Polish Agents in Bulgaria, their Contribution to the Union with Rome in 1860-1862

Abstract

It has been attempted to present a problem following from the interests of the Polish diplomacy represented by the Hotel Lambert in the Balkans. The article deals with the Polish agents in Bulgaria (1860-1862) who tried to create the Roman-Bulgarian Church, that is, the so called Union.

The religious agitation among the people and the Bulgarian priests was to warrant the future Polish activities in Bulgaria. This idea was presented in the instruction sent to Z. Jordan from Paris, which ordered him to go to the northern part of this country. A small strong group of Bulgarians gathered at the Polish Agency in Stambul, which was led by M. Czajkowski. These Bulgarians propagated national education for the Bulgarian nation. Archimandrite Neofit Bozweli and Jeromach Stojanowic Makariopolski (Iłarion) belonged to this group.

Three religious groups were competing in Bulgaria: the Greek Church, the Uniate Church, the Bulgarian Church. In fact, however, it was a true political fight of the Poles for the influence on the deeper national awareness of the Bulgarians. The Bulgarians were fighting for their national Church and education while the Greek priests were trying to retain their privileges.

The Uniate movement in Bulgaria was not widely supported. It existed only for about two years and came to an end in 1862 when rev. Kaysiewicz left for the East with a group of Resurrectionists. The failure of the Uniate action followed from a very small financial support of Rome and actually no support from the higher circles of the Bulgarian Church hierarchy. Nevertheless, the Uniate movement awakened the Bulgarian Church and contributed to the growth of national awareness of the Bulgarians. The Poles supporting the Union made no success. It occurred to them that no Polish political action in Bulgaria was possible.