The Ecclesiastical Union: an Experiment That Was Brought to an End (In the Light of Bulgaria's Experience of 1913) Cover Image
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Унията – приключилият експеримент (По българския опит от 1913 г.)
The Ecclesiastical Union: an Experiment That Was Brought to an End (In the Light of Bulgaria's Experience of 1913)

Author(s): Svetlozar Eldarov
Subject(s): History
Published by: Асоциация Клио
Keywords: Roman Catholic church; Bulgarian national identity; Bulgarian Orthodox church

Summary/Abstract: In the summer of 1913, under the influence of the national catastrophe which the Second Balkan War had brought to Bulgaria, certain individuals, who were associated mostly with the revolutionary movement in Macedonia and Thrace, as well as some political parties advanced the idea of concluding an ecclesiastical union with the Roman Catholic church as a means of preserving the Bulgarian national identity of Macedonia. The unionists' policies originated in an old cultural and political pattern which had always surfaced in Bulgaria in critical situations. Its characteristics are extremism, polarization of society and, on the long run, bareness. This conclusion is drawn from the sad experience which Bulgarians acquired as a result of the unionist experiments of the latter part of the 19th century. What was new in 1913 was that, through what seemed a purely ecclesiastical problem, Bulgarians tried to fully reassess their past and their national identity. There was a heated public debate which lasted several months and in the course of which was voiced the idea that the Bulgarians' memory of their Slavic ethnic roots needed to be completely eradicated, that all the political and spiritual contacts with Russia needed to be suspended, and that Bulgarians ought to identify themselves with Europeans. As abruptly as it had started, the debate came to an end. It left behind a number of open questions. Now politicians turned to the problems which intellectuals had failed to solve. However, political action only paved the way for the next public debate. Bulgarians' inadequate cultural and political experience kept the possible solutions within the old patterns of mutual denial; thus, for decades on end, the search for Bulgarian national identity was confined to the idea of the exceptional role which Bulgaria has played in the region.

  • Issue Year: 1998
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 103-110
  • Page Count: 8
  • Language: Bulgarian