THE BULGARIANS OF EUROPEAN TURKEY.
1862-1871.
Brigandage has at times prevailed in some parts of Bulgaria,
especially in the Balkan Mountains. In the spring of 1862, the roads
were more or less infested with highwaymen, but the one from
Philippopolis to Adrianople, and thence to Rodosto, being constantly
travelled, was deemed safe. By this road Mr. Byington, and Mr.
Meriam with his wife and child, went to Constantinople, to attend
the annual meeting of the Western Turkey Mission. Returning, Mr.
Byington started a week before Mr. Meriam, and reached Eski Zagra
safely, going from Adrianople to Philippopolis alone. Mr. Meriam
passed over the same route with his family. Nothing noticeable
occurred till they reached Hermanli, twelve hours from Adrianople,
at noon, July 3d. Here they found a company of half a score or more
of men, with four wagons, hesitating to proceed on account of a band
of mounted brigands, said to be lying in wait to rob them.
Unfortunately the courageous advice of Mr. Meriam decided them to
proceed, accompanied by two armed guards. After they had started,
Mr. Meriam became convinced that it would have been safer for him
and his family to have gone alone; and such was the fact, for the
robbers did not know of his presence, and designed only to plunder
the rayahs. The brigands came upon them about three o'clock in the
afternoon. The faithless guards fled at once, and some valuable
horses were seized. The drivers of the two forward talaccas, of
which Mr. Meriam's was one, then increased their speed, endeavoring
to escape; when the robbers pursued, firing rapidly upon the wagons,
piercing the covering of Mr. Meriam's, and killing or wounding two
or three occupants of the next vehicle. The missionary and his
family were shielded for a time by the boxes in the hinder part of
the carriage, till the fall of one of the horses wheeled it round,
so as to face the assailants. Mr. Meriam sprang out to protect his
wife and child, and immediately fell, pierced by two balls. When the
agonized wife expostulated with one of the brigands, saying, that
"he loved the Osmanlees, and wished to do them good," he replied,
"Why then did you flee"? Had they quietly waited, though they might
have been robbed, life would probably have been spared.
Mrs. Meriam retained her presence of mind, and placing her infant
upon the ground, carefully collected the papers and other articles
which the robbers had scattered about, and then sat down to watch
the lifeless remains of her husband. The Turkish authorities of the
next village sent a conveyance to take her and her precious treasure
to a khan. When the moodir saw her in her little room, with her babe
and the corpse of her husband, he was much moved, and did what he
could for her comfort. He sent a telegram to the governor of
Philippopolis, designed for Mr. Clarke, but Mr. Clarke received no
notice, and consequently no friend came to meet her. She conveyed
the body in her own carriage; and spent the whole of the next night,
with her babe, watching the talacca in the open air, vainly
listening for the coming of the messenger whom she had so much
reason to expect. On the next and last day, she prevailed on a
Bulgarian boy to hasten on with a message, which brought Mr. Clarke
to her relief, but only just before she entered the city. An
immediate burial was necessary. The Austrian, Greek, and French
Consuls were very kind, and the Bulgarian church was offered for the
funeral.
Mrs. Meriam possessed an excellent constitution, but the strain had
been too much for her. A premature confinement followed, and fever,
which assumed a typhoid form, closed her earthly career, July 25,
about three weeks after her husband's murder.[1]
[1] A statement, made at the time, that Mr. Meriam fired on the
assassins was afterwards found to be untrue. Nor did Mrs. Meriam
receive any injury at the time of the murder. Nothing was taken from
her personally, and no violence was offered her. _Missionary
Herald_, 1863, p. 143.
It was necessary that an example should be made of the murderers.
Mr. Seward, Secretary of State at Washington, took Mr. Webster's
view as to the rights of missionaries, and removed the doubts of Mr.
Morris, the American Minister at the Porte, which had occasioned an
unfortunate delay; so that he, with Mr. Goddard the Consul General,
put matters in train at Adrianople, which led the Pasha of that
province to offer four hundred dollars, and soon after as much more,
for information that would insure the detection of the assassins,
and to distribute bands of soldiers over the country. Mr. Blunt, the
English Consul at Adrianople, offered a reward of ninety dollars on
his own responsibility; and with him the Austrian Consul, Mr.
Camerlobe, actively coöperated.
These efforts resulted in the arrest, conviction, and execution of
three of the five engaged in the murder. The remaining two met with
an ignominious and violent death; one having been assassinated, and
the other shot down while committing highway robbery in an adjacent
province.
A very effectual check was thus put to the brigandage so prevalent
before, and the attention of all classes was drawn to the character,
position, and aims of the missionaries.
Scarcely a year had elapsed, since Mr. Coffing had fallen by the
hands of assassins in Central Turkey; and who can tell how much the
punishment inflicted on the murderers of these missionaries, has
contributed to the safety of their brethren, or how much it will be
instrumental in preventing future massacres of native Christians, as
well as missionaries, by fanatical Mohammedans.
The Rev. Henry C. Haskell and wife joined the mission in the autumn
of 1862, and assisted Mr. Morse in forming a new station at Sophia,
about four days' journey northwest of Philippopolis. In the
following year, Miss Mary E. Reynolds took charge of a school for
girls at Eski Zagra, which had been successfully commenced by a
young woman from Catholic Bohemia, who spoke the Bulgarian like a
native, and gave good evidence of piety. The school was designed for
the education of female teachers. The health of Mrs. Crane obliged
her and her husband to return home, and ask for a release from their
connection with the Board. Adrianople was thus left, for a time,
without a missionary. The death of Mr. and Mrs. Meriam stirred up
several young men in the school at Philippopolis who became active
and successful colporters in the surrounding villages. Many of the
people in Sophia were found to possess the Scriptures, and a
considerable number were known to read them with interest; but as
soon as the fact became known to their acquaintance, they were
subjected to persecution.
At Samokov, a pleasant town nine hours to the southeast of Sophia,
with a Bulgarian population of ten thousand, there were encouraging
indications, and that place proving to be more healthful and a
better centre than Sophia, the station was removed thither in 1869.
In 1863, the missionaries of the American Board and the Methodists
working in this field held a meeting at Eski Zagra, for cultivating
the friendly relations already existing between them. Dr. Wood and
Mr. Isaac G. Bliss were present from the Armenian Mission. They
found themselves in substantial agreement as to the methods of
missionary labor, and also as to the nature of the field. "While
some facts of a more or less hopeful nature," writes Mr. Byington,
"were reported, the general feeling seemed to be, that the
Bulgarians were a very different people from what they were supposed
to be, six or eight years ago, and that in our efforts for their
good, patience must have her perfect work. They cannot be said to be
a particularly depraved people; they are not probably addicted to
the grosser sins in any unusual degree; but there seems to be among
them a great want of impressibility. When the truth is presented,
they at once assent to it, but without any apparent impression on
the heart. The brethren generally spoke of the pleasant social
intercourse which they enjoyed with the people, but upon religious
matters a very painful indifference was manifested."
One great obstacle to the reception of evangelical truth among the
Bulgarians, was the attachment of all classes to their national
unity. The same had been found among the Armenians and Greeks. Men
objected to the examination of evangelical doctrines, lest the
result should be a schism in the nation; not being able to see how a
change in religious belief could consist with national loyalty. Yet,
though the progress of the work had not equaled the expectations
awakened at the outset, it was obvious that increasing acquaintance
with the missionaries was perceptibly removing prejudice. The
conviction was gaining strength with many, not only that Protestants
had a Christian faith, but that it was purer than their own. The
girls' school at Eski Zagra had thirty pupils in regular attendance,
and a score of applicants were refused for want of room. Mr. Clarke
having been overworked, it was necessary to secure aid for him, and
Mr. Haskell removed to Philippopolis. Mr. Ball, after a long
detention at home by the decline of his wife's health, joined the
Adrianople station in 1865. Some new prejudice against the
missionaries was now created by accusations transferred from English
newspapers, made in defense of the intolerance of the Turkish
authorities, and of what certainly seemed an unfriendly policy in
Sir Henry Bulwer, the English Ambassador.
But the school for young men at Philippopolis, and that for girls at
Eski Zagra, conciliated favor. The former had fourteen pupils, who
made good improvement in mental and moral character, and manifested
a good degree of religious feeling, a spirit of benevolence, and a
readiness to labor for the good of others. During vacation, six of
them were employed as colporters. Nearly all the older students
seemed ready to take their stand on the Bible, and did not fear the
name of Protestant. The girls' school numbered about thirty pupils,
whose progress in study had been gratifying, and there had often
been deep feeling under religious instruction. Members of the common
council of the town, and others who witnessed an examination of the
school, sent to Mr. Byington a letter of thanks, and assured him
that the missionaries would yet be recognized by the Bulgarians as
benefactors of their nation.
The people could not, as yet, be drawn, in any numbers, to attend
the regular religious services of the missionaries. They were banded
together against receiving spiritual truth. Still something could be
done by personal conversations and the circulation of books and
tracts. Touring in the villages was often attended with
encouragement.
The year 1867 was one of peculiar promise. The moral stupor, which
for so many years had taxed the faith of the mission, seemed to be
yielding to the awakening power of the Word of God, and Gospel truth
was not only better apprehended by the intellect, but also was
impressing the heart and conscience. Though the awakening was
neither as extensive, or thorough, or spiritual as was desired, it
was real, and indicated the entering upon a new stage of the work.
Miss Roseltha A. Norcross became the associate of Miss Reynolds in
the school at Eski Zagra. The arrival of a new teacher and many
applications for admission, led to an enlargement of the school. Two
sisters, however, who were among the most interesting pupils, were
called to severe trials. One of them left in 1866, but the other
remained, and was the best scholar in the school. Both possessed
more than ordinary intelligence and amiability, and for more than
two years had been heartily devoted to Christ. "The younger who had
left the school," says the report of the mission, "was taken, a few
days since, into a room where many of her relatives and a priest had
assembled, to extort from her a renunciation of her faith, and was
told that she would either have to give up, or die; that they would
give her no peace so long as she persisted in her present course.
But the Lord sustained her. They resorted to entreaty, and besought
her merely to make the sign of submission, telling her that she need
not in her heart change her belief. But their seductions were as
unavailing as their threats. It is more than a year since she left
the school, and though, during this time, her closet, her Bible, and
the conversation of her sister have been her only means of grace, it
is evident that, in the midst of this wearing domestic persecution,
a Christian character of unusual loveliness is being developed. She
is as frail as a lily, but the strength of the Lord rests upon her."
Another case was that of a pupil who had left a year and a half
before, to teach a Bulgarian school. "Unaided," says the mission,
"except from on high, she has fought a good fight during the past
year. The parents of her pupils complain because she will not
conform to the rites of their Church, but the trustees of the
school, not wishing to lose her services, have been wise enough not
to make conformity a condition of remaining in their service. Her
parents have forbidden her visiting the missionary premises, but
they have not been able to separate her from her Lord, nor to
prevent her laboring for the spiritual good of her pupils. Although
she has been occupying, for more than a year, a position beset with
temptations, and has been in a great degree deprived of the sympathy
and advice of Christian friends, we still hear from her that she is
kept by the power of God."
The mission suffered a most serious loss in the return of Mr. and
Mrs. Byington to their native land, in consequence of the failing
health of the latter.
The great complaint of the missionaries had been of the indifference
of the people. But after the departure of Mr. Byington, there was no
ground for this at Eski Zagra. False reports were circulated with
such effect, that the day-scholars were taken from the school, and
the boarding-school was reassembled with difficulty. The oldest
assistant teacher was forcibly abducted, but escaped and returned. A
mob soon gathered, broke open an outer door, cut away some of the
bars to the windows, and broke sixty panes of glass with stones. The
proprietor of the house now sent for the police, which dispersed the
rioters. Such outrages could not be allowed, and representations
were made to Mr. Morris, the American Minister at Constantinople,
and to Mr. Blunt, the friendly English Consul at Adrianople. Their
prompt efforts were effectual. More than a score of the offenders
were sentenced to imprisonment of different lengths, but were
pardoned at the request of the missionaries. This act of clemency
had a happy influence on the people, and the persecution had a good
effect on the school.
A young man who had been for five years a student at Philippopolis,
was licensed to preach the gospel on the 24th of July; and on the
following Sabbath, ten Bulgarians, six of whom were girls in the
school, sat down at the Lord's table, in the presence of forty
spectators. This was the more significant, as the Bulgarian council,
a month before, had enjoined upon the different "trades" of the city
and neighboring villages, to have no dealings with two individuals
whose names and places of business were specified, nor with any
others who were known as inclined to Protestantism. Such persons
were therefore refused bread, or the right of baking at the public
ovens, and some were reduced to great distress. The missionaries
talked seriously with the leading men of the city in favor of
religious _freedom_, but only a few of them conversed reasonably on
the subject, and the masses were wholly opposed to it. Three men, as
a means of asserting their religious liberty, went before the
Turkish authorities and declared themselves Protestants, which
seemed to be the beginning of a Protestant Bulgarian community. The
missionaries were sometimes threatened with personal violence, but
the Turkish government was ready to defend them.
In January, 1869, four Bulgarians were admitted to the communion at
Eski Zagra, two of them pupils in the school, and two married men.
The number of Bulgarian communicants in that place was now eleven.
The mission was strengthened, in 1868, by the arrival of Messrs.
Lewis Bond, William Edwin Locke, and Henry Pitt Page, all ordained
missionaries, and their wives. Mr. Bond was stationed at Eski Zagra,
and Miss Esther P. Maltbie came thither as a teacher in 1870. Mr.
Haskell welcomed the arrival, at Philippopolis, of Miss Minnie C.
Beach, in 1869, and Messrs. Locke and Page commenced a new station,
before noticed, at Samokov, in ancient Macedonia. Mr. and Mrs. Ball
of Adrianople and Miss Reynolds of Eski Zagra found it necessary to
return to the United States on account of their health; and it soon
appeared that it was too late for them to recover. Mr. Ball died at
Grand Rapids, Wisconsin, June 6, 1870, after a useful connection of
seventeen years with the missionary work, and Miss Reynolds, at
Springfield, Massachusetts, June 1, 1871, just eight years from the
day of her sailing for Turkey, and after a life of singular
devotedness and success.[1]
[1] See _Missionary Herald_, 1871, p. 247.
Previous to the year 1870, the missionaries to the Bulgarians had
sustained a nominal relation to the Western Armenian Mission. This
connection was now dissolved, and the associated brethren took the
name of the EUROPEAN TURKEY MISSION. Its stations were Eski Zagra,
Philippopolis, Samokov, and Adrianople; and Dr. Riggs was reckoned
as a member of it, though he continued to reside in Constantinople,
his labors being chiefly for the Bulgarians. The Rev. Henry A.
Schauffler, then in the United States, was also transferred from the
Western Turkey Mission, and was expected, on his return to the
field, to go to Philippopolis, where he would use the Turkish and
Greek for the benefit of those who spoke these languages; and with
the expectation that the work among the Bulgarians would everywhere
connect itself, as soon as possible, with that of the large
Mohammedan and Greek population, with whom they were intermingled.
The Sultan, having confirmed the appointment of Bishop Anthimas, of
Widdin, to be Exarch of Bulgaria, the Bulgarians thus virtually
acquired their ecclesiastical independence, and so both their
national spirit and their unwillingness to allow Protestantism to
come in as an element of apprehended division, acquired strength.
Few were yet able to see how one could be both a Bulgarian and a
Protestant, and no general movement on the part of rulers and
ecclesiastics towards Protestantism, was to be expected. But the
Scriptures and evangelical publications were extensively circulated.
Thoughtful minds were reached, and examples of what the Gospel could
do to regenerate character and give peace to troubled spirits were
beginning to attract attention. There was not such liberty to
persecute as there had been in Asiatic Turkey. Truth was gaining a
hold in cities and villages. The girls' school at Eski Zagra, under
Miss Norcross, numbering twenty-six pupils, contained several who
gave evidence of spiritual renewal, and applications for teachers
had come from several towns and villages, accompanied by
comparatively liberal subscriptions for their support. The hope, at
Philippopolis, of getting helpers from the high school for young
men, had been much disappointed, but some of its pupils were doing
good. An influential merchant in Samokov was an active convert, and
there was much to encourage in that region.
Early in the autumn of 1870, Miss Norcross sickened, and on the 4th
of November died, greatly to the grief of her pupils and of the
whole mission.[1] Miss Maltbie arrived in less than a month after
she had passed away. It was soon resolved to remove the school to
Samokov, as a more healthful place, and more eligible on other
accounts. A regular Sabbath service was held at this station, and a
weekly prayer-meeting. The audiences were very small, and but five
persons were deemed worthy to be received to church fellowship. At
the out-stations, though there had been no striking success, there
were everywhere signs of an advance. The native helper in the
beautiful town of Bansko had a school of twenty-two pupils, and a
congregation of sixty-five, and the little company contributed to
Christian objects, during the year, nearly two hundred dollars,
including the purchase of a site for a house of worship. The cause
was greatly advanced by the labors of an earnest and devoted
Bible-woman, whom the women of Bansko helped to support.
[1] See _Missionary Herald_, 1871, p. 53.
Bansko will have the ecclesiastical distinction, hereafter, of being
the place where the first evangelical Bulgarian church was formed,
and fully organized. This was in August, 1871. The candidates were
fifteen, nine men, and six women. In accordance with a written
invitation from the people, Messrs. Locke, Bond, and Page started on
Tuesday, August 22d, and went by a circuitous, though a pleasant,
picturesque and easy route, passing through two cities, where they
found several who were examining the truth, and reached their place
of destination on the 24th. The brethren at Bansko had arranged
liberally for the brethren and their horses, at their own houses,
and gave them a hearty welcome. The candidates for church-membership
were all examined, and answered the questions put to them more
clearly than the missionaries had thought possible, considering the
advantages they had enjoyed. The candidate for ordination as pastor,
Mr. Evansko Touzorve, was examined on Saturday afternoon. He had
been preaching there as a helper of the mission, and the examination
was quite satisfactory, especially on the evidences of Christianity,
just then a subject of special importance in that field, owing to
the influx of German and French infidelity.
Sabbath, August 27th, was devoted to the organization of the church,
and the ordination of the pastor. A deacon had been previously
chosen. The service was concluded with the Lord's Supper. The people
were to have the services of the pastor eight months in the year,
and to pay half his salary for that time, and the mission was to
employ him the other four months in another part of the field. The
new church could not then pay more towards the salary, having bought
a lot of land, on which to build a church. The little flock was
jubilant and of good courage. "What a contrast," exclaims the
missionary, "between this state of things, and that two years ago,
when the people seized our horses, and drove us from the village!"
One of the most important results of the mission to the Bulgarians,
has doubtless been the translation of the whole Bible into their
present spoken language.[1] This was published for the first time,
in the year 1871. "Methodius and Cyril, who first preached the
gospel to the Bulgarians a thousand years ago, gave them the
Scriptures in their then spoken language, the Slavic. But this
ancient tongue, the mother of the modern Russian, Bulgarian,
Servian, Polish, Illyrian, etc., has long since ceased to be the
vernacular of any of the nations. Hence the necessity of new
translations of the Word of God in all these dialects." One of the
earliest results of the waking up of the Bulgarian people, was a
translation of the four Gospels by Messrs. Seraphim of Eski Zagra,
and Sapoonoff of Trevna, published at Bucharest in 1828. The first
edition of the whole New Testament in Bulgarian was issued at
Smyrna, in 1840, at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible
Society; but the literary labor was performed by a Bulgarian, the
Rev. Neophytus P. Petroff, of Rila, with the aid of Hilarion, the
Metropolitan Bishop of Ternovo. This edition was well received, and
sold rapidly. It was faithfully, carefully, and ably prepared.
[1] See Dr. Riggs' statement in the _Missionary Herald_, for 1872,
pp. 76-79.
The British and Foreign Bible Society published seven editions of
this Testament, or about forty thousand copies, and authorized the
preparation of a translation of the Old Testament. Mr. Constantine
Photinoff, of Smyrna, to whom this work was committed, just lived to
complete the first draft of a translation of the Old Testament, and
died in 1858, only a few days after having removed from Smyrna to
Constantinople, in order to revise it for publication, with Dr.
Riggs.
Meanwhile a rapid change had been going on in the Bulgarian
language, and it had become manifest that the work must have a
thorough revision. The translations of both the Old and New
Testaments had been made in the Western, or Macedonian dialect; but
the Eastern, or Slavic, was now taking the lead, and the language
was evidently to be mainly moulded after that model.
It is an interesting fact, stated by Dr. Riggs, that the government
censor for Bulgarian publications called on him, the day after Mr.
Photinoff's death, and expressed his hearty interest in the work of
translating the Scriptures, and his hope that it would not be
delayed.
In the preparation of this work, Dr. Riggs was aided by two of the
best Bulgarian scholars, the one trained in the use of the Western,
and the other of the Eastern dialect. In the revision of the New
Testament, he was also aided by the Rev. A. L. Long, D. D., of the
Methodist Bulgarian mission. With such assistance, it is believed
that this translation of the Bible will become a standard work. The
first edition was printed in an imperial octavo volume of one
thousand and sixty pages, with the references of our English Bible,
which will be of special value to a people having as yet no
Concordances, Bible Dictionaries, or Commentaries. Dr. Riggs brought
to the annual meeting of the newly organized mission, in 1871, the
first copy received from the binders.
It should be borne in mind, that only preliminary work has been done
as yet in this most inviting field. Scarcely fourteen years have
elapsed since the field was first explored, and only twelve since
stations began to be occupied. It is not time to expect any other
results than first fruits. The missionaries have become thoroughly
acquainted with the field, with its wants, and its strategetic
points, and are ready to move forward as fast as they shall receive
the needful aid.