Saint Paisius of Hilendar

Saint Paisius of Hilendar or Paìsiy Hilendàrski (Bulgarian: Свети Паисий Хилендарски; 1722–1773) was a Bulgarian Orthodox clergyman and a key figure of the Bulgarian National Revival. He is most famous for being the author of Istoriya Slavyanobolgarskaya (Slaveno-Bulgarian History, 1762), the first significant modern Bulgarian history that became famous and was copied and distributed everywhere in the Bulgarian lands. The book is, overall, the third modern work of Bulgarian history, after the works titled History of Bulgaria by Petar Bogdan Bakshev in 1667 and by Blasius Kleiner in 1761. He is considered the forefather of the Bulgarian National Revival. Paisius was born in the Samokov eparchy. There is a scientific dispute about the exact place of his birth, although the prevailing consensus points to the town of Bansko. He established himself in the Hilandar Monastery in 1745, where he was later a hieromonk and deputy abbot. Collecting materials for two years through hard work and even visiting the Habsburg monarchy, he finished his Istoriya Slavyanobolgarskaya in 1762 in the Zograf Monastery. The book was the first attempt to write a complete history of Bulgaria and attempted to awaken and strengthen Bulgarian national consciousness. The most famous part of the whole book is the paragraph: This more or less signifies the purpose of the author who speaks about the danger of Bulgarians falling victim to the Hellenization policies of the mainly Greek clergy. The book's first manual copy was done by Sophronius of Vratsa in 1765. Structurally, Istoriya Slavyanobolgarskaya consists of two introductions, several chapters that discuss various historic events, a chapter about the "Slavic teachers", the disciples of Cyril and Methodius, a chapter about the Bulgarian saints, and an epilogue. As Paisius toured Bulgaria as a mendicant friar, he brought his work, which was copied and spread among the Bulgarians.