ay to a reaction against the influence and authority of the Greek clergy.
The spiritual domination of the Greek patriarchate had tended more
effectually than the temporal power of the Turks to the effacement of
Bulgarian nationality. After the conquest of the Peninsula the Greek
patriarch became the representative at the Sublime Porte of the
_Rum-millet_, the Roman nation, in which all the Christian nationalities
were comprised. The independent patriarchate of Trnovo was suppressed; that
of Ochrida was subsequently Hellenized. The Phanariot clergy--unscrupulous,
rapacious and corrupt--succeeded in monopolizing the higher ecclesiastical
appointments and filled the parishes with Greek priests, whose schools, in
which Greek was exclusively taught, were the only means of instruction open
to the population. By degrees Greek became the language of the upper
classes in all the Bulgarian towns, the Bulgarian language was written in
Greek characters, and the illiterate peasants, though speaking the
vernacular, called themselves Greeks. The Slavonic liturgy was suppressed
in favour of the Greek, and in many places the old Bulgarian manuscripts,
images, testaments and missals were committed to the flames. The patriots
of the literary movement, recognizing in the patriarchate the most
determined foe to a national revival, directed all their efforts to the
abolition of Greek ecclesiastical ascendancy and the restoration of the
Bulgarian autonomous church. Some of the leaders went so far as to open
negotiations with Rome, and an archbishop of the Uniate Bulgarian church
was nominated by the pope. The struggle was prosecuted with the utmost
tenacity for forty years. Incessant protests and memorials were addressed
to the Porte, and every effort was made to undermine the position of the
Greek bishops, some of whom were compelled to abandon their sees. At the
same time no pains were spared to diffuse education and to stimulate the
national sentiment. Various insurrectionary movements were attempted by the
patriots Rakovski, Panayot Khitoff, Haji Dimitr, Stephen Karaja and others,
but received little support from the mass of the people. The recognition of
Bulgarian nationality was won by the pen, not the sword. The patriarchate
at length found it necessary to offer some concessions, but these appeared
illusory to the Bulgarians, and long and acrimonious discussions followed.
Eventually the Turkish government intervened, and on the 28th of Feb