Vinozito to Bartholomew: We want liturgy in our Native language!

[Niko777]

TRANSLATED BY GOOGLE

Original in Greek: https://www.romfea.gr/diafora/27410-...sta-makedonika


"To: His Most Holy Eminence, Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew.

Dear,

With this letter we wish to address your important issues and, at the same time, requests concerning us Orthodox Christians of the minority ethnic Macedonians in Greece.

We want to have a church services in our native contemporary Macedonian language, which belongs to the broader family of South Slavic languages whose alphabet is derived from 9th century Thessaloniki, Saints Cyril and Methodius.

Specifically, we wish the Divine Liturgy to take place in the modern Macedonian language even on Sunday in the regions of Greece where we, the Macedonian Orthodox Christians - Greek citizens live.

Allow us to let you know in more detail:

Unfortunately, we native Macedonian Macedonian Orthodox Christians of the "New Territories" after 1913 were forced through persecutions and bans to cut from our public life many human rights to survive.

Since the beginning of the last century, the Church, the State, sometimes silent and sometimes with obvious violence, threats and intimidation have changed our language, our names and our national identity.

In the past, Bishops in Northern Greece were leading the demolition of old Macedonian Orthodox temples with hagiographies and inscriptions in the Cyrillic alphabet on the pretext that they were "dull".

Even today we are victims of implicit hostility and intolerance of a significant portion of the church clergy, and that is precisely why we are addressing you directly through our political body - Rainbow.

Knowing that the Bishops of the New Territories of Northern Greece are shepherds in your jurisdiction, please take care of and accept our requests.

After the ratification of the Prespa Agreement between the Hellenic Republic and the Republic of North Macedonia, we believe that the time has come for an end to the injustice to us the native Macedonian minority, Macedonian Orthodox Christians of the Hellenic territory who belong to the Metropolises of the New Territories find a solution to our religious duties in terms of our language through a sincere dialogue from all sides.

We want to embrace you with the same fervor as you embrace and the Greek minority of Istanbul. There is no democracy without minority tolerance.

It is something that Your eminence at every opportunity you stress in every direction.

We ask You for the Highest on Earth our religious Shepherds to contribute with understanding to our religious rights as a minority to sing and hear prayers in our native contemporary Macedonian language and to baptize our children with our traditional names.

We would like a meeting to inform you in which Parishes of the Metropolises of the New Territories we Macedonian Orthodox Christians live and who wish to perform the Divine Liturgy together with the Greek language and modern Macedonian language by alternating in the chanting of prayers when in one language and when to the other let some Sundays of the year.

We also ask you to allow us to ask you to inform the priests of the Metropolises of the New Territories - both for Baptism and the memorials of the Macedonian Orthodox Christians with our traditional Macedonian names: Zora, Sofka, Stoyanka, Boris, Zlata, Dore, Stoiko, Tome, Dorka, Gotse, Velika, Kyril, Slave, Traiko, Spase, Kolyo, Kitka, Stojan, Petko, Mitre, Sfeta, Traiche, Trajanka, Sfetko, Risto, Petko, Vaska ...

In support of our requests we attach the narrative of a Psalm which at military service was brought to our places about 15 years ago.

This narrative reads on the one hand the displeasure of the Macedonian faithful Orthodox Christians of the New Territories and the uneasy difficulty of the priests when they are forced to mention altered names of the faithful when the sacraments are performed at a time when the priests themselves know otherwise they are not the real names they use in the local community.

It is at least disrespect for the dead when, for example, the priest is forced at a memorial, a martyr in the village who all knew by the name Zora to rename it with the Hellenic name Avgi that we did not know by that name. Nor did God know this, as is characteristically mentioned in Psalter's narrative.

We hope to have an answer on your behalf.

We are always at your service for any further information.

Yours sincerely,
The EFA-Rainbow Press Office

[Liberator of Makedonija]

History repeats itself

[Dove]

History repeats itself

What do you mean specifically?

[Liberator of Makedonija]

What do you mean specifically?

Mid 19th century: "We want liturgy in our native language". 150 years later and nothing has changed.

[Carlin]

Vinozhito also sent a letter to the University of Thessaloniki with a request to open a Macedonian language department: "In the programs of your university you should promote the study of the Macedonian language, the language spoken by our neighbor and in northern Greece".

URL:

https://www.mkd.mk/makedonija/politika/vinozhito-od-univerzitetot-makedonija-vo-solun-pobara-izuchuvanje-na

[Dove]

Mid 19th century: "We want liturgy in our native language". 150 years later and nothing has changed.

Thanks. Do you know of a written source, preferably a primary source, by any chance please?

Also, what was the answer 150 years ago?

[Liberator of Makedonija]

Thanks. Do you know of a written source, preferably a primary source, by any chance please?

Also, what was the answer 150 years ago?

Mate just have a geeze through these forums, lots of threads dedicated to the 19th century and I'm sure you'll find a lot of sources about Macedonians requesting liturgy in their language. It was the main goal of the Anti-Phanariot Movement.

Well apparently the answer 150 years ago was to replace the oppressive Patriarchate of Constantinople with the oppressive Bulgarian Exarchate.

[Tomche Makedonche]

http://www.ekathimerini.com/239199/article/ekathimerini/news/holy-synod-concerned-about-macedonian-liturgy

Holy Synod concerned about ‘Macedonian’ liturgy

The Holy Synod of the Church of Greece has expressed its concerns to Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios over the request he received from the small local Rainbow Party to grant his approval for the divine liturgy to be conducted in the “Macedonian language” to cater for speakers of the Southern Slavic language spoken in North Macedonia.

The northern Greece-based political party is known for its activism in favor of what it regards as an ethnic Slav-Macedonian minority in the country.

In its letter on Wednesday to the Istanbul-based patriarch, the Holy Synod took issue with the request made by the “self-declared Macedonian speakers” of Greece, noting the “national sensitivity” in northern Greece to a so-called “Macedonian” language.

The Ecumenical Patriarchate has spiritual jurisdiction over the so-called Sees of the New Lands in parts of northern Greece and has the authority to decide on matters such as the language used in the divine liturgy.

[Risto the Great]

What a pity most Greeks don't know it's out of the Greek church's jurisdiction.

[Niko777]

What's there to be concerned about, I thought it's a "non-existent language" spoken by those who "don't exist"

[Karposh]

What's there to be concerned about, I thought it's a "non-existent language" spoken by those who "don't exist"

They're concerned because they know they can't hide one million ethnic Macedonians forever. Many Macedonian activists in Greece often quote the statistic that just under half of the 2.38 million people currently residing in Aegean Macedonia are in fact ethnic Macedonians. That would put the figure at somewhere roughly around one million ethnic Macedonians. They also stress that this number includes assimilated Macedonians and Grkomani as well. However, of this million, it would be more than a little optimistic to assume that any significant proportion actually speak the Macedonian language with any degree of fluency or level of proficiency. 100 years of aggressive assimilation has yielded the expected Greek results. So, the real concern among Greeks, I would imagine, is the threat of this assimilation being reversed. If the Macedonian language was allowed to flourish in Aegean Macedonia, then it would be quite feasible to witness lost Macedonians slowly awakening and coming back to the Macedonian fold.

[Carlin]

Letter to the Minister of Education, K. Gavriloglou.

URL:

http://florina.org/news/2019/february02_e.asp

Florina/Лерин, 2 February, 2019

To: Rt Honourable Mr. Gavriloglou

Your Excellency,

We, members of the Central Council and of the Political Secretariat of EFA-Rainbow (Ouranio Toxo), are writing to you, the Minister of Education, to inform you of our party’s resolution on the subject of meeting the Education Minister, which was passed on the last party conference (held on 11th November 2018), and we hereby take this opportunity to make this request formally to you. We would be most honoured to attend a working meeting with you, on a date that serves you, to discuss issues related to the introduction of Modern Macedonian language in state education, in the areas of the country where it is spoken.

This comes in a line of similar requests put forward to previous governments’ Education Ministers, none of which, we are disappointed to say, getting a response from the Ministry. In requesting once again a meeting, we believe we are being consistent with and fully committed to the principle of sincere and open dialogue. We are hopeful this time round, as your government, and you personally, have shown evidence of willingness to approach head on chronic issues that concern Greek society, and have been quite effective in solving some of them. In this context, we hope for your positive response to this call.

Anticipating and hoping for your positive response, we would like to express our advance gratitude.

Sincerely,
The Central Council of the EFA-Rainbow

[Karposh]

...Asked about whether his late father, former Greek Prime Minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis, who was toppled after he was seen as too lenient on the “Macedonian issue”, would have signed the Prespa treaty, he answered “no”. The reason why the treaty is bad for Greece, Mitsotakis, says, is that it could pave the way for greater minority rights for the Macedonians living in Greece, who have faced nearly a century of expulsions and forced assimilation.

Huh?! I'm confused. What Macedonians living in Greece? What century of expulsions and forced assimilation?

...I have read my father’s speeches on the issue and I present his words. He said that our country already has a religious minority in Thrace (Turks) and should not, under any circumstances, allow the creation of another, national minority, a Macedonian minority in Northern Greece. This was the great worry of Konstantinos Mistotakis, Kyriakos Mistotakis said at a party rally in Sparta.

Wow! He's actually discussing the possibility of a second national minority at a political rally in Sparta? Why would there ever be any need to even mention a circumstance under which a "Macedonian minority" would ever need to be created if they didn't exist? Mitsotakis should be arrested and locked up immediately for spreading confusion and panic among the Greek people with his false information about a non-existing issue. Stupid Skopjan agent and his pathetic propaganda.