Istoriya Slavyanobolgarskaya
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Istoriya Slavyanobolgarskaya (Cyrillic: История славяноболгарская; История славянобългарска in modern Bulgarian, translated as Slavonic-Bulgarian History) is a book by Bulgarian scholar and clergyman Saint Paisius of Hilendar. Written in 1762, it is considered Saint Paisius of Hilendar's greatest work and one of the greatest pieces of Bulgarian literature, as well as the first work of Bulgarian historiography. Paisius' motivation to write this piece of literature was to ensure that a "nation with a glorious past has the right to a splendid future".
Although he was based in the Hilendar Monastery in the Holy Mount Athos (today an autonomous province in Greece), Paisius travelled extensively throughout the country and collected a vast amount of references to compile and write his concise but extremely powerful version of Bulgarian history.
The importance of this manuscript is that it was able to restore national pride to a country, which after 400 years of Ottoman rule was lacking in such passion. What would follow is known as the Bulgarian National Revival, in which Istoriya Slavyanobolgarskaya played a significant role.
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.
