Travels in Southeastern Europe

The burden of the Balkans / by M. Edith Durham.

I72 THE BURDEN OF THE BALKANS. Kostendil, near Sofia. The occurrence of the name in this inscription, and the fact that it comes before Bulgaria in the Bishop's title, is of very great interest. The church is said to possess a valuable old library, notably a church codex extending over very many years, an examination of which led Von Hahn to doubt whether the Bulgarian tongue had ever again overpowered the Greek in the church at Ochrida. I was especially anxious to see the old Slavonic books, but though I applied for permission the first week of my arrival, and both the Bishop and his secretary said there would be no difficulty about it, I was put off every week with most childish excuses, and in the end told I might see only the catalogue. Such was the chattering and mystery about it that I wondered at last whether the library, or the Slavonic part of it, had secretly flitted to St. Petersburg, as so many others have done, and should like to hear of someone who has seen it recently. Down below, nearer the lake, defaced by a minaret, and much mutilated, stands all that is left of Ochrida's old cathedral, St. Sofia. How much truth there is in the tale that it is one of the many built by Justinian, and contemporary with St. Sofia at Constantinople, I cannot ascertain, but the body of the church, now used as a mosque, is undoubtedly very old, and the eagles of Byzantium appear on the pavement. The Hodja who admitted me told me of a miraculous oil that flows from a certain stone, and also of
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About this Item

Title
The burden of the Balkans / by M. Edith Durham.
Author
Durham, Mary Edith, 1863-1944.
Canvas
Page 172
Publication
London :: Nelson,
[1905]
Subject terms
Eastern question (Balkan)
Balkan Peninsula -- Description and travel.

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https://name.umdl.umich.edu/ans3900.0001.001
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"The burden of the Balkans / by M. Edith Durham." In the digital collection Travels in Southeastern Europe. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/ans3900.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 30, 2025.
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