KARAGYOZOV  Panayot

SLAVIC MARTYRS – A VICTIM OF STRUGGLE OF FAITHS (OF STRUGGLE BETWEEN ORTHODOX AND CATHOLIC CLERGY, BETWEEN ORTHODOX CLERGY AND MOSLEMS)

Authors

KARAGYOZOV Panayot

Keywords:

Southern Slavs, the western Slavs, Christianity, Islam, faith, martyrs, sanctity.

Abstract

The article analyzes the different types of Slavic martyrs, such as martyrs from the period of the two faiths (Slavic Paganism and Christianity), dynastic martyrs, victims of secular power, victims of confessional conflicts, victims of religious antagonism. Here, the peculiarities of the Slavic dynastic sainthood are considered and the unique character of Balkan neomartyrs is emphasized. The role of several cults for the formation of national stereotypes and myths is also discussed. A special emphasis is placed on the suicidal neomartyrdom of orthodox Slavs who deliberately sought confrontation with Islamic authorities in 1515–1841. While after the Middle Ages the martyrdom as a type of sainthood declined in Europe, it flourished among Slavs and reached its culmination in the XX century. The reasons for this phenomenon are sought in the Mongolo-Tatarian invasion in East Europe, the Slavic involvement in several confessional and religious wars and conflicts in the XIV–XIXth centuries, the fate of the Slavs who lived in multinational and multiconfessional empires and states. Thus, the sainthood, and in particular, martyrdom, was used in the process of consolidation of the dynasties and states. Both among West and South Slavs there appeared martyrs who were victims in the name of the «pure faith». After the XIVth century, among West Slavs they were victims of confessional conflicts, whereas among orthodox South Slavs they were victims of the conflict between Christianity and Islam.

SLAVIC MARTYRS – A VICTIM OF STRUGGLE OF FAITHS (OF STRUGGLE BETWEEN ORTHODOX AND CATHOLIC CLERGY, BETWEEN ORTHODOX CLERGY AND MOSLEMS)