Yordan Hadzhikonstantinov-Dzhinot

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

Yordan Hadzhikonstantinov - Dzhinot (Bulgarian: Йордан Хаджиконстантинов - Джинот, Macedonian: Jордан Хаџи Константинов - Џинот, romanized: Jordan Hadži Konstantinov - Džinot, c. 1818 – 22 August 1882), was a Bulgarian teacher, writer, and an important figure of the Bulgarian National Revival in Macedonia during the 19th century.[1][2][3]

Hadzhikonstantinov devoted all his life to the cause of secular public education, and he actively promoted the idea of enforcement of spoken vernacular in the schools and applying of modern pedagogical practices.[4]

Biography

Yordan Hadzhikonstantinov, nicknamed Dzhinot,[5] was born around 1818 in Veles, Ottoman Empire (today North Macedonia).[6][7] Hadzhikonstantinov received his education in Veles, continuing his education in Samokov and the Greek gymnasium in Thessaloniki.[7] In 1838, he became a teacher in his hometown of Veles.[8] Per historian Vemund Aarbakke, as a strong nationalist, he did not permit church singing in Greek in his part of town, nor did he permit Greek teachers in the community.[9] He soon came into conflict with the Phanariot bishop. For three years, he was persecuted by that bishop until he was forced to leave Veles.[8] He taught as a Bulgarian teacher in a school in Skopje from 1848 to 1857. Hadzhikonstantinov introduced the Lancaster educational system and developed active social activities there.[10][11] Soon, in 1853, he came into a sharp conflict with a bishop and the Greek clergy. He was accused of being a Russian spy and for "inciting Serbs and Bulgarians to revolt."[8] After the Crimean War (1853–1856), metropolitan Yoakim managed to have the authorities arrest him on 20 January 1857 and expel him from Skopje. Later, Hadzhikonstantinov returned to the city, but despite the letters of recommendation he presented from Belgrade, the authorities permanently exiled him.[11]

In 1859, he returned to Veles, and then he worked as a teacher in Prilep for a short time, returning home in early 1860.[8] In 1861, when the Grand Vizier of the Empire visited Veles, the Metropolitan of Bitola accused Hadzhikonstantinov of being a Serbian spy.[9] The authorities found prohibited books and newspapers by Bulgarian revolutionary Georgi Rakovski in his home.[10][5] The locals tried to defend him.[9] The authorities had Hadzhikonstantinov exiled in Aydın (Asia Minor).[6] During the trip, he was beaten with a whip by the authorities and ended up losing his right eye.[8] Bulgarian locals rejected the accusations against Hadzhikonstantinov and he was released two years later after pressure by the Bulgarian community in Istanbul.[9] He returned to Ottoman Macedonia, where he was a Bulgarian teacher again until 1870.[10] Hadzhikonstantinov-Dzhinot died in Veles on 22 August 1882.[12] His grave is located in the yard of the church of St. Spas in Veles.[8][13]

Works, views and legacy

Influenced by ideas locating the Indo‑European homeland in India, Hadzhikonstantinov argued that the Bulgarians' origins lay in Vedic India and drew direct parallels between Bulgarian and Sanskrit.[14][3] Per political scientist Dimitar Bechev, Dzhinot believed that Bulgarians are descendants of the ancient Thracians and Illyrians.[6] In his publications, Hadzhikonstantinov lost no occasion to declare his Bulgarian identity.[1][15] 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".[8][16] In the 1850s, Hadzhikonstantinov published a chronicle called "A Story about the Restoration of the Bulgarian Patriarchate in 1235" in Belgrade in 1855. He collaborated with the newspapers "Bulgarian Books" and "Macedonia". On 19 July 1852, in Tsarigradski Vestnik, he published his article "Bulgarian Writing", in which he wrote:

We Bulgarians have full and high dignity compared to other Slavs. And they are worthy to pay us honors because we have given them their alphabet. We Bulgarians have an original and abundant language, this is our grammar, this is our vocabulary. Anyone who dares to condemn our Bulgarianness is an image of Mamon (Devil's son).[10]

He published articles, notes and literary works in newspapers. In his articles, he discussed various issues, such as education and upbringing, philological issues, ethnographic and geographical issues, philosophical issues and issues of morality. Hadzhikonstantinov showed much interest in philology, including the issues of Bulgarian grammar and Bulgarian orthography, Old Bulgarian language and etymology. He was interested in philosophy and considered himself as a philosopher.[5] Apart from articles, he also wrote plays ("Minerva and the Nine Muses", "The Teachers and the Student", published in 1851)[5] and poems.[7] As such, he was one of the first authors in Bulgarian literature to write and publish plays. His contemporaries regarded him as a classicist, referring to him as "our Trediakovsky".[5]

Dzhinot was criticized in the Bulgarian press for using the western Macedonian dialects in his textbooks. In an 1851 article in the newspaper Tsarigradski vestnik, the editorial argued that Dzhinot's western Macedonian dialect was so distinct from the Bulgarian written and spoken norm that many Bulgarians would find it incomprehensible and almost foreign. It stated:

"As concerns the language of Mr. Yordan, anyone can see that it is so different from our written and spoken language, so that to a person reading it for the first time it will appear not only incomprehensible but completely different. [...] it can be more easily learned and spoken correctly by a foreigner, and not by a native Bulgarian. May the residents of Skopje forgive us, along with those who speak a similar language; since they do not understand our language nor can they speak it."[17]

Per Victor Friedman, the Bulgarian rejection of textbooks written in Macedonian dialects, and the reactions this provoked, contributed to the emergence of a distinct Macedonian linguistic and ethnic consciousness.[17] Per historian Andrew Rossos, he did not have a clearly defined national or territorial consciousness, or a sense of belonging. In 1854, he reported to Tsarigradski Vestnik about his visit to the "Bulgarian-Serbian city Skopje in Albanian Macedonia" and that the people there spoke "Slav (Bulgarian-Serbian)."[18][19] According to historian Roumen Daskalov, Hadzhikonstantinov endorsed Slavophile and Pan-Slav views, to dissolve the Bulgarian identity and community into the wider Slavic identity and community, perhaps due to a feeling of inferiority in front of Greek culture in Macedonia and the need to have a common Slavic identity, culture and language.[3]

Hadzhikonstantinov also declared himself as a Serb.[8][20] In 1856, in his letter to Society of Serbian Letters, he wrote: "I remain ready to serve you most usefully and quietly as a Serb."[21] In the same letter, he declared himself as a "Serbian son", and wrote: "You cannot understand how much my heart burns for our dearest Serbdom, for which I am ready to sacrifice myself.".[22] In his letters to the society, he stressed that Greek bishops and Grecomans were a greater evil than the Turks. He remained a bachelor throughout his life.[8]

According to the post-WWII Macedonian rendition of history, Dzhinot had an ethnic Macedonian identity and promoted education in Macedonian.[9][23][24]

References

  1. ^ a b Clarke 1988, p. 143.
  2. ^ Modern Greek Studies Program 1992: 140
  3. ^ a b c Roumen Daskalov (2013). "Bulgarian-Greek Dis/Entanglements". Entangled Histories of the Balkans - Volume One. BRILL. pp. 226, 230. ISBN 900425076X.
  4. ^ Иван Радев, Йордан Хаджиконстантинов-Джинот, "Българин съм", „Абагар”, Велико Търново, 1993. Увод. Възрожденецът от Велес.
  5. ^ a b c d e Емил Георгиев (1980). "Йордан Хаджиконстантинов Джинот. „Философ скопски, наш Тредиаковски"". Люлка на старата и новата българска писменост (in Bulgarian). Sofia: Държавно издателство Народна просвета. pp. 197–203, 205, 207, 210.
  6. ^ a b c Dimitar Bechev (2009). Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia. Scarecrow Press. p. 92. ISBN 0810855658.
  7. ^ a b c Македонска енциклопедија [Macedonian Encyclopedia] (in Macedonian). Skopje: Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts. 2009. p. 1578.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Blaže Koneski (2020). Katica Kulavkova (ed.). Македонскиот XIX век (PDF) (in Macedonian). Skopje: Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts. pp. 159–160, 165–166, 173, 184–185, 189, 191.
  9. ^ a b c d e Vemund Aarbakke (2003). Ethnic rivalry and the quest for Macedonia, 1870-1913. East European Monographs. pp. 38–39. ISBN 0880335270. Djinot is in the Macedonian historiography hailed as one of the earliest "Macedonian educators".
  10. ^ a b c d Vlado Treneski; Dejan Tančovski (2021). White Book about the Language Dispute Between Bulgaria and the Republic of North Macedonia. Orbel. pp. 103–105. ISBN 9789544961497.
  11. ^ a b Петър Петров; Христо Темелски (2003). "Глава трета Борба за независима българска църква, 2. Борбите в Скопска епархия". Църква и църковен живот в Македония (in Bulgarian). Sofia: Macedonian Scientific Institute.
  12. ^ Енциклопедия. Българската възрожденска интелигенция. Учители, свещеници, монаси, висши духовници, художници, лекари, аптекари, писатели, издатели, книжари, търговци, военни... София, ДИ „Д-р Петър Берон“, 1988. с. 351.
  13. ^ "Општина Велес одбележа 202 години од раѓањето на Јордан Хаџи Константинов-Џинот". Kanal 5 (in Macedonian). 15 December 2023.
  14. ^ Marinov, Tchavdar (2015). "Ancient Thrace in the Modern Imagination: Ideological Aspects of the Construction of Thracian Studies in Southeast Europe (Romania, Greece, Bulgaria)". In Daskalov, Roumen; Vezenkov, Alexander (eds.). Entangled Histories of the Balkans. Volume Three: Shared Pasts, Disputed Legacies. Leiden: Brill. p. 78. ISBN 978-90-04-25076-5.
  15. ^ Maria Nikolaeva Todorova (2009). Bones of Contention: The Living Archive of Vasil Levski and the Making of Bulgaria's National Hero. Central European University Press. p. 247. ISBN 9639776246. Iordan Hadzhi Konstantinov Dzhinot from Veles, who always said: "I am Bulgarian even if this is against God";"
  16. ^ "Macedonia. Collection of Documents and Materials", Sofia, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1978. Institute of History, Institute of Bulgarian Language, p. 151; (in Bulgarian).
  17. ^ a b Friedman, Victor A. (2003). "Language in Macedonia as an Identity Construction Site". In Joseph, Brian D.; DeStefano, Johanna F.; Jacobs, Neil G.; Lehiste, Ilse (eds.). When Languages Collide: Perspectives on Language Conflict, Language Competition, and Language Coexistence. Columbus: Ohio State University Press. p. 262.
  18. ^ Andrew Rossos (2013). Macedonia and the Macedonians: A History. Hoover Press. pp. 83–84. ISBN 9780817948832.
  19. ^ Yordan Hadzhikonstantinov - Dzhinot (1993). Ivan Radev (ed.). Българин съм (in Bulgarian). Veliko Tarnovo: Абагар. pp. 77, 80.
  20. ^ Macedonian Review - Tom. 14. 1984. p. 15. ..Dzhinot at another time wrote that he was a Serb.
  21. ^ Todorovski, Gane (1993). Македонската литература XIX-XX век. p. 57. Во своите писмени обраќања до Друштвото на српската словесност, почнувајќи од 1856 година, од кога потекнува песната за кнезот Лазар и Косовската битка, Џинот поначесто се декларира како Србин. Така на пример само на еден ден пред напишувањето на овој поетски текст, во писмо од 9 ноември 1856 година, тој ги испишува следните редови: „Јас останувам готово да ви послужам пунокорисно и тихо како Србин, Јордан Х. Константинов Чинов [In his written addresses to the Society of Serbian Literature, starting from 1856, when the poem about Prince Lazar and the Battle of Kosovo originated, Džinot more often declared himself as a Serb. For example, just one day before writing this poetic text, in a letter from 9 November 1856, he wrote the following lines: "I remain ready to serve you most usefully and quietly as a Serb, Jordan H. Konstantinov Činov]
  22. ^ Todorovski, Gane (2004). Книга за Џинот. p. 47. ISBN 9789989485411. Во истото време тој во преписката со Друштвото за српска словесност и во творбите праќани до него ќе се декларира како 'Србин', 'син српски...готов за наш српски род да се принесем жертва'. 'Ви не можете разумет – ќе напише во писмото од 9 октомври 1856 год. до Друштвото за српска словесност – колко ми гори срцето за преслаткое наше српство, за кое готов сам жертва да претставам'... [At the same time, in his correspondence with the Serbian Literary Society and in the works sent to it, he declared himself as a 'Serbian', 'a son of Serbia...ready to sacrifice myself for our Serbian race'. 'You cannot understand - he wrote in a letter from 9 October 1856 to the Serbian Literary Society - how much my heart burns for our dearest Serbdom, for which I am ready to sacrifice myself'...]
  23. ^ Bojkovska, Stojka; Minova-Gjurkova, Liljana; Pandev, Dimitar; Cvetanovski, Živko (2008). Општа граматика на македонскиот јазик [General grammar of the Macedonian language] (in Macedonian). Skopje: Prosvetno Delo. p. 72. ISBN 9789989006623.
  24. ^ Kinnell, Susan (1989). People in World History: A-M. ABC-CLIO. p. 182.

Sources

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