„В името на Кирил и Методий“. Кирило-методиевската идея и социалистическата пропаганда
“In the name of Cyril and Methodius”: The Cyrillo-Methodian idea and the socialist propaganda

Summary/Abstract: The paper aims to describe and analyze the dynamics of transformation undergone by the symbolism of the Cyrillo-Methodian oeuvre in the socialist propaganda in Bulgaria. The work and lives of the two saints represent the different national paradigms and state priorities before and after 1944. In the years from 1878 to 1944, St. Cyril and Methodius became a symbol of Bulgarian national identity. They were used in political propaganda to justify the Bulgarian territorial claims in the Balkans in an attempt to achieve the national ideal. On the contrary, after the socialist propaganda during the years of World War II, the Cyrillo-Methodian work became a symbol of Slavic unity and solidarity with the Soviet Union. The idea of Cyril and Methodius as a symbol of internationalism and fraternal unity of the Slavic peoples was developed by socialist propaganda in the years after 1944 and has in fact dominated the scientific interpretations of their work from that time on. The paper is based on unpublished communist addresses from the feast of St. Cyril and Methodius in 1942 and 1943 and other documents from the Central State Archives in Sofia and the Scientific Archives of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

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