Even if it sounds like that, it is not something sensational. It is simply time for us Bulgarians to realize and understand our past and our true history, so that we can better work and cope in the future and with all that lies ahead. And it is possible, already aware and hardworking, to set a good example for other nations.
The definition “Macedonian Bulgarians” in this case it belongs to our great patriot and scientist Georgi Sava Rakovski. In his book “Key to the Bulgarian language”, written in 1865 and published in the city of Odessa fifteen years later, he says that “Macedonian Bulgarians were baptized before the Greeks (Hellenes) and formed the first church in Thessaloniki Hristova, then Jerusalemskaya”. Further, he also says that “that church served as an image to others and it spread Christianity not only throughout Macedonia, but also throughout Achaia (Greece).”
Indeed, in today's Bulgarian, Greek, Macedonian lands, and in general throughout the Balkans and beyond, one can trace the original apostolic and church activity from the time of the first disciples of Christ, the living witnesses of His death on the cross and His resurrection . Apostle Andrew passed through our lands, along the shores of the Black Sea, during his mission to the lands of the Scythians, in today's southern Ukraine. Saint Amplius is known as a servant of the apostle Andrew and the first bishop of the city of Varna, then Odessos. Saint Herm was also one of the first seventy disciples of Christ and became the first bishop in the city of Philipopol, today's Plovdiv.
On the other hand, the apostle Paul himself with his companions personally founded the first Christian communities in the Roman province of Macedonia. This takes place during his so-called second journey, the first being confined to the Holy Land and the lands of Asia Minor. Our great scientist and revolutionary Georgi Rakovski draws attention to a very interesting moment from the New Testament, chapter "Acts of the Holy Apostles". During his second tour, the apostle Paul, together with his assistant Silas, left Syria and Cilicia, passed through Cappadocia and Lacaonia in Asia Minor, where they were joined by another disciple of Christ, Timothy.
The three reached the region of Mysia, around the present-day city of Bursa. From there they pass into the Troad region, where the ancient city of Troy is located. Here, the apostle Paul had a vision “that some Macedonian man called him to go to Macedonia to save them”, says Georgi Rakovski. Let's clarify that at that time there were two regions of Mysia, one south of the Danube, on the territory of today's Bulgaria, and one in Asia Minor, today part of the territory of the Republic of Turkey.
Here is the exact quote on the matter from the chapter “Acts of the holy apostles”: “And when they had passed Mysia, they went down to Troas. During the night, Paul had a vision: a man, a Macedonian, was standing in front of him, begging him and saying: come to Macedonia and help us! After this vision, we immediately asked to go to Macedonia, because we understood that the Lord had called us to preach the Gospel there. (Acts of the Holy Apostles 16:8-10).
The first apostles initially preached the Gospel among the Jewish communities that existed in the trading cities throughout the Mediterranean. However, when they expanded the circle of their activity, they began to preach among other tribes and peoples or the so-called Gentiles. Some of these tribes and nations more easily perceived the word of God and the news of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Others, however, found it difficult to accept this teaching and this belief. Among the Jews themselves, however, there existed two groups.
The Sadducees said that there is no resurrection, neither an Angel, nor a spirit, and the Pharisees recognized both (Acts of the Holy Apostles 23:8). The so-called Hellenes (Greeks) were also hesitant in this regard. During the preaching of the Apostle Paul in Athens, in the Areopagus, the Athenians initially listened with interest, because in general the inhabitants of this city liked to speak and listen to something new (Acts of the Holy Apostles 17:21). But when the apostle Paul began to tell about the resurrection of the dead, some laughed, and others said: “We will listen to you about this another time” (Acts of the Holy Apostles 17:22-32).
Thus, Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damara, and others with them joined and believed the apostle Paul here. After that, Paul went to the city of Corinth, where, although he stayed for a year and a half, he also did not have much success in his mission. At the same time, the inhabitants of the city of Berea, today's city of Ber, in Aegean Macedonia, showed themselves to be more noble and favorable to the new teaching preached there by Paul, Silas and Timothy. Explicitly mentioned as Macedonians are, for example, the disciples Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's companions who came with him to the city of Ephesus, and Asia Sosipater Pirov is defined as a Berean, i.e. a resident of the city of Beria.
Several times in the chapter “Acts of the Holy Apostles” it is said that the inhabitants of the then region of Macedonia, in the various cities, were more favorable to Paul's teaching. Near the city of Philippi, the first large city from where the then Roman province of Macedonia began, a god-fearing woman named Lydia was baptized. That is why Saint Lydia is known as the first Christian woman on European territory. It is said about her in the Gospel that she was from the city of Thyatira and was engaged in selling dyed cloth (Acts of the Holy Apostles 16:14-15).
However, let's return again to the words of Georgi Rakovski, who very rightly notes that “the foundation and greatest goodness of Christ's science, in its very appearance, was brotherly love and the rapprochement of peoples, i.e. the equation between them…” This is completely true, and in this sense it is unnecessary to look for ethnic differences among the first followers of the new teaching of Christ. Whether the believers were Jews, Hellenes, Macedonians, Scythians, or some other, and also people of mixed origin, is of secondary importance. The main task of the first apostles was not so much the fight against the old idols, gods and idols, but to teach the nations that they are all equal in Christ. A rather difficult task, given what we see in this day and age. We see that this task is not completely fulfilled even today.