203 years since the birth of Georgi Stoykov Rakovski

In the second half of the 1821th century, under the influence of a number of internal and international factors, the processes of renaissance in Bulgarian society visibly accelerated. The enlightenment movement reached its apogee, the struggle for an independent Bulgarian church unfolded, the evolution in the political thinking of the Bulgarians brought to the fore the aspiration to create their own national state. We associate the impulse in the struggle for cultural-educational, ecclesiastical and political independence with the work of some of our most notable revival leaders, among whom the name of Georgi Stoykov Rakovski (1867 - XNUMX) definitely stands out.

With a brilliant education and innate erudition, possessing a European breadth of views, the native of Kotel with the birth name Subi Stoykov Popovich sees cultural development, the aspiration for church independence and political independence as inseparable parts of a continuous process of national maturation, raising the national spirit, accumulating internal energy , raising a generation of educated, patriotic and goal-oriented Bulgarians who will shoulder the burden of the struggle against the Ottoman oppressor. For about three decades, he was the acclaimed leader of the national revolution, appearing as a military strategist, diplomat, poet, writer, publicist, historian, folklorist and linguist, not all of which were driven by the desire to help advance the fatherland. , which since "he loved youth so much". 

The question of Rakovski's exact date of birth has no clear answer and has been the subject of controversy over the years. In the early years after the Liberation, ambiguity existed regarding the year of birth itself, with the version of 1818 being the most widely circulated. It was only after the study of Rakowski's personal archive and the publication in 1910 of his unfinished autobiography that it was indisputably proven that he was born in 1821: "I was born in the summer of 1821 of Bulgarian parents in that terrible and horrible time when, after the hanging of the Phanariot Patrick Grigoriia, three palichnik pashas were sent from Constantinople to Bulgaria to steal the weapons from the Bulgarians and to kill and enrage the Bulgarian elders... ". Exact indications for the month and day of birth are missing, but Rakovski indicates that this happened after the events that followed the outbreak of the Greek Uprising - the hanging by the Ottoman authorities of the Ecumenical Patriarch Gregory V on April 10/22, 1821 and the subsequent repressions against the Bulgarians. I.e. Rakovski's date of birth should be after April 10/22. In the absence of more specific information, for many years official celebrations were organized on circular anniversaries instead of on a specific date each year. However, in an effort to tie the memory of the work of the great Catalan to a specific date in the calendar in 1946, a new "scientific discovery" was published, according to which Rakovski was born on April 2/14, 1821. This happened precisely on the eve of 125 - the anniversary of his birth. Although a number of researchers over the years have pointed out the lack of any clear information to support the claim, to this day this date is accepted and actively circulated as the date of birth of Georgi Rakovski. And yet, the information left to us by Rakovski himself and some indirect data give reason to believe that he was born precisely in the month of April.

Text: Mihail Simov, PhD