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Kiril Peychinovich

(or Kiril Pejčinović; Bulgarian: Кирил Пейчинович; Macedonian: Кирил Пејчиновиќ) (c. 1770-17 March 1865) was a Bulgarian cleric, writer and enlightener, one of the first supporters of literature in modern Bulgarian (as opposed to Church Slavonic) and one of the early figures of the Bulgarian National Revival.
Peychinovich is considered Macedonian in the Republic of Macedonia.

Biography

Early life and Mount Athos

Peychinovich was born in the large Polog village of Tearce (Теарце) in what is now the Republic of Macedonia (then part of the Ottoman Empire). His secular name is unknown. According to his tombstone, he received his primary education in the village of Lešok (Лешок). He later possibly studied at the Debar Monastery of Saint John. Kiril's father, Peychin, sold out his property in Tearce and moved to Mount Athos with his brother and son, where the three became monks, with Peychin accepting Pimen, his brother — Dalmant, and his son — Kiril as a name in religion. Kiril then returned to Tetovo and from there set out for the Kičevo Monastery of the Holy Immaculate Theotokos, where he became a hieromonk.

Hegumen of Marko's Monastery

Since 1801 Peychinovich was the hegumen of Marko's Monastery of Saint Demetrius near Skopje. Located in the region of Torbešija (Торбешия or Торбешија) along the valley of the Markova reka (Marko's River) among Pomak, Turkish and Albanian villages, before Peychinovich's arrival the monastery was in a miserable condition, as almost all buildings, except for the primary church, were destroyed. Through the course of 17 years, until 1898, father Kiril made serious efforts to revive the monastery, paying particular attention to the reconstruction and expansion of the monastical library.

In Marko's Monastery Kiril Peychinovich compiled one of his best known works, Kniga Siya Zovomaya Ogledalo, printed in 1816 in Budapest.

Hegumen of the Lešok Monastery

It is not known why father Kiril left Marko's Monastery, but according to the legend, a conflict between him and the Greek metropolitan of Skopje was the reason for his departure. In 1818 Peychinovich once again travelled to Mount Athos to see his father and uncle, and then became hegumen of the Monastery of Saint Athanasius (destroyed in 1710 by Janissaries) near the Polog village of Lešok in the proximity of his native Tearce. With the aid of the local Bulgarians Kiril restored the Lešok Monastery, abandoned for 100 years, and turned it into a centre of the Bulgarian national spirit. Kiril devoted himself considerable preacher's, literary and educational work. He opened a school and tried to establish a printing press, convinced of the printed book's importance. Father Kiril later helped Thedosius of Sinaia (Теодосий Синаитски) restore his printing press in Thessaloniki that was burnt down in 1839. In 1840 Theodosius issued Peychinovich's second book, Kniga Glagolemaya Uteshenie Greshnim.

Father Kiril Peychinovich died on 12 March 1845 in the Lešok Monastery and was buried in the church yard.

In 1934 the village of Burumli in Ruse Province was renamed Peychinovo in honour of father Kiril.

Works

Kiril Peychinovich is the author of three books, two printed and one manuscript (Zhitie i Sluzhba na Tsar Lazar), all three devoted to religion.

Ogledalo

Ogledalo is a religious collection of prayers and instructions, many of which written by father Kiril himself in modern Bulgarian. According to the book's title page, it was written in the 'most common and illiterary Bulgarian language of Lower Moesia' ('препростейшим и некнижним язиком Болгарским долния Мисии'). It was printed in 1816 in Budapest.

Utesheniya Greshnim

Peychinovich's second book, Utesheniya Greshnim, much like his first one is a Christian collection of instructions — including advice on how weddings should be organized and how those who had sinned should be consoled, as well as a number of instructive tales.

Foreword to Peychinovich's Utesheniya GreshnimUtesheniya Greshnim was ready to be printed in 1831, as specified by father Kiril in a note in the original manuscript. It was send to Belgrade to be printed, but this did not happen for an unknown reason, and it had to be printed in Thessaloniki nine years later, in 1840, by Theodosius of Sinaia. During the printing Theodosius substituted Peychinovich's original introduction with his own one, but still preserved the text that referred to the language of the work as the 'common Bulgarian language of Lower Moesia, of Skopje and Tetovo' ('простий язик болгарски долния Мисии Скопсский и Тетовский').

Poems

In 1835 Peychinovich composed an epitaph for himself in verse. His Stihove na Glas Trapezachki constitute one of the first poetical attempts in modern Bulgarian.

Теарце му негово рождение
Пречиста и Хилендар пострижение
Лешок му е негоо воспитание
Под плочава негоо почивание
От негово свое отшествие
До Христово второ пришествие
Молит вас бракя негои любимия
Хотящия прочитати сия
Да речете Бог да би го простил
Зере у гроб цръвите ги гостил


Овде лежи
Кирилово
тело
У манастир
и у Лешок
село
Да Бог за
доброе
дело

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