RUSKI KONZULI О MAKEDONSKOM PITANJU
THE POSITION OF RUSSIAN CONSULS ON THE MACEDONIAN QUESTION

Summary/Abstract: In the early 20th century national, confessional and ecclesiastical problems in Macedonia became so tangled as to present a "Gordian knot". Since the 1920-ties this region was the scene of continual strife between various churches, in which the initial conflict between the Greek and the Bulgarian churches was subsequently joined by the Serbian church. In truth, the contention between churches concealed an underlying political rivalry between nations and their attempts to win over the Christian population of this area through covert propaganda. The Russian consuls in Macedonia Ilarionov, Rostovski, and Mashkov observed this conflict with great attention in order to discern its essential cause, and followed the work of political, commercial and church representatives sent to Macedonia from Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece (such as the Bulgarian sales representative Naumov in Bitola, the Greek metropolitan Amvrosios, and the Serbian consul Nenadić). At the same lime they studied the revolutionary and rebellious movements of the local population against the Ottoman authorities to determine who stood behind the rebels, and did their best to protect, as far as their authority permitted, the people from Turkish repression. In these circumstances the Russian consuls endeavored to protect and promote Russian interests in that region, aware of the fact that the rising tension in Asia had made the Balkans a secondary concern for Russian diplomacy.

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