History of Macedonia

Since the beginning of Christendom a large number of churches have been built on the soil of Macedonia. The reason why and the background to this will be explained in this chapter and the following chapters.

The history of Macedonia cannot be restricted to the area of the present Republic only. It forms the subject of a much larger area, which has borne the name of Macedonia for generations. The history was and is complex and to the present day full of political sensitivity. Even the name of Macedonia is a disputed point between Greece and the present Republic: it is claimed by Greece as an indivisible historical inheritance. For generations, however, the people of the Republic of Macedonia have known the country where they were born only by the name of Macedonia.

The area of Macedonia has known a long and eventful history. The oldest information about this area dates from ancient times. During the reign of Philip II of Macedonia (359-336 BC) the greatness of Macedonia starts. He joined the various Macedonian tribes together and made a political unity of the agrarian communities. He re-organised the army and liquidated separatist tendencies. In a battle near Chaeronea in 338 BC he defeated the anti-Macedonian coalition of Greek city-states, which in fact meant their end. He appointed himself hègemoon of the combined Greek forces to fight against the Persians. He was a great admirer of the Greek culture and it was his intention to reign over all the Greek lands. In an agreement concluded at Corinth in 337 BC internal struggles were forbidden and were to be resolved by arbitration. Until then the Greeks considered all foreign people - and consequently also the people from the north – as “barbaroi”. The successor of Philip II, his son Alexander, nowadays better known as Alexander the Great (336-323 BC), continued the hegemony over the Greek states and the greater part of the Balkans. He defeated the Greeks’ greatest enemy the Persians. After Alexander’s death his empire disintegrated because of internal power struggles. History teaches that when a country is weakened, soon another power is ready to make use of the situation.

After a number of wars, the so-called Macedonian wars from 214-205, from 200 –197 and from 171-168 BC, Macedonia was conquered by the Romans, who divided the country into four vassal-states. The Romans rapidly absorbed what they could of the intellectual and artistic culture of the Greeks. After a revolt in 146 BC led by Andronicus, Macedonia together with Epirus, was incorporated as a province into the Roman Empire. At first Saloniki became the capital of that province.

The Romans expanded their area in a northerly direction and conquered the coast line of the Adriatic Sea and large parts of the interior. Stobi – now in the present Republic - was in 386 AD the municipality of the province Macedonia Salutaris– Municipium Stobensis. It was located at the confluence of the Erigona (Crna Reka) and the Axios (Vardar) Rivers, and was connected with the Adriatic Sea by the Via Egnatia through Heracleia. Stobi is said to have been founded under the name Perseide by Philip V in 197 BC.

Two important facts in the history of Rome mark its development: firstly the establishment of the Roman Empire by Emperor Octavian, better known as Augustus after the assassination of Julius Caesar and the collapse of the republic, Octavian assumed absolute power as emperor in 27 BC and reigned until 14 AD. Secondly, during his reign a young man preached peace and freedom in the Roman province of Israel and for that reason he was sentenced to death by crucifixion by the local Roman ruler Pontius Pilate. No one could suspect that his death would be the beginning of Christianity, a new religion that would rapidly develop and change the world.

About two and a half centuries later Emperor Diocletian (284-305) for organisational reasons divided the empire into four districts. He was the first emperor to divide power by instituting a tetrarchy, a reign by four men: himself, Maximinianus and two newcomers Galerius and Constantius Chlorus. They had their courts in strategic places from where they could reach the parts of the border faster. Diocletian also became known for the fanaticism with which he persecuted the Christians all over the Empire. The era of the Copts in Egypt begins in 284 AD in commemoration of the terror of the persecutions of the Christians under Diocletian which were very intense in Egypt. Therefore the Coptic calendar uses the abbreviation A.M. as a suffix after the year, meaning Anno Martyrium. Some years after the abdication of Diocletian the son of Constantius Chlorus was appointed the new emperor. He became known in history as Constantine the Great (306-337) AD. He wanted to restore an absolute monarchy. He defeated his co-Emperor Maxentius in 312 AD at the battle near Pons Milvius, the bridge over the Tiber, the northern entrance to the city. Tetrarchy became monarchy. It is said that many years later Constantine told his biographer Eusebius that during his march against Maxentius he had seen a sign of the cross in the light of the sun and that in a dream Christ had prophesied to him that he would conquer using that sign. This story could explain why the soldiers of Constantine had the monogram of Christ on their shields. In fact, Constantine ascribed his victory to the God of the Christians. The Edict of Tolerance of Galerius in 311 AD drawn up at Milan was confirmed by him. The Christian religion and the other religions in the empire were allowed in so far as they posed no threat to public order.

But the empire was still divided into a western and an eastern part, the eastern part being governed by co-Emperor Licinius. In 324 Constantine succeeded in defeating the latter in a battle near and around Byzantium. He decided that in this old Greek colony a new capital was to be built. In 330 the new city was inaugurated as the City of Constantine, Constantinopolis, the new Rome, a city without the pagan legacy of old Rome, without pagan temples and places of cult. In fact it was the formal beginning of a split of the Empire into two parts, the Greek speaking eastern part and the Latin speaking western part.

After Constantine’s death there was a struggle for power for a number of years until Theodosius I (379-395), also called Theodosius the Great, became the emperor. He decided that after his death the empire should be ruled under a shared emperorship by his two sons, Arcadius ruling in Constantinople and Honorius in Milan. This fact resulted in an Eastern Roman Empire and a Western Roman Empire. The situation in the West was difficult because of the invasion of barbarian tribes, especially the Visigoths. Rome was plundered by them in 410. Germanic tribes also formed a danger for the Western Roman Empire. In 476 the German general Odoaker took over the government, which meant the end of the Western Roman Empire.

What was the situation in the Eastern Roman Empire, later called the Byzantine Empire, to which the Balkan including Greece and Macedonia belonged? It should be remembered that the Byzantine Empire was also under pressure from external forces. It lost important parts of its territory in North-Africa to a new power and religion, the Arabs and Islam. Important Christian towns, like Alexandria, Jerusalem and Antioch were lost to the latter. A threat was the migration of Slavic peoples, Slovenes, Croats, Serbs and Bulgars, who settled in the Balkan areas, during the seventh and eighth centuries. During the period of the Roman rule Macedonian land was given to retired soldiers, who were assimilated into the local population. Consequently, when the Slavic peoples settled in these regions they did not find people of a homogeneous Macedonian origin any longer, but a mixture of ancient Macedonians with Roman, Greek and foreign colonists. From the seventies of the sixth century the Avars began attacking Byzantine areas, including Macedonian territory. A number of existing towns, like Tiveriopolis, now named Strumica and Stobi were devastated. Citizens were killed or enslaved. Many beautiful buildings and temples were levelled. It is very likely that Slavs participated in these attacks. In 626 the Avars lost their power after being catastrophically defeated near Constantinople. After that they retreated from occupied territory and left the Slavs free to colonise the regions which they had not yet occupied. By the middle of the seventh century, the Macedonian group of Slavs had succeeded in completely slavicising Macedonian territory¹. The native inhabitants that remained in their territories were assimilated with Slavic tribes in due course.

The Slavic colonisation of Macedonia was followed by the slavicising of the geographical names. For instance, a large number of Macedonian towns were given new Slavic names. This was the case with the town of Bargala, which was renamed Bregalnica, Scupi became Skopje, Lychnidus became Ohrid, etc.² Another major result of the Slavic invasions was that Constantinople and Rome, which had already significantly drifted apart, were cut off from communication with one another.³

Initially the Byzantine emperors looked with increasing concern at the Slavic invasions in their outer territory, but internal troubles forced them to pay more attention to solving these problems than to the Slavic invasions. During the reign of Emperor Justinian I (527-565) great achievements took place in Byzantium. He was determined to reconstitute the empire territorially, to unify the quarrelling factions in the Church and to simplify the re-conquest legal accumulations of the past centuries. This resulted in the re-conquest of much of the western countries, the codification of the law, and phenomenal artistic accomplishment⁴. But Justinian and his successors neglected the Balkans, and for this reason the Slavic tribes could continue to occupy the outer territory of the empire between 500 and 700. The Slav and Bulgarian tribes which had made their way to the banks of the Danube took advantage of Justinian’s pre-occupation with the west to cross the borders and to raid imperial territory almost unopposed. The Bulgars invaded the Balkan peninsula in 540 and pressed south as far as Corinth. Two years later they failed before the walls of Thessalonica⁵. The policy of Justinian and of some of his successors gave rise to a completely new ethnographic and political pattern in the Balkans. The Byzantines made no serious efforts to reverse the situation in the Balkans until 658 when a large-scale campaign was launched against the Slavs.⁶

The Slavic tribes that had settled in territories where the original inhabitants lived were more developed. The invaders destroyed Byzantine authority and administration and obliterated the focal points of the church. It took more than two centuries to restore the Christian and Byzantine civilisation in the territory occupied by the Slavic invaders. In the course of centuries the Slavs were Christianised and Constantinople succeeded in regaining authority over areas lost to the Slavic tribes. The Slavs of Macedonia, long exposed to cultural influences spreading north from Thessalonica, as well as the Byzantine prisoners of war captured by the khans, did much to acquaint the Bulgarians with Greek Christianity.⁷

In the course of history two neighbouring states, Bulgaria and Serbia, have had an important influence on the development of Macedonia.

Bulgaria

In the sixth century the Slavs first entered the area of what is now called Bulgaria, but were soon subjugated by the Bulgars, a Turko-Tatar people. There is some confusion about the name “Bulgars”. Did it originate from the Wolga-area, the “Wolgarit”? The letters “W/V” and “B” have a strong similarity: the Wolgarit became Bolgarit and from Bolgarit to Bulgarit is quite understandable. The Bulgars established a military state and won a war against the Byzantines in 679. Nevertheless the influence of the latter, especially in the way of living, remained important. In particular the nobles imitated the culture of the court of Constantinople. The Bulgars completely assimilated into the local people, but kept the name Bulgars.

In 865 their Tsar Boris I (852-889) accepted Orthodox Christianity, mainly for political reasons and in spite of the resistance of the Bulgarian aristocracy he forced his people to adopt it. He realised that conversion would bring Bulgaria into the select circle of civilised nations and alter the terms of its relations with them.⁸ Paganism, which had been dominant up to then, was abandoned and Christianity was introduced as the state religion in its Eastern Orthodox form. It was taught by the Byzantine clergy from Constantinople. The newly formed Patriarchate of Bulgaria was put under the Patriarchy of Constantinople. This was most probably the main reason why Constantinople recognised the Bulgarian state.⁹ It was a question of policy: their relations with the Empire and other states could only correctly be maintained on a basis of similarity in religion. It was of particular importance in stabilising the international status of Bulgaria. By adopting the new religion the country could take its place on an equal footing with other countries. It stands to reason that the Byzantine emperors were not very willing to have their daughters or other members of the imperial family married, for political reasons, to kings from countries which they considered as pagan and barbaric.

Bulgaria acted as an independent state, and for most of the time the Byzantine influence over these areas was weak. As a result of the bold military campaigns during the reign of Symeon I (893-927) the Bulgarians gained in importance.¹⁰ Large parts of the Balkan Peninsula were conquered. After Symeon’s death the Byzantine Emperor Johannes Tzimisces crossed into Bulgaria with a large army and proclaimed the occupied territory a Byzantine province. The Bulgarian Patriarchate was abolished. But Bulgaria was not fully occupied, only its north-eastern region. The remaining area in the south-west preserved its independence and came into the hands of four brothers David, Moses, Aaron and Samuil. This latter group openly prepared an uprising. They had already achieved some success by seizing certain regions in southern Macedonia. It is not precisely known from where the four brothers originated, but it is certain that they belonged to the leading circles, to the komites, a class of great dignitaries, also referred to as boljars.¹¹ The state of the four had its centre around the southern part of Lake Prespa, or more precisely in the region of Little Prespa Lake, now belonging to Greece. They ruled together for a period of about eight years. In 976, however, David, Moses and Aaron lost their lives within a period of a few months. Evil tongues suggest that they were killed by Samuil. Consequently, Samuil became the only monarch on the throne. The Byzantine Empire at that time, however, was engaged in Asia Minor for a lengthy period of time, giving Samuil the opportunity to conquer large areas and to extend his empire over the whole of Macedonia, Thessaly and Epirus. In fact he was trying to rebuild the empire of Symeon, using the enclosed basin of Little Prespa Lake as his base. After the capture of Larissa in 980 he brought the remains of Saint Achilleus, the former bishop of that city, to the island which now bears the saint's name.¹² There must have been palaces, churches and other buildings at the site of his imperial capital. However, except for some ruined churches, hardly anything can now be found.¹³ Later, he transferred his capital to Ohrid where the remains of the walls on the hill are still indicated today by the name Samuil’s Fortress. But there are no original sources which prove that he left Prespa, his old and permanent residence and came to Ohrid or that he resided there for any length of time.¹⁴

The successor of Tzimisces was Emperor Basil II (976-1025), who came to the throne as an inexperienced eighteen-year-old young man. After his accession the Byzantine Empire gradually succeeded in recuperating. Basil II had made up his mind to regain the territories which Samuil had taken from him and to subjugate and occupy the empire of Samuil. Setting out from Thessalonica in 1001¹⁵ Basil II began a large counteroffensive and gradually succeeded in conquering numerous Bulgarian fortresses, strongholds from which large areas could be controlled. Some of these strongholds he razed, others he kept for himself by reinforcing them with a strong military force. The campaign lasted for four years and resulted in re-conquering of large areas except for the heartland of Samuil’s empire. What happened after the year 1004 is unclear. It is generally accepted that Basil II had to focus his attention on other centres of unrest in his empire, notably in the south of Italy. Nevertheless there were frequent incursions by the troops of Basil II into the territories of Samuil. The aim was to pillage and plunder. Whether Samuil was expecting another attack on the remaining part of his empire or not, he could rely on his enormous army. There was no question of negotiating on the side of Basil II. In 1014 Basil launched another attack on Samuil and a battle was fought at the Belasica Mountain. A tactical manoeuvre by Basil was to have part of his troops surround the steep and seemingly impassable mountain. His army appeared behind the Bulgarian army which was completely surprised, seized by fear and began to flee. Thousands of Samuil’s soldiers lost their lives and a greater number fell prisoner. Samuil succeeded in escaping with the help of his son and retreated to the fortress of Prilep. Basil, moreover, took an enormous number of prisoners-of-war from Samuil (estimated at 15.000). It is said that Basil ordered that the prisoners should be blinded, but that one of every 100 could keep one eye in order to guide the men back to Samuil. Upon seeing his soldiers in such a desperate state Samuil died of grief soon after. Basil II was given the name Bulgarochtonos, the killer of Bulgars. All the Balkan area was now more or less under Byzantine rule again. The great victory of Basil II over Samuil removed the menace of Bulgaria for more than a century and led to the complete destruction of Bulgaria as an independent state.
The period of peace was only relatively short. As early as in 1040/41 there was a revolt by Peter Deljan and in 1072/73 there was another by Djordje Vojteh. Both revolts were suppressed in a bloody manner. In the twelfth century free Macedonian areas arose under independent sovereigns. One of these was Dobromir Hrs in the area of Strumica, which existed from 1185-1202, when it was re-conquered. Another despot was the sovereign of Zagorje whose name was Strez. At the beginning of the thirteenth century he succeeded in forming an independent area, roughly between Skopje, Saloniki, Ohrid and Strumica, which lasted until 1241, when he was murdered.

The Bulgarians may have been conquered in 1014, but their spirit was unbroken. The Bulgarian brothers Peter and Asen revolted 1186 and succeeded in wresting large areas from Byzantium. Due to internal weakness the emperor did not have the power to repress this revolt. In fact this new Bulgarian state was recognised by the emperor, Peter assumed the title of tsar, and the new kingdom with its capital at Trnovo became the Second Bulgarian Empire.¹⁶

Serbia

Important for our understanding of the history of Macedonia is a development which took place about two hundred kilometres north of Skopje in an area known as Raška. In that area lived the Serbian monarch Časlav (931-960) who succeeded in making it independent from the Bulgarians. Byzantium, however, regained its influence over Raška and between 1166 and 1168 replaced the old dynasty by a new one, headed first by a certain Tihomir who was quickly replaced by his brother Stefan Nemanja.¹⁷ Under the Great Zupan Stefan Nemanja (1169-1196), the disintegrated quasi independent principalities were combined into one state.
The Serbs did not live together in one area, but were separated geographically and the links between them were weak. The office of Great Zupan was not the prerogative of one family or of one territory.¹⁸ The Zupans, though subordinate to the over-lordship of the emperor in Constantinople because they had recognised Byzantine suzerainty, generally acted in their area as independent rulers.
It was the Great Zupan Stefan Nemanja who succeeded by diplomatic negotiations and by alliances with the Hungarians and the Bulgarians in taking advantage of the difficulties the Byzantine Emperor was facing to extend his own territory at the expense of the Empire. The revolts were regarded as treason and treated accordingly. In a battle in 1172 Stefan Nemanja was defeated by Emperor Manual I Comnenus (1143-1180). Stefan was forced to appear before the emperor barefooted and bareheaded, with a rope around his neck, and holding his sword in his left hand. He handed his sword to the emperor, then threw himself on the ground at the emperor’s feet. After his return to Raška the Serbian ruler remained the emperor’s obedient vassal.¹⁹ After the death of Emperor Manual I Comnenus in 1180 the Serbs repudiated direct Byzantine rule by annexing Byzantine territory, but the new Byzantine Emperor Isaac II Angelos (1185-1195) marched against Stefan Nemanja, who was defeated on the Morava River and was forced to make peace in 1190. He was, however, allowed to retain a large part of the territory he had conquered. Furthermore the emperor concluded a treaty with Stefan Nemanja, which was to be considered the emperor’s recognition of Serbian independence. In the world of the Middle Ages this recognition was more important than the acquisition of territory. Peace was strengthened by the marriage of Nemanja’s son Stefan to Eudocia, the emperor’s niece. Stefan received the title Sebostocrator, which was a great honour for a barbarian, bringing the Serbian ruler within Byzantine hierarchy.²⁰ Stefan Nemanja decided to renounce the throne in 1196 in favour of his eldest son Stefan, who is usually mentioned in history as Prvovenčanci, the First Crowned (1196-c1223). He continued the work of his father and succeeded in maintaining his position in a rapidly changing world where new centres of power were arising.
The situation greatly changed when in 1204 the Crusaders conquered Constantinople and set up a Latin Kingdom. The capital of the Byzantine Empire was transferred to Nicaea. The period of occupation lasted about sixty years until in 1261 Emperor Michael VIII Paleologus (1261-1282) re-conquered Constantinople and gradually began to restore the Byzantine Empire. This empire was, in comparison, much smaller than the earlier one, because the Serbians had extended their frontiers far to the south and the Nemanjiden dynasty had succeeded in expanding their territories both eastwards and south-eastwards.

When Stefan Nemanja decided to abdicate in 1196 he became a monk, adopting the name of Simeon, and withdrew to the Monastery Studenica, which he had built. His youngest son Ratislav had already entered the Monastery Vatopedi on Athos, adopting the name Sava. Together with his father he acquired the ruined Monastery Chilander on the Athos peninsula, which they rebuilt for the benefit of Serbian monks. Sava became the first archbishop of the Serbian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. This church had recognised the authority of the Patriarch of Constantinople, who, while in exile, had granted Serbia its archbishopric.
The successors of Stefan Nemanja expanded their territory in the following years. The first real drive for expansion into Byzantine territory occurred almost a century later under King Stefan Uroš II Milutin (1282-1321), whose reign witnessed unprecedented prosperity and growth of national strength.²¹ Serbia’s growing economic strength depended heavily on the mining of iron, copper, lead, silver, and gold, and on her trade ties, particularly with the West.²² Milutin, a bold soldier himself and surrounded by powerful nobility ambitious for territorial aggrandisement, was involved in wars with two Byzantine emperors, Michael VIII Paleologus and his son Andronicus II. Under his rule important churches were built or rebuilt. He is credited with having built more churches than all his predecessors on the Serbian throne together.²³ His generous patronage of the church resulted in its full support of his policies. Early in his reign (in 1282) he occupied a large part of Macedonia and made the captured town of Skopje his national capital, an area and town that was never recovered by the Byzantines. After many years of opposing the Byzantine Empire a peace agreement was concluded with Emperor Andronicus II (1282-1328) in 1299. This was confirmed by the marriage of Milutin to Simonida, the daughter of the emperor. She was a girl of about 7 or 8 years old at the time of the wedding. It was the fourth wedding for Milutin and like the previous ones concluded for political reasons. Macedonia was handed over to him as a dowry²⁴. The friendly relations resulting from this marriage were a contributory factor in extending Byzantine influence in the country, actively encouraged by Milutin. But the Byzantinisation of Serbia met with internal opposition, especially from the nobles who supported his disabled brother Dragutin, from whom he had inherited the throne. These anti-Byzantine feelings among the Serbian nobility were observed by Theodore Metochites during the negotiations leading to Simonida’s marriage to Milutin.²⁵ They were fuelled from the outside by the Roman Catholic Church. Nevertheless, Byzantine customs were introduced into the Serbian court; the Byzantinisation of Serbian life reached its peak in the half Greek government of Stefan Dušan.²⁶ When Stefan Uroš IV Dušan (1331-1355) became the new ruler there was a civil war in the Empire.²⁷ Anarchy was widespread. His first offensive was directed against the territories of the Empire and within three years he had conquered the western half of Macedonia.²⁸ In 1345 Dušan proclaimed himself emperor and was crowned in Skopje. In accordance with the laws of the Orthodox Church an emperor is to be crowned by a patriarch. Consequently, the Serbian archbishop was raised to that rank, for which he secured the approval of the patriarchs of Bulgaria and Ohrid.²⁹ The empire Stefan Dušan had created did not last very long after his death because it lacked strong, central leadership.
A struggle over his succession broke out between his son Stefan Uroš (1355-1371) and Dušan’s half-brother Symeon. Stefan Uroš won but his reign was characterised by the struggles of the nobles for power and influence resulting in a decline of Uroš’power. Because he was childless it was proposed that he should have a co-ruler. Chosen for that position was Vukašin (1366-1371), who from 1361 was the most powerful personality at the Serbian court, regarded as equal with Uroš and enjoying all the rights and the privileges of monarchy.³⁰ From 1366 to 1371 he was formally king and joint ruler with Uroš.

Another factor of importance were the continuing efforts by the Roman Catholic Church. The pope tried to gain his influence in the area for political reasons, but was unsuccessful in his negotiations. The Serbian rulers used any means to gain support from the Roman Catholic Church for their political aspirations, sometimes suggesting their conversion to Catholicism. Their attempts aroused opposition from the feudal lords. With the foundation of the Serbian Archbishopric the power and influence of the Catholic Church began to decline while Orthodox monasteries and bishoprics were founded up to the coast (of the Adriatic Sea). ³¹

Much more important was a new rising power in the East. The Turks were attacking the frontiers of the empire of Byzantium and that of Stefan Uroš. The Battle of Maritsa in 1371 in which Vukašin was killed, sealed the fate of eastern Macedonia and in fact ended the independence of Byzantium and Bulgaria. The Serbian defeat not only decided the fate of Serbia but also that of its neighbours who had hoped to profit from it.³² The Turks continued their advance into the Serbian lands. In 1389 the Battle of Kosovo resulted in a total victory of the Turks. Macedonia fell completely under the power of the Turks, a colonisation which lasted until 1912. In 1453 the Turks sacked Constantinople, shocking the Christian world and bringing to an end the Eastern Roman Empire and Constantinople.