Yordan Hadzhikonstantinov-Dzhinot

Yordan Hadzhikonstantinov, called Dzhinot (the Jinn) (Bulgarian: Йордан Хаджиконстантинов - Джинот, Macedonian: Jордан Хаџи Констандинов-Џинот; c. 1818 – 22 August 1882), was a teacher and author, an important figure of the Bulgarian National Revival during the 19th century.[1][2][3][4]

Yordan Hadzhikonstantinov-Dzhinot
Bornc. 1818
Köprülü, Ottoman Empire
Died22 August 1882
Veles, Ottoman Empire

Yordan Hadzhikonstantinov devoted all his life to the cause of secular public education, and he actively promoted the idea of enforcement of spoken vernacular, called by him Bulgarian language, in the schools and applying of modern pedagogical practices.[5] Despite his Bulgarian self-identification,[6][7][8][9][10][11][12] according to the historiography in North Macedonia, Dzhinot had Macedonian identity[13][14][15] and promoted education in Macedonian language.[16]

Biography

He was born around 1818 in Köprülü, Ottoman Empire (today in North Macedonia). Yordan completed his basic education in a local church school at Veles and next, he attended the high schools at Thesalonika and Samokov. In 1840 he started to teach as a private teacher, and in 1845 he was appointed a teacher in a municipal school at Veles. There Yordan involved in a conflict with the Greek clergy and he was forced to leave the town. In 1848 he settled in Üsküp (now Skopje), where he worked as a teacher in the Bulgarian school. There Yordan applied modern pedagogical methods in his practice. In January 1857 Yordan was dismissed from the service under the pressure of the Greek metropolitan bishop of Üsküp. The same year the local Turkish authorities had Yordan exiled from Üsküp, where he would not return.

In 1861, when the Grand Vizier of the Empire visited Köprülü, the local bishop Benedictus accused Yordan Hadzhikonstantinov of spying and conspiracy with the Serbs and the Bulgarian leader Georgi Rakovski, whose prohibited in Turkey books and newspapers Yordan had kept in his private library. The Grand Vizier believed the allegations and had Yordan exiled in Aydın, (Asia Minor). On the way to Aydin Yordan lost one of his eyes, and because of that he was called "The Jinn" (Джинот, Dzhinot). He returned from exile in 1863 and devoted all of his time to education.

Yordan Hadzhikonstantinov-Dzhinot died in Köprülü on 22 August 1882.

Works

Yordan Hadzhikonstantinov was in touch with the Society of the Serbian Letters (Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts) in Belgrade and he published some of his discoveries on the pages of Glasnik (an official tribune of the society). On 24 January 1854 Yordan sent from Skopje a manuscript copy of а medieval Bulgarian record, called "A narration about the restoration of the Bulgarian Patriarchate in 1235", which was discovered at first by Dzhinot and was published in Glasnik in 1855. Yordan Hadzhikonstantinov-Dzhinot found a manuscript of a Bulgarian medieval story "An oration of Saint Cyril, how he baptized the Bulgarian people", called "Solunska legenda" ("A legend from Thesalonika"). It was published in Glasnik in 1856.

Yordan Hadzhikonsatntinov was author of some patriotic articles in the Bulgarian Tsarigradski Vestnik (Istanbul newspaper), as "God" (published in 1851), "Bulgarian literature" (1852), "About the Church Slavonic language" (1852), "Veles" (1857), "Prilep" (1854) etc. They contain information about the history and geography of the Macedonian region, and also some information about the history of the Bulgarian people, Bulgarian education and the Bulgarian Archbishopric of Ohrid. Being an adherent of the autochthonous theory about the origin of the Bulgarians,[17] Yordan Hadzhikonstantinov-Dzhinot thought that Bulgarians are descendants of the ancient Thracians and Illyrians.[18] In his publications, Yordan lost no occasion to declare his Bulgarian ethnic identity.[19] He openly stated: " I am Bulgarian, and I bewail our lost Bulgarians, who are in Lower Moesia, and it is our duty to lay down our life for our brothers, the dearest Bulgarians".[20]

References

Primary sources
  • Iордан Хаџи Констандинов. О основанию Блъгарског Патрияршества, Гласник Друштва србске словестности, VII (Београд, 1855), с. 174-177.
  • Iордан Хаџи Констандинов. Слово Кирила славенца солунскаго философа бугарскаго, Гласник Друштва србске словестности, VIII (Београд, 1856), с. 146-147.
  • Йордан Хаджиконстантинов-Джинот. Българин съм. Предг., съст. и ред. И. Радев. Велико Търново: Абагар, 1993.
  • Георгиев, Е. (1980). Люлка на страта и новата българска писменост (in Bulgarian). София: Държавно издателство "Народна просвета". pp. 197–211.
  • Кънчов, В. (1970). Избрани произведения (in Bulgarian). T. II. София: Наука и изкуство. pp. 138–153, 230–231, 264–250.
  • Тъпкова-Заимова, В.; Милтенова, А. (1996). Историко-апокалиптичната книжнина във Византия и в средновековна България (in Bulgarian). София: Университетско изсдателство "Св. Климент Охридски". pp. 311–321. ISBN 954-07-0766-8.

Secondary sources

Notes
  1. Clarke 1988, p. 143.
  2. ...Yordan Konstadinov Djinot was an ardent (Bulgarian) nationalist... In the Macedonian historiography he is hailed as one of the earliest “Macedonian educatiors”. For more see: Vemund Aarbakke, Ethnic rivalry and the quest for Macedonia, 1870-1913; East European Monographs, 2003, ISBN 0880335270, pp. 37-40.
  3. Meininger 1974, p. 296.
  4. Modern Greek Studies Program 1992: 140
  5. Иван Радев, Йордан Хаджиконстантинов-Джинот, "Българин съм", „Абагар”, Велико Търново, 1993. Увод. Възрожденецът от Велес.
  6. Болгарска писменост. (Цариградски вестник, 19 юли 1852).
  7. Статистическо описание на Дебрска река в Стара Болгария. (Цариградски вестник, 1 януари 1859).
  8. Гонение и страдание за честно имя болгарское. (12 април, 1863 год. Гюзел хисар).
  9. Обичаи в Долной Мисии или Западной Болгарии. (Цариградски вестник, бр. 93-94-95-96 от 1852).
  10. Ъ, ѫ, ѭ, литери болгарски.(Цариградски вестник, 19 април-10 май 1852).
  11. Iordan Hadzhi Konstantinov Dzhinot from Veles, who always said: "I am Bulgarian even if this is against God" Maria Nikolaeva Todorova, Bones of Contention: The Living Archive of Vasil Levski and the Making of Bulgaria's National Hero, Central European University Press, 2009, ISBN 9639776246, p. 247.
  12. We, Bulgarians, have a crowded and high worthy glory from the other Slavs and they are worthy to give honor to us, because we gave them a scripture.
  13. Because in many documents of 19th and early 20th century period, the local Slavic population is not referred to as "Macedonian" but as "Bulgarian", Macedonian historians argue that it was Macedonian, regardless of what is written in the records. For more see: Ulf Brunnbauer, “Serving the Nation: Historiography in the Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) after Socialism“, Historien, Vol. 4 (2003-4), pp. 161-182.
  14. Numerous prominent activists with pro-Bulgarian sentiments from the 19th and early 20th centuries are described in Macedonian textbooks as ethnic Macedonians. Macedonian researchers claim that "Bulgarian" at that time was a term, not related to any ethnicity, but was used as a synonym for "Slavic", "Christian" or "peasant". Chris Kostov, Contested Ethnic Identity: The Case of Macedonian Immigrants in Toronto, 1900-1996, Peter Lang, 2010, ISBN 3034301960, p. 92.
  15. Until the 20th century, both outside observers and those Bulgarian and Macedonian Slavs who had clear ethnic consciousness, believed that their group, which is now divided into two separate nationalities, comprised a single people: the Bulgarians. Thus the reader should ignore references to ethnic Macedonians in the Middle Ages and Ottoman era, which appear in some modern works. For more see: John Van Antwerp Fine, The Early Medieval Balkans: a critical survey from the sixth to the late twelfth century, University of Michigan Press, 1994, ISBN 0472082604 p. 37.
  16. Bojkovska, Stojka; Minova-Gjurkova, Liljana; Pandev, Dimitar; Cvetanovski, Živko (2008). Општа граматика на македонскиот јазик [Grammar of the Macedonian language] (in Macedonian). Skopje: Prosvetno Delo. ISBN 9789989006623.
  17. Roumen Daskalov, Bulgarian-Greek Dis/Entanglements in Entangled Histories of the Balkans - Volume One, p. 226, BRILL, 2013, ISBN 900425076X, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004250765_005
  18. Dimitar Bechev, Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia, Scarecrow Press, 2009, ISBN 0810862956, p. 92.
  19. Clarc 1988: 143
  20. "Macedonia. Collection of Documents and Materials", Sofia, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1978. Institute of History, Institute of Bulgarian Language, p. 151; (in Bulgarian).
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