The Macedonian Society or Secret Macedonian Committee (; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Тајни македонски комитет, Tajni makedonski komitet), was a secret organization established in 1885 by

Macedonian Slavs Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia. Macedonian(s) may refer to: People Modern * Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with North Macedonia * Mac ...

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

, to promote а Slav Macedonian identity, distinguished especially from the ethnic identity of the

Bulgarians Bulgarians (, ) are a nation and South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and its neighbouring region, who share a common Bulgarian ancestry, culture, history and language. They form the majority of the population in Bulgaria, ...

, the re-establishment of the

Archbishopric of Ohrid The Archbishopric of Ohrid, also known as the Bulgarian Archbishopric of Ohrid *T. Kamusella in The Politics of Language and Nationalism in Modern Central Europe, Springer, 2008, p. 276 *Aisling Lyon, Decentralisation and the Management of Ethni ...

as a separate entity from the

Bulgarian Exarchate The Bulgarian Exarchate (; ) was the official name of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church before its autocephaly was recognized by the Ecumenical See in 1945 and the Bulgarian Patriarchate was restored in 1953. The Exarchate (a de facto autocephaly) ...

and the promotion of the

Macedonian language Macedonian ( ; , , ) is an Eastern South Slavic language. It is part of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family, and is one of the Slavic languages, which are part of a larger Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch. Sp ...

. Its leaders were Naum Evrov, Kosta Grupčev, Vasilij Karajovev and Temko Popov. In 1886, the Bulgarian government revealеd the organization and it was disbanded. Some of its leaders went back to Belgrade in the same year, where the Government of Serbia established a cooperation with that ''ephemeral'' Macedonian Society. By supporting the Macedonian movement, the Government of Serbia had intention to suppress the process of

Bulgarisation Bulgarisation (), also known as Bulgarianisation () is the spread of Bulgarian culture beyond the Bulgarian ethnic space. Historically, unsuccessful assimilation efforts in Bulgaria were primarily directed at Muslims, most notably Bulgarian Turks ...

of Macedonian

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

Slavs or to debulgarize them. In accordance with the Serbo-Macedonian cooperation in the same year in Constantinople was founded the

Association of Serbo-Macedonians The Association of Serbo-Macedonians (Serbian language, Serbian and Macedonian language, Macedonian: Друштво Србо-Македонци, ''Društvo Srbo-Makedonci''), was a group founded by intellectuals from the region of Macedonia (region ...

. This compromise with the Serbian interests in Macedonia later led to abandonment of its separatist program altogether. As a result, later its members promoted already only pro-Serbian ideas.

References

{{reflist Ottoman period in the history of North Macedonia Macedonian writers' organizations Anti-Bulgarian sentiment 19th century in Serbia Macedonia under the Ottoman Empire Organizations established in 1885 Macedonian nationalism