People
supporting the memorandum >>
The question of how to
enter the third millenium is not a routine question at
the end of the elapsing century. It contains the threatening challenge
of identification in the globally integrating world.
History, being a study of people
and their drama, will never accept apeople, whichever it is, to
be identified on the video display like afigure in an electronic
game. That is why those crowding at the entrance of the reception-hall
should always remember the parable that they would be let in only
if they have self-respect. For a people to respect itselfmeans
to be conscious of its worthiness in commensurability with the
worthiness of other peoples.
Worthiness has nothing to do with
technological standard or standard of living. It is embodied in
culture, not in a distinctive culture closed within stone walls,
but rather in an outgoing, interactive, and competitive culture,
exemplified in creative social behavior.
A people and its culture survive
and live in historical continuity. They can be severed neither
by local nor by foreign forces for they are impregnated with the
energy of their bearers no matter where they live- in the core
of the ethnodemographic community or in its Diaspora. The whole
is made up of its parts. Cleo, the muse of History has long discarded
all geographical, political, cultural, and religious factors which,
by definition, break up this Whole.
The energy of a people, which breathes
life into its culture, can never be destroyed. It can only abate,
temporarily downhearted. Getting rid of the ideological patterns
of block thinking, evading the poisonous bite of political passions
and of predestination suggested and desired by others under the
notion of historical fate, achievements always acquire national
importance. Such are the contents and goals of noble competition
in the field of spirituality – the only battle in which all are
winners.
History is not a finished up structure. It
is an everlasting process of creation in which some are
architects, others pile up a stone or two,but not a single name
is obliterated.
History is a Reminder, Reminder is Knowledge, knowledge is Faith,
and Faith is Being. It exists as an eternal flow of the historical
time of self-realization, a historical time different from that
of empires and imperial provinces. No one has the right to judge
whether the time of a people is flowing fast or slow. Only the
meeting points of the historical times of various peoples, even
of extinct ones, structure the rhythm of History.
This rhythm does not breed animosity but quickens mutuality and
interaction as the true factors for self-realization.
If someone impedes the self-realization
and the achievements of others, he is acting in self-destruction.
History and the communities formed by its impulses are
destined to create those factors disregarding the babbling of
those trying to freshen up old ideas-images. Creating new ones
cannot reject old myths.The pseudopatriotism of war drums cannot
be erased by cynicism, and longforgotten events cannot but substituted
by journalistic writings. Facts passed over in silence would not
speak up through lobby talks.
History is a sublime
tempest when it operates with its genuine categories:
The Beginning itself, and not its dating on a patch of land,
Statesmanship, and not a military and politic organization,
Power, and not the term of ruling,
Monotheism, and not the dance of the shamans,
Conversion, and not a play in outmaneuvering,
Learning, and not the alphabet,
The Other next to you, and not perfidious neighbors,
Struggle, and not yoke,
The Revival of spirit, and not the misery of outcasts,
Partners, and not reports of diplomats,
The prospects, and not bright future
And The World, and not the road to it.
Those categories are not figures of speech.
They are embodied into the texture of Bulgarian History, waiting
to be given new meaning and to create new problem circles.
To search for new historical sources and find them is of course
important. But how often does a scholar have such opportunities?
We mustn't disregard another option – to re-interpret the facts,
which, by way of underestimation or partiality, have created a
distorted picture of the existence of the Bulgarians.
A considerable part of the history of the Bulgarians up to the
7th c.is not present in historiography. There is no historic presentation
of major parts of the Diaspora of the ancient Bulgarian community.Falsehood
and distortion also characterize the image of culture and statesmanship
of Bulgarians of that period. There is no appreciation of their
role in world social, economic, political, and cultural processes
of that tumultuous era.
Our historiography possesses many authentic facts about the period
after the 7th c. and the foundation of Danube Bulgaria. But it
does not recognize the extra national character, role and importance
of Bulgarian history in the make-up of early Middle Age European
culture and this is the key to Bulgaria’s integration into modern
European culture.
Father Paisiy is said to be the founder of national romantic historiography
of the Bulgarians. Each nation has its own father Paisiy and he
holds his place not because he was dreaming but because he revived
the problems of the past in full awareness of why one must be
proud of one’s Bulgarian name.
We shall step into the third millenium with dignity and take pride
in calling ourselves Bulgarians.