Neofit-Rilsi-Bulgarian-Grammer-Book-Cover

Neofit Rilski () or Neophyte of

Rila Rila (, ) is the highest mountain range of Bulgaria, the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, and Southeast Europe. It is situated in southwestern Bulgaria and forms part of the Rila–Rhodope Mountains, Rhodope Massif. The highest summit is Musala at an e ...

(born Nikola Poppetrov Benin; 1793 – January 4, 1881) was a 19th-century Bulgarian monk, teacher and artist, and an important figure of the

Bulgarian National Revival The Bulgarian Revival (, ''Balgarsko vazrazhdane'' or simply: Възраждане, ''Vazrazhdane'', and ), sometimes called the Bulgarian National Revival, was a period of socio-economic development and national integration among Bulgarian pe ...

Biography

He was born in the southwestern town of

Bansko Bansko ( ) is a town in southwestern Bulgaria, located in Blagoevgrad Oblast near the city of Razlog. Once mainly a stockbreeding and travelling merchant community, the town is now an international centre for winter and summer tourism. More rec ...

(or possibly in the village of Guliyna Banya) of Pirin Macedonia. Benin was educated to become a teacher, initially by his father Petar, and later at the

Rila Monastery The Monastery of Saint John of Rila, also known as Rila Monastery ("Sveti Ivan Rilski" (), is the largest and most famous Eastern Orthodox monastery in Bulgaria. It is situated in the southwestern Rila Mountains, south of the capital Sofia in th ...

, where he studied iconography and had access to

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

and

Church Slavonic Church Slavonic is the conservative Slavic liturgical language used by the Eastern Orthodox Church in Belarus, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia. The ...

books. He went to Melnik in 1822, where he spent four years as a student of the noted teacher Adam and perfected his Greek and

Greek literature Greek literature () dates back from the ancient Greek literature, beginning in 800 BC, to the modern Greek literature of today. Ancient Greek literature was written in an Ancient Greek dialect, literature ranges from the oldest surviving wri ...

knowledge. Initially working as a teacher in the Rila Monastery, he also spent time working in

Samokov Samokov ( ) List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, is a town in Sofia Province in the southwest of Bulgaria. It is situated in Samokov Valley between the mountain ranges of Rila, Vitosha and Sredna Gora, 55 kilometres from the capital Sofia. Due ...

(1827–1831), then back in the monastery, then went to

Gabrovo Gabrovo ( ) is a city in central northern Bulgaria, the Local government, administrative centre of Gabrovo Province.It is situated at the foot of the central Balkan Mountains, in the valley of the Yantra River, and is known as an international ca ...

and

Koprivshtitsa Koprivshtitsa (, pronounced , from the Bulgarian word , ''kopriva'', meaning "Urtica, nettle") is a List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, historic town in the Koprivshtitsa Municipality in Sofia Province, central Bulgaria, lying on the Topolnit ...

(1835–1839) and returned to the monastery as a teacher to join the theological school on the island of Halki, where he spent four and a half years. He returned to the Rila Monastery in 1852. He spent the remaining part of his life in Rila, and since 1860 was the monastery's

hegumen Hegumen, hegumenos, or igumen (, trans. ), is the title for the head of a monastery in the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, or an archpriest in the Coptic Orthodox Church, similar to the title of abbot. The head of a convent of ...

. He stayed in the monastery despite being offered higher positions in the Orthodox hierarchy, such as becoming a bishop or the rector of the projected Tarnovo seminary. In 1835, Rilski issued his ''Bolgarska gramatika'', the first grammar book of modern Bulgarian language. His other books include ''Tablitsi vzaimouchitelni'' and the 1852 Greek- Slavic dictionary ''Slovar greko-slavyanskiy''. Neofit Rilski made the first popular translation of the New Testament in modern Bulgarian language (not a mixture between Church Slavonic and vernacular elements), commissioned, edited and distributed by the American missionary Elias Riggs.Georgi Genov
American Elias Riggs and his contribution to the Bulgarian National Revival
. ''Historical Archives''. Sofia, Issue 9-10, November 2000 - May 2001 (in Bulgarian). Rilski considered

Old Church Slavonic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic ( ) is the first Slavic languages, Slavic literary language and the oldest extant written Slavonic language attested in literary sources. It belongs to the South Slavic languages, South Slavic subgroup of the ...

as synonymous with

Old Bulgarian Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic ( ) is the first Slavic literary language and the oldest extant written Slavonic language attested in literary sources. It belongs to the South Slavic subgroup of the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European ...

and he tried to unify Western and Eastern Bulgarian dialects. Neofit Rilski died in the

on 4 January 1881. Neofit Peak on Smith Island,

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands, Antarctic islands located in the Drake Passage with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the n ...

and South-West University "Neofit Rilski" in

Blagoevgrad Blagoevgrad ( ) is List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, а town in Southwestern Bulgaria, the administrative centre of Blagoevgrad Municipality and of Blagoevgrad Province. With a population of almost inhabitants, it is the economic and cultura ...

are named after Neofit Rilski.

Notes

References

Literature

:Olesch, R. (ed.): Neofit Rilski, Bolgarska grammatika. Kragujevac 1835. Tablici Bukarest 1848. Unveränderter Nachdruck mit einer Einleitung herausgegeben von Reinhold Olesch (Slavistische Forschungen, Bd. 41). Köln-Wien: Böhlau 1989.
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