Author Topic: Bogomilism of Bosnia  (Read 8484 times)

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Offline Тоска

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Bogomilism of Bosnia
« on: May 24, 2010, 20:17 »
Citatiation from JANKO LAVRIN. "THE  SLAVONIC  REVIEW" University College, Nottingham
 
"Under the Turkish rule the Bogomilism of Bosnia gradually dissolved.  Isolated as it was, since by  then most of the kindred sects in the West had been more or  less suppressed,  it was bound to decay and  lose its power  of resistance.  A considerable  portion of  its  adepts-particularly  the  nobles-embraced  Mohammedanism.  They did this  all the more willingly because the Moslems were  the only people who treated them tolerantly.  Besides, as  Mohammedans  they  could  preserve various  privileges over their Christian compatriots.  Yet  having  adopted  the Mohammedan  religion,  they kept their own Slavonic  (i.e., Serbo-Croatian) language.  Several Turkish viziers, generals, scholars and poets were natives  of  Bosnia  and Hercegovina.  The main  language of the  formidable  corps of Janissaries was probably " Bosnian," and even  the  Sublime Porte used  it  for  a  time  for diplomatic purposes.  The  present Mohammedan  population of  Bosnia  is however strongly  intermixed with the actual Turkish  immigrants (officials,  soldiers,  artisans,  etc.), who have blended  with their Slav- co-religionists. Other Bogomils  returned  either  to  Catholicism, or  to  the Eastern  Church.  Such  a  transition was  the  easier  owing  to the  already mentioned compromises,  as well as to  the  fact  that they  had  always  called  themselves  Christians.  The  name " Bogomil,"  therefore,  which  had been  little used, hardly  survived in Bosnia.  We find  it in  surprisingly  few  instances.  One of them is, by the way, a didactic poem against smoking, written in  1688 by a Mohammedan  Bosnian poet, Hassan Kaimija,  in which  there is  the  following passage:
 
I  mi  smo ga  pili
I  u  smradu bili,
Kao Bogomili


 " We,  too,  used  to  smoke  it  (the  Bosnians  say to  drink  tobacco  '),.
and  to  abide  in  stench,  like  the  Bogomils."  Cf.  Serbo-Kroatische Dicht utngen bosnischer Moslems.  Sarajevo"
Si vis pacem, para bellum !