted already only pro-Serbian ideas.

References

{{reflist History of North Macedonia Macedonian writers' organizations Anti-Bulgarian sentiment 19th century in Serbia Macedonia under the Ottoman Empire Organizations established in 1885 Macedonian nationalism