Father Matey Preobrazhenski Mitkaloto (the wandering one) and his model of a perpetual calendar

Abstract

Father Matey Preobrazhenski (Mitkaloto) – an activist of the Bulgarian national revival, enlightener and lexicographer and inventor. For his project in 1870 the craftsman of the Tryavna school Venko Kalchov Venkov had done a «Perpetual calendar», which was intended for primary school in the village of Mihaltsi, not far from Veliko Tarnovo. The basis of the perpetual calendar has become the Orthodox Typicon, which marked movable holidays and times of fasting. Despite the popularity of this invention, it is still a special study was dedicated to him. In the present work marked by Western European, Russian and Athonite samples, in which there is the proximity to a Bulgarian song. The author does not exclude that «Perpetual calendar» is a replica of the four seasons «Wheels of life» another famous figure of the Renaissance painters of Zechariah, at the Preobrazhenski monastery in the vicinity of Trnovo, in which father Matey took the schema. The project of the Bulgarian monk shows, on the one hand, uniform annual cyclicity, on the other – refers to the theological and philosophical dimensions of man's destiny in time at all. We should not forget that this «Perpetual calendar» was painted on the wall primary schools with the aim of education was generally available for every student, visitor and even special guest. Being created on the basis of solar-lunar cycles of correspondences, revealed in ancient times the Greek philosopher Meton and used in the Orthodox Paschal, model Matey Preobrazhenski was a visual (seeing) calendar. You could define the holidays in any year, the movable liturgical cycle and Church reading for each day of a particular year. Therefore, the model of calendar of this Bulgarian man of enlightenment and national revival was called «Perpetual calendar».