site.bta"Slav-Bulgarian History" Played Consolidating Role and United People's Minds, Says Hegumen of Zograf Monastery

The newly elected hegumen of the Zograf (Zographou) Monastery, Archimandrite Gabriel, told the Bulgarian delegation here on Saturday that Slav-Bulgarian History by Paisius of Hilendar played a consolidating role and united people's minds. Archimandrite Gabriel presented the library of the monastery to the Bulgarian delegation. That is where the draft of Slav-Bulgarian History had been preserved and later discovered. 

"The story of Paisius played a consolidating role, somehow uniting the minds of the people. This is the power of history. In his time, there were other such written histories, but they failed to accomplish what this history did. The value is that people can read something in their own language, accessible, understandable, that can unite their minds in a common past that can give them a future," Archimandrite Gabriel said in the library.

He showed the delegation the oldest document that testifies to the existence of the monastery in 980, when the monastery purchased a neighbouring land.

A Bulgarian state delegation is paying an official visit to Mount Athos on May 10 and 11 in connection with the enthronement of the newly elected hegumen of the Bulgarian Zograf (Zographou) Monastery. The delegation is led by Justice Minister Georgi Georgiev. It also includes Agriculture and Food Minister Georgi Tahov, Economy and Industry Minister Petar Dilov, Youth and Sports Minister Ivan Peshev, as well as Bulgaria’s Consul General in Thessaloniki, Anton Markov.