Dr. Gheorghiță Ciocioi: I dreamed of Sofia, not Paris 

Priest Kiril Sinev, Dveri BG, 14 December 2017

Mr Ciocioi, you are a Romanian ethnologist and journalist, specialising in the East Slavic and Balkan cultural and Orthodox sphere. Few people in Bulgaria know that, apart from these occupations, your main activity is translating from Bulgarian, Bulgarian, Russian and Serbian media. What made you start translating church texts from Bulgarian into Romanian?

Yes, I translate mostly from Bulgarian. As a specialist in cultural anthropology and a translator from Slavic languages, I have noticed a very weak orientation of Romanian researchers towards popular culture south of the Danube, and especially towards Bulgarian. In the galloping process of modernization of Romanian and Bulgarian culture in the second half of the 19th century, Romanian and Bulgarian researchers focused on cultural spaces far removed from the common deep hive of Balkan-Carpathian culture. This is evidenced by the small number of reciprocal translations between the two world wars for both Romanians and Bulgarians. There has been a long need for Romanian research based on the study of Bulgarian folklore, which, in my opinion, helps to know and clarify certain elements of Romanian culture. Even during the Communist period, it was not possible to do what was desired, not with regard to some fundamental texts of medieval Bulgaria which directly concern us Romanians. This happened in spite of the famous Romanian school of Slavic studies.

You are a doctor of philology with a doctoral thesis on ethnology: “The medieval human sacrifice of being incorporated into buildings among Romanians and Bulgarians”. How did the idea of studying the ballad related to the myth of the confined bride south of the Danube come about?

Indeed, it is a pagan myth intertwined with Christianity… A myth we find all over the Balkan Peninsula. Even among the Turks and Hungarians. Among the Bulgarians, it is not foreign even to Pavlicanism and Bogomilism. This is proved by the name of the main character of the ballad – Manole, who also appears in the formulations of Pavli, Pavel and others. If in Romania the places associated with this myth are few – mainly the monastery of Curtea de Argeș, where the relics of Her Holiness Filofteia are kept (according to the Romanian hagiography of St. Filofteia was a martyr who was killed at an early age by her father in a moment of rage over her pity, she was not a reverend), in Bulgaria this myth is widespread – bridges, towns, towers and even mosques are believed to have the sacrifice of incorporation at their centre. We visited these sites south of the Danube, translating from Bulgarian into Romanian all the variants of the ballad and legend (more than 250) related to this myth, from those collected from Macedonia by the great Bulgarian scholar Mihail Arnaudov, to the most recent variants of the ballad collected in recent years by Prof. Todor Mollov, together with students from the University of Veliko Târnovo. I have included as an appendix, in two columns, a complete set of the Bulgarian ballad in my research of several hundred pages.

Very interesting! Let’s not forget, though, where you started from…

The history is very long. It would have started in June 1990. After the events in Bucharest’s University Square, I immediately went to Sofia for a few days. I didn’t dream of Paris, of Western Europe. I was in love with Bulgaria, with the Balkans. I spent my childhood in Romania with Bulgarian television and radio. At midnight we used to listen to the Bulgarian anthem. Last year, on the way to Boyana church with a friend, I sang the Bulgarian anthem in the taxi and the taxi driver burst into tears. He said to me: ‘Sir, many Bulgarians don’t know the anthem. It’s a shame. And you, who come from Romania, you know our anthem”. How could I not know it? When I was travelling to high school in a neighbouring town, for almost an hour every morning, I listened to Bulgarian folklore broadcast on Bulgarian national radio. I lived with Bulgaria in my heart. On my first trip abroad after the fall of the borders, in January 1990, I went to Veliko Tarnovo. I climbed the Tsarevets Hill, where I was amazed by Theophan Sokerov’s frescoes in the reconstructed Patriarchal Cathedral “St. Ascension”. He is indeed a great artist, but it’s a shame for this holy place, for the efforts to raise the holy temple… I arrived in Sofia in June 1990. It was night. We walked from the train station to the center. The students were barricaded in the university. They received me with great warmth. All you could hear on the streets was “anarchists!”. I was present when the workers with tractors arrived in the city. It was much more peaceful than when the miners arrived in Bucharest. In Sofia I was in places dear to my heart. First of all, at the radio station from which I received daily news from south of the Danube, where I listened to Bulgarian folklore. I visited the TV station, Vitosha, bought records of my favourite artists, books. I was possessed by the pain of the Balkans, oppressed to the core by the Ottomans. That’s where it all started…

You have translated from Bulgarian into Romanian texts with ecclesiastical themes. How are they perceived by Romanians?

You know, most of the translations from Bulgarian I published with a publishing house with the providential name of Sophia. It is the largest publisher of religious literature in Romania. We introduced St. John of Rila to Romanians. [1] Until 15 years ago there was nothing translated into Romanian about the spiritual patron of Bulgaria. I also translated most of the books of the greatest contemporary Bulgarian spiritual writer – Archim. Dr. Seraphim (Alexiev)[2] The first two books I translated together with another great friend of Bulgaria – translator Valentin-Petre Lica. Obviously all these were something new for Romanians, because Bulgarian theology was very little known in Romania. The lives of St. Philothea,[3] St. Nicholas the New, the spiritual patron of Sofia, St. Paraskeva, St. Eftimie and St. Theodosius of Tarnovo and many, many others – a few dozen – were a real revelation for Romanians. For example, it became clear why St. Paraskeva was portrayed as a queen in some churches in Moldova – this was better understood from her hagiography, written by St. Eftimie of Tarnovo [4] It was a perplexity that could only be fully clarified by the great hierarch’s text, which until recently had not been translated into Romanian. Let me add that I have translated for the first time from Middle Bulgarian the correspondence of St. Euthymius. Some of my translations are spiritual literature, others are intended for theologians. I even translated the History of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church[5] for the use of Romanian theologians (and not only). I can assure you that it was very well received in Bucharest. I also published a book about St. Dimitrios of Basarbovo[6] with new data, unknown in Romania.

What other Bulgarian authors do you intend to translate?

I will ask you to recommend other authors (laughs). From the works of Archim. Seraphim (Alexiev) there are not many more to translate. “The Lives of the Saints of Tarnovo, the work of the great Patriarch Euthymius of Tarnovo, will soon be published in Romanian. I am currently working on a small study, which I hope to develop in the future, on the relations between the Patriarchate and Metropolitanate of Tarnovo and the Church of Wallachia. This requires a lot of effort.

How do you feel about translating theological texts by Bulgarian clerics?

Bulgaria has a great culture. I have been to Pliska, to Preslav. Everywhere. I don’t know if you know, but since 1990 I have written over 200 articles and reports about Bulgaria, about the churches and monasteries here, making them known to Romanians. I published them in the most beloved Orthodox publication in Romania – the magazine Lumea Credinței, which still has a very large circulation, and ten years ago it had a circulation of almost 50 thousand copies. This is my modest contribution to Bulgaria. 

So, what can a translator who knows Bulgarian Orthodoxy so well and regularly visits the temple feel? Bulgarian clerics are humble, they write pertinently, they live things in depth – with all the hostility of the Ottoman and Communist times. Bulgarian Orthodoxy has resisted heroically. It was, so to speak, on the front line of the Orthodox front, giving so many martyrs that we want to make known north of the Danube.

Mr Ciocioi, thank you for the beautiful words about our homeland shared with our readers.

Thank you too. May 2018 be a better year, bringing healthy fruits for the right faith in Bulgaria and Romania.

Footnotes and notes in brackets belong to Rev. Kiril Sinev

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[1] Sfântul Ioan de Rila, făcătorul de minuni. Viața, testamentul, acatistul; Minunile Sfântului Ioan de Rila.

[2] Viața preoteasă a mulțimii ortodoxe; Preotul mijlocitor între pământ și cer; Trăire preotească și înșelare; Rostul pătimirilor; Smerita cugetare. Tălcuire la Rugaciunea Sfântului Efrem Sirul; Răscumpărarea. Lucrare a iubirii și dreptății dumnezeiești; Viața preotesească: temeiuri, primejdii, trăiri mistice; Patericul Râului. Părintele Pavel înainte-văzătorul și alți nevoitori din veacul al XX-lea; Orthodoxia și ecumenismul; Dragostea. Tălcuire la rugaciunea Sfântului Efrem Sirul; Cea mai scurtă cale către rai. Nu judeca și nu vei fi judecat; Vrajba și împăcare; Izbăvirea de pacate. Tălcuire la rugaciunea Sfântului Efrem Sirul; Leacul uitat; Răbdarea. Tălcuire la rugaciunea Sfântului Efrem Sirul; Vederea păcatelor noastre. Tălcuire la rugaciunea Sfântului Efrem Sirul; Despre smerenie și mândrie; Curățirea. Tălcuire la rugaciunea sfântului Efrem Sirul; Tălcuire la Rugăciunea Sfântului Efrem Sirul; Veșnicia, amară sau fericită – Viața de după moarte; Judecata de apoi. Viața de după moarte; Ce se întâmplă cu sufletul din ceasul morții până în ziua a 40-a. Viața de după moarte; Carte de căpătâi despre moarte și înviere. Viața de după moarte; Ceasurile de dinaintea plecării sufletului de pe pământ. Viața de după moarte; Calea rătăcirilor. Adevăr și minciună despre desculț de după moarte; Puterea și ajutorul sfinților – cu trei vieți inedite de sfinți: Sfântul Onufrie din Gabrovo Sfântul Gheorghe din Serdica Sfânta Zlata din Meglenia; Meşteşugul rugăciunii; Viaţa de după moarte; Viaţa Sfântului Boris Mihail de la Pliska cel întocmai cu Apostolii; Călăuza rugătorului ortodox. Piedici, ispite şi apropierea de Dumnezeu pe calea rugăciunii; Tâlcuirea Crezului; Darurile rugăciunii – de la ostenelile trecătoare la roadele cele veşnice; бел. прев.

[3] Viaţa Sfintei Filofteia de la Târnovo. Viaţa Sfântului Patriarh Eftimie de Târnovo.

[4] Sfântul Eftimie de Tarnovo, Viaţa Sfintei Cuvioase Parascheva.

[5] Istoria Bisericii Ortodoxe Bulgare – scurtă introducere, 2015.

[6] Sfântul Dimitrie cel Nou, patronul Bucureştilor, 2014.

Photo: Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia (source: Photo by Arjanne Holsappel: https://www.pexels.com/photo/the-st-alexander-nevsky-cathedral-in-bulgaria-8514532/)

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