CARMINA BALCANICA - Universitatea Spiru Haret

Carmina Balcanica is a member of the:
Association of Literary Publications and Publishing Houses from Romania
Magazines and Publications Association from Europe
CARMINA BALCANICA
– REVIEW OF SOUTH-EAST EUROPEAN
SPIRITUALITY AND CULTURE –
Year II, no. 2 (3)
November 2009

DIRECTORS AND FOUNDERS: DAN ANGHELESCU & VASILE DATCU
EDITORIAL BOARD
EDITOR IN CHIEF: DR. MIHAELA ALBU (University of Craiova, Romania)
ASISTANT TO THE EDITOR IN CHIEF: MARIUS CHELARU (writer, Iasi, Romania)
- Studies and Essays Editor: Mihaela Albu
Correspondence regarding contributions: e-mail: malbu_10@yahoo.com
- Poetry and Haiku Editor: Marius Chelaru
Correspondence regarding contributions: e-mail: marius.1961@yahoo.com
- Book Reviews Editor: Dan Anghelescu
Correspondence regarding contributions: e-mail: dan45_anghelescu@yahoo.com
Specialist Consultant: Dr. Mircea Muthu (University Babes-Bolyai, Cluj-
Napoca, Romania)
Editors: Dr. Emilia Parpala, Dr. Gabriela Rusu-Pasarin, Dr. Codruta-
Anca Stanisoara, Dr. Camelia Zabava (University of Craiova)
English Editors: Dr. Aloisia Sorop, Dr. Iolanda Manescu (University of
Craiova), Maria-Denisa Albu, Dr. Catalin Florea, Dr. Camelia Minoiu
(USA)
INTERNATIONAL BOARD
Zdravko Kissiov (writer, Bulgaria)
DR. Apostolos Patelakis (Institute of the Balkan Studies, Thessaloniki, Greece)
ACAD. Katica Kulavkova (Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, Macedonia)
Acad. Răzvan Theodorescu
Baki Ymeri (writer, Albanezul Magazine, Romania & Macedonia)
Pavel Gătăianţu (writer, Europa Magazine, Serbia)
DR. Theodor Damian (Metropolitan College of New York, USA)
DR. Constantin Eretescu (writer, USA)
Zoran Pešić Sigma, Gradina magazine, SERBIA
DR. Sanda Golopentia-Eretescu (Brown University, USA)
DR. Heinz-Uwe Haus (University of Delaware, USA)
DR. Aurelia Roman (Georgetown University, USA)
DR. Marian Gh. Simion (Harvard University, USA)
- The Editors assume no responsibility for any statement of fact or opinion
expressed in the published papers.
Cover: Map of Ancient Balkans; Pictures from Greece
ISSN 2065 - 0582
Correspondence regarding subscriptions should be sent to the editor in chief (e-mail:
malbu_10@yahoo.com);
Institutional subscription: 10 Euro; Individual subscription: 5 Euro

CONTENTS
Carmina Balcanica şi dialogul intercultural / p. 7
Carmina Balcanica and the Intercultural Dialogue / p. 8
STUDIES AND ESSAYS
Mircea Muthu (Romania) – Sud-Estul şi modelul francez în relaţia centruperiferie
/ p. 10
The French Model in the Centre-Margin Relationship/ p. 16
Apostolos Patelakis (Greece) - Istoriografia greacă despre aromâni/ p. 23
The Greek Historiography about the Macedonian Romanians / p. 31
Thede Kahl (Austria) - “Being Vlach, Singing Greek”: Greek-Aromanian
Music Contacts in the Pindus Mountain Range. The Aromanians or
Vlachs in the Pindus/ p. 41
Marius Chelaru (Romania) - Noi rumúnski cuvintåm/ p. 56
We Speak Rumúnski / p. 63
Dan Anghelescu (Romania) - Balcanitatea difuză a Oedipului enescian / p. 70
The Diffuse Balkan Spirit of Enescu’s Oedipee/ p. 82
Jane Cogeabaşia (Republica Macedonia) - Începuturile istorice în dezvoltarea
cântării bisericeşti/ p. 94
Historical perspectives on church singing/ p. 101
Anastasia Moula-Hatzi (Greece) - Α. Σικελιανοσ / p. 108
Angelos Sikelianos/ p. 113
Paula Scalcău (Romania) - Cântecele străinătăţii. Despărţiri şi regăsiri/ p. 117
Songs from Abroad. Saying Good-bye and Meeting Each Other Again
/ p. 120
Jean Poncet (France - Words of Silence to Express the Signs of the
Inexpressible/ p. 123
POEZIE/ POETRY
Vesna Vujić (Bosnia and Hertzegovina)/ p. 131
Dyanko Dyanov (Bulgaria)
Aksinia Mihailova (Bulgaria)
Ivan Zhelev (Bulgaria)
Tolis Nikiforou (Greece)
Theodoros Santas (Greece)
Nikola Madzirov (Macedonia)
Cassian Maria Spiridon (Romania)

HAIKU
Antoaneta Nikolova (Bulgaria)
Stella Leontiadou (Greece)
Şerban Codrin (Romania)
Dumitru Ene-Zărneşti (Romania)
Dragan J. Ristich (Serbia)
Petar Tchouhov (Bulgaria)
BOOK REVIEWS
- Cărturari greci în Ţările Române (sec. XIV-XIX)
- Dicţionar biografic/ Greek Scholars in the Romanian Principalities (14 th -19 th
centuries) A Biographic Dictionary, Paula Scalcău (Romania)
- Elenismul în România/ Hellenism in Romania, Olga Cicanci (Romania)
- Spiritul elen. Sinteze europene la revista Cronica/ Hellenic Spirit. European -
Syntheses in Cronica magazine, Marius Chelaru (Romania)
- Prezenţa elenă în Mehedinţi/ The Greek Presence in Mehedinti, Sofia Elena
Colesca (Romania)
- Εµπορικοί Σταθµοί των Ελλήνων στη Ρουµανία/ Commercial Centres of the
Greeks in Romania - Paula Scalcău (Romania)
- Prezenţa elenilor la Tulcea/ The Greek Presence in Tulcea, Paula Scalcău
(Romania)
- Un grec, Doi Greci, Trei Greci… Brăila. Reactivarea memoriei culturale a
oraşului Brăila/ One Greek, Two Greeks, Three Greeks… Braila. Reactivating
the Cultural Memory in the City of Braila, Paula Scalcău (Romania)
- Nasos Vayenas, Despre poezie. Eseuri şi aforisme/ Nasos Vayenas, On
Poetry. Essays and Aphorisms, Marius Chelaru (Romania)
- Kostas Uranis, Poeme/ Kostas Uranis, Poems, Marius Chelaru (Romania)
Interviews
Pamela Ionescu (Romania & USA) - interviu cu Mihela Albu
„Amintiri de odinioară: Două oraşe levantine - Silistra şi Turtucaia”
Varia
Congres de literatură la Atena/
Literary Conference in Athens
Notes on contributors/ p. 199

Aducând cu sine coabitarea celor trei straturi culturale
- arhaic, medieval şi modern - Sud-Estul poate ajuta Europa
să-şi reînveţe trecutul şi, nu în ultimul rând, să-şi remodeleze
proiectele de viitor.
Accompanied by the cohabitation of the three cultural
substrata – archaic, medieval and modern – the Southeast
can help Europe relearn its own past and, last but not least,
to remodel its projects for the future.
(Mircea Muthu)

Carmina Balcanica şi dialogul intercultural
Spaţiul sud-est european a fost analizat prin „constantele antropogeografice”,
dar şi prin destinul istoric comun care a conferit multe
similitudini politice, religioase ori culturale ţărilor din regiune. Această
„cetate naturală a unei mari unităţi geografice”, cum o definea V.
Papacostea, şi a unei mari unităţi istorice, adăugăm noi, a determinat
totodată şi multiple interferenţe culturale.
Balcani, Balcanitate, Balcanism! Termenul din urmă a acumulat – în
timp – o conotaţie vădit peiorativă. Gândirea stereotipă – şi nu tocmai
inocentă – a unui Occident orgolios pare a continua (încă) să plaseze asupra
lui un stigmat negativ. Spiritualitatea, arta, cărţile de înţelepciune, ca şi
toate formele de interpenetraţie spirituală ar trebui să justifice o depeiorativizare
a modului în care este privită şi înţeleasă lumea Levantului.
În acest sens, există deja solide argumente: toate temeiurile civilizaţiei
europene îşi au sorgintea în spaţiul balcanic. Ideea de democraţie s-a născut
la poalele Athenei. Ideea de constituţie a apărut în spaţiul grecesc.
Creştinismul avea să se răspândească în Europa prin marea operă apostolică
începută în Grecia. Într-un recent interviu, academicianul român Răzvan
Theodorescu reamintea că, deşi la Sarajevo se va declanşa primul război
mondial, n-ar trebui să dăm uitării că Sarajevo a fost cândva perceput ca un
nou Ierusalim, acolo convieţuiând toate civilizaţiile: musulmană, creştină,
mozaică. Şi astfel de exemple ar putea continua. Se uită astfel că Balcanii,
priviţi azi ca un tărâm al intoleranţei, au fost cândva model şi pildă de
toleranţă.
Plecând de la ceea ce-l atrăsese pe marele istoric român N. Iorga –
Orientul ce cuprinde „Estul Europei (...) participând la civilizaţia Europei”
– intenţionăm ca prin revista cu nume sugestiv (Carmina Balcanica) să
revelăm nu numai specificul cultural al fiecărei ţări din această „unitate” şi
al ansamblului sud-est european, dar şi specificul dialogului Orient-
Occident. Cu alte cuvinte – contribuţia civilizaţiei şi culturii spaţiului
balcanic (extins geografic la întreaga parte de sud-est) la cultura şi
civilizaţia europeană.
Diversitatea de autori de origine diferită se conjugă – cu fiecare număr
al revistei – cu accentul pus pe o structură culturală specifică. În cazul de
faţă – Grecia de ieri şi de astăzi. Eseişti, poeţi, critici literari, indiferent de
origine, se vor apleca mereu către acest teritoriu, aşa cum în numerele
viitoare vor fi evidenţiate caracteristici culturale ale altor ţări din spaţiul

sud-estului european – Albania, Bosnia şi Herţegovina, Bulgaria, Cipru,
Croaţia, Macedonia, Muntenegru, Serbia, Turcia.
Deşi apare în România, revista nu este direcţionată numai către
cititorii români, ci şi – aşa cum poate ar fi fost de aşteptat şi de la alte
publicaţii cu adresabilitate similară, unor cititori din toate ţările lumii
balcanice (şi de aceea semnatarii au fost invitaţi să scrie în limba maternă!).
În plus, lărgind aria, prin fiecare studiu, eseu, poezie sau recenzie – care au
şi o versiune în limba engleză – revista se adresează tuturor celor care,
dincolo de Balcani, sunt interesaţi de fenomenul cultural (unitar în
diversitate) zona,cunoscută lumii îndeosebi prin conflicte politice.
Aşadar, Carmina Balcanica doreşte să cuprindă în paginile ei
„melosul” balcanic în tot ceea ce poate acoperi metaforic cultura ţărilor din
spaţiul sud-est european. Dintr-o multitudine de manifestări literar-artistice,
revista va putea deveni încet-încet o oglindă a specificului fiecărei ţări,
dând seamă mai ales de ceea ce reprezintă din punct de vedere cultural, prin
ele însele, precum şi de ceea ce reprezintă împreună pe harta spirituală a
Europei.
În numele Redacţiei: Mihaela Albu
Carmina Balcanica and the Intercultural Dialogue
The southeastern European space has been analyzed through the
„antrohpo-geographical constants” as well as through the prism of a
common historic destiny, destiny which lead to political, religious or
cultural similarities for the countries in this region. This „natural citadel of
a large geographical entity”, as defined by V. Papacostea, and of a large
historical entity, shall we add, has determined the multiple cultural
interferences.
Balkans, Balkanity, Balkanism! The last word has acquired – over
time – a rather pejorative connotation. And the stereotypical thinking of a
haughty Western world continues to associate it with a certain stigma. The
spirituality, the arts, the teachings and all other forms of higher expression
found here should justify rather a complimentary way in which the world of
the Levant is regarded and understood. There are actually already solid
arguments for this. All European civilizations have originated from the

Balkanic space. The idea of Democracy was born at the foothills of Athens.
The concept of a Constitution appeared for the first time in the Greece. The
Christianity has spread throughout Europe due to the apostolic work started
in Greece as well. In a recent interview, the Romanian Academy member
Razvan Theodorescu noted that, although the First World War was started
in Sarajevo, one should not forget that Sarajevo is the same place
considered at one point as the New Jerusalem, where three civilizations
were coexisting: Judaic, Christian and Muslim. And more examples could
be added. It is forgotten that what is now seen as a land of intolerance was
in the past a true model of coexistence.
Starting from the point of view expressed by the great Romanian
historian Nicolae Iorga – the Orient, by including “the Eastern Europe (...)
takes part to building of the European civilization” – we intend through this
literary journal, suggestively entitled Carmina Balcanica, to reveal not
only the cultural identity of each country from this space but also the salient
features of the Western-Eastern dialogue. In other words, we intend to
emphasize the contribution of the Balkan space (geographically extended to
the South and to the East) to the European culture and civilization.
The diversity, by origin, of authors is conjugated – in each issue –
with a given theme. In the present case: the Greece from yesterday and the
Greece from today. Essayists, poets, literary critics, regardless of origin,
will reflect upon this cultural and spiritual territory, as it will be done for
other countries in the future issues – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey.
Although the journal is published in Romania, it is not intended
specifically for the Romanian readers but rather – as it would have been
expected from similar publications, to readers from all over world: the
Balkans and beyond. That is why the invited authors are encouraged to
submit material in their maternal language. That is why there is an English
version for all the submitted material as we try with every essay, poem or
literary analysis to surpass the geographical boundaries and make it relevant
for all those interested in the Balkans, a space plagued by political conflict
and yet culturally and spiritually united through diversity.
Carmina Balcanica is intended therefore to reflect the cultural
musicality, harmony of the Balkan space. From a mosaic of literary
expressions, it is hoped that the journal will slowly crystallize the cultural
identity of each represented country and their place, as a unified space, on
the cultural and spiritual map of Europe.
(Translation: Catalin Florea)

STUDII ŞI ESEURI / STUDIES & ESSAYS
MIRCEA MUTHU (ROMANIA)
Sud-Estul şi modelul francez în
relaţia centru-periferie
Procesele iterative de racordare la
Europa apuseană nu pot fi înţelese în
dinamica şi mecanismele lor interioare decât prin plasarea Europei de
Sud-Est de ieri (dar şi de astăzi!) în cadrul unei relaţii mai largi, aceea
dintre Centru şi Periferie. O privire, fie şi de suprafaţă, arată că nu s-a
produs nici până în prezent o răsturnare copernicană în raporturile dintre
periferia (identificată cu aşa-numitele „arii laterale”) şi centrul aluvionat
încă de nostalgii imperiale, deşi – cum analizele punctuale iarăşi o arată
– semnele unor atari modificări de perspectivă sunt mereu mai evidente
de-a lungul ultimelor două veacuri de istorie continentală.
Elementele definitorii pentru orice naţiune europeană – adică
spiritul grec, legislaţia de extracţie romană şi ipostazele bisericii creştine
– sunt regăsibile, într-o alchimie diversificată, şi în spaţiul greco-slavolatin,
centripetal prin lanţurile muntoase care îl străbat de la Nord spre
Sud şi centrifugal prin prezenţa litoralului marin în toate punctele
cardinale. Coordonatele acestea particularizează atât clasicitatea
constitutivă romanităţii orientale de la nordul Dunării cât şi,
extrapolând, vocaţia europeană a sud-dunăreanului. Astfel, umanismul a
prezentat – în forma lui bizantină, universalistă şi apoi în cea consacrată
din secolele XVI şi XVII – o primă etapă de integrare a Sud-Estlui în
marile curente culturale europene. Au urmat Luminismul şi emergenţa
romantică în sincronie cu procesul complicat de cristalizare a naţiunilor.
Soluţionarea diferenţiată a raporturilor dintre etnie, naţiune şi stat
naţional, la care se mai adaugă autocefalia Bisericii Ortodoxe care
consacră, în acest areal, ecuaţia Stat – Naţiune – Confesiune, a constituit
un al doilea efort integrator. Or, asemenea procese iterative de racordare
la Europa apuseană nu pot fi înţelese în dinamica şi mecanismele lor
interioare decât prin plasarea Europei de Sud-Est de ieri (dar şi de azi!)
în cadrul unei relaţii mai largi, aceea dintre Centru şi Periferie. O
privire, fie şi de suprafaţă, arată că nu s-a produs nici până în prezent o
răsturnare copernicană în raporturile dintre periferia (identificată cu aşa-

numitele „arii laterale”) şi centrul aluvionat încă de nostalgii imperiale,
deşi – cum analizele punctuale iarăşi o arată – semnele unor atari
modificări de perspectivă sunt mereu mai evidente de-a lungul ultimelor
două veacuri de istorie continentală. Astfel, în condiţiile postbizantine
de perpetuare a statutului de alteritate, sud-estul era în situaţia unui
Janus sui-generis: făcând parte din zona de influenţă a Turcocraţiei,
după 1453 aproape toate popoarele răsăritene gravitau, sub o formă sau
alta, în jurul Istanbulului însă nutrind speranţa, difuză la început şi
marcată de literatura trenos-urilor, în reînvierea Bizanţului şi apoi în
schimbarea axei de orientare spre Vestul ce, în mod treptat, se
consolida. Să mai reamintim faptul că fostul polis bizantin era el însuşi
alogen 1 . Istanbulul, care l-a continuat a impus, la rândul său, un model
în realitate periferial din punct de vedere economic şi social. În
multiseculara pax ottomanica nu numai că vechi centre princiare decad,
precum Tîrnovo, Ohrid sau Târgovişte, ca să apară altele (Nikopol,
Sarajevo, Skopljie ş.a.), dar asistăm la un proces accelerat de ruralizare
a oraşelor astfel că, „începând cu a doua jumătate a secolului al XVIIlea,
Balcanii devin periferia unei periferii” 2 . Este evident că dubla
marginalizare a sud-estului policultural şi multilingv a contribuit la
amplificarea şi, implicit, la eternizarea decalajului faţă de centrele din
vestul Europei. Era firească, în consecinţă, forţa iradiantă a centrului
imperial ce n-a putut sparge totuşi coeziunea, respectiv identitatea unor
enclave ca Muntenegru, o parte din Peloponez sau câteva zone din
Albania.
Paralel însă, în lumea greacă şi de influenţă greacă ia naştere un
alt curent de idei care, paradoxal doar la prima vedere, „solidarizează
centrul şi periferia în aceeaşi atitudine de rezistenţă împotriva forţelor de
1 „Capitala imperiului turcesc adăposteşte cu vremea între zidurile sale trei straturi
diferite de civilizaţie: occidentul, reprezentat prin coloniile italiene, franceze şi
celelalte, orientul bizantin şi orientul musulman. Oraşul ajunge să capete un aspect
cosmopolit din ce în ce mai pronunţat şi, începând prin a fi o piaţă de mărfuri,
ajunge în cele din urmă o puternică piaţă de idei”. (D. Popovici, Studii literare, vol.
I, editura Dacia, Cluj-Napoca, p. 71).
2 „ce n'est pas seulement le résultat de la modification des rapports Ėconomiques
entre l'Empire Ottoman et l'Europe Occidentale, rapport qui exprime une
vulnérabilité politique trop visible à l' Èpoque de la „crise orientale”. C’est aussi
l’effet de la ruralisation des villes”. (Andrei Pippidi, Centre et Périphérie dans le
Sud-Est de l'Europe à l'époque médiévale et prémoderne, în Revue des Etudes Sud-
Est Européenne, XXXI, 1993, nr. 3-4, p.280).

ocupaţie 1 ”. Elenismul ca parte integrantă din „Bizanţ după Bizanţ”
(Nicolae Iorga) circumscrie o direcţie la început subterană şi apoi
manifestă prin Marea Idee (Megali Idea), ca să culmineze cu momentul
Rhigas Velestinlis şi cu evenimentele de la 1821. Această direcţie se
articulează pe un proces de fapt mai larg, acela de trecere de la o formă
culturală de caracter universal (postbizantin) la modelele naţionale in
statu nascendi. Laicizarea timidă a gândirii în cadrul, dominant încă al
„raţionalismului ortodox”, aşa cum desprindem din Divanul lui
Cantemir şi, implicit, inexistenţa deocamdată, la începutul veacului al
XVIII-lea, a unei burghezii puternice configurează un cadru mental
unde, pentru început, numai modelul absolutist francez putea găsi un
ecou favorabil şi nu modelul englez, mai competitiv în partea vestică a
continentului 2 . Dar rolul cu adevărat funcţional al modelului francez
este decis de 1689, mai exact din momentul când, în sud-est, revoluţia
era recunoscută drept metodă a transformărilor sociale. Prestigiul
Revoluţiei franceze a amplificat, pe de o parte, ecourile iluminismului
vestic în circulaţia cărţii, în instituţionalizarea culturii sau în
multiplicarea numărului de dascăli francezi şi de secretari angajaţi la
curţile princiare. E la fel de adevărat, pe de altă parte, că impactul
Revoluţiei a fost incetinit, de pildă, de războiul ruso-turc din 1787-1792
dar şi de dominaţia otomană, la care se adaugă atitudinea ambiguă a
Patriarhiei din Istanbul care, pe linia de apărare deja cunoscută din
Sinuadele de la Iaşi (1642) sau Constantinopol (1691), editează cărţi
împotriva „volteriştilor fără de Dumnezeu” şi în favoarea supunerii faţă
de sultan (precum Didaskalia Patrike, 1798). În aceste condiţii de
dispute generalizate în sud-est s-a selectat, totuşi, un set de componente
funcţionale aici, ce intră în alcătuirea modelului francez: universalismul
limbii care a mondializat, în chip treptat, şi valori culturale din Rusia ori
din ţările Orientale; politica franceză pentru menţinerea echilibrului în
„chestiunea orientală”; răspândirea Declaraţiei Drepturilor Omului ce
va conduce la intensificarea conştiinţei de sine a grupurilor etnice 3 :
1 Andrei Pippidi, op. cit, p. 271
2 Radiografierea, comparativă, a modelelor francez şi englez a fost făcută de Robert
Mandrou, L'Europe absolutiste. Raison et Raison d'Etat 1649-1775, Editura Fayard,
1977.
3 “Avant la Révolution Française – observă Nicolae Iorga – il n'y a pas cette
conception nette de la Nation, de la Nation qui a ses droits, par desseus lesquels
aucun gouvernement ne peut passer” („La Révolution Française et le Sud-Est de
l'Europe”, în Revue Historique Sud-Est Européenne, X, 1933, nr. 10-12, p. 360.

autoritatea luminilor în grilă franceză, dovedită de răspândirea
subversivă şi rapidă a scrierilor lui Voltaire; senzaţia de organicitate pe
care o transmitea, încă din veacul al XVII-lea, cultura franceză etc.
Ulterior, momentul Napoleon fortifică ataşamentul unei părţi
considerabile din mentalul sud-estic la ideile Revoluţiei, coagulează
ideologii revendicative şi dinamizează energii până atunci doar
potenţiale. Ziarele pe care autorităţile franceze le-au scos în teritoriile
ocupate (Liubliana) sau administrarea vremelnică a unor teritorii
greceşti au creat o atmosferă pro-Napoleon, chiar dacă şi imaginea
Salvatorului e disputată. Astfel, în vreme ce Budai-Deleanu evocă în
Ţiganiada dezbaterile din adunarea franceză şi figura lui Napoleon,
Cronograful lui Dionisie Eclisiarhul sau Cronica Banatului a lui
Nicolae Stoica de Haţeg îi distorsionează imaginea, fie din unghiul
concepţiei boiereşti, fie din acela al atitudinii austriece. Oricum,
rezultatul generalizat în sud-est este că 1789 şi apoi campaniile lui
Napoleon produc breşe adânci, la nivelul mentalităţii, în relaţia general
– obedientă cu centrul imperial. Mai mult, raporturile se înveninează
până aproape de ruptură şi este exemplar aici destinul tragic al
amintitului Rhigas Velestinlis care înfăptuia în gândirea sa o veritabilă
şi simptomatică simbioză între ecumenismul bizantin, idealul Greciei
clasice, şi, nu întâmplător, ideile Franţei revoluţionare 1 . De altminteri,
faimosul Imn de război (Thurios), imprimat la 1797, este creat de
Rhigas după model francez.
În această primă etapă de acţiune, preponderent luministă,
modelul francez slăbeşte pe de o parte influenţa exercitată la modul
opresiv de Centrul turcocratic asupra sud-estului luat global, fiind – pe
de alta - constitutiv procesului incipient de occidentalizare care, tot aici,
cunoaşte ritmuri şi cauze imediate diferite. Astfel, în timp ce Rusia lui
Petru cel Mare adoptă elemente din model în variantă absolutistă prin
ucaz împărătesc dar înaintea sud-estului, la slavii din sud, adică în
Bulgaria şi Serbia procesul a fost mult încetinit în absenţa unei clase
aristocratice, dar şi datorită drasticului regim otoman, ceea ce nu s-a
întâmplat totuşi în Grecia, dincolo de frâna pe care a reprezentat-o aici
Biserica Ortodoxă, şi mai ales în Principatele Române, unde
Vezi şi „La France et le Sud-Est de l'Europe”, în Revue Historique…, XIII, 1936,
nr. 1/3 ; 4/6).
1
Cf. Leandros Vranoussis, Rhigas - un patriot grec din Principate, Editura
Eminescu, Bucureşti, 1980.

„occidentalizarea a fost cea mai rapidă, cea mai spontană, favorizată
fiind de apartenenţa la familia popoarelor neo-latine şi de afinităţile
sentimentale cu italienii şi francezii, în sfârşit, de afirmarea aproape
obsesivă a latinităţii” 1 . Directă sau mediată de cultura neogreacă în
Principate, concurată de modelul german, el însuşi în curs de constituire
în unele zone (Croaţia, Transilvania), influenţa franceză precipită – la
grade diferite – în întregul areal sud-estic – în cel puţin trei domenii,
respectiv ideile politice, în structurile administrative şi în drept.
Franceza devine, aşa cum se ştie, noua lingua franca a Balcanilor, ea
înlocuieşte în doar câteva decenii limba greacă în Principate,
prefăcându-se într-un instrument de comunicare prioritar.
Odată cu emergenţa romantismului, înregistrăm a doua etapă
funcţională a modelului francez, în interiorul căruia s-a produs o mutaţie
semnificativă. Altfel spus, acest model a renunţat au fur et à mesure la
difuzarea programului dependent de politica napoleoniană şi postnapoleoniană,
ca să susţină în schimb, tot la modul programatic, ideile
de libertate, egalitate şi fraternitate care nu puteau să nu prindă imediat
şi durabil într-o epocă de ecloziune a naţiunilor. Să mai adăugăm aici
faptul că, pe de o parte romantismul ca şi fenomen cultural se bazează în
bună măsură pe transformarea complexă a ideilor elaborate de
Iluminism după cum, pe de altă parte, curentul iluminist nu se desagregă
în sud-est decât târziu, spre jumătatea veacului al XIX-lea. Or, într-o
atare conjunctură, reconstituirea dialogului dintre centru şi periferie din
unghiul funcţionalităţii paradigmei franceze se complică şi mai mult
dacă ţinem seama de adevărul că procesul de difuziune este însoţit
întotdeauna de prefaceri, fiecare regiune culturală situată la periferie
comportându-se nu doar ca un receptor pasiv al ideilor sau operelor
venite de dincolo, ci un partener activ in dialog. Astfel, descoperirea
identităţilor naţionale proiectate pe o viziune teleologică şi îmbinarea
acestora cu conceptul de independenţă au fost fără îndoială accelerate de
exemplul Franţei revoluţionare şi romantice. Apelul romantismului la
mit, la folclor şi, prin extrapolare, la recuperarea izvoarelor (uneori
ajustate în spiritul naţionalismului avant la date) traduce, la meridian
răsăritean, mutaţia de la ideea unui cosmopolis european, lansată de
iluminism în veacul al XVIII-lea, la „Europa patriilor, caracteristică
1 Neagu Djuvara, Orient şi Occident. Ţările române la începutul epocii moderne,
1800-1848, Humanitas, Bucureşti 1995, p. 9.

secolului al XIX-lea si romantismului 1 ”. Dacă exemplul francez decide
chiar, în prima jumătate din veacul trecut cel puţin, orientarea spre vest
a sud-estului mereu periferic în linie economică dar şi militară, e la fel
de adevărat că noile state naţionale se afirmă şi ca nişte replici la
centrele dominante în arealul european. Pentru că, să nu uităm, un nou
ev de acerbe competiţii în „chestiunea orientală” se desenează acum
între nu mai puţin de trei centre imperiale – Viena, Moscova şi Istanbul
declinant – ce îşi dispută întâietatea în spaţiul sud-estic încă nedesprins
de facto şi nici de de jure (cu excepţia, totuşi, a Greciei) de Semilună. E
semnificativ, de aceea, că influenţa franceză provoacă replieri şi opoziţii
nu numai din unghiul particularismelor re-descoperite şi antrenate în
procesele de coagulare naţională. Franţa e contracarată manifest ori
subversiv de Imperiul Habsburgic de pildă şi am oferit aici exemplul
Cronicii lui Stoica de Haţeg. În evantaiul diversificat al istoriei ideilor
interesează mai ales răspunsurile/ corecţiunile venite din interiorul
limes-urilor. Iată, încă din 1873, cărturarul Ion Maiorescu publică în
Foaia literară din Braşov un articol incendiar la adresa mimetismului,
atitudine formalizată apoi de către fiul său, Titu Maiorescu, în cunoscuta
teorie despre „formele fără fond”. Pe aceeaşi linie se înscrie, ceva mai
târziu, opoziţia lui Al. Odobescu la restaurările neinspirate de
monumente istorice şi arhitecturale ş.a. Însă dincolo de faptul că
influenţele franceze au provocat numeroase imitaţii fără conţinut, e la
fel de adevărat că ele îşi păstrează, global vorbind, calitatea de reper şi
de sprijin efectiv în alinierea la valorile occidentale, aşa cum o
demonstrează de pildă corespondenţa lui Jules Michelet cu
revoluţionarii români în perioada 1846-1870. Dacă excesul de influenţă
sau excesul de asimilare a produs, cum era normal de altfel, o saturaţie
finalizată în necesare distanţări ulterioare, sensul general de la Paris spre
Bucureşti sau de la Paris la Atena se menţine, el nu dispare nici în
secolul XX. În acelaşi timp, jocul complicat al constantelor şi
variabilelor a dus, în cadrul competiţiei cu alte modele, la diminuarea
forţei de penetraţie a ideilor în veşmânt francez. Începând cu ultimele
decenii din secolul al XIX-lea influenţele germane şi apoi engleze,
respectiv interesele acestor puteri menţin într-o altă gramatică complexul
centrului în Europa de Sud-Est. Alte postulări grăbesc sfârşitul politic şi
1
Paul Cornea, Originile Romantismului românesc, Editura Minerva, Bucureşti
1972, p. 468.

militar al Turcocroaţiei; ele deschid un nou segment de istorie, nu mai
puţin dramatică, în centrul şi în sud-estul continentului.
Din persuasiunea, schiţată doar în paginile din faţă, a modelului
francez în istoria premodernă şi modernă se pot deduce, în concluzie,
două etape în încercarea generală a sud-estului de a ieşi din condiţia
periferială. Într-o primă fază exemplul francez a contribuit la slăbirea
legăturilor de dependenţă faţă de centrul autocratic şi, în acelaşi timp, a
facilitat adoptarea, în bună măsură mimetică, a unei perspective în care
conceptul de „Europă franceză” se dovedeşte pe deplin funcţional,
augmentat fiind de ecourile Revoluţiei, de campaniile lui Napoleon şi de
universalismul limbii. A doua fază, circumscrisă de autocefaliile
Bisericii Ortodoxe şi de apariţia statelor naţionale e mai degrabă un
răspuns policentric, în cadrul căreia „Europa franceză” are o funcţie mai
puţin modelatoare şi mai mult catalitică în procesul decantărilor
repetate, socio-politice şi culturale. Ex-centric în continuare, sud-estul
va intra în veacul al XX-lea permanentizând o stare de criză, dublată de
conştientizarea instaurării în vestul european a unui alt model, cel
occidentalocentric.
MIRCEA MUTHU (ROMANIA)
The French Model in the Centre-Margin Relationship
To understand the dynamics and inner mechanisms of such
iterative processes of tuning in to Western Europe is to situate the
Eastern Europe of the past -- and to a certain extent that of the
present-- in a broader rapport, that of the Centre-margins. Even the
slightest glance at this indicates that no Copernican displacement of
the rapport between the Centre (yet to rid itself of imperial nostalgias)
and the margins (still associated with the so-called sides) has taken
place, despite changes in perspective that have become increasingly
obvious over the past two decades of continental history.
The defining elements of the European nations -- the Greek spirit,
Romance origin legislation and Christian church-- are identifiable in a
diversified alchemy, in the Greek-Slavo-Latin spirit, centripetally,
through the mountainous ranges crossing it north to south, and
centrifugally, through the sea shores lying at all cardinal points. These
coordinates typify both the classicity constitutive of Oriental Romanity
north of the river Danube and, by extension, the European vocation of

the South-Danubian. Humanism, in the Byzantine, universalistic form
that was to be established in the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries,
thus represented the opening stage in the integration of the South East
into the great European cultural currents. This was followed by the
Enlightenment and the emergence of Romanticism, synchronic with the
alembicated process of the crystallisation of nations. The differential
solving of the rapport between ethnicity, nation, and the national state,
to which adds the self-centredness of the Orthodox church, which
establishes in the region the state-nation-denomination nexus, was to
become the second integrative effort. To understand the dynamics and
inner mechanisms of such iterative processes of tuning in to Western
Europe is to situate the Eastern Europe of the past -- and to a certain
extent that of the present-- in a broader rapport, that of the Centremargins.
Even the slightest glance at this indicates that no Copernican
displacement of the rapport between the Centre (yet to rid itself of
imperial nostalgias) and the margins (still associated with the so-called
sides) has taken place, despite changes in perspective that have become
increasingly obvious over the past two decades of continental history.
Thus, in the post-Byzantine age, against the background of the
cultivation of the status of alterity, the South East found itself in the
position of a sui generis Janus: to the extent that they were under the
influence of Turkocracy, almost all Eastern nations revolved one way or
the other around Constantinople after 1453. They did so while
entertaining the, at first dim hope, marked by the trenos literature, of the
revival of Byzantium and with it, of a changing orientation axis,
prompting the gaze toward the West that was gradually taking shape.
Mention should also be made here of the fact that the former
Byzantine polis differed itself in origin, as Dumitru Popovici shows: “In
time, the capital of the Turkish Empire is home to three different layers
of civilisation: the Occident, represented by the Italian, French and other
colonies, and Byzantine and Muslim Orient. The city thus acquires a
marked cosmopolitan character, gradually developing from a trade
market into a market of ideas.” 1 Istanbul, which continued it, imposed a
model economically and socially peripheral. In centuries-old pax
ottomanica, not only do prestigious princely centres such as Tîrnovo,
Ohrid or Târgovişte experience decline, only for others to emerge (e.g.
Nikopol, Sarajevo, Skopljie, etc), but one witnesses an accelerated
1 Popovici, Dumitru. Studii literare, volume one, Dacia, Cluj-Napoca, p. 71.

process of ruralisation of the cities. As Mihai Pippidi remarks,
“beginning with the latter part of the seventeenth century, the Balkans
become the margins of a margin.” 1 It is evident that the twofold
marginalisation of the poly-cultural and multilingual South East
contributed to the amplification and, implicitly, the perennialisation of
the gap between this part of Europe and the West. Consequently, it
comes as no surprise that the imperial centre was to act as catalysing
force, even if it did not altogether break the cohesion, indeed the identity
of enclaves such as Muntenegru, part of Peloponnese or of parts of
Albania.
Against the background described above, a parallel current of
ideas was, however emerging in the Greek and Greek-influenced world,
one that paradoxically appears to “bring centre and margins in unison, in
a gesture of resistance against the occupational forces.” 2 As an integral
part of “Byzantium after Byzantium,” in Nicolae Iorga’s description,
Hellenism traces a direction at first subterraneous later manifest in
megali idea, the Grand Idea, culminating with the Rhigas Velestinilis
moment and the events of 1821. This direction articulates itself as part
of a broader process marked by the transition from a post-Byzantine,
universalist cultural form to the national models of statu nascendi. The
diffident secularisation of thinking within the as yet dominant “orthodox
rationalism,” as portrayed in Dimitrie Cantemir’s work Divanul (The
Council), the absence at the beginning of the eighteenth century of a
strong bourgeois class, shapes a mindset more permeable to the French,
absolutist model than the English one, the latter becoming more
influential in the west 3 . However, the truly functional French model
was to be decided by 1789, the moment when in the South East the
“revolution was recognised as a means of social transformation.” On the
one hand, the prestige of the French Revolution gave an impetus to the
echoes of the western Enlightenment resulting in the circulation of
books, and an increase in the number of French educators and
secretaries hired by princely courts. It is equally true, on the other hand
1 Pippidi, Mihai. «Centre et Périphérie dans le sud-est de l’Europe à l époque
médiévale et prémoderne » in Revue des Etudes Sud-est Européennes, XXXI, 1993,
no 3-4, p.280.
2 Idem, op. cit., p. 271.
3 For a comparative approach to the French and Enligh models, see Robert
Mandrou’s L’Europe absolutiste. Raison et Raison d’Etat 1649-1775, Editions
Fayard, Paris, 1977.

that the impact of the Revolution was slowed down by the Russian-
Turkish war in 1787-1792 as well as by the Ottoman domination. To
these add the ambiguous attitude of the Istanbul Patriarchy, which,
along the lines of defence already manifest at the Synods held in Iaşi
(1642) and Constantinople (1691), publishes books against the “Godless
Voltairists,” preaching abeyance toward the sultan (the Didaksalia
Patrike kind, published in 1798). Against this background of
widespread disputes a set of functional components constitutive of the
French model gain contour in the South East: the universalism of the
language, which gradually disseminated Russian or Oriental values in
the world; French policies of keeping the “Oriental matter” under
control; the dissemination of the Declaration of the Rights of Man
having as consequence a heightened state of self-consciousness among
ethnic groups; the authority of the ideas of French Enlightenment, to
which the rapid spread of Voltaire’s works testified; the sense of organic
quality which French culture conveyed already in the seventeenth
century. “Before the French Revolution, Nicolae Iorga notes, the clearcut
concept of nation did not exist, of a nation that has rights, rights that
no government can violate.” 1 The Napoleon moment was later to
strengthen the adherence of a sizable part of the South Eastern
population to the ideas of the Revolution, and galvanise vindictive
energies existing only as potentialities until then. The newspapers
printed by the French authorities in the occupied territories (Ljubljana)
and the fleeting administering of some Greek territories created a pro-
Napoleonic atmosphere, even if the image of the Saviour was in itself an
object of dispute. Thus, while Budai-Deleanu in Ţiganiada (The Epic of
the Gypsies) dramatises the debates in the French assembly and the
figure of Napoleon, Dionisie Eclisiarhul in Cronograful (The
Chronographer) and Nicolae Stoica de Haţeg in Cronica Banatului (The
Chronicle of Banat) distort the Napoleonic image from either the
perspective of the boyar, or one denoting Austrian attitudes. In either
guise, 1789 and the Napoleonic incursions that followed caused a deep
rift at the level of mentalities in the South East, once generally obedient
1 Iorga, Nicolae in Revue Historique Sud-est Européenne, X, no 10-12, 1993, p.
360. See also « La France et le Sud-est de l’Europe » in Revue Historique, XIII, no
1/3 ; 4/6, 1936, my translation. In the French original : « Avant la Révolution
Française, il n’y a pas cette conception nette de la Nation qui a ses droits, pardessus
lesquels aucun gouvernement ne peut passer.»

in its relationship with the imperial centre. Relationships worsen almost
to breakpoint, which makes said Velestinlis’s effort toward an authentic
and symptomatic symbiosis of the Byzantine ecumenical spirit, the ideal
of Greek antiquity, and the principles of the French revolution,
exemplary. Rhigas was in fact to pattern the famous war anthem,
Thurios, printed in 1797 on the French model.
At this preliminary stage, preponderantly Enlightenmentoriented,
the French model weakens the oppressive influence exerted by
the Turkocratic Centre on the South East (viewed globally), being
constitutive of the early process of occidentalisation, drawn as this was
in the region by its own pace and immediate causalities. Thus, whereas
the Russian of Peter the Great adopts elements of the model in its
absolutist vein, by virtue of emperor’s ordinance, before the South East,
for the Slavs in the South, Bulgarians and Serbians i.e., the process was
considerably slowed down by the absence of an aristocratic class as well
as by the harsh Ottoman rule. Greece and the Romanian Principalities
enjoyed a different experience, despite the set-back factor which the
Orthodox Church represented in the region, the “Occidentalisation
process being fastest and the most spontaneous here, fostered as it was
by the allegiance to neo-Latin peoples and the sentimental affinities with
the Italians and the French.
Whether direct or mediated by the neo-Greek culture in the
Principalities, rivalled by the German model about to be developed in
various regions (Croatia, Transylvania), the French influence is
accelerated, in various degrees, throughout the South Eastern area in at
least three domains: the realm of political ideas, administrative
structures, and that of the legal system. French becomes the new lingua
franca of the Balkans, replacing Greek in the principalities, and
becoming a key vehicle of communication in only a matter of decades.
With the advent of Romanticism, we witness a second
functional stage in the French model, one marked by a dramatic change.
This is a stage whereby the Napoleonic and post-Napoleonic agenda
was given up, in favour of a something equally programmatic in nature,
the ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity that were bound to gain
terrain in an age defined by the rise of nations. It is noteworthy therefore
that Romanticism as a cultural phenomenon is largely grounded in a
complex transformation of the ideas of the Enlightenment, this
continuing in the South East until late into the nineteenth century.
Against a like background, re-establishing a dialogue between the centre

and the margins from the angle of the functional French paradigm is
rendered complicated even further, the process of diffusion being
accompanied, as will be the case, by various changes, each cultural
region situated at the margin acting not only as a passive receiver, but
also as an active interlocutor. Doubtless, the coming to the fore of
national identities, a process coached in a theological vision, and the
coupling of this with the concept of independence were precipitated by
the example of revolutionary and romantic France. Romanticism’s
resort to myth, folklore and, by extension, its return to origins –
confected at times in the spirit of avant la date nationalism-- translates
in the Eastern meridian into the idea of a European cosmopolis, a
concept marketed by the Enlightenment in the eighteenth century, that
of a “Mother Europe, the province of the nineteenth century and of
Romanticism. 1 ” Thus, while it is definitely the case that already in the
nineteenth century, the French model proves defining in the gaze toward
the Occident of the ever-peripheral South East, economically as well as
military-wise, it is equally true that the newly formed nation states assert
themselves against Europe’s dominant centres. A new era of fierce
competition over the “Oriental matter” is dawning now, in no less than
three imperial centres, Vienna, Moscow and Istanbul, which compete
over supremacy in the South East, a region (with the exception of
Greece) yet to free itself from the Ottoman power both de facto and de
jure.
It is significant to note, therefore that the French influence
engendered realignments and oppositions not only from the vantage
point of the rediscovered particularities implicated in the processes of
national crystallisation. France is for instance manifestly or subversively
countered by the Hapsburg Empire, to echo Stoica de Haţeg’s Chronicle
that we brought as exemplification above. Within the wide range of the
history of ideas, what matters at the end of the day are the answers /
corrections brought from within the limes. Thus, in 1837, Ion
Maiorescu, prominent man of letters, authors in Foaia literară (The
Literary Leaflet) in Braşov, a polemical article against mimetism, an
attitude to be officialised by his son, Titu Maiorescu in an iconic theory
of “contentless forms” that was to make a career in the age. A consonant
attitude we find in Alexandru Odobescu, who voices himself opposition
1
According to Leandros Vranoussis, Rhigas – un portret grec din Principate,
Editura Eminescu, Bucureşti, 1980.

to the uninspired reconstructions of historical and architectural
monuments. Nevertheless, beyond the various imitations of “contentless
forms” that the French influence gave rise to, French models endured
overall as significant hallmarks, of real assistance with the alignment to
Occidental values, as evidenced for instance by Jules Michelet’s
correspondence with Romanian revolutionary figures between 1846-
1870.
If excessive influence or excessive assimilation triggered, as
expected, a sense of saturation that ended up in subsequent departures,
the Bucharest-Paris, or Paris-Athens connecting lines of force remain in
place thorough the decades, all the way to the twentieth century. In the
competition with other models, a complicated game of constants and
variables led to a diminishing in force and permeability of the French
model, already detectable in the nineteenth century when the German
and then English influence replace the dynamics of a complicated
centre-periphery picture with another. Other postulates accelerate the
political and military end of Turkocracy, opening up a new chapter in
the history of Central and South Eastern Europe, one no less dramatic.
To conclude, two are the stages in the general attempt to
overcome its peripheral condition by the South East, as outlined by the
presentation of the French model in premodern and modern history
above. An opening stage in which the French model contributed to the
weakening of the relationship of subordination to the autocratic centre,
facilitating the adoption, for the larger part mimetic in nature, of a
perspective in which the concept of a “French Europe” proves perfectly
functional, augmented by the echoes of the Revolution, the
Napoleonic’s incursions and the universalism of the language. A second
phase, subsumed to the self-centredness of the Orthodox Church and the
emergence of the nation states, more of a polycentric answer, within
which, the “French Europe” plays a less influential role, more of a
catalyst at the level of repeated decantation of socio-political and
cultural processes. Still ex-centric, the South East will cross the
threshold of the twentieth century in a state of perpetual crisis,
underpinned by a keen awareness of the emergence in Western Europe
of a new model of Eurocentricity, that of Occidentalocentrism.
Translation: Adriana Neagu

APOSTOLOS PATELAKIS (GRECIA)
Istoriografia greacă despre aromâni
Despre istoria de început a vlahilor nu
se cunosc prea multe lucruri, de aceea
există diferite teorii privind originea şi
limba lor.
De-a lungul secolelor, vlahii eleni au
traversat un drum lung şi sinuos pentru păstrarea propriei identităţi, cu
acceptarea unor influenţe hotărâtoare din partea grecilor, în mijlocul
cărora au trăit şi cu care au fost sortiţi să împartă o istorie comună.
În lucrarea aceasta, autorul încearcă o succintă incursiune în
istoriografia elenă referitoare la istoria vlahilor de pe teritoriul Greciei,
bazându-se pe o investigaţie făcută la marile biblioteci şi librării din
Salonic.
Pentru viitor, se speră că tinerii cercetători, motivaţi numai de
interese ştiinţifice, departe de tot felul de dispute, interpretări forţate şi
unilaterale, vor reuşi să abordeze obiectiv datele istorice şi să aducă
valoroase contribuţii, unanim acceptate.
Problema etnogenezei aromânilor (vlahilor) din Grecia a
preocupat în ultimii 150 de ani foarte mulţi istorici, lingvişti şi etnologi
greci, fiecare dorind să contribuie, într-un fel sau altul, la rezolvarea
acestei complexe probleme. Prin urmare, există un număr impresionant
de cărţi, studii şi articole în limba greacă, la care, din păcate, cercetătorii
străinii nu au acces decât în număr foarte mic, necunoscând limba elenă.
Unele articole au fost publicate în limbi de circulaţie internaţională, dar
istoricii străini nu au putut avea la dispoziţie o lucrare ştiinţifică
completă decât în anul 1986, când Institutul de Studii Balcanice din
Salonic a publicat, în limba franceză, lucrarea balcanologului Achilleas
Lazarou Aromâna şi raporturile sale cu greaca. 1
Istoria vlahilor este una fascinantă, de peste 2000 de ani. Vlahii,
firi aprige şi neînfricate, şi-au făurit propriul lor drum în Balcani,
trecând peste dificultăţile create de diferitele imperii şi state naţionale
din această frământată regiune. Despre istoria de început a vlahilor nu se
cunosc prea multe lucruri, de aceea există diferite teorii privind originea
şi limba lor. Vlahii apar în istorie, menţionaţi ca un grup distinct, în
izvoare scrise, în jurul anului 1000. Informaţiile despre ei, furnizate de
1
Achille G. Lazarou, L’ Aroumain et ses rapports avec le grec, Institute for
Balkan Studies, Thessaloniki, 1986.

cronicarii bizantini între sec. X-XV sunt confuze, ducând la diferite
interpretări şi speculaţii. Lipsită de o structură politică puternică, de o
biserică proprie şi o cultură scrisă, societatea vlahilor a fost până la
sfârşitul sec. al XVIII-lea una precumpănitor orală, fapt ce explică
absenţa unor mărturii directe cu privire la imaginea pe care vlahii o
aveau asupra propriei identităţi. 1
De-a lungul secolelor, vlahii eleni au traversat un drum lung şi
sinuos pentru păstrarea propriei identităţi, cu acceptarea unor influenţe
hotărâtoare din partea grecilor, în mijlocul cărora au trăit şi cu care au
fost sortiţi să împartă o istorie comună. Plecând de la aceste consideraţii
introductive, vom încerca o succintă incursiune în istoriografia elenă
referitoare la istoria vlahilor de pe teritoriul Greciei, bazându-ne pe o
investigaţie făcută la marile biblioteci şi librării din Salonic.
În urma documentării, considerăm că se desprind trei mari
perioade, fiecare cu caracteristicile ei, în funcţie de nivelul de
cunoaştere şi cercetare în domeniul istoriei, de nevoile impuse de
situaţia social-politică din acea perioadă, precum şi de evoluţia
chestiunii aromâneşti.
Prima perioadă cuprinde un lung interval de timp între 1800 şi
până la primul război mondial. A doua perioadă este cea interbelică şi a
treia este perioada postbelică.
Prima începe în jurul anului 1800, când intelectualii vlahi, dintrun
imbold interior, au început să scrie despre vlahi deoarece au înţeles
că aceştia constituie un grup distinct în masa elenă şi căutau să dea o
explicaţie privind originea şi limba lor. În această perioadă se
conturează cele două teorii privind originea vlahilor eleni şi anume
teoria autohtonistă şi teoria imigraţionistă. Existenţa a două teorii
diametral opuse va crea o dispută înverşunată între cele două tabere,
ceea ce explică şi numărul mare de lucrări dedicate acestei teme.
Primul istoric care s-a referit la originea vlahilor a fost
Konstantinos Koumas (1777-1836), care în 1832 a publicat la Viena o
istorie în 12 volume, în limba germană, intitulată Istoria faptelor
omeneşti. Referitor la vlahi, menţionează că populaţia băştinaşă, în
anumite regiuni, în cei 600 de ani de dominaţie romană, a suferit un
îndelungat proces de romanizare, în urma căruia au rezultat vlahii, ei
1 Manuela Dobre, „Românii din Peninsula Balcanică în operele istoricilor bizantini
din secolul al XV-lea”, în Congresul spiritualităţii româneşti, Ed. a XI-a, 2007,
p.269.

fiind, deci greci romanizaţi bilingvi. 1 Chiar dacă lucrarea lui Koumas nu
s-a bucurat de atenţia cuvenită în Grecia, fiind scrisă în limba germană,
el a pus bazele teoriei autohtoniste privind originea vlahilor.
În 1856, Panaiotis Aravantinos, în lucrarea sa Hronicul
Epirului, lansează ideea că în secolul al X-lea un grup de daci din
Moesia s-a deplasat, încet-încet, spre sud, stabilindu-se în Munţii
Pindului şi în Thessalia. Nu este de acord cu cei care susţin că vlahii
sunt greci romanizaţi. 2 Este prima lucrare scrisă de un grec care susţine
această teorie imigraţionistă, dar întrucât prezenta multe lacune şi
confuzii, nu s-a bucurat de mare audienţă.
Cel mai înflăcărat susţinător al teoriei imigraţioniste a fost
doctorul Nikolaos Georgiades (1830-1923) care, în lucrarea sa
Thessalia, publicată în 1880, tradusă apoi în germană şi franceză, a
susţinut că vlahii au venit din nordul Peninsulei Balcanice în sec. al XIlea
şi s-au stabilit definitiv în zona Munţilor Pind, unde, ulterior, s-au
grecizat, păstrându-şi doar graiul. 3 Om de mare cultură, Georgiades, a
influenţat foarte mulţi intelectuali greci din epocă, care au susţinut
această teorie. Printre ei, arheologul N.Giannoppoulos în 1891 4 , istoricul
Konstantinos Vlytsakis, în 1892 5 şi alţii. În 1905 se tipăreşte o altă
lucrare a lui Aravantinos cu titlul Monografie despre kutsovlahi, care a
fost scrisă în 1862, dar n-a fost publicată la acea dată.
În cealaltă tabără se remarcă istoricul Spiros Papagheorghiou cu
lucrarea Kutsovlahii, în 1908 6 , topograful Mihail Hrisohoos, cu foarte
interesanta lucrare Vlahii şi kutsovlahii, publicată în 1909 7 , profesorul
Konstantinos Nikolaidis care întocmeşte primul dicţionar etimologic al
limbii aromâne în 1909 8 şi Theodoros Kotsios, în 1909, cu lucrarea
Grecii vlahi sau kutsovlahii 9 .
Războaiele balcanice şi primul război mondial pun capăt acestei
prime perioade, care se caracterizează prin conturarea celor două direcţii
1 Colectiv, Vlahii de origine greacă, Atena, 2005, p.40 (în limba greacă).
2 Antonis Koltsidas, Vlahii de origine greacă, Salonic, 1993, Ed. a II-a, p. 35 (în
limba greacă).
3 Colectiv, op. cit. p. 31.
4 Ibidem, p.32.
5 Ibidem, p. 33.
6 An. Koltsidas, op. cit., p. 36.
7 Idem, op. cit., p. 37.
8 Ibidem, p. 38.
9 Colectiv, op. cit. p. 34.

diferite privind etnogeneza vlahilor. După primul război mondial apar
două lucrări, şi anume cea a lui Epaminondas Farmakidis, în 1926 1 , şi
cea a lui Nikolaos Spiropoulos, în 1932 2 , care susţin teoria
imigraţionistă, dar fără a aduce ceva nou în această direcţie.
În tabăra adversă, primul care se ocupă de originea vlahilor este
istoricul Konstantinos Amantos, care, după unele ezitări la început,
publică un studiu în revista Makedonika, apoi scrie articolul-titlu
„Vlahii” în Marea Enciclopedie Pirsos din 1934, susţinând că vlahii din
spaţiul elen sunt greci romanizaţi. 3
Figura cea mai proeminentă în perioada interbelică a fost,
desigur, istoricul Antonios Keramopoulos (1870-1961), profesor la
Universitatea din Atena, care, în 1939, a publicat lucrarea Ce sunt
kutsovlahii. Încă de la început, autorul se întreabă „de ce nu s-au ocupat
mai mulţi oameni de ştiinţă cu această temă, deoarece se referă la istoria
noastră naţională şi la originea unei mari părţi a populaţiei care
convieţuieşte cu noi din timpuri imemoriale”. 4 Keramopoulos susţine,
bazându-se pe cercetările anterioare, greceşti şi străine, că în timpul
îndelungatei stăpânirii romane a avut loc un amestec etnic al grecilor cu
romanii, în urma căruia au rezultat vlahii, care vorbesc o limbă de
origine latină. Această limbă s-a creat în special în SE Macedoniei, în
Tessalia de Vest şi în Epir. Aceasta a fost cea mai importantă lucrare
ştiinţifică în domeniu, care a influenţat foarte mult cercetările ulterioare.
Perioada interbelică este scurtă şi cu puţine lucrări în domeniu,
dat fiind faptul că Grecia traversa o perioadă dificilă după războaiele
balcanice, primul război mondial, şi, mai ales, după tragicul război
greco-turc din 1919-1922. Profesorul Keramopoulos, prin opera sa,
rămâne în peisajul istoriografiei interbelice o figură importantă şi de
referinţă, un ghid ştiinţific pentru generaţiile care i-au urmat.
În timpul celui de-al doilea război mondial chestiunea
aromânească s-a agravat, locuitorii Greciei şi chiar autorităţile neştiind
exact ce se întâmplă, cum să reacţioneze în faţa existenţei aromânilor. În
timpul războiului civil din Grecia (1946-1949) avocatul şi fostul deputat
Lampros Katafigiotis susţinea în lucrarea sa din 1947 că „În 1078, un
trib sălbatic şi pus pe jaf, de religie păgân, a invadat Tessalia, unde a
1 Ibidem, p. 34.
2 Ibidem, p. 34.
3 Ibidem, p. 36.
4 An. Keramopoulos, Ce sunt kutsovlahii, Atena, 1939, Salonic, reed. în 2000.

ămas definitiv. După ce au distrus oraşele din Tessalia şi aşezările din
câmpie, s-au retras şi s-au stabilit definitiv în Pind şi la poalele
Olimpului. S-au amestecat cu băştinaşii, s-au grecizat, au devenit
creştini, şi-au păstrat doar limba, care seamănă cu limba română”. 1
Autorul continua astfel seria celor care susţineau teoria imigraţionistă.
Având în vedere situaţia creată, în anul 1948, tânărul diplomat
şi scriitor de origine aromână, Evanghelos Averof (1910-1990), viitorul
ministru de externe al Greciei, publica la Atena un studiu socio-politic
foarte interesant, Aspectul politic al chestiunii kutsovlahe. Autorul
prezintă concret şi simplu cauzele care au condus la apariţia şi evoluţia
acestei serioase probleme, care, de multe ori, a pus în pericol relaţiile
greco-române. Averof menţionează de la început că a scris această carte
pentru a informa pe oamenii politici, pe diplomaţi şi pe cei interesaţi,
deoarece, din experienţa sa, a constatat că nu se cunoaşte nimic despre
această spinoasă problemă. 2 Cartea, unicat în genul ei, s-a bucurat de
mare succes, contribuind în mare măsură la stabilirea atitudinii Greciei
faţă de această problemă. Au urmat şi alte lucrări, mai mult sau mai
puţin importante, precum cele ale lui Ntoros Pefanis, 1949, Nikolaos
Fistas, 1962, Aris Poulianos, 1963, Tilemahos Katsougiannis, în 1964,
Georgeos Kolias, în 1969, Theodoros Sarantis, în 1975 şi Apostolos
Vakalopoulos, în 1974, care continuă linia trasată de Keramopoulos.
Marele istoric Apostolos Vakalopoulos, în monumentala sa
Istoria neoelenismului, susţine că în cei 700 de ani de stăpânire romană
a avut loc un proces de romanizare, mai ales în zonele muntoase şi de
contact şi că în sec. al VII-lea, sub presiunea slavilor, unele grupuri de
latinofoni din Balcani au ajuns până în Grecia de Nord. Întrucât nou
veniţii vorbeau aceeaşi limbă cu localnicii, procesul lor de asimilare a
fost mult mai rapid. Mai târziu, în cadrul Imperiului Otoman, faptul că
vlahii din spaţiul elen şi locuitorii din zonele dunărene vorbeau dialecte
neolatine înrudite, i-a ajutat pe vlahii eleni să se deplaseze spre bogatele
principate române. 3
1
Colectiv, op. cit., pp. 34-36.
2
Evanghelos Averof, Aspectul politic al chestiunii Kutsovlahe, Trikala, 1987, ed. a
II-a.
3
Apostolos Vakalopoulos, Istoria neoelenismului, Salonic, 1974, Ed. a II-a, p. 34-
40.

În 1976 s-a publicat teza de doctorat a romanistului Achilleas
Lazarou, Aromâna şi raporturile sale cu greaca 1 , o lucrare completă,
foarte bogată, solid informată, scrisă într-o limbă pe înţelesul tuturor.
Lucrarea continuă tradiţia începută de Keramopoulos privind originea
elenă a vlahilor. Ideile şi concluziile la care a ajuns Lazarou au fost
acceptate de majoritatea specialiştilor greci, precum şi de oficialii greci,
care acum aveau în mână o carte ştiinţifică cu argumente pe care se
puteau baza şi prezenta.
Anii din urmă s-au caracterizat prin apariţia unor noi lucrări ale
istoricilor şi lingviştilor greci, printre care menţionăm: Antonis
Koltsidas, Grecii vlahofoni (1976), Giorgios Exarhos, Vlahii. Dovezi de
viaţă şi limbă ale unei culturi ce piere (1986), N. Katsanis, N. Ntinas,
Gramatica comună a aromânei (1990), Achilleas Lazarou, Balcanii şi
vlahii (1993), Papathanasiou Iannis, Istoria ilustrată a vlahilor (1994),
Giorgios Exarhos, Aceştia sunt Vlahii (1994), Achilleas Lazarou,Vlahii
Greciei şi U.E. (1996), Achilleas Anthemidis, Vlahii Greciei (1998),
Koukidis Asterios, Studii despre vlahi, 4 vol. (2000-2001). Unul dintre
volume a fost tradus la Salonic în limba engleză în 2003. Au urmat
Giorgios Exarhos, Vlahii greci (aromânii), 2 vol. (2001), Nikolaos
Katsanis, Vlahii Greciei. Legende şi prejudecăţi (2004), Colectiv, Vlahii
Greciei (2005), Nikos Mertzos, Armanii.Vlahii (2007). Ziaristul N.
Mertzos, specialist în istoria Macedoniei, publică un album imens cu
zeci de fotografii din viaţa şi activitatea vlahilor. Este cel mai mare
album dedicat acestei comunităţi. 2 Tot în această perioadă au fost
reeditate lucrările unor specialişti, precum cele ale lui Lazarou, în 1986,
ale lui Averof, în 1992, ale lui Koltsidas, în 1993, ale lui Georgiades, în
1995, după aproape un secol, şi ale lui Keramopoulos, în 2000.
Interesant este faptul că apar şi primele traduceri ale unor
specialişti străini. Astfel, în 2001 a fost publicat în limba greacă primul
volum al studiului lui Gustav Weigand, Aromânii, şi în 2004, volumul al
doilea. 3 Cele două volume ale lui G. Weigand au fost publicate de către
Societatea Filologică, Istorică şi Literară din Trikala, din două motive.
În primul rând pentru ca cititorii greci să afle mai multe despre vlahi şi,
în al doilea rând, deoarece s-a constatat că foarte mulţi se referă la
1
Achilleas Lazarou, Aromâna şi raporturile sale cu greaca, Atena, 1986, ed. a IIa.
2
Nikos Mertzos, Armanii. Vlahii, Salonic, 2007.
3
Gustav Weigand, Aromânii, Salonic,Vol. I, 2001, Vol.II, 2004.

această lucrare clasică scrisă în 1895, dar fără a fi reuşit s-o citească.
Traducerea primului volum a fost realizată de profesorul Thede Kahl,
care a şi avut ideea traducerii cărţii. În 2009 a fost publicată lucrarea lui
Thede Kahl, Despre identitatea vlahilor. O abordare etno-culturală a
unei realităţi balcanice. 1 Studiul cercetătorului austriac a fost bine
primit de specialişti şi de opinia greacă, deoarece autorul a făcut o
prezentare obiectivă, fără a provoca şi fără a face pe atotştiutorul.
În ceea ce priveşte acest subiect, perioada postbelică se împarte
în două subperioade. Prima este cuprinsă între 1948 şi 1978, adică de la
Averof la Lazarou. Reprezentanţii celor două tabere continuă să scrie în
direcţiile stabilite anterior, fără a aduce contribuţii semnificative. În
plus, majoritatea lucrărilor sunt scrise în katharevusa, limba
administraţiei, o limbă greu de înţeles fără o pregătire serioasă. Toate
aceste cărţi, azi, se găsesc numai în biblioteci, în afară de 2-3 care au
fost reeditate. A doua subperioadă este de la 1976 până astăzi. În 1976,
prin publicarea lucrării lui Achilleas Lazarou Aromâna şi raporturile
sale cu greaca, lucrurile se schimbă radical. Toţi intelectualii acceptă
rezultatele studiului realizat de Lazarou şi practic putem spune că, în
linii mari, disputa dintre cele două tabere încetează, majoritatea
acceptând teoria autohtonistă. Lucrările sunt scrise în limba demotică,
uşor de înţeles şi astfel un număr mai mare de cititori are acces la
rezultatele noilor cercetări în domeniu. Deşi în ultimii 30 de ani au
apărut numeroase scrieri de specialitate, nici una n-a adus ceva
senzaţional care să schimbe lucrurile. Trebuie menţionat că, în afară de
numeroasele cărţi, în acest mare interval de timp, s-au scris şi publicat
sute de articole în diferite reviste din ţară şi străinătate, referitor la
ocupaţiile, obiceiurile, datinile, cântecele, dansurile, proverbele şi alte
aspecte din tradiţionala viaţă a vlahilor.
Concluzii:
În această scurtă prezentare am surprins numai cele mai importante
momente din istoriografia greacă referitoare la vlahi, ajungând la următoarele
concluzii:
- Majoritatea autorilor care s-au ocupat, în general, de istoria vlahilor
sunt de origine aromână, de multe ori făcându-se simţită în lucrările lor latura
afectiv-emoţională.
1
Thede Kahl, Despre identitatea vlahilor. O abordare etno-culturală a unei
realităţi balcanice, Atena, 2009.

- Multe dintre lucrări nu au întotdeauna caracter riguros ştiinţific,
deoarece autorii nu sunt istorici sau lingvişti profesionişti. Aceştia scriu din
proprie iniţiativă, în speranţa că pot şi ei contribui, mai mult sau mai puţin, la
lămurirea unor aspecte legate de istoria şi limba vlahilor.
- Perspectiva pe care o avem azi ne permite să apreciem că, în ciuda
progreselor realizate de istoriografia greacă în perioada postbelică există încă
multe semne de întrebare şi multe pete albe în ceea ce priveşte istoria vlahilor
şi în special a limbii lor.
- Puţine lucrări de specialitate ale istoricilor şi lingviştilor greci au fost
traduse în limbi de circulaţie internaţională, astfel încât punctul de vedere al
specialiştilor greci nu este cunoscut îndeajuns în străinătate, în afara unui
număr mic de specialişti din fiecare ţară.
- În Grecia, în cadrul facultăţilor de istorie existente nu există catedre
de balcanistică şi, în general, nimeni nu se ocupă în mod special şi organizat de
istoria vlahilor, ci numai tangenţial, cum au făcut şi fac următorii profesori
universitari: Elefteria Nikolaidou, Antonios Mpousmpoukis, Atanasios
Karathanasis, Mihail Tritos şi alţii.
- Elevii şi studenţii greci cunosc puţine lucruri despre istoria vlahilor,
datele despre aceştia în manuale şi enciclopedii fiind confuze şi contradictorii.
Astfel, în manualul care se pregătea pentru elevii din anul III de liceu, în 2002,
despre vlahi erau menţionate următoarele: „Populaţii de origine latină, care
locuiau în regiunile muntoase ale Peninsulei Balcanice şi se ocupau în special
cu păstoritul. Controversata problemă privind identitatea lor etnică a creat
numeroase probleme în relaţiile greco-române.” După intervenţia promptă a
Uniunii Oamenilor de Ştiinţă Vlahi manualele au fost retrase imediat, trecânduse
la o nouă formulare.
- De cele mai multe ori, cărţile dedicate vlahilor sunt tipărite într-un
tiraj foarte mic, ele ajungând practic numai în mâna specialiştilor şi în rafturile
bibliotecilor.
- În Grecia nu s-a tradus şi nu s-a publicat nicio lucrare a unui
specialist român legat de istoria vlahilor. Singura carte de istorie tradusă în
limba greacă a fost, până recent, O scurtă istorie a României a lui Virgil
Cândea, publicată la Atena în 1978. În anul 2007, cercetătorul Florin Marinescu
a publicat în limba greacă o lucrare interesantă cu titlul Românii. Istorie şi
cultură, încercând să umple golul resimţit în Grecia. Recent, în 2008, a fost
tradusă cartea lui Ion Bulei O istorie a românilor.
- În Grecia există cea mai mare comunitate de aromâni. Numărul lor
este în jur de 300.000 şi sunt situaţi geografic în partea nordică a Greciei, nu
doar în Macedonia istorică, dar şi în Epir, Pind, Thessalia şi Tracia. Astăzi,
majoritatea trăieşte în oraşe, ei au asociaţii folclorice şi etnoculturale. În ceea ce
priveşte identitatea aromânilor din Grecia redau un fragment dintr-un protest
redactat de 31 de primari de origine vlahă în 2001 împotriva raportului anual al
departamentului de Stat al SUA privind drepturile omului în Grecia, în care se

menţiona că în Grecia nu sunt recunoscute anumite minorităţi naţionale:
„Vlahii greci niciodată nu au cerut să fie recunoscuţi drept minoritate de statul
grec şi că istoric şi cultural au constituit şi constituie parte integrantă a
elenismului, că sunt bilingvi şi că aromâna este cea de-a doua limbă a lor.”
Acesta este, de altfel, şi punctul de vedere al statului elen în ceea ce priveşte
originea vlahilor greci.
- Sperăm că tinerii cercetători, motivaţi numai de interese ştiinţifice,
departe de tot felul de dispute, interpretări forţate şi unilaterale, vor reuşi să
abordeze obiectiv datele istorice şi să aducă valoroase contribuţii, unanim
acceptate, care să ne scoată din actualul impas.
- Romanitatea răsăriteană, în formele sale specifice şi particulare din
Balcani, în drumul nostru comun spre Europa, trebuie să ne unească şi nu să
creeze probleme în relaţiile dintre cele două popoare ca în trecutul apropiat.
APOSTOLOS PATELAKIS (GREECE)
The Greek Historiography about the Macedonian Romanians
The early history of the Vlachs is very little known and that is the
reason why there are different theories regarding their origin and
language. Along the centuries, the Hellenic Vlachs traversed a long and
sinuous way to preserve their own identity, accepting some decisive
influences from the Greeks among whom they lived and which whom
they were predestinated to share a common history.
Starting from these introductory considerations, we will try to make a
short incursion into the Hellenic historiography as far as the Vlachs on the
territory of Greece are concerned, relying on our investigations
effectuated in the main libraries and book-shops of Thessaloniki.
For the future, We hope that the young researchers, motivated only by
scientific interests, far from every kind of disputes of forced and unilateral
interpretations, will succeed in obiectively approaching the historical data
and in bringing precious contributions unanimously accepted
The problem concerning the ethnogenesis of the Macedonian
Romanians (Vlachs) of Greece has preoccupied over the last 150 years
an impressive number of Greek historians, linguists and etnologists,
each of them intending to contribute, in a way or another, to the solution
of this complex problem. Today, as a result of this activity, there is a
considerable number of books, studies and articles written in Greek, to
which, unfortunately, the foreign reserchers can not have access

ecause, excepting a small number, they don´t know the Hellenic
language. Some articles were published in widely used languages, but
the foreign historians could not have at their disposal a complete
scientific work until 1986, when the highly reputed Institute for
Balcanic Studies of Thessaloniki published, in French, the work of the
Greek balkanologist Achilleas Lazarou „The Macedo-Romanian
Language and its Connection with the Greek”. 1
The history of the Vlachs is a fascinating one, of more than
2000 years. The Vlachs, ardent and fearless characters, forged there own
way in the Balkans, overcoming the difficulties created by the different
empires and national states in this troubled area. The early history of the
Vlachs is very little known and that is the reason why there are different
theories regarding their origin and language. The Vlachs appear in the
history mentioned in written sources as a distinct group around the year
AD 1000. The information about them, transmitted by Byzantin
chroniclers, between the 10 th and 15 th centuries, are confused and lead to
different interpretations and speculations. Lacking a strong political
structure, without an own church or a written culture, the Vlach society
was until the end of the 18 th century a prevailing oral one, a fact which
explains the absence of direct testimonies concerning the image which
the Vlachs had about their own identity. 2
Along the centuries, the Hellenic Vlachs traversed a long and
sinuous way to preserve their own identity, accepting some decisive
influences from the Greeks among whom they lived and which whom
they were predestinated to share a common history.
Starting from these introductory considerations, we will try to
make a short incursion into the Hellenic historiography as far as the
Vlachs on the territory of Greece are concerned, relying on our
investigations effectuated in the main libraries and book-shops of
Thessaloniki.
As a result of the documentation, we consider that 3 principal
periods can be established, each of them with its characteristics,
depending on the level of knowledge and research in the field of history,
1
Achille G. Lazarou, L’ Aroumain et ses rapports avec le grec, Institute for
Balkan Studies, Thessaloniki, 1986.
2
Manuela Dobre, Românii din Peninsula Balcanică în operele istoricilor
bizantini din secolul al XV-lea, în Congresul spiritualităţii româneşti, Ed. a XIa,
2007, p.269.

on the necessities imposed by the socio-political situation in the
respective period, as well as on the evolution of the Macedo-Romanian
problem in different times.
The first period includes a long interval, between 1800 and
World War I. The second is the inter-war period and the third comprises
the time which has elapsed since World War II.
The first period begins around the year 1880, when the Vlachs
intellectuals, following an internal impulse, began writing about the
Vlachs. The autors of these writings had understood the fact that these
populations constituted a distinct group as compared to the mass of the
Greek inhabitants and tried to give an explanation concerning the
Vlachs’ origin and language. In this period the two theories referring to
the origin of the Hellenic Vlachs appear and become outlined, namely
the autochtonist theory and the immigrationist one. The existence of two
diametrically opposed theories will create a bitter dispute between the
two camps, which explains the large number of the works dedicated to
this theme.
The first historian who dealt with the origin of the Vlachs was
Konstantinos Koumas (1777-1836), who published in Vienna, in 1832, a
history in 12 volumes, in German, entitled The History of the Human
Deeds. With refference to the Vlachs, the historian mentions that the
autochtonous population of some regions underwent, in 600 years of
Roman rule, a long process of Romanisation from which the Vlachs
resulted, they were therefore Romanised, bilingual Greeks. 1 Even if the
work of Koumas did not receive the proper attention in Greece, because
it had been written in German, it was he who laid the foundation of the
autochtonist theory regarding the Vlachs’ origin.
In 1856, Panaiotis Aravantinos, in his work The Chronicle of
Epirus, gives out the ideea that in the 10 th century a group of Dacs from
the region Moesia left its native places and moved slowly southwards,
settling down in the Pind Mountains and in Thessalia. He did not agree
with those who affirmed that the Vlachs were Romanised Greeks. 2 This
was the first work written by a Greek in which the immigrationist theory
was sustained, but as the work contained many gaps and confusions, it
did not enjoy a great audience.
1
Collective, Vlahii de origine greacă, Atena, 2005, p.40 (in Greek).
2 nd
Antonis Koltsidas, The Vlachs of Greek origin, Thessaloniki, 1993, 2 edition,
p.35 (in Greek)

The most passionate sustainer of the immigrationist theory was
the doctor Nikolaos Georgiades (1830-1923), who in his work
Thessalia, published in 1880 (translated later into German and French)
mantained that the Vlachs had come from the northern part of the
Balcanic Peninsula in the 11 th century and had definitively settled down
in the area of the Pind Mountains, where they were later Hellenised,
preserving only their language. 1 A highly cultivated man, Georgiades,
influenced a lot of Greek intellectuals of that epoch, who also embraced
this theory. Among them was the archaeologist N. Giannoppoulos in
1891 2 , the historian Konstantinos Vlytsakis in 1892 3 and others. In
1905, another work of Aravantinos was printed with the title A
Monography about the Kutso-Vlachs, which had been written in 1862,
but it had not been possible to be published at that time.
In the other camp, will distinguish themselves, among others,
the following personalities: the historian Spiros Papagheorghiou, in
1908(8), with the work The Kutso-Vlachs, the topograph Mihail
Hrisohoos with his very interesting work The Vlachs and the
Kutsovlachs published in 1909(9), the profesor Konstantinos
Nikolaidis who draws up the first etimological dictionary of the
Macedo-Romanian language in 1909 (10) and Theodoros Kotsios, in
1909, with the work The Vlach Greeks or the Kutso-Vlachs 4 .
The Balkanic wars and the World War I put an end to this first
period, which was characterised by the fact that it outlined the two
different directions existing in the theories about the etnogenesis of the
Vlachs.
After World War I, two works appeared, namely that of
Epaminondas Farmakidis in 1926 5 and of Nikolaos Spiropoulos in
1932 6 , both of them sustaining the immigrationist theory, but without
bringing anything new in this direction.
In the opposite camp, the first who is concerned with the
Vlachs´ origin is the historian Konstantinos Amantos, who after some
hesitations at the beginning, publishes a study in the periodical
1
Collective, the quoted work, p. 31.
2
Ibidem, p. 32.
3
Ibidem, p. 33.
4
Collective, the quoted work, p. 34.
5 Ibidem, p. 34.
6 Ibidem, p. 34.

Makedonika, followed by the article-title „The Vlachs” in The Great
Enciclopedy Pirsos in 1934, affirming that the Vlachs in the Hellenic
space are Romanised Greeks. 1
The most prominent personality in the field of the Greek
historiography in the interwar period was surely the historian Antonios
Keramopoulos (1870-1961), profesor at the University of Athens, who
in 1939 publishes the work What are the Kutso-Vlachs. From the very
beginning the author asks himelf: „Why did not more scientists dealt
with this theme, because it concerns our national history and the origin
of a great part of a population which lives together with us from
immemorial times”. 2 Keramopoulos sustains, based on previous Greek
and foreign researches, that during the long Roman domination an
ethnic mixage of the Greeks with the Romans took place, from which
the Vlachs resulted, who speak a language of Latin origin. This
language was born mainly in the SE of Macedonia, in Western Tessalia
and in Epir. This scientific work was the most important one in this
field, which influenced very much the subsequent researches.
The interwar period is short and comprises few works in this
field, as Greece passed through a very difficult period afte the Balkanic
wars, the World War I and especially after the tragic Greek - Turk war
between 1919 -1922.
The profesor Keramopoulos remains, due to his work, as an
important figure in the landscape of the Greek historigraphy between the
two World Wars, who constituted a landmark and a scientific guide for
the generations which followed him.
During World War II, the Macedo-Romanian problem became
more difficult, the population of Greece and even the authorities did not
know exactly what was happening and how to react to the existence of
the Macedonian Romanians.
At the time of the civil war in Greece (1946-1949), the lawyer
and former Member of Parliament, Lampros Katafigiotis sustained in a
work in 1947, the following: „In the year 1078 a savage tribe of
plunderers, which had no religion and was pagan, invaded Tessalia,
where it remained. After destroying the towns of Tessalia and the
settlements in the plain, the tribe withdrew and established itself
1
An. Koltsidas,the quoted work, p.36.
2
An. Keramopoulos, „What are the Kutso-Vlachs”, Athens, 1939 (in 2000
republished in Thessaloniki).

definitively in the Pind region and at the foot of the Olympus Mountain.
The members of the tribe mixed later with the native inhabitants,
Grecizated, became Christians and preserved only their language, which
ressembles the Romanian language”. 1 The author belongs therefore by
his work to the series of those who shared the immigrationist theory.
Taking into consideration the situation created in Greece after World
War II, the young diplomate and writer of Macedo-Romanian origin
Evanghelos Averof (1910-1990), the future Ministre of External Affairs
of Greece, published in Athens, in 1948, a very interesting sociopolitical
study entitled The Political Aspect of the Kutso-Vlach
Question. The author presents in a concrete and simple manner the
causes which led to the apparition and evolution of this serious problem,
which endangered many times the Greek-Romanian relations. Averof
mentions from the beginning that he wrote his work in order to inform
the politicians, the diplomats and all those who were interested, because
he had found, from his experience, that nothing was known about this
difficult matter. 2 The work, unique in its kind, was a great success,
contributing in a large measure to determine the attitude of Greece with
regard to this problem.
In the next years, new works, written by different authors
followed too, more or less important, like those of Ntoros Pefanis in
1949, Nikolaos Fistas in 1962, Aris Poulianos in 1963, Tilemahos
Katsougiannis in 1964, Georgeos Kolias in 1969, Apostolos
Vakalopoulos in 1974, and Theodoros Sarantis in 1975. All these
authors follow the line traced by Keramopoulos.
he great historian Apostolos Vakalopoulos writes in his
monumental work The History of the Neo-Hellenism that in the 700
years of Roman sovereignity, a Romanization process occurred,
especially in the montaineous and the contact areas. Further down
Vakalopoulos maintains that in the 7 th century, under the presure of the
Slav populations, some Latin speaking groups from the Balkans
advanced as far as northern Greece. As the new-comers spoke the same
language as the native inhabitants, their assimilation process took place
much more faster. Later, in the frame of the Ottoman Empire, the fact
that both the Vlachs in the Hellenic Space and the inhabitants of the
1
Collective, the quoted work, p. 34-36.
2
Evanghelos Averof, The political aspect of the Kutso-Vlach question, Trikala,
1987, 2nd edition

Danubian areas spoke mutually related Neo-Latin dialects helped the
Hellen Vlachs in their movements towards the rich Romanian
Principalities. 1
In 1976 the doctor´s thesis of the Greek Romanist Achilleas
Lazarou „The Macedo-Romanian Language and its Connections with
the Greek” 2 , was published. This is a complete work, containing a very
rich and solid information, written in a language which is
understandable for each reader. The work continues the traditions,
began by Keramopoulos, concerning the Hellenic origin of Lazarou
were accepted by the majority of the Greek specialists, as well as by the
Greek officials, who had now in their hands as scientific book, with
arguments which thy could present and on which they could rely. The
recent years were characterised by the apparition of some new works
created by Greek historians and linguists, among which we mention:
Antonis Koltsidas, The Greek speakers of the Vlach language (1976),
Giorgios Exarhos, The Vlachs. Evidence of the life and language of a
culture which is perishing (1986), N. Katsanis, N. Ntinas, The common
grammatics of the Macedo-Romanian language (1990), Achilleas
Lazarou, The Balkans and the Vlachs (1993), Papathanasiou Iannis, The
Vlachs´History in Images, Giorgios Exarchos, These are the Vlachs
(1994), Achilleas Lazarou, The Vlachs of Greece and the E.U. (1996),
Achilleas Anthemidis, The Vlachs of Greece (1998), Koukidis Asterios,
Studies concerning the Vlachs, 4 volumes (2000 -1). One of the
volumes was translated in Thessaloniki in English in 1993; Giorgios
Exarchos, The Greek Vlachs (The Macedonian Romanians), 2 volumes
(2001), Nikolaos Katsanis, The Vlachs of Greece. Legends and
preconceived ideas (2004), A Collective, The Vlachs of Greece (2005),
Nikos Mertzos, The Armans.The Vlachs (2007). The journalist N.
Mertzos, a specialist in the history of Macedonia, publishes an
immense album with tens of photographies showing the life and the
activity of the Vlachs. This is the biggest album dedicated to the
Vlachs. 3
1
Apostolos Vakalopoulos, The History of the Neo-Hellenism, Thessaloniki, 1974,
2 nd edition, p. 34 – 40.
2
Achilleas Lazarou, The Macedo-Romanian Language and its Connection with
the Greek, Athens, 1986, 2 nd edition
3
Nikos Mertzos, The Armans. The Vlachs, Thessaloniki, 2007.

Also in this period, the works of some specialists were reedited,
so as those of Lazarou in 1986, Averof in 1992, Koltsidas in 1993,
Georgiades in 1995, and after nearly a century, Keramopoulos in 2000.
It is interesting the fact that the first translations of some foreign
specialists appear, too. Thus, in 2001 the first volume of Gustav
Weigand´study The Macedonian Romanians was published in Greek
and in 2004 its second volume. 1 The two volumes of G. Weigand were
published by the Filological, Historical and Literary Society of Trikala
for two reasons. Firstly, for the Greek readers to learn more about the
Vlachs and secondly, because it had been found that a lot of people
refferred to this classical work, written in 1895, but without having read
it in reality. The translation of the first volume was achieved by the
professor Thede Kahl, who also had had the idea of translating this
book.
In 2009, Thede Kahl´s work About the Identity of the Vlachs. An
Etno-cultural Approach of a Balkanic Reality was published. 2 The study
of the Austrian researcher was well received by the specialists and the
Greek public, as the author made in it an obiective presentation, without
provoking and without playing the part of an omniscient.
The post-war period is divided into two sub-periods. The first
period is comprised between 1948 and 1978, that is from Averof to
Lazarou. The representatives of the two camps continued to write in the
directions which were already previously established, without bringing
significative contributions. Moreover, the majority of these works are
written in Katharevusa, language of the administration, which is
difficult to understand without a serious preparation. Today, all this
books may be found only in libraries, excepting 2 or 3 which were
republished.
The second period lasts since 1976 till now. In 1976, due to the
publications of Achilleas Lazarou´s book The Macedo-Romanian
language and its connections with the Greek, the things changed
radically. All the intellectuals agreed with the results of the study
realised by Lazarou and in fact we can say that in broad outline, the
dispute between the two camps ended, the majority accepting the
1
Gustav Weigand, The Macedonian Romanians, Thessaloniki, 1st Vol., 2001, 2nd
Vol., 2004.
2
Thede Kahl, About the Vlachs Identity. An Etno-cultural Approach of a Balkan
Reality, Athens, 2009.

autochtonist theory. The works are written in the Demotic language,
easy to understand, and thus, a larger number of readers has acces to the
results of the new researches in this field. Although over the last 30
years a lot of writings in this speciality have appeared, none of them
brought anything sensational, which might have changed the things.
It must be mentioned that besides the numerous books, during
this long interval of time hundreds of articles were written and
published, in different periodicals in Greece and abroad about the
occupations, habits, traditions, songs, dances, proverbs and other aspects
of the Vlachs´ traditional life.
Conclusions:
In this short presentation we have enumerated only the most important
moments of the Greek historiography refferring to the Vlachs reaching to the
following conclusions:
- The majority of the authors who were occupied with the Vlachs´
history are of Macedo-Romanian origin and the affective - emotional nuance
may be felt many times in their works.
- Many works have not always a rigorously scientific character, as
their authors are not professional historians or linguists. These authors write on
their own initiative, hoping that they can also contribute, more or less, to the
clarification of some aspects concerning the Vlachs´ history and language.
- The perspective which we have today allows us to appreciate that
despite the progress made by the Greek historiography in the post-war period
there are still many question marks and many white spots regarding the history
of the Vlachs and especially regarding the history and especially the language
of the Vlachs.
- Few speciality works by Greek historians and linguists were
translated into widely used languages, so the point of view of the Greek
specialists is not well known abroad sufficiently, except for small number of
scientists in each country.
- In Greece, in the frame of the faculties of history, there is not any
department of Balkanistics and, generally, nobody is concerned in an
organised way with the Vlachs´ history, but only in a tangential manner, as the
University professors were or are doing: Elefteria Nikolaidou, Antonios
Mpousmpoukis, Atanasios Karathanasis, Mihail Tritos and others.
- The Greek pupils and students know few things about the history of
the Vlachs and the data concerning them in the school books and enciclopedies
are confused and contradictory. Thus, in the book which was in preparation for
the pupils in the 3 rd year of the secondary schools, the following was mentioned
about the Vlachs in 2002: „Populations of Latin origin which lived in the

montainous regions of the Balkan Peninsula and were dealing with the grazing.
The controversial problem regarding their ethnical identity has created
numerous problems in the Greek-Romanian relations”. After the prompt
intervention of the Vlach Scientists´ Union the manuals were immediately
withdrawn and the school authorities proceeded to a new formulation.
- In the most cases, the books dedicated to the Vlachs are printed in a
very small number of copies, for this reason they reach in fact only into the
hands of the specialists and the shelves of the libraries.
- No work of any Romanian specialists, connected to the Vlachs´
history has ever been translated or published in Greece. The only Romanian
history book translated into Greek was, until recently, A Short History of
Romania by Virgil Cândea, published in Athens, in 1978. In 2007, the
researcher Florin Marinescu published in Greek an interesting work entitled
„The Romanians. History and Culture”, trying to fill the emptiness felt in
Greece about this theme. Recently, in 2008 Ion Bulei´s book was translated A
History of the Romanians.
- In Greece, lives the largest comunity of Macedonian Romanians.
Their number is around 300.000 and they are situated geographically in the
northern part of Greece, not only in the historical Macedonia, but also in
Epirus, Pind, Thessalia and Tracia. Today, they live in the majority in towns,
have folclore and etno-cultural associations. As far as the identity of the
Macedonian Romanians of Greece is concerned, I quote an excerpt of a protest,
worded by 31 localities´ mayors of Vlach origin in 2001, against the annual
report of the State Department of the U.S.A. concerning the human rights in
Greece. In their protest, the authors mention that in Greece some national
minorities are not recognised: „The Greek Vlachs have never asked to be
recognised as a minority by the Greek state, historically and culturally they
have always constituted an integrant part of the Hellenism, they are bilingual
and the Macedo-Romanian is their second language”(..) As a matter of fact, this
is also the standpoint of the Greek state regarding the Greek Vlachs´ origin.
- We hope that the young researchers, motivated only by scientific
interests, far from every kind of disputes of forced and unilateral
interpretations, will succeed in obiectively approaching the historical data and
in bringing precious contributions unanimously accepted, which will lead us
out of the present deadlock.
- The oriental Roman world, in its specific and particular forms of the
Balkans, must unite us on our common way towards Europe and not create
problems in the relations between the two peoples, as it occured in the recent
past.
(Translation: Antonia Vancea)

THEDE KAHL (AUSTRIA)
“Being Vlach, Singing Greek”: Greek-
Aromanian Music Contacts in the Pindus
Mountain Range. The Aromanians or Vlachs in
the Pindus
The Aromanian language or dialect is –
besides Daco-Romanian, Meglenoromanian
and Istroromanian – one of the four varieties of
Modern Balkan Latin spoken until today by about 400,000 speakers in
Southeastern Europe.
Until today most studies and anthologies refer to Aromanian songs
in one language only, although today’s bilingual musical tradition
should be one of the most fascinating aspects.
Most Aromanian songs about foreign countries, songs of
muleteers, historical and heroic songs, which are sung usually by men,
are sung in the state language (in the case of Greece in Greek), while
many songs of marriage, most lullabies, children songs and erotic songs,
which constitute in larger part the repertoire of women, are sung
predominately in Aromanian. As a result, in many regions the women
preserve folk songs in Aromanian. There are no activities which protect
and promote the Aromanian language and singing in Aromanian,
whereas there is extensive organized folklore activity among
Aromanians in the Greek language. At the Aromanian festivals, which
are organized every year in Greece, only about ten percent is sung in
Aromanian. In general, in Greece Aromanian traditional music survived
quite well, whereas their language seems to have disappeared. The
choice of the language can be explained first of all as a consequence of
politics. Romania considers the Aromanians fraţi (brothers) that have
maintained until today a “Romanian dialect”, while in Greece usually
the kinship of the two languages or dialects is suppressed and the similar
traditions of Vlachspeakers and Greek-speakers are emphasized.
Greece’s minority policy often interpreted linguistic and cultural
otherness as anti-Greek or disloyal towards the Greek state. There has
been a period of discrimination of minority languages until the 1970s
and 1980s. Nowadays most Aromanians in Greece will, for these
reasons, refuse being called a minority. Singing Aromanian is by the
majority and consequently by the minority itself still associated with

poor village life, animalbreeding and illiteracy. Aromanian is believed
to be a wild idiom without grammar. This image influences the
repertoire of most musicians in Aromanian communities. So most
musicians have larger Greek repertoire than Aromanian and prefer to
sing in Greek. On the other hand, the loss of the language does not mean
automatically the loss of a specific Aromanian identity. In many villages
where the population stopped speaking Aromanian, they continue to
define themselves as Βλάχοι (Greek for Aromanians) and to
characterize their Greek songs as βλάχικα (Greek for Romanian). The
most recent development is a kind of nostalgia, which led to
improvement of the public image since the end of the 1990s.
The Aromanian language or dialect is – besides Daco-Romanian,
Meglenoromanian and Istroromanian – one of the four varieties of
Modern Balkan Latin spoken until today by about 400,000 speakers in
Southeastern Europe. 1 To understand the phenomena of cultural contact
between Aromanians and their neighbors one must consider their initial
nomadic style of life and their extremely disperse distribution in many
regions of the Balkans. The Aromanians were primarily animal-breeders
(sheep, goats) and lived for centuries in patriarchal societies, ignoring
city life. During the Ottoman Empire they founded villages and a
portion of the population abandoned their closed animal-breeding
society. They later appear in historical texts as muleteers, artisans and
tradesmen.
The Pindus mountain range (Greek: Pindos, Arom.: Pindu) in
Northwestern Greece (regions Epirus, Thessaly, Macedonia) can be
considered a kind of homeland of Aromanians. Today there are about 70
villages in the Pindus which preserved their Romance language on a
linguistic island surrounded predominately by a Greek speaking region.
Due to increased contact with the Greek language as the commerce
lingua franca in the Southern Balkans for centuries and due to the
influence of Greek culture, a growing number of Aromanians identify
themselves as Greeks. Today, the inhabitants of all Aromanian villages
1 While most neighboring populations use the term Vlach for the Aromanians, they
usually call themselves “Armānu” (pl. Armān'i). In the scientific terminology we
prefer the term Aromanian, because it refers exclusively to those Vlachs, who call
themselves “Armān'i”, while the comprehensive term Vlach may include also the
forefathers of the Daco-Romanians, Greek-speaking shepherds, Romanians of
Timok, Sarakatsans, Vlach-Gypsies and many other groups.

in Greece speak fluent Greek and only use Aromanian in family
contexts. In most cases their knowledge of the state language is much
better than their Aromanian. 1 In the Pindus and the neighboring regions
we meet the following groups of Aromanians: (a) Farshirots, (b)
Gramustians and (c) Aromanians from the Vlach villages (vlachochoria)
of Pindus. 2
Question and Method
In the preface of Panagiotis Aravantinos’ collection of folk
songs from Epirus, written by his sons in 1880, we find the following
statement concerning Aromanian songs:
“[The Vlachs] do not use the Greek language in family, but they
compose Greek songs. (...) [The songs] were collected in Metsovo,
Grevena and Malakasi, partially Aromanian communities, in which an
Aromanian song never can be heard. During their dances, marriages,
fiestas and at their homes, when the women sing lullabies for their
children or laments for the dead, they will always sing Greek, in spite of
the fact that some of them do not speak Greek and do not understand
what they sing” (Aravantinos 1880:8).
Only a few years later, German scholar Gustav Weigand
collected hundreds of songs in Aromanian from the same villages and
characterized his collection as the “remnants of a once rich literature”
(Weigand 1894: ix). Whereas Aravantinos examined the Aromanians as
representatives of Greek folk poetry, Weigand was not interested in
collecting Greek songs among the Aromanians, but Aromanian ones.
Until today most studies and anthologies refer to Aromanian songs in
one language only, although today’s bilingual musical tradition should
be one of the most fascinating aspects.
1 See the bibliography about the Aromanians in [S. n.] 1984 and Kahl 2004.
2 Most of Farshirots (Arom.: fārshirots, Greek: Arvanitovlachoi, Rom.: fărşeroţi)
speak Aromanian and Albanian (inside Greece also Greek). Their dialect differs
considerably from the Aromanian of (b) and (c). The Gramustians (Arom.:
ghrāmustian’, Greek: Gramoustianoi, Rom.: grămusteni) originate from the villages
in the mountain range of Grammos (Alban.: Gramoz). Their dialect is very similar
to that of (c). A single name does not exist for the third group (c) because they
identify with their villages, e.g. Pirvuľats from Perivoli (Arom.: Pirivoli), Brazhots
from Distrato (Arom.: Breaza), Sārāk’ots from Syrrako (Arom.: Siracu, Sāracu) etc.
Certain Romanian authors use the “scholar” term “Pindeni” for this group.

There is no doubt that Aravantinos’ collection represents a large
portion of Greek songs collected among Aromanians. But surely the
generalized declaration that even “at their homes (…) they will always
sing Greek” is an immoderate exaggeration. Aravantinos’ examples for
Greek lullabies (Aravantinos 1880:131-140) and marriage songs
(ibid.:183-194) are not from Aromanian villages. Even today one may
observe that most songs in a familial context are sung in Aromanian,
whereas songs with a public context are sung in Greek. This first
superficial observation provokes us to ask the questions:
• What is the role of the Greek language in Aromanians’
musical culture?
• Where and when does the Aromanian language predominate?
• What is the influence of language-switching on this music?
During various field studies I had the occasion to record dances
and songs from the traditional repertoire of professional and nonprofessional
musicians in romanian villages of the northern Pindus.
Most recordings were made in Distrato (Arom.: Breaza, region of
Konitsa), Krania (Arom.: Turyia, district of Grevena), 1 Milia (Arom.:
Ameru, district of Ioannina), 2 Panagia (Arom.: Cutsufliani, region of
Kalambaka), 3 Kefalovryso (Arom.: Megidei, region of Konitsa) and
Vovousa (Arom.: Bāiasā, district of Ioannina) 4 .
The examined villages are all mountain villages with an animal
breeding past. Finally, I regularly visited village feasts (panigyria),
marriages, christenings and other events in order to complete my
impressions. After the field work I analyzed the repertoire, the language
use in different situations and compared the texts.
Characteristics of Aromanian Songs
Today it is quite difficult to obtain a feeling for what has been
“specific Aromanian”, because the music of the Pindus range seems to
be a conglomerate of Greek, Albanian and Aromanian styles. 5 Usually it
1
The linguistic aspect of the material has been published in Bara, Kahl and Sobolev
2005.
2
Plenty of songs from Milia are published in Purnaras 1987.
3
The material has been published in a monography in two languages: see Dietrich,
Kahl and Sárros 2001.
4
For details on the distribution of Aromanians see Kahl 1999.
5
Brandl calls the music of Epirus and most parts of Thessaly a “gräkoalbanischaromunischer
Mischstil” (1996:408-440, 416).

is not possible to separate them from each other and to speak about
Greek, Albanian and Aromanian specifics in this region.
Instruments
In the animal-breeding society of the Aromanians, instruments
hardly played any role (see Hammond 1976:45). Most dances were (and
are) performed without instruments. Of those among the Aromanian
groups that remained until recently animal-breeders, first of all are the
Gramustians and Farshirots, who preserved a rich tradition of a cappella
songs. In the circular dances the dancers participate by singing
monophonic songs in groups. Usually women and men alternate their
singing. Multipart singing is practiced mostly by the Farshirots. The
only instruments, played by Aromanian shepherds during the pasturage,
were the simple shepherds pipe fluĭarā (Greek: flogera) (Tyrovola
1992:94), other woodwind instruments such as the giamara (Greek:
tzamara) or the suravli (Greek: souravli) 1 and rarely, in earlier times,
the gaida (Greek: gaida, a kind of bagpipe). It is characteristic that until
today we find several Aromanian musicians who play the fluĭarā in the
Pindus, while in their urban settlements this type of music has
disappeared. In their permanent villages new instruments were
introduced for various events and especially marriages. As we know
from early travelers and old photographs, musicians were usually
brought from the surrounding regions. In nearly all villages of the
Pindus we find the characteristic northern Greek bands (Arom.:
orghanli, Greek: koumpanies, kompanies) which consist of the clarinet
(Arom.: clarinu, Greek: klarino) as the dominant instrument, which
became common in Greece in the mid 19th century, and the
accompanying instruments: violin (Arom.: vĭulii, Greek: violi), lute
(Arom.: lautu, Greek: laouto), tambourine (Arom. And Greek: defi), the
dahare-drum (Arom.: dāire, dāhāre, Greek: dahares), and big drum
(Arom.: tāmbānā or dauli, Greek: daouli). Some bands also included the
accordion.
In many regions of Greece the Gypsies (Rromi) play an
important role in instrumental music (Dietrich 1983:289-299, Dousas
2001). The music groups within the 20th century in the wider region of
northern Pindus were constituted mostly by Gypsies. Their contribution
1 Information and pictures for each instrument see in Anōgeianakīs 1991.

to the musical tradition is enormous, but their participation in
Aromanian singing is much less important in comparison to their
contribution to instrumental music. In many villages like Krania (district
of Grevena) or Metsovo we find professional Rromi musicians who
have learned Aromanian over time and have assimilated. In this way the
violin, the clarinet and the lute enter the Aromanian settlements of
Pindus, and the former foreign elements become representative for the
region.
Rhythm and Dance
The geographical localization of the Pindus on the border of
Thessaly, Epirus and Macedonia led its population to adopt various
dance rhythms of the neighboring geographical and cultural
surroundings. We find almost all of the rhythms that exist in the wider
region: sta dyo (2/4, 3/4), sta tria (3/4, 4/3), sygkathista 1 (8/8, 8/4, 8/6),
xechorista (2/4), tsamika (6/8), syrta (2/4, 4/4), beratia (7/8), strota
(2/4, 7/8) and dromika (various rythms). 2
In some regions the old form of the coru (circle dance, with its
various regional names: corlu mari, ciaciu, cānic etc., Greek: tranos)
has lost its importance. The form diplokagkelo with two big
homocentric circles is rarely practiced anymore. The women dance in an
interior circle while men in the exterior one. The dancers in the front of
the circle should be relatives, usually pairs. Contrary to the common
opinion in Greece, in Aromanian folklore the 6/8 rhythm of tsamikos
(sing., pl. tsamika) is very rare. One of few exceptions of Aromanian
songs in rhythm tsamikos is Dosprādz di gion’ (see song example in
subchapter about songs in Aromanian and Greek). The tsamika which
are danced today by Aromanians in Greece usually have Greek texts or
no text at all and they seem to be rather a newer phenomenon among the
Aromanians. New rhythms were introduced because of the instrumental
accompaniment for the dancing songs. Especially the dancing rhythms
7/4 and 9/4 found bigger distribution than they had in the vocal dancing
1 In Aromanian also singasto; see Wace and Thompson 1914:56-57.
2 Among the studies on the Aromanians dances for Samarina see Plitsīs 1993; for
Perivoli see Nitsiakos and Laitsos 1994; for Syrrako see Dīmas 1989; for
Kefalovryso see Alexakīs 1996; for Metsovo and Mīlia see Dema 1992.

songs of earlier times. Now many bands change the rhythm of the songs
depending on the commands of the dancers.
Other songs have free rhythm: the sitting songs (Arom.: din
padi, Greek: tis tavlas), any songs about foreign countries (Arom.: di
xenitii, Greek: tis eniteias), heroic songs (Arom.: di furi, fureshti, Greek:
kleftika), songs of muleteers (Arom.: di chiragi, Greek: kiratzidika),
many marriage songs (Arom.: di numtā, Greek: tou gamou) and laments
(Arom.: mirĭuloi, Greek: moirologia).
The Drama of Bilinguals: In which Language to Sing?
Multilingualism is quite a common phenomenon within groups
in arena of linguistic assimilation. There are songs which exist only in
Aromanian, only in Greek, in more than one language, and with a
switching of language within the same melody.
Songs in Aromanian
Other authors have contributed with studies 1 and anthologies 2 to
knowledge about songs in Aromanian, so that here I focus only on the
phenomena of assimilation by the Greek language.
Certain Greek writers assert that the “vlachophone” songs are
translations from Greek into Aromanian. Of course there are recent
translations, either from the Greek into Aromanian or the other way
around. However, it is absurd to insist that the Aromanian songs in
general are creations of the Romanian propaganda (as Nimas and
Lazarou want us to believe – cf. Lazarou 2001:80, 39) and even more
absurd to draw the conclusion, based on this hypothesis, that the
Aromanians are of Greek origin (as Panopoulou and Serbesis want us to
believe – cf. Panopoulou and Serbesis 2002: 77- 78).
1
See Christu 1932, Marcu 1958, 1968, Kaufman 1969, Nitsiakos and Kokkōnīs
1996, Katsanevakī 1998.
2
See Wace and Thompson 1914, Papahagi 1922, Caranica 1937, Iorgoveanu-
Dumitru 1976, Cândroveanu 1977, Marcu 1977, Caraiani and Saramandu 1982,
Gheorghević- Spoa and Jovanović 1982, Papazīsī-Papatheodōrou 1985, Padiōtīs
1988, 1991, Baud-Bovy 1990, Zeana 1992, Dīmotiko 1997, Turculeţ and Delion
1997, Katsanīs 1998, Kota 1999, Ianev-Cioli and Mincova 2001, Lascu and Lascu
[s. a.].

For certain songs it is clear that they are translations from the
Greek. Even compositions from last decades were translated, e.g. the
well-known ∆εν µπορώ µανούλα (Den mporō manoula) we encounter in
Albania as a song called Elbasan and in Aromanian villages of the
Dobrudja as Mushatā hii lea featā. Today it is considered a folk song by
most people (by Albanians as an Albanian song, by Greeks as a Greek
one, by Aromanians as an Aromanian one), in spite of the fact that the
song was probably written by the deceased Tasos Chalkias
(Chronopoulos 1985:115-116). There are, however, also examples
which seem to be much older and which might be translations from
Aromanian into Greek, as Στην κεντηµένη σου ποδιά (Stin kendimeni sou
podia), which has precisely the same melody and similar text as the
Aromanian Poala tsea di lānā. But, even in this case, we cannot say
surely who is influencing and who is influenced.
Reading bilingual song-collections one can see that the heroic
and historical songs are sung in Greek, while those for children and
those of marriage and love are in Aromanian (Raptis 1977). There are,
however, enough exceptions of historical songs (heroic and thief songs),
which are still sung in Aromanian, as the songs Dosprādz di gion’ (see
text at the end of this chapter), Muccina capidanlu, the well known
Ficiori di Samarina, Nu nā tsets vre patriots (Baud-Bovy 1990:36-37),
Tu mundili di Bāzhduvani (Exarchos 2001:319-320), Al Ianachi al Flora
(Papazīsī-Papatheodōrou 1985:96), Cānticlu al Caciandoni (Padiōtīs
1991:42), and many others. 1 Outside of Greece, where the Aromanians
do not usually identify themselves with modern Hellenism, there are
other heroes, i.e. Albanian heroes of Aromanian origin in Albania,
Slavomacedonian heroes of Aromanian origin in the Republic of
Macedonia (FYROM) etc.
Songs in Greek
There are many “Vlach” songs sung in the Greek language.
Previously Weigand mentioned that he could not collect many songs
concerning heroes and battles in Aromanian because those songs
survived mostly among the Farsherots, but in the Albanian language,
and among other Aromanians in the Greek language. Considering the
1 Although Weigand asserts that he did not find many heroic songs (Weigand 1894:
100), his collection is quite impressive. Further heroic songs in Aromanian see in
Papazīsī-Papatheodōrou 1985 and Padiōtīs 1991.

identification of many Aromanians with modern Hellenism it is not
astonishing that the texts of many historical Aromanian songs are in
Greek. The songs about the fighters for Greek independence like
Odysseas Androutsos (1790-1825), Katsantōnīs (1774-1808),
Nikotsaras (1771-1807), Geōrgakīs Olympios (1772-1821), Pavlos
Melas (1870-1904), about famous beys (e.g. Vlach Bey or Hatzīpetros)
and pashas (e.g. Enas pasas diavainei), about abducted girls like Vasilō
Archontissa or about historical events like the pillage of Syrrako or the
capture of Metsovo are sung in Greek. 1 We will probably never find
versions of these songs in Aromanian, because they were dedicated to
the freedom of Greece.
An example for an Aromanian song in the Greek language is on
the enclosed CD (ò AUDIO EXAMPLE CD/17). The recording was
made at the St. Paraskevi festival in Vovousa in 2003.
Κλέφτες βγή-, κλέφτες βγή-, Thieves went
κλέφτες βγή- ωρέ βγήκαν στάϊ βουνά, to the mountains
για να κλέψουν άλογα, άλογα δε βρήκανε, to steel horses, but they did not find
horses,
προβατάκια βρήκανε, προβατάκια πήρανε, they found sheep, and took sheep,
πήρανε το λαγιαρνί που 'χε το χρυσό µαλλί they took the black lamb with the
golden wool,
τ' ασηµένιο χαϊµαλί the silver talisman,
το πήρανε και παν και πίσω δε γυρνάν. they took it and never came back.
Τα πή-, Bλάχα µ', τα πήρανε τα πρόβατα They took the sheep, my Vlach,
άιντε µέσα από τη στρούγκα, from the pen,
Βλάχα µ' τσελιγκοπούλα, my Vlach, my little peasant girl,
άιντε µέσα από τη στρούγκα, from the pen,
Βλάχα µ' τσελιγκοπούλα, my Vlach, my little peasant girl,
τ' αρµέξαµε, Βλάχα µ', τ' αρµέξαµε τα πρόβατα we milked the sheep, my Vlach,
τ' αρµέξαµε, Βλάχα µ', τ' αρµέξαµε τα πρόβατα we milked the sheep, my Vlach,
σε µια παλιοκαρδάρα, παλιά µου φιλενάδα in an old bowl, my old friend,
άι, σε µια παλιοκαρδάρα, παλιά µου φιλενάδα. in an old bowl, my old friend.
A kind of popular song has never been developed in the
Aromanian language. That part of the repertoire has remained in the
style of traditional rural music, while the popular and modern music of
1 Most of these texts are published by Aravantinos (1880:7-8, 14, 24-25, 44-48).

the Aromanians in Greece has been developed in Greek, and has
contributed richly to the creation of popular Greek songs in general. 1
Songs in Aromanian or Greek
There are many examples in which we find precisely the same
melody with text in Greek and Aromanian. Among the best known
examples are the following songs:
Greek title Aromanian title
Καληµέρα βοσκοπούλα τι ζητάς εδώ Bun' tsā dzua picuroan'i tsi caftsā aua
Ζαχαρούλα O lāi gione picurar
Τασιά µωρέ Τασιά Tsindo more tsindo
Τρία παιδιά Βολιώτικα Doi trei ficiori livendz ficiori
Κοντούλα Βλάχα στα βουνά O lāi munti sh-o lāi dzeanā
Στην κεντηµένη σου ποδιά Poala tsea di lānā
∆εν µπορώ µανούλα Mushata hii lea featā
Σαµιώτισσα Cāndu va yinj Samo
Το φεγγάρι κάνει βόλτα Cāndu luna si priimnā
In most cases, the Aromanian and Greek variants are not
identical in their content. But, the following song from Epirus (Papahagi
1967:331-332), dedicated to the emigration to foreign countries (tis
xenitias), greatly resembles the Aromanian version: 2
Ξενιτεµένο µου πουλί Moi pul’iu a meu, xifterlu a meu,
και παραπονεµένο, anvirinat giuneale,
η ξενιτειά σε χαίρεται ti hărisescu xeanile
κι εγώ ‘χω τον καηµό σου. şi maica-ţ poartă dorlu.
Τι να σου στείλω ξένε µου Ţe si-ţ pitrec, curbanea mea,
εκεί στα ξένα που ‘σαι; diparte-aclo tu xeane?
Μήλο σου στέλνω σέπεται Io vrea-ţ pitrec un mer aroşu
κυδώνι µαραγκιάζει. ma putridzaşte n cale. (...)
Σου στέλνω και τα δάκρυα µου Io vrea-ţ pitrec nă lacrimă
σ΄ ένα χρυσό µαντήλι. tu ‘nă şimie albă;
Τα δάκρυα µου είναι καφτά ma lacrimă n’i-u jar di foc
και καίνε το µαντήλι. (...) şi arde ea şimia. (...)
1 I am reminding the reader of the Aromanian origins of famous musicians like
Kaldaras, Bakalis, Virvos, Mitropanos, Tsitsanis, Mousafiris (cf. Exarchos
2001:324- 334). The few poems in Aromanian written by Kostas Virvos (ibid.:333)
are an exception.
2 The text is attributed in the original Papahagi’s spelling.

Usually, even after intense research, we cannot even guess
which one might be the older version. Therefore I prefer not to extend
the counterproductive discussion on “who took from whom”.
Songs in Aromanian and Greek
Songs half in Aromanian and half in Greek are to be found quite
regularly in the Pindus. In Albania there are also a small number of
bilingual songs in Albanian and Aromanian, whereas I do not know any
bilingual Aromanian song combined with Slavic or Romanian. The
reason for this should be that the symbiosis of Aromanian with these
neighboring languages is not as old and intense as the one between
Greek and Albanian.
An example of a bilingual song is on the enclosed CD (ò
AUDIO EXAMPLE CD/18). The recording was made in Vovousa in
2003, and sung by Evangelia Drougia.
Aestā vearā, oclju lai oclju, This summer, my black eye,
aestā vearā sh-primuvearā this summer, this spring
τούτο το, µαύρα µου µάτια, this summer, my black eyes,
τούτο το καλοκαιράκι this summer
aestā vearā sh-primuvearā this summer and spring
nj-avinam s-nj acatsu un pulju I hunted and tried to catch a
bird
κοινηγού-, µαύρα µου µάτια, I hunted, my black eyes,
κοινηγούσα προσπαθούσα I hunted and tried to catch
nj-avinam, lai oclju, lai oclju, I hunted, my black eye,
nj-avinam sh-nji lāhtārseamu I hunted and yearned
κοινηγούσα, λαχταρούσα I hunted and yearned
να το πιάσω δεν µπορούσα but I could not catch it
nj-avinam, lai oclju, lai oclju, I hunted, my black eye
nj-avinam sh-nji lāhtārseamu I hunted and yearned
nj-avinam sh-nji lāhtārseamu I hunted and yearned
tra s-lu acatsu nu-nj puteamu. but I could not catch it.
Για πώς έρχετ' από πέρα See, it is coming
παίζοντας µε τον αέρα. and playing with the wind.

The following is another example I heard in bilingual form as well as in
the two languages separately. 1
Adunats-vā soatsili s-nā tsemu la shoput,
Άιντε συντρόφισσες να πάµε για νερό,
tsets-vā voi cā io nu yinu, dada-nj mi isusi,
σύρτε 'σείς, δεν έρχοµαι, η µάνα µ' αρραβώνιασε,
dada-nj mi isusi aoaltari Duminicā,
η µάνα µ' αρραβώνιασε προχθές την Κυριακή.
aoaltari Duminicā, cu un ficoru bunu,
προχθές την Κυριακή, µωρέ µ' ένα καλό παιδί.
In the next song (recorded by Makis Verros from the city of
Serres and yet unpublished) we see the melody of Kato stou Valtou ta
choria 2 with Aromanian text, only the last verses are sung in Greek:
Dosprādz di gion’ le, dosprādz di gion’ Twelve young men with weapons,
Dosprādz di gion’ armātusits Twelve young men full with weapons,
Dosprādz di gion’ armātusits Twelve young men full with weapons,
Shi pān di gushi asimusits. up to the throat full with weapons.
Tuts himu gion’ le, tuts himu gion’, We are all heroes,
Tuts himu gion’, tuts himu furi, We are all heroes and thieves,
Tuts himu gion’, tuts himu furi, We are all heroes and thieves,
Noi bana u tritsem pit pādure. And our life is in the forests.
Νoi merarchi- le, noi merarhii We do not listen
Noi merarhia nu ascultām to the division,
Noi nomlu lu avem tu supani. We do have the law with us.
Γεια σου Ναούµη καπετάνη! Welcome captain Naoum!
Ναούµης πάει λε, Ναούµης πάει Naoum goes,
Ναούµης πάει στην Φλώρινα Naoum goes to the city of Florina,
ρέ, να πιάσει τον καηµακάµη He will catch the Kaymakam.
Γεια σου Ναούµη καπετάνη! Welcome captain Naoum!
Most Aromanian songs have trochaic octosyllable verses.
Jambic 15-syllables which are widespread in the Greek music, are quite
infrequent in Aromanian folk poetry.
An interesting case we heard in Koutsoufliani is a bilingual
lullaby. Children songs and lullabies are usually well preserved in
1
Greek-Aromanian version see also in Exarchos 2001:353; Greek version see in
Dietrich, Kahl and Sárros 2001:212.
2
Greek text and notation see in Kahl 1994:68-69.

Aromanian. The following example of a bilingual lullaby 1 shows that
when changing the language synchronously the melody changes. The
Greek text consists of the typical 15-syllable, the Aromanian of 8syllable
verses:
Κοιµήσου και παρήγγειλα στην πόλη τα προικιά σου
hilju nanj mor njicujolanj,
ts-ai di plandz mor njicujolanj?
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Cercetări.

MARIUS CHELARU (ROMANIA)
Noi rumúnski cuvintåm
Istroromânii, urmaşi ai „populaţiei
autohtone cu grai romanic pe care slavii au
găsit-o la venirea lor în nord-vestul Peninsulei
Balcanice”, sunt „un val” aruncat de istorie la
poalele lui Monte Maggiore (Muntele Mare,
croată Učkra Gora) din provincia croată Istria,
pe ţărmul Mării Adriatice. Dacă înainte vreme îşi spuneau rumeri, azi
îşi spun, în croată, rumani, fapt care atestă conştiinţa identităţii lor.
Dialectul românesc cu cel mai mic număr de vorbitori este
idiomul vorbit de istroromâni, care azi se mai găsesc doar în Istria.
*
„…alcuni popoli addiamndati comuemente Chichi habitanti nelle ville
d’Opchiena 1 , Tribichaino e Gropada, situate nel territorio de Trieste sopra il
Monte, cinque milia distante dalla Cittá verso Greco, et in moltri altri villagi
aspettanti a Castelnuovo nel Carso,... quali oltre l’idioma sclavo commune à
tutto il Carso, usano un proprio e particolare consimile al Valacco intracciato
con diverse parole e vocabuli latine... anche i nostri Chichi addimandasi nel
proprio languaggio Rumeri.”
Ireneo della Croce, Historia antica e moderna, sacra e profana,
Venezia, 1698, 334 2
Istroromânii 3 , urmaşi ai „populaţiei autohtone cu grai romanic
pe care slavii au găsit-o la venirea lor în nord-vestul Peninsulei
Balcanice”, sunt „un val 4 ” aruncat de istorie la poalele lui Monte
Maggiore (Muntele Mare, croată Učkra Gora) din provincia croată
1
E. Riegler, La Românii din Istria, în Ideea europeană, VII, nr. 177, 1 noiembrie
1925, p. 11: „Azi Opchina a devenit o suburbie a Triestului”.
2
Citat de Sextil Puşcariu, Studii istroromâne, II, 1926, p. 18.
3
Articol scris după lectura volumului Richard Sârbu, Vasile Frăţilă, Dialectul
istroromân, Editura Amarcord, Timişoara, 1998.
4
Sextil Puşcariu, Studii istroromâne, II, Bucureşti, 1926, în colaborare cu M.
Bartoli, A. Belulovici, şi A. Byahin.

Istria, pe ţărmul Mării Adriatice. Dacă înainte îşi spuneau rumeri 1 , azi
îşi spun, în croată, rumani, fapt care atestă conştiinţa identităţii lor.
După ce în secolul XVII istoricul veneţian Ireneo della Croce
(Leca Morariu: „cronicarul triestin G. Maria Manarutta, 1627-1713, zis
şi Ireneo dela Croce 2 ) scria despre istroromâni, Antonio Covaz a
publicat în primul număr al revistei Istria, în 1846, articolul Dei
Rimgliani o Vlahi d’Istria, care l-a interesat atât de mult pe Ion
Maiorescu încât, în 1857, a făcut o serie de anchete în zonă. Rezultatele
au fost publicate de fiul său, Titu Maiorescu, în revista Convorbiri
literare pentru ca, în 1874, lucrarea să fie editată în volum, cu titlul
Itinerar în Istria şi vocabular istriano-român.
Dialectul românesc cu cel mai mic număr de vorbitori este
idiomul vorbit de istroromânii care în prezent se mai găsesc doar în
Istria şi se împart în grupul de nord (un singur sat, Jeiăn, croată Žejane,
italiană Seiane, în regiunea Ciciaria, într-o vale mărginită de Munţii
Popilor şi Jviaviţa) şi cel de sud (numit şi al românilor din Valdarsa/
Valea Rasei/ croată – Raša, în care istroromâna se mai vorbeşte în 7
sate 3 , după date mai noi în 5 sate şi 5 cătune 4 ), despărţiţi de Monte
Maggiore, 1369 m. Se pare că în Istria se vorbea istroromâna pe un areal
mult mai larg, dovadă, arată autorii, şi o serie de toponime: Vlahova,
Vlašca, Vlahi, Vlahovo, Catun, Guran 5 etc. Numărul lor, deşi dificil de
stabilit, este în descreştere continuă. Astfel, Sextil Puşcariu scria despre
3000, în anii 60, după Kovačec, mai erau între 1200-1500, la care se mai
1
Ireneo della Croce, Historia antica e moderna, sacra e profana della città di
Trieste, Veneţia, 1698, p. 334 – cf. R. Sârbu, V. Frăţilă. Lui Ireneo Ireneo della
Croce i se datorează primele probe de grai istroromân, deşi se consideră că cel care
i-a descoperit pe istroromâni este Antonio Covaz, primarul oraşului Pisino.
2
Leca Morariu, Istro-românii, Conferinţă ţinută (în 16 Decemvrie 1926) la
“Institutul de Istorie şi Limbă” de la Universitatea din Cernăuţi, Extras din Glasul
Bucovinei, an X, 1927. (Se cuvine să mulţumesc din nou prietenului şi colegului dr.
Liviu Papuc care, cu bunăvoinţă, mi-a semnalat eforturile lui Leca Morariu şi în
această direcţie).
3
După Sextil Puşcariu, op. cit. p. 38-40: Letai, Gradigne, Şuşnieviţa, Noselo,
Sucodru, Brdo şi Gronic.
4
Mai recent, August Kovačec, Descrierea istroromânei actuale, p. 23, şi Tratat de
dialectologie românească, p. 550: satele : Şuşńieviţe (croată Šušnievica), Nóselo
sau Nósolo (croată Nova Vas), Sucodru (croată Jesenovik), Letai (cr. Letaj) şi
Bârdo (cr. Brdo), cu cătunele: Costârčån (cr. Kostârčane), Dolinščine, Zancovţi,
Peråsi, Brig.
5
Sextil Puşcariu, op. cit., II, p. 33-34, cf. R. Sârbu şi V. Frăţilă.

puteau adăuga cei din Triest, Rijeka sau alte oraşe, precum şi cei plecaţi
din ţară. Matilda Caragiu Marioţeanu 1 , citând o serie de autori, arăta că
aceştia apreciază că azi ar mai fi între 1250 (probabil cea mai veridică)
şi 6000 de istroromâni. Petru Neiescu 2 discută de 1250 de istroromâni,
scriind că datele cele mai recente furnizate de cercetători ar da o cifră
de 5-800 de persoane rămase în satele istroromâne.
Istroromânii învaţă azi în limba croată. Istoria n-a fost blândă cu
ei, nici politica pentru minorităţi a oamenilor locului nu i-a sprijinit, cel
puţin în ce priveşte vremurile de altădată. Pentru a trezi în ei sentimentul
apartenenţei la o naţiune, odinioară s-au tipărit cărţi în limba lor. R.
Sârbu şi V. Frăţilă citează, de exemplu, Calindaru lui Rumeri din Istria,
tipărit de Andrei Glavina şi C. Diculescu. Dealtfel, istroromânii îşi spun
între ei după numele satului în care locuiesc – cei din Jeiăn îşi spun
jeiåţi/ cei din Jeiăn, susţinând că graiul vorbit de ei este jeiånski.
Sextil Puşcariu 3 scria că numele lor este vlåh, plural vlåş (la
nord), vlås (la sud). Sub acest nume sunt cunoscuţi românii în
documentele sârbo-croate – în limba slavilor acesta însemna roman dar
şi, mai ales, român, termen corespunzând lui olacus (maghiară oláh) din
documentele angevine. În paralel cu vlahus/ vlah, în cancelariile
dalmatine, la Ragusa în special, după anul 1367 apare şi termenul
mavrovalahus (morovlah, morlac – vlah negru), care a circulat mai ales
în secolele XIV-XV în cancelariile veneţiene – denumire dată de
italieni, dar şi de bizantini (µαβρόβλαχοζ) la începutul evului mediu,
croaţii numindu-i vlahi (limba vorbită de ei vlaški) sau čiribirci. Asupra
acestei denumiri, arată autorii, există variantele etimologice: a. pornind
de la o particularitate a fonetismului istroromânilor (cire: cine, bire:
bine) 4 , b. din turcă, ceri beri – apărător de hotare, coroborat cu faptul că
„vlahii voinici”, organizaţi în „cătune” apărau cu tărie hotarele Serbiei,
confruntându-se cu turcii adesea, drept pentru care primiseră din partea
regilor sârbi privilegii: „dreptul vlah”. Istroromânii mai sunt cunoscuţi şi
1
Compendiu de dialectologie română nord şi sud-dunăreană, Bucureşti, 1975, p.
190.
2
Mic atlas al dialectului aromân din Albania şi din fosta Republică Iugoslavă
Macedonia, Bucureşti, 1997, p. 9.
3
op. cit., p. 4.
4
E. Petrovici, P. Neiescu, Persistenţa insulelor lingvistice. Constatări făcute cu
ocazia unor anchete dialectale la istroromâni, meglenoromâni şi aromâni, în
Cercetări de lingvistică, IX, 1964, nr. 2, p. 196, cf. R. Sârbu, V. Frăţilă.

după etnonimul cici, probabil, spun autorii, din croatul čića: unchi,
termen care folosit pentru a desemna un personaj de rang, cneaz, jude; o
altă explicaţie discutată poate porni de la faptul că ei ar fi lucrat pe feuda
unui boier local de origine vlahă, Pascalus Chichio, de unde, prin
extensie, regiunea populată de aceştia e cunoscută şi azi cu toponimul
Ciciaria.
Toate datele duc spre aceea că istroromânii nu sunt originari din
Istria, dar originea lor este încă controversată, existând mai multe teorii,
dintre care: 1. Ovid Densusianu 1 (şi Iosif Petrovici, Al. Rosetti) -
istroromânii vorbesc un grai dacoromân adus în Istria de coloniştii din
Banat; desprinderea a avut loc în secolul X, dar au fost mai multe
„straturi” după acesta, 2. Sextil Puşcariu (originea sud-dunăreană a
istroromânilor fusese susţinută şi de Fr. Miklosich, C. Jireček, G.
Weigand): este vorba de „un val” care ţine de „românii apuseni”, care se
găseau în N-V Peninsulei Balcanice, „împinşi”, în timp, din Serbia către
Bosnia, Herţegovina, către coasta Dalmaţiei prin secolul XIII, ajungând
în secolul XIV în Istria şi pe insula Veglia (cr. Krk), ce a mai rămas
după slavizarea lor fiind istroromânii.
Petru Neiescu 2 e de părere că dialectul istroromân relevă că au
migrat dintr-o zonă învecinată/ apropiată de sud-vestul celei locuite de
daco-români, argumentul fiind evoluţiile paralele/ inovaţiile comune
numai daco-românei şi istroromânei, care nu pot fi regăsite şi în
aromână sau meglenoromână.
Despre venirea strămoşilor istroromânilor în Istria sunt diverse
documente, teorii, ipoteze. Probabil presiunea turcilor, dar şi politica de
colonizare a Veneţiei (de care ţinea Istria, secătuită de ciumă în secolul
XV) – în 1539 Veneţia a ajutat la transportul a 2000 de familii de
morlaci, vorbindu-se de 130 de sate întemeiate de noii veniţi, dar nu toţi
erau români.
Lexicul istroromânilor, deşi este marcat de destule împrumuturi
din croată, slovenă chiar italiană, şi-a păstrat caracterul românesc, A.
Kovačec apreciind 3 că „partea de bază a vocabularului… (ca şi partea
1
Istoria limbii române, vol. I, Originile, Bucureşti, 1961, p. 218-232.
2
op. cit.
3
Tratat de dialectologie, p. 581.

covârşitoare a materialului gramatical) este de origine latină 1 . În
istroromână se mai regăsesc cuvinte din latină care în celelalte dialecte
nu mai există; de exemplu: åsir – măgar, muşåt – frumos, cåibe – colivie
etc.
Cei doi autori prezintă în lucrare în afară de problemele legate
de lexicul istroromânilor, aspecte despre fonetica, morfologia şi sintaxa
istroromânilor, şi un bogat şi interesant material alcătuit din texte
înregistrate la Jeiăn în 1982, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996 un glosar
istroromân şi o listă a informatorilor.
R. Sârbu şi V. Frăţilă, remarcând supravieţuirea „insulei
lingvistice” istroromâne într-un mediu aloglot, consideră că nu se poate
spune despre dialectul istroromân că ar fi într-un proces de dezagregare
rapidă, şi că se va folosi ca idiom local stingându-se odată cu ultimii
vorbitori, dar ar avea şi şansa să se menţină ca instrument de
comunicare dacă România, în acord cu Croaţia, va ajuta printr-o politică
(şi culturală) la păstrarea/ conservarea acestei etnii.
Preocupările pentru soarta „rumerilor” (Leca Morariu 2 ),
vorbitorii acestui dialect, cel mai îndepărtat, „atât de îndepărtat încât e
aproape cu desăvârşire uitat; atât de mic, încât prin chiar această micime
îşi trăieşte acum lenta şi fatala sa agonie” 3 , se ştie, nu sunt noi. (Am
putea spune, cu amărăciune, că nu prea mai sunt azi în vederea statului
român, deşi drepturile minorităţilor sunt un subiect mult discutat în
Europa.) De la Ioan Maiorescu (Itinerar în Istria, 1874 – în care reda
însemnările sale din 1857), tatăl lui Titu Maiorescu, la T.T. Burada (care
scria în Cercetări despre Românii din Insula Veglia, 1895, p. 6, că
istroromânii din Senovici/ Iessenovic aveau „în vechime… o biserică
greco-orientală 4 ), I. Popovici (Dialectele române din Istria, 1909-1914),
Ion Grămadă şi atâţia alţii.
1 În dialectele aromân, meglenoromân şi istroromân – deşi terminologia
bisericească este, în mare, de origine slavă/ greacă, dat fiind că nu au avut
organizare bisericească proprie decât arareori/ pentru scurt timp – sunt mulţi
termeni bisericeşti de sorginte latină asemănători/ identici cu cei din dacoromână.
2 Astfel le spunea în 1688 Ireneo della Croce; Sextil Puşcariu, în Studii istroromâne
II, 1926, p. 44, specifica: “numirea Rumeri… trebuie cetită Rumări”.
3 Leca Morariu, op. cit., p. 3.
4 Şi adăuga o notă: “Vezi despre aceasta şi V. Combi, Porta orientale strenna,
Anno III, 1859, p. 101, 115, citat de Ascoli, în Studj critici, Milano, 1861 T.I. p. 9 –
79.”

Ieşeanul Petre Caraman scria despre bucovineanul care, în
perioada dinainte de 1989, a fost acoperit de perdeaua uitării: „prof.
Leca Morariu are meritul de a fi redeschis calea de mult părăsită –
aproape uitată – şi de a fi purces la treabă cu un entuziasm şi cu o
încredere pe care cercetările asupra vieţii şi limbii acestui vitregit grup
românesc nu le-au cunoscut niciodată. […] a creat un adevărat curent: a
făcut şcoală, punând efectiv la lucru, în satele istriene, elevi formaţi de
dânsul” 1 .
Numai dacă cităm opera lui Leca Morariu 2 , născut la Cernăuţi,
25 iulie 1888 (Istroromânii, 1927, Lu fraţii noştri, 1928, Noterelle istrorumene,
Roma, 1928, lucrarea în patru volume, De-ale Cirebirilor 3 ,
apărută între 1929-1934; urmare a cercetărilor pe teren din augustseptembrie
1927, 18 august - 3 septembrie sub Monte-Maggiore, 5-9
septembrie în Jeiăn, apare cartea Drumuri cirebire 4 – în care putem
urmări şi parte din itinerarul său istrian: Abbazia, Monte Maggiore,
Susn’eviţa, Nosolo, Sucodru –, Bucureşti, 1941 ş.a., la care se adaugă o
serie de articole 5 ) şi avem o parte a tabloului eforturilor de înţelegere/
ajutorare a acestui colţ de lume în care se vorbeşte un dialect al limbii
române. Azi, în siajul globalizării sau aderării la UE, NATO ş.a., uneori,
poate, pentru a nu „stârni discuţii”, alteori pur şi simplu din delăsare
regretabilă, la nivel oficial, dincolo de relaţiile interstatale (şi aici ar fi
multe de discutat despre cum NU le apărăm interesele etnicilor români
din statele vecine), pare să fi uitat de cei de o limbă cu noi din ţările din
jur. La o adică, am putea spune, aidoma înţeleptului biblic, „nimic nou
sub soare” – nu s-a schimbat nimic faţă de vremurile în care E. Riegler
scria, înainte de al doilea război mondial: „Să nu ne facem iluzii!
1 Recenzie la cartea lui Petru Iroaie, Cântece populare istro-române, în Buletinul
Institutului de Filologie Română “Alexandru Philippide”, vol. V, 1938, p. 350 – cf.
Liviu Papuc, op. cit., p. 144.
2 Vezi şi Liviu Papuc, Leca Morariu. Studiu monografic, Editura Timpul, Iaşi,
2004.
3 Leca Morariu, De-ale Cirebirilor, vol. I: Texte din Susn'eviţa, Cernăuţi, 1929, 121
p.; vol. II: Texte din Bîrdo, Sucodru şi Grobnic, 1932, 16 p.; vol. III: Texte
istroromâne din Jeiăn, Suceava, 1933, 24 p., 7 il., 1 hartă; vol. IV: Scrisori
istroromâne din Jeiăn şi Susn'eviţa, Cernăuţi, 1934, 26 p.
4 Partea 1-a, Buc., 1941, 88 p., dar apărută în foileton în Făt-frumos în anii 1928-
1932.
5 A se vedea studiul monografic semnat de Liviu Papuc, p. 131-145.

Ajutorul material şi moral din România nu va sosi şi în Val d’Arsa. Aşa
cum a dispărut la Santa Lucia di Schitazza… dialectul român care se
vorbea încă pe vremea lui Ion Maiorescu acum 50 de ani, aşa va
dispărea şi în Val d’Arsa. Pentru a rămâne latini, vor deveni italieni;
pentru a-şi salva viaţa se vor expatria în America”.
Citind titlul primului text din volumul lui Richard Sârbu ş
Vasile Frăţilă, Noi rumúnski cuvintåm (sau, cum scria Leca Morariu, noi
cuvintọn (ganẹin) vlaşki (ruman’ieze) = noi vorbim româneşte) 1 , mă
încearcă un sentiment straniu, de frângere, ca şi cum aş lectura o
scrisoare a unei rude plecată de mult, despre care nu mai ştiam mare
lucru, dar care, descopăr cu oarecare stupoare (oare de ce?) că a rămas
cu o fărâmă de inimă alipită de a noastră. Sunt numai cuvinte. Dar oare
cum putem vorbi despre ceva atât de profund ca limba neamului nostru?
Cum altfel putem explica altora, care încă nu au găsit răgazul să
reflecteze la istroromâni, aromâni, meglenoromâni, fârşeroţi ş.a., că ar
putea să-i privească şi ca pe stră-strănepoţii celor care, poate, au mâncat
la o masă cu vreunul din strămoşii noştri, care au luptat şi au murit
alături, din trupul lor crescând acelaşi trunchi de măr din vreo livadă
născută din inimile oştilor lui Ştefan Muşat, Mihai sau Mircea sau…
Trăim timpuri care reclamă tot felul de schimbări. G.
Balandier scria 2 : „Atunci când este vorba despre societăţile
„tradiţionale” impresia de continuitate este foarte accentuată… Tradiţia
nu este incompatibilă în mod radical cu schimbarea, nu mai mult decât
este modernitatea cu o anume continuitate.”
Cum am spus, sunt numai cuvinte şi timpul îşi are legile lui.
La fel şi istoria. Multe poate deja sunt altfel pentru istroromâni. Dar,
dacă aceste cuvinte găsesc drumul către inima fiecăruia dintre noi, pot fi
şi altceva.
1 op. cit., p. 9, nota 13.
2 Sens et puissance. Les dynamiques sociales, PUF, Paris, 1971, p. 107.

MARIUS CHELARU (ROMANIA)
We Speak Rumúnski
The Istro-Romanians, who are the descendents of ‘the Romance
language-speaking population that the Slavs found when they reached the
north-western part of the Balkan Peninsula’, are ‘a wave’ scrolled by history
at the feet of Monte Maggiore (Great Mountain, Učkra Gora in Croatian) in
the Croatian region of Istria, on the Adriatic coast. If they formerly called
themselves rumeri, today the Istro-Romanians call themselves rumani in
Croatian, which reveals they are aware of their identity.
The dialect spoken by the smallest Romanian ethnic group is the idiom
the Istro-Romanians speak and they only live in Istria.
*
„…alcuni popoli addiamndati comuemente Chichi habitanti nelle ville
d’Opchiena 1 , Tribichaino e Gropada, situate nel territorio de Trieste sopra
il Monte, cinque milia distante dalla Cittá verso Greco, et in moltri altri
villagi aspettanti a Castelnuovo nel Carso,... quali oltre l’idioma sclavo
commune à tutto il Carso, usano un proprio e particolare consimile al
Valacco intracciato con diverse parole e vocabuli latine... anche i nostri
Chichi addimandasi nel proprio languaggio Rumeri.”
Ireneo della Croce, Historia antica e moderna, sacra e
profana, Venezia, 1698, 334 2
The Istro-Romanians 3 , who are the descendents of ‘the Romance
language-speaking population that the Slavs found when they reached
the north-western part of the Balkan Peninsula’, are ‘a wave’ scrolled by
history at the feet of Monte Maggiore (Great Mountain or Učkra Gora
in Croatian) in the Croatian region of Istria, on the Adriatic coast. If
they formerly called themselves rumeri, today the Istro-Romanians call
themselves rumani in Croatian, which reveals they are aware of their
identity. After the Venetian historian Ireneo della Croce wrote about the
Istro-Romanians in the 17 th century, (Leca Morariu: “the chronicler G.
Maria Manarutta in Triest, 1627-1713, also known as Ireneo della
1 E. Riegler, Home with the Romanians in Istria (La Românii din Istria), in The
European Idea (Ideea europeană), VII, no. 177, 1 November 1925, p. 11: “Today
Opchina has become one of Triest’s suburbs”.
2 Sextil Puşcariu, Istro-Romanian Studies (Studii istroromâne), II, 1926, p. 18.
3 Text written after reading the book Richard Sârbu, Vasile Fratila, Dialectul
istroromân, Amarcord Publishing House, Timişoara, 1998

Croce” 1 ) Antonio Covaz published the article Dei Rimgliani o Vlahi
d’Istria in the first issue of the review Istria, in 1846. The article had
such an impact on Ion Maiorescu that in 1857 he started conducting
linguistic research work in the area. The results of his research were
published by his son, Titu Maiorescu, in the review Literary
Conversations (Convorbiri literare) and in 1874 they were published in
the volume entitled A Voyage to Istria and the Istro-Romanian
Vocabulary (Itinerar în Istria şi vocabular istriano-român).The dialect
spoken by the smallest Romanian ethnic group is the idiom the Istro-
Romanians speak and they only live in Istria. The group is divided into
the northern group (one single village called Jeiăn, Žejane in Croatian,
Seiane in Italian, in a valley bordered by Popilor and Jviaviţ Mountains
in the region of Ciciaria) and the southern group (also called the group
of the Romanians from Valdarsa/ Valea Rasei/ Rasa Valley/ Raša in
Croatian, where Istro-Romanian is still spoken in 7 villages 2 , or,
according to recent data, in 5 villages and 5 hamlets 3 ) that are separated
by Monte Maggiore (1369 m). Seemingly Istro-Romanian was spoken
in a much larger area in Istria as is poven by a series of toponyms such
as Vlahova, Vlašca, Vlahi, Vlahovo, Catun, Guran 4 . But the number of
speakers of Istro-Romanian appears to be diminishing, though it is
difficult to accurately assess it. Sextil Puşcariu (1877-1948) mentioned
3,000 speakers but in the 1960s Kovačec only mentioned 1,200-1,500,
to which one could add those living in Triest, Rijeka and other towns, as
well as those who had emigrated. Matilda Caragiu Marioţeanu 5 , who
quoted other authors, wrote that today there are between 1,250
1 Leca Morariu, The Istro-Romanians (Istro-românii), Conference held at the Institute
for History and Language at the University of Chernivtsi on 16 th December 1926,
excerpt from Glasul Bucovei, Year X, 1927. (thanks to Liviu Papuc who indicated Leca
Morariu and his endeavours in this direction to me)
2 Sextil Puşcariu, The quoted book. p. 38-40: Letai, Gradigne, Şuşnieviţa, Noselo,
Sucodru, Brdo şi Gronic
3 August Kovačec, The Description of actual istroromanian, p. 23, and Tratat de
dialectologie românească, p. 550
4 Sextil Puşcariu, Istro-Romanian Studies (Studii istroromâne), II, 1926, pp. 33-34, cf.
R. Sârbu and V. Frăţilă.
5 A Compendium of Romanian Dialects Spoken North and South of the Danube
(Compendiu de dialectologie română nord şi sud-dunăreană), Bucureşti, 1975, p. 190.

(probably the true estimate) and 6,000 Istro-Romanians. Petru Neiescu 1
speaks about 1,250 Istro-Romanians, mentioning that recent research
data show 500-800 people are still living in the Istro-Romanian villages
where instruction is carried out exclusively in Croatian. History was not
favourable to them, neither was the local policy for minorities, at least in
the past. In order to raise their awareness of national appurtenance,
books in their language used to be published. R. Sârbu and V. Frăţilă
mention Rumeri’s Calendar in Istria (Calindaru lui Rumeri din Istria)
printed by Andrei Glavina şi C. Diculescu. As a matter of fact, the Istro-
Romanians call themselves by the name of the village they live in.
Those living in Jeiăn are jeiåţi/people from Jeiăn. they speak jeiånski.
Sextil Puşcariu 2 wrote that the Romanians were called vlåh in
the singular, vlåş in the plural (in the north), vlås (in the south) in old
Serbian-Croatian documents. In Slavic this means Roman but also
Romanian, a term corresponding to olahus (oláh in Hungarian) in the
Angevin documents. Together with the terms vlahus/ vlah used in
Dalmatian chancelleries, in Ragusa, in particular, the term
mavrovalahus (morovlah, morlac – black vlah) came into use after
1367. The latter was preeminently used in the Venetian chancelleries in
the 14 th and 15 th centuries and was used by Italians and the Byzantines
(µαβρόβλαχοζ) in the Middle Ages. The Croatians called them vlahi
(and their language vlaški) or čiribirci.
For the latter term there are two possible etymologies: a) it is a
derivative based on a particularity of the Istro-Romanian phonetics
(cire: cine/who, bire: bine/well) 3 ; b) in Turkish ceri beri means border
defender which confirms the fact that ‘valiant Vlahs’, organized in
‘hamlets’, defended Serbia’s borders against the Turks and were
rewarded by the Serbian kings with privileges: ‘the Vlah right’.
The Istro-Romanians were also called cici, probably derived from
the Croatian čića which means uncle and designates a highly positioned
1 A Concise Atlas of Aromanian Dialect Spoken in Albania and the Former Yugoslavian
Republic of Macedonia (Mic atlas al dialectului aromân din Albania şi din fosta
Republică Iugoslavă Macedonia, Bucureşti, 1997, p. 9.
2 Idem., p. 4.
3 E. Petrovici, P. Neiescu, Continuity of Linguistic Islands. Conclusions of Dialect
Research Work on Istro-Romanian, Megleno-Romanian and Aromanian (Persistenţa
insulelor lingvistice. Constatări făcute cu ocazia unor anchete dialectale la istroromâni,
meglenoromâni şi aromâni, in Linguistic Research (Cercetări de lingvistică), IX, 1964,
nr. 2, p. 196, cf. R. Sârbu, V. Frăţilă.

person, a leader or judge, as Petrovici and Neiescu claim. Another
possible explanation would be that they may have worked the land of
some local boyar of Vlah origin, Pascalus Chichio, who also gave the
name of the region they inhabited, Ciciaria. All data show that the Istro-
Romanians did not stem from Istria and their origin is still controversial.
There are several theories on it and we mention only a few:
1.Ovid Densusianu 1 (and Iosif Petrovici, Al. Rosetti) – The Istro-
Romanians speak a Dacian-Romanian language brought to Istria by
colonists from Banat. The separation of languages took place in the 10 th
century and was followed by several subsequent ‘layers’ addition.
2. Sextil Puşcariu (the south-of-the-Danube origin of the Istro-
Romanians had been mentioned by Fr. Miklosich, C. Jireček, G.
Weigand before) wrote: It was a ‘wave’ of ‘western Romanians’ who
lived in the north–western part of the Balkan Peninsula and were
‘pushed’ from Serbia to Bosnia, Herzegovina and the Dalmatian coast in
the 13 th century. They reached Istria and the island of Veglia (cr.Krk) in
the 14 th century. What remained after their Slavization are the Istro-
Romanians.
Petru Neiescu 2 writes that the Istro-Romanian dialect reveals that
they migrated from an area neighboring/close to the south-west zone of
the area inhabited by the Dacian-Romans, the argument in favour of this
theory being that only Dacian-Romanian and Istro-Romanian had a
parallel development and the same linguistic innovations that cannot be
found in Aromanian or Megleno-Romanian. There are plenty of
documents, theories and hypotheses about how the ancestors of the
Istro-Romanians came to Istria. Probably under the pressure of the
Turks but also because of Venice’s policy of colonization (Istria was
under Venetian rule and was ravaged by plague in the 15 th century) in
1539 Venice assisted with the transportation of 2,000 morlaci families
in the region, where 130 villages were founded by the newcomers but
they were not all Romanians. The Istro-Romanian vocabulary
maintained its Romanian characteristics though it borrowed extensively
from Croatian, Slovenian and even Italian. A. Kovačec 3 confirmed that
the basic Istro-Romanian vocabulary as well as the greatest part of its
1 The History of the Romanian language (Istoria limbii române), vol. I, The Origins
(Originile), Bucureşti, 1961, pp. 218-232.
2 Idem.
3 A Treatise of Dialectology (Tratat de dialectologie), p. 581.

grammar is of Latin origin 1 . One can still find in it Latin words that are
out of use in other dialects, such as: åsir – măgar/donkey, muşåt –
frumos/beautiful, cåibe – colivie/cage etc. Besides issues pertaining to
the Istro-Romanian vocabulary Petrovici and Neiescu further
approached in their work aspects concerning Istro-Romanian phonetics,
morphology and syntax. The book also contains a very rich and
interesting part comprising the texts the authors recorded in Jeiăn in
1982, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996 followed by a glossary of terms and a list
of informants. R. Sârbu and V. Frăţilă mention the survival of the Istro-
Romanian ‘linguistic island’ amid an area where another language is
spoken (aloglosia). But they consider that the Istro-Romanian dialect
undergoes a very rapid process of disintegration into a local idiom that
will die with its last speakers. Its chances of survival as a vehicle of
communication depend on Romania’s and Croatia’s combined cultural
policy of maintaining and preserving this ethnic group.
The concern about the fate of the ‘rumeri’ (Leca Morariu 2 ),
speakers of the remotest dialect, ‘so remote that it is almost forgotten; so
small that through its very smallness now lives its slow and fatal
agony’ 3 , is not a new one. (One cannot help noticing that this is no
longer the concern of the Romanian state, although the rights of
minorities are a subject much debated in Europe). Starting with Ioan
Maiorescu (A Voyage to Istria – that
contained his voyage recordings made in 1857) and continuing with
T.T. Burada (who wrote in his Research on the Romanians on the Island
of Vegli , in 1895, p.6,
that the Istro-Romanians living in Senovici/ Iessenovic used to have ‘a
Greek-Oriental church’ 4 ), I. Popovici (Romanian Dialects in Istria
, 1909-1914), Ion Grămadă and many
others, Romanian researchers were keen on drawing attention to them.
1 In Aromanian, Megleno-Romanian and Istro-Romanian religious terms are mostly
of Slavic/ Greek origin because these ethnic groups had but rarely their own
clerical organization and only for short periods. But there are a lot of religious
terms coming from Latin that are identical/similar to those in Dacian-Romanian.
2 This is how Ireneo della Croce called them in 1688; Sextil Puşcariu, in Istro-
Romanian Studies (Studii istroromâne), II, in 1926, p. 44, specified: “ Rumeri…
must be read Rumări”.
3 Leca Morariu, The Istro-Romanians (Istro-românii), p. 3.
4 And adds a note: “See V. Combi, Porta orientale strenna, Anno III, 1859, p. 101,
115, quoted by Ascoli, in Studi critici, Milano, 1861 T.I. pp. 9 – 79.”

Petre Caraman wrote about Leca Morariu (born in Bucovina) of
whom the Romanians were oblivious before 1989: ‘Professor Leca
Morariu has the merit of having reopened a way long forgotten – long
deserted – and started with an enthusiasm and trust that the research on
the life and language of this orphaned group of Romanians had never
known. [He] created a real trend: [he] founded a research school,
stirring into action pupils he himself taught in Istrian villages.’ 1
Leca Morariu 2 , born in Chernivtsi (Cernauti), on 25th July
1888, wrote several books on the Istro-Romanians: The Istro-
Romanians (Istroromânii) in 1927, To Our Brothers (Lu fraţii noştri) in
1928, Istro-Rumen Notes (Noterelle istro-rumene), published in Rome
in 1928, the four-volume work On the Cirebiri (De-ale Cirebirilor) 3 ,
published between 1929-1934; after his field research in August-
September 1927, namely between 18 th August and 3 rd September, in the
area under Monte-Maggiore, and between 5 th and 9th September în
Jeiăn, he published his Cirebir Voyages (Drumuri cirebire) 4 –where one
can also identify part of his Istrian journey: Abbazia, Monte Maggiore,
Susn’eviţa, Nosolo, Sucodru –, Bucharest, 1941. If one adds to all these
works a large number of articles on the same topic 5 one can have part of
the picture of all his efforts to understand and help the people in this
corner of the world where a Romanian dialect was being spoken.
Nowadays, in the process of globalization and after Romania’s
integration into the European Union and NATO, she seems to have
forgotten about those speaking Romanian and living in the neighbouring
countries, perhaps not to ‘stir things’ or out of unpardonable neglect (the
1
Review of Istro-Romanian Folk Songs (Cântece populare istro-române), by Petru
Iroaie in The Bulletin of the Institute of Romanian Philology “Alexandru
Philippide”, vol. V, 1938, p. 350 – cf. Liviu Papuc, Leca Morariu. Studiu
monografic, Editura Timpul, Iaşi, 2004, p. 144.
2
See Liviu Papuc, Leca Morariu.A Monograph ( Leca Morariu Studiu monografic),
Editura Timpul, Iaşi, 2004.
3
Leca Morariu, On the Cirebiri (De-ale Cirebirilor), vol. I: Texts from Susn'eviţa
(Texte din Susn'eviţa), Cernăuţi, 1929, 121 p.; vol. II: Texts from Bîrdo, Sucodru
and Grobnic (Texte din Bîrdo, Sucodru şi Grobnic), 1932, 16 p.; vol. III: Istro-
Romanian Texts from Jeiăn, (Texte istroromâne din Jeiăn), Suceava, 1933, 24 p., 7
il., 1 hartă; vol. IV: Istro-Romanian Letters from Jeiăn and Susn'eviţa (Scrisori
istroromâne din Jeiăn şi Susn'eviţa), Cernăuţi, 1934, 26 p.
4
First part, Buc., 1941, 88 p., published in serial form in “Făt-frumos” between
1928-1932.
5
See Liviu Papuc’s monograph, pp. 131-145.

way Romania does NOT defend the interests of Romanian ethic groups
in the neighbouring countries is worth discussing). Of course, one could
quote the Biblical wiseman ‘there is nothing new under the sun’ when
referring to E. Riegler who wrote before the World War II and the
advent of communism: ‘Let’s not deceive ourselves! Moral and material
help will not reach Val d’Arsa. The Romanian dialect spoken 50 years
ago, at the time of Ion Maiorescu, will disappear in Val d’Arsa as it
disappeared in Santa Lucia di Schitazza. To remain Latin the people will
turn Italian; to survive they will emigrate to America.’
The title of the first text in Richard Sârbu and Vasile Frăţilă’s
book, ‘We Speak Rumúnski’ (Noi rumúnski cuvintåm) (or, as Leca
Morariu wrote - noi cuvintọn vlaşki meaning
) 1 , makes me feel strange, as if wounded. It is as
if I read the letter of a relative who left a long time ago and I knew very
little about, but, to my great surprise (why?) I find out a bit of his heart
is still close to ours. These are only words. But how can we speak about
such an important thing as the language of our people? How else can we
explain it to others who have not found the time to think of the Istro-
Romanians, Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians and others that they
could regard them as the great-great….sons and daughters of those who
may have shared a meal with our great-great…fathers and mothers, who
may have fought and died together, the same apple-tree stemming out of
their bodies in some orchard underneath which there lie the bodies of
the armies of Stephen the Great. Michael the Brave or Mircea the Old…
We live times of profound change. G. Balandier wrote 2 : ‘When
one speaks about traditional societies the impression of continuity is
very powerful…Tradition is not radically incongruent with change, no
more than modernity is with a certain form of continuity.’
But these are only words. Time has its own laws and so does
history. Many things may be already different for the Istro-Romanians,
but if these words find their way to our hearts, it means that things can
happen.
(Translation: Aloisia Sorop)
1 L.Papuc, Leca Morariu. Studiu monografic, p. 9, note 13. Cirebirii has 4 vols.
2 G. Balandier, Meaning and power. The Social Dynamics (Sens et puissance. Les
dynamiques sociales), PUF, Paris, 1971, p. 107.

DAN ANGHELESCU (ROMANIA)
Balcanitatea difuză a Oedipului enescian
Deşi studiile şi – în esenţă – întreaga lui
formaţie intelectuală şi artistică s-au desăvârşit sub
orizontul civilizaţiei apusene, ethosul creaţiei lui
George Enescu poartă amprenta unei experienţe
spirituale de o factură sensibil diferită de aceea a
Occidentului. Ea vorbeşte în numele unei umanităţi şi
al unei civilizaţii în care domină un aliaj inedit „de elemente orientaloccidentale
ce impregnează psihologia, mentalitatea şi, corelativ, creaţia
artistică a omului de miazăzi de ieri şi de astăzi.” Cu precădere în Oedip,
imemoriala străvechime traco-helenică pare să se reconfigureze într-un
sincretism sui generis reamintind arhaica unitate dintre discursul artistic şi
cel religios.
Motto:
Visez la o muzică asemănătoare cu ţărmurile insulelor din mările
greceşti. Ţărmuri abrupte sau armonioase, neted desenate, goale, aride, fără o
pată, fără un copac; siluete puternice se profilează pe marea şi pe cerul albastru.
Aş vrea să mă inspir de la natura aceea, să scriu o muzică esenţială, încă şi mai
sobră decât aceea a lui Gluck, o muzică de contururi simple şi măreţe.
George Enescu
Prin Oedipul enescian, muzica românească ridica în sfera
valorilor universale „o capodoperă de absolută originalitate şi de o
putere dramatică pur şi simplu formidabilă (...) tot atât de îndepărtată de
succedaneele wagneriene ca şi de pastişele debussyste sau pucciniene”.
Aprecierea a aparţinut compozitorului Arthur Honegger 1 , unul dintre cei
mai importanţi maeştri ai artei sunetelor din veacul XX. În ceea ce ne
priveşte, am spune că forţa, valoarea şi originalitatea acestei opere se
datorează, în mare parte, şi unui ethos cu totul special. Din profunzimile
lui, Enescu a ştiut să extragă esenţe rarisime intrând în rezonanţă cu
spiritul străvechi al lumilor ce înfloreau odinioară în sud-estul eropean.
În vara lui 1942, la Sinaia, în prezenţa unui auditoriu numeros,
Enescu îşi lansa lucrarea accentuând un fapt – nu lipsit de stranietate –
1 Arthur Honegger, Le Figaro Litteraire, martie 1955.

şi anume că Oedip-ul său nu are nimic de „operă 1 ”. Considerând faptul
din perspectiva oferită de impresiile distinsului critic (prieten apropiat al
compozitorului şi traducătorul versiunii româneşti a libretului scris de
Edmond Fleg) Emanoil Ciomac, distingem, alături de acesta, „ambiţia
înaltă, dar nemărturisită /…/ de a reînvia tragedia antică.” 2 Afirmaţia de
mai sus ne introduce instantaneu pe teritoriul uneia dintre complicatele
probleme ale istoriei artei sunetelor. Înalta operă datorată lui Eschil,
Sofocle şi Euripide a exercitat o fascinaţie atât de puternică încât, de-a
lungul timpurilor, căpăta forma unei dramatice şi neostoite obsesii de
resuscitare a Tragediei atice. În siajul ei, lumea artei cunoaştea un lung
şir de întâmplări care, începând cu Camerata Fiorentina a lui Giovanni
Bardi, conte de Vernio, vor domina preocupările a numeroşi muzicieni,
poeţi şi gânditori de la Monteverdi, la Lully, Gluck, Nietzsche, Wagner,
Debussy, Richard Strauss, Stravinski sau Schönberg. S-ar părea că ele
continuă şi în zilele noastre.
Deşi studiile şi – în esenţă – întreaga lui formaţie intelectuală şi
artistică s-au desăvârşit sub orizontul civilizaţiei apusene, ethosul
creaţiei lui Enescu poartă amprenta unei experienţe spirituale de o
factură sensibil diferită de aceea a Occidentului. Ea vorbeşte în numele
unei umanităţi şi al unei civilizaţii în care domină un aliaj inedit „de
elemente oriental-occidentale ce impregnează psihologia, mentalitatea
şi, corelativ, creaţia artistică a omului de miazăzi de ieri şi de astăzi 3 .”
Cu precădere în Oedip, imemoriala străvechime traco-helenică pare să
se reconfigureze într-un sincretism sui generis reamintind arhaica
unitate dintre discursul artistic şi cel religios. În timpurile de început,
pregnanţa acesteia era atât de accentuată încât, ulterior, s-a afirmat că
„…până şi critica adusă poeţilor de filosofia greacă rămânea, într-un
sens ultim, tot teologie 4 ”. Aspectul explică, printre altele şi fenomenul
1
Enescu făcea – se pare – aluzie la afirmaţiile lui Nietzsche despre Operă
considerată o formă „cu totul exteriorizată şi incapabilă de evlavie”. În Operă,
argumenta cel care scrisese Naşterea Tragediei, textul domină muzica, o depărtează
de natura şi menirea ei dionisiacă şi o înlănţuie definitiv în retorica raţionalului. (v.
Friedrich Nietzsche, Naşterea Tragediei, în vol. De la Apollo la Faust, ed.
Meridiane, Bucureşti, 1978, p. 272.)
2
Em.Ciomac, Enescu, Ed. Muzicală, Bucureşti, 1968, p.166.
3
Mircea Muthu, Balcanismul literar românesc, vol. III, Ed. Dacia, Cluj-Napoca,
2002, p.11.
4
Hans-Georg Gadamer, Expresia estetică şi cea religioasă, în vol. Actualitatea
frumosului, Ed. Polirom, 2000, p.130.

de contagiune a oricărui fapt de artă cu o discretă, dar mereu prezentă,
incandescenţă de natură mistică 1 . Este ceea ce persistă şi iradiază
continuu; ceea ce singularizează atât ethosul cât şi filozofia pe care se
întemeiază arhitectonica spirituală a spaţiului levantin. Ca manifestare
din sfera artisticului, nici Oedipul enescian nu face excepţie.
Începând însă de aici ne situăm deja în zona de confluenţă cu o
întreagă serie de determinaţii care legitimează apartenenţa la cele ce se
pot cuprinde şi se pot înţelege prin conceptul de Balcanitate 2 . Apt să
opereze şi în sfera ethosului creaţiei enesciene, acest concept apare, în
esenţialitatea lui, ca deschidere asupra unui orizont unde semnificaţiile
vădesc o evidentă valenţă emblematică. Dintr-o anume perspectivă,
Balcanitatea se identifică cu evanescenţa acelor vibraţii survenind din
orizonturi înceţoşate de întâmplări ale soartei: civilizaţie şi barbarie,
cultură, tragism, durere, confruntări cu iraţionalul, credinţe, toleranţă,
înţelepciuni şi tulburătoare ispite. (Iată, de pildă, ispita bizantină pe care
Mircea Vulcănescu o identifica în operele lui Iorga, Haşdeu, sau
Eliade). Umbra unui Ego absconditus, supra sau infra-personal, se
aluvionează din imemorialele trăiri laolaltă, insinuându-se din icoana
pe care Levantul şi-a făurit-o gândind despre lume şi timp, despre
luminile şi întunecimile lor, despre soartă, oameni, temple şi zei. Sunt
1 Identificabilă, încă de la Homer şi presocratici (în fascinaţia acestora pentru
întunecimile mitului orfic), această ”incandescenţă” o regăsim la Platon (ca
amestec de motive religioase tradiţionale şi concepte filosofice), la Dionisie
Areopagitul ca şi la asceţii atoniţi. H.G. Gadamer observa că, dacă în Occident
tensionata dezbatere între tradiţia religioasă şi cea poetică a determinat ruptura
definitivă între „discursul poetic şi cel religios” în sfera spirituală a sud-estului
european, dacă poezia şi religia se îndepărtează una de cealaltă, întreaga tradiţie a
antichităţii clasice devine „lipsită de însăşi pretenţia sa de adevăr.” (H.G.Gadamer,
op. cit.p. 127)
2 Concept propus de Mircea Muthu în lucrarea amintită mai sus, Balcanitatea se
prezintă ca un termen ce răspunde năzuinţei „de a fixa, ori de a aproxima măcar, un
profil spiritual colectiv.” Prin el se oferă sensuri şi fermă conturare „unei
dimensiuni fundamentale pentru spiritualitatea românească”, aceea care, potrivit
autorului citat, „reclamă încă destule limpeziri şi, mai ales, sinteze recuperatoare.”
Constatând, din perspectiva studiilor de literatură comparată, existenţa, în plin veac
XX, a unui spirit sud-est european, Mircea Muthu consideră utilă cuprinderea lui
într-un concept mai apropriat, acela de Balcanitate, subliniind totodată că termenul
este gândit şi în perspectiva „unei posibile fixări a conceptului în cheie estetică”,
configurând astfel „o categorie tipologică” (v. Cuvânt introductiv, op. cit, vol I., pp.
15-17).

semne şi peceţi prin care – atunci când este vorba despre cultură,
gândire sau comportamente – ne regăsim şi ne recunoaştem într-o
coloratură spirituală ce ne exprimă şi ne defineşte. Căci, precum se
rostea Blaga în Apriorismul românesc, „Noi suntem, unde suntem: cu
toţi vecinii noştri împreună – pe un pământ de cumpănă.” Într-un
anume fel, cuprins în datele lui esenţiale, conceptul de Balcanitate a fost
– cum se va vedea – întrezărit ca atare şi de Mircea Eliade: „Noi, spunea
el, ne aflăm realmente la mijloc, între două culturi, Orientul şi
Occidentul, noi putem înălţa un fel de pod, putem înlesni comunicarea
valorilor din Occident şi Orient şi viceversa. Şi asta nu numai pentru că
suntem unde suntem – în Orient şi totuşi în Occident – dar pentru că
suntem una din puţinele culturi europene care am păstrat încă vii
anumite izvoare ale culturii populare şi deci arhaice 1 .”
Prin urmare, Balcanitatea se suprapune şi acelui orizont ce
estompează diferenţele etnice, fixându-se acolo unde istoria, ca
amprentă irepetabilă de evenimente, devine răscrucea determinantelor
ontologice ale umanităţii din sud-estul european. Transpare în ea un
eleatism al sensurilor existenţei, care însă, paradoxal, coexistă
concomitent cu un heraclitism datorat întâmplărilor care trec peste lume.
În lipsa unei atente priviri în profunzimile spiritualităţii pe care
o exprimă unicitatea absolută a Tragediei celui de-al cincilea veac al
antichităţii heladice, orice încercare de pătrundere în orizonturile
esteticii de la care se revendică Oedip-ul enescian ar fi sortită eşecului.
Tragedia din vechea Atică – susţine George Steiner – s-a profilat ca „un
complex multiplu care oferea idiom epic, mitologie publică, lamentaţie
lirică, precum şi postulatul etico-politic al unor atitudini civice şi
personale obligatorii pe care-l găsim la Solon” 2 . Subliniind unicitatea şi
singularitatea fenomenului, Steiner mai afirmă şi că: „…nici un alt polis
elen, nici o altă cultură antică n-au produs ceva asemănător cu teatrul
tragic atic al secolului al V-lea.” 3 Fenomenul devine prin urmare
semnificativ – şi nu lipsit de o anume stranietate – prin aceea că a
constituit „întruchiparea unor concordanţe atât de specifice energiilor
1
M. Eliade, L’Epreuve du labyrinthe. Entretiens avec Claude-Henri Roquet, P.
Belfond, Paris, 1978, p. 74.
2
George Steiner, Moartea Tragediei, Ed. Humanitas 2008, traducere Rodica Timiş,
p. 12.
3
Ibidem, p. 12.

filosofice şi poetice, încât înflorirea lui n-a durat decât o perioadă foarte
scurtă, de doar şaptezeci şi cinci de ani, sau chiar mai puţin” 1 .
Ceea ce singularizează în chip esenţial Tragedia atică este
viziunea poetului tragic. Potrivit ei, forţele ce ne călăuzesc sau ne
distrug acţionează în afara raţiunii sau a dreptăţii şi aparţin de adevăruri
mai puternice decât cunoaşterea. Omul este înconjurat de energii
daimonice care-l cufundă în iraţionalul unor crime de neînţeles.
Incandescenţa mistică a Tragediei atice se va întrezări prin urmare
dintr-o perpetuă proximitate cu entităţile acelui Eu ocult pe care
Empedocle îl identifica prin termenul religios de daimon. Fatalmente,
aceste forţe se întorc împotriva omului şi a celor apropiaţi lui. Din
formulările lui George Steiner rezultă că Tragicul nu este altceva decât
„reprezentarea dramatică /…./ a unei concepţii despre realitate, în care
omul este considerat un musafir nedorit în această lume” 2 . El apare
atunci când esenţialul asupra existenţei se exprimă prin aserţiunea
sofocleană Mai bine e să nu te naşti! Pornind de aici, se întrevăd şi
sensurile reacţiei lui Nietzsche privind imaginea asupra spiritualităţii
greceşti, imagine care dominase (prin Winckelmann) gândirea
europeană. Accentul cădea pe ideea Seninătăţii greceşti (Griechische
Heiterkeit), postulând „constituirea şi instituirea unei ordini şi a unei
corelative seninătăţi născute fără îndelungate cazne, fără şovăieli, fără
urmă de răni, de umbre şi regresii din propria lor apriorică şi
incoruptibilă substanţă. 3 ” În opoziţie cu predecesorii, Nietzsche
întrezăreşte groaza existenţială a anticilor în faţa neantului, a
dezmărginirii, a apeiron-ilui. Potrivit lui, Tragedia atică era depozitara
unei semnificaţii neobservate până la el: consolarea metafizică a omului
grec survenită din nevoia de iluzie, de aparenţă, menite să întreţină
viaţa. Subtilele lui argumente demonstrau că Tragedia s-a născut „din
pântecele muzicii, din acel tainic asfinţit al dionisiacului” 4 , pentru că
„mitul nu-şi găseşte nicicum obiectivitatea adecvată în cuvântul rostit.”
„Ceea ce poetul nu a izbutit să facă prin cuvinte, adică să atingă cele
1 Ibid.
2 Ibid. Pentru o circumscriere cât mai plastică a acestui sens, Steiner aminteşte
semnificaţia cuvântului german Unheimlichkeit, al cărui înţeles era echivalent cu a
fi alungat din propria casă.
3 Petru Creţia, Hellada - între Logos şi Alogon, prefaţă la E. R. Dodds, Grecii şi
iraţionalul, Ed. Polirom, Iaşi, 1998, p. 5.
4 Friedrich Nietzsche, op. cit., p. 232.

mai înalte culmi ale spiritualităţii şi ale idealităţii mitului, i-a reuşit ca
muzician creator.” 1
Începând cu Nietzsche, apollinicul şi dionisiacul devin polii
între care a pendulat întreaga spiritualitate heladică. Dionysos instaura
dominaţia principiului pluralităţii întunecând luminile conştiinţei în
extazul celei mai pure dintre arte: muzica. Dispensându-se de cuvinte, ea
exprimă şi cuprinde lumea, păstrându-se departe de impuritatea
imanenţei. Potrivit celui care a scris despre Naşterea tragediei, arta
sunetelor posedă o evidentă dimensiune apofatică. Se înţelege că, legată
ombilical de spiritul muzicii, „tragedia se naşte /…/ ca o gnoseologie
atenuată estetic şi o estetică redimensionată gnoseologic” 2 , prin
consolarea metafizică.
Analizând ascensiunea spiritului muzical spre înalta revelaţie a
mitului ce culmina în sublimul Tragediei, Nietzsche constata – nu fără
stupoare – că aceasta dispare din arta elină 3 tocmai în apogeul strălucirii
sale. O moarte subită datorată – gândeşte el – unui optimism exacerbat
prin cunoaştere, luptei dintre concepţia teoretică şi concepţia tragică a
lumii, credinţei în „însuşirea ştiinţei, de a fi un panaceu universal,
credinţă ce a fost întrupată prima oară în Socrate.” 4 Prin toate acestea,
susţine Nietzsche, nu numai că a fost nimicit mitul (exemplu unic al
unui adevăr şi al unei generalităţi în faţa cărora se întinde infinitatea),
dar Poezia însăşi a fost izgonită din domeniul ei ideal, devenind
apatridă. Arta eşua în ambianţa unei lumi teoretice. Geniul muzicii
părăsind Tragedia, concepţia tragică despre lume s-a retras în
întunericul cultelor tainice. Inundată de voioşia devastatoare a omului
teoretic, lumea elină luneca sub „plăcerea socratică a cunoaşterii şi
amăgirea că ea va putea tămădui rana eternă a existenţei.” Omul
teoretic 5 devenea Idealul ce se va încarna în Socrate. Veacul XX s-ar
spune că repetă această istorie.
Periplul nostru pe teritoriul meditaţiilor asupra Tragediei atice
nu este o îndepărtare de subiectul propus, cât o situare în sfera lui
abisală. Iată de ce nu ezităm nici în faţa afirmaţiei că – în anume
1
Friedrich Nietzsche, op. cit., pp.256-257.
2
Gabriel Liiceanu, Tragicul, o fenomenologie a limitei şi depăşirii, Ed. Univers,
1976, p. 141.
3
Friedrich Nietzsche, op. cit., pp. 256-257.
4 Ibid., p. 258.
5 Ibid., p. 261-264.

privinţe – eseul lui Nietzsche anticipează apariţia Oedip-ului enescian.
Scriind despre dispariţia Tragediei autorul lui Zarathustra întrevăzuse şi
posibila retrezire a spiritului dionisiac în lumea artei sunetelor. Prin
muzica germană – spune el – al cărei avânt „puternic şi radios”
provenind de la Bach, Beethoven şi Wagner, ca şi prin spiritul filosofiei
germane, datorită lui Kant şi Schopenhauer, s-ar putea să se „nimicească
plăcerea plată de a trăi a socratismului ştiinţific, arătând care îi sunt
limitele”. În acest mod s-ar regenera „o concepţie infinit mai profundă şi
mai serioasă despre problemele eticii şi ale artei, pe care putem chiar s-o
numim înţelepciunea dionisiacă. /…/Ne vom da seama de marea
valoare a tragediei abia când ea ne va apărea, precum grecilor, ca o
chintesenţă a tuturor puterilor tămăduitoare” 1 . Afirmaţiile lui Nietzsche,
numai aparent surprinzătoare, la nivel de detaliu dau de gândit. Căci
purtător nativ al unei încărcături de spiritualitate est-europeană, Enescu
îşi apropriase la Viena tocmai elementele spiritului muzical german
evocat de Nietzsche: clasicismul unor Bach, Mozart, Beethoven,
Brahms şi Wagner. Cu toate acestea, creaţia lui nu poartă nici amprenta
şcolii muzicale germane şi nici pe aceea a şcolii din Franţa unde îşi
desăvârşise studiile 2 . Edificatoare sunt chiar mărturiile lui Enescu: „nu
puteau să stabilească cu exactitate ce fel de muzică făceam. Nu era
modelul francez după maniera Debussy, nu era cel german.” 3 Deşi
adopta ca punct de plecare mitul şi simfonia, Enescu nu se situa în
descendenţa Operei Totale a lui Wagner. Nici abordarea Tragediei din
perspectiva implicaţiilor şi originilor ei religioase nu plasează
capodopera enesciană în trena esteticii nietzscheano-wagneriene. Chiar
dacă cel care descifra în Oedipul lui Sofocle intonaţia unui imn triumfal
al sacrului 4 fusese Nietzsche. Deosebirea faţă de Wagner se vede şi din
faptul că întâmplările şi eroii acestuia transpar din tărâmurile de veşnic
amurg ale zeilor nordici. Prin contrast, Oedip este gândit într-o lumină
mediteraneană. Enescu, observa unul dintre comentatori, îşi
mediteranizează muzica conformându-se parcă acelui, atât de paradoxal
şi de târziu, îndemn al anti-wagnerianismului nietzschean” 5 . De altfel,
1 Ibid., p. 277.
2 După Viena, Enescu studiase în Parisul lui Bergson, Verlaine, Mallarmé, Proust,
Valéry... dar şi César Franck, Erik Satie, Debussy, Ravel, Gounod, Massenet, Saint-
Saëns şi Fauré.
3 Programul de sală al Orchestrei Simfonice din Chicago, stagiunea 1931- 1932.
4 Fr.Nietzsche, op. cit., p. 219.
5 Em Ciomac, op. cit., p 163.

frapanta balcanitate a acestei capodopere este premeditată. În acest sens
mărturiile compozitorului nu lasă loc de îndoială: „Muzica lui Oedip are
desigur ceva balcanic, o rigiditate clasică, insuflată de vederea unor
clădiri greceşti. Documente de pe vremea homerică nu există. Artiştii
sunt chemaţi să le interpreteze, să le născocească. 1 Aspirând apropierea
de inegalabila şi lapidara simplitate atică, arhitectura sonoră a acestei
muzici suportă o severă rigoare. Desigur, şi aici, structurile de extracţie
folclorică contină să respire, dar numai în formulele esenţialităţii lor.
Astfel, ecoul fluierelor ciobăneşti ce răsunau la fel în Helada, în Balcani
sau în Carpaţi, ca şi modurile atice care readuc culoarea străvechilor
melisme, reînvie în Oedip cu alte irizaţii şi limpezimi. Intuindu-le
adevărul şi trama interioară Enescu şi-a apropriat cu discreţie doar
reliefurile lor paradigmatice. Evident, în complexitatea sincretică a
acestei capodopere „…esteticul subţiază etnicul în fapt continuându-l:
logosul preia o parte din atributele mythosului, într-o superbă aventură
a spiritului.” 2 Regăsind o străveche esenţă, regăsea glăsuirile originare
ale unui genius loci, acelea care, în limbajul lui Blaga, capătă un nume:
Dor. E ceea ce, cu remarcabilă fineţe a observaţiei sublinia Em. Ciomac,
într-un articol din Convorbiri literare: „...la Enescu, în paginile cele mai
inspirate, melodia are o urmă depărtată de cântec duios al neamului
nostru… Este o jale, o duioşie, un dor, pe care numai noi le avem” 3 .
Desigur, identificarea unui specific al sonorităţilor limbajului
enescian aduce la lumină mai multe particularităţi structurale. Nici un
alt compozitor – afirmă Ovidiu Varga – „nu a cultivat în creaţia lui
genul modal enarmonic, adică microintervale, ci doar genurile diatonic
şi cromatic. Enescu, descendent direct al tracului Orfeu, a reînviat şi
cântarea modală enarmonică, pe lângă cea diatonică şi cromatică, în
două capodopere contemporane: Sonata a treia în caracter popular
românesc şi tragedia lirică Oedip, cântare ce caracteriza muzica tracilor,
grecilor şi romanilor antici, muzica daco-romanilor, a protoromânilor
medievali.” 4 Aşa se face că Enescu n-a fost influenţat de filo-elenismul
şcolii de compoziţie a Franţei prin Fauré, Ravel, Satie sau Debussy. În
1
Petru Comarnescu, Arta românească. Lămuriri privitoare la problemele
specificului românesc. De vorbă cu maestrul George Enescu, Politica Bucureşti, 5
februarie, 1927.
2
Mircea Muthu, op. cit., vol II, p.15.
3
Convorbiri literare, nr. 6,, 1915.
4
Ovidiu Varga, Orfeul Moldav şi alţi şase mari ai secolului XX, ed. Muzicală,
Bucureşti 1981, p.18.

acest sens mărturiile lui sunt clare: avea să ignore deliberat modurile
greceşti, utilizând în pasajele declamate pe jumătate cântate, pe
jumătate vorbite, sfertul de ton 1 . În plus, avea să apeleze „la modurile
arhaice ale muzicii populare româneşti şi a ehurilor (glasurile)
bizantine, diatonice, cromatice şi enarmonice, reconstituind, în primele
decenii ale veacului XX, sinteza muzicală a antichităţii traco-grecoromane!
Ceea ce nu făcuse nici unul dintre colegii şi contemporanii săi,
stăpâniţi de obsesia de a reconstitui cât mai greceşte posibil (cum
recomanda profesorul Fauré) universul mitologiei antice şi muzica
acestuia.” 2 Tratarea vocii umane profilează şi ea un specific al scriiturii.
În vreme ce la Wagner vocea umană nu e decât un instrument printre
altele, Enescu pune în partitură declamaţia, în aşa fel încât se aud toate
nuanţele posibile şi orice silabă şi orice inflexiune 3 . Miraculoasa
scriitură enesciană acordă vocii posibilitatea de a domina masele
orchestrale. Optând pentru simplitate şi transparenţă, „orchestra, cu
multiplele ei voci, pe care la citire le-ai crede confuze şi asurzitoare,
printr-un savant dozaj, prin timbruri ce îşi pun culoarea unul altuia în
valoare, este străvezie.” 4 Stilul, fiind subordonat declamaţiei, cântăreţul
poate stăpâni cu glasul său simfonia.
Elementul care, sub raport cu estetica şi curentele timpului,
acordă unicitatea acestei poetici se configurează în ceea ce numim
ethosul enescian. Potrivit lui Mircea Vulcănescu – gânditorul care,
practicând o veritabilă arheologie spirituală, investiga metafizica şi
determinaţiile imponderabile ale sufletului românesc – ethosul se
conturează ca o arhitectură de ispite, o realitate etnică vie, un trecut
continuu actualizat în prezent şi un viitor gândit ca dimensiune
destinală. Orizonturile, ca şi diversele ispite ce au tentat de-a lungul
timpurilor sufletul românesc, încarcă ethosul acordându-i o coloratură
aparte, aceea care, ulterior, rămâne fixată în esenţa tuturor formelor de
manifestare spirituală. Ethosul întrezărit de Vulcănescu se proiectează
ca arhitectură lăuntrică, o inter-penetraţie acumulată în timp. Potrivit
unui asemenea tip de înţelegere, „creaţia este un fel de precipitat
spiritual al istoriei, precipitat în care spiritul retrăieşte, în formă
condensată, ceea ce datorează unei/…/ epoci/…/fecundând orice contact
1
Bernard Gavoty, op.cit., p.90.
2
Ovidiu Varga, op. cit., p.90.
3
Ibid., p. 174.
4
Em. Ciomac, op. cit., p.174.

spiritual nou cu rezonanţe ancestrale.” 1 Privită astfel, opera de artă
devine purtătoare a unor însemne spirituale situate la „încheietura
metafizicii cu istoria” ca o unitate de soartă peste curgerea vremurilor.
Iată cu ce întemeiere considerăm că, privitor la contextul creat
de curentele esteticii cu care a fost contemporan, Enescu a reprezentat
(şi continuă să repezinte) un caz aparte. Apele limpezi ale sonorităţilor
din Oedip emană o anume ezoterică stranietate pentru că în ele domină
visul apolinic al Heladei. De unde şi farmecul secret dar şi – într-o
anume măsură – un, doar aparent, ermetism. Să nu uităm (Schönberg
scria în Tratatul de armonie), legile omului de geniu sunt – mai
totdeauna – legile unei umanităţi viitoare. Prin urmare, Oedip se
realizează dintr-o sinteză unică între complexitatea civilizaţiei sonore a
Occidentului şi străvechea încărcătură spirituală a sud-estului european,
pe care o subînţelegem prin termenul de balcanitate. Numai pornind de
la ea ne putem explica acea tristeţe tracică 2 , precum şi uriaşa forţă
expresivă şi densitate pe care această muzică a reuşit să le acumuleze.
Veritabilă capodoperă, Oedip a reintrat în lume prin arhaicele porţi ale
mitului, sorbind din ceea ce Rilke numea vlaga acelor tărâmuri
cutreierate pe vremuri de zei. Dar şi Bizanţul respiră încă acolo cu vraja
cupolelor, cu misterul şi penumbra altarelor şi cu imperialele lui
orfevrării. În toată limpezimea se lasă întrevăzută aici şi acea ierarhie a
ispitelor (acele formule de ancorare în existenţă de care vorbea
Vulcănescu 3 ), componente ale ethosului enescian: ispita tracică, ispita
greco-bizantină, ispita germană şi ispita franceză. Evident, fiecare aduce
o anumită calitate structurală dând consistenţă la tot ce este atipic şi
singular ca fapt de artă în ambianţa epocii.
La începutul veacului XX faptul de artă se reconsidera într-o
ontologie inundată de implicaţii din sfera ştiinţelor exacte. Situate –
deliberat – sub lumina rece şi fără de umbre a raţionalităţii, paradigmele
gândirii artistice intrau sub dominaţia unei accentuate hipertrofii a
cognitivului. Prin Mallarmé şi Valéry (Donner un sans plus pur aux
mots de la tribu), limbajul poetic încerca o spargere a limitelor
1 Mircea Vulcănescu: Dimensiunea românească a existenţei, ediţie îngrijită de
Marin Diaconu, Ed. Fundaţiei Culturale Române, Bucureşti, 1991, p. 95.
2 George Călinescu: „În violina lui Enescu răsună străvechea liră, este adevărat, dar
lira este ţinută de Orfeu, şi ca atare este străbătură de o tristeţe tracică.” (v. La un
portret al lui George Enescu, în Adevărul literar şi artistic, Bucureşti, 1 nov.,
1931).
3 „construirea unui Eu printr-o ierarhizare specifică de non-euri” (Ibid., p. 96).

limbajului comun. Construcţia şi ordinea anulau orice hazard al
inspiraţiei. În muzică noile catehisme artistice – influenţate de
pozitivismului lui Compte şi gândirea matematică a lui Poincaré – se
eşafodau pe vagi certitudini şi obsesii scientiste. Pentru Schönberg, arta
sunetelor ar fi trebuit să devină – înainte de toate şi în cel mai înalt grad
– cunoaştere. Dar tragicul destin ce apăsa asupra artei lui purta numele
de Incomunicabilitate. Pentru ieşirea din haos a lumilor sale tocmai
Verbul, Cuvîntul tuturor începuturilor lipsea. Acesta va fi şi leitmotivul
unui veritabil lamento rostit de compozitor prin glasul lui Moise (în
neterminata operă Moise şi Aron): “O Wort, du Wort, das mir fehlt !“
Cât despre Stravinski, în confidenţele lui dogmatice susţinute la
Harvard, afirmă că muzica „nu trebuie să exprime nimic”. În consens cu
Paul Valéry, el consideră demersul artistic eminamente constructiv şi
îşi clamează, oriunde are ocazia, ostilitatea faţă de tot ce sustrage
spiritul din matematicile superioare ale muzicii. Evident – asociată şi cu
accentul de derizoriu al civilizaţiei de consum – ideea de Fabricaţie
planează asupra actului de creaţie pe care (potrivit lui Heidegger) îl
deposedează de orice taină şi aureolă supraumană. La fel ca în
romanul lui Thomas Mann (Doctor Faustus), muzica veacului XX pare
să fi încheiat un pact cu Lucifer, în vreme ce contextul readuce în
actualitate aserţiunea lui Kierkegaard despre substratul demonic al
muzicii, artă creştină cu semn negativ! În voluminosul lui roman-eseu,
Thomas Mann surprinde esenţialul crizei: intelectualism glacial, ostil
oricărui sentiment, constructivism, încărcătură de abstracţiuni (mistica
numerelor), concluzionând lapidar în imaginarul (dar semnificativul!)
nihilism artistic formulat de Adrian Lerverkühn: „Nu trebuie să fie,
exclamă el disperat, nu trebuie să fie ce-i bun şi nobil, ceea ce e
omenesc/…/ tot ceea ce şi-a găsit simbolul în Simfonia a noua. Trebuie
luat înapoi. Eu voi lua înapoi.” 1
Nimic din toate acestea la Enescu. Refuză atât constructivismul
mortifiant, cât şi anxietatea din expresionismul celei de a doua şcoli
vieneze. Ideea că în muzică emoţia poate fi înlocuită cu inteligenţa sau
că arta sunetelor poate fi imaginată – exclusiv – pe o logică formală fără
fisuri îi părea lipsită de noimă. În contradicţie totală cu exacerbările
raţionaliste, Enescu inocula discursului sonor o „enormă densitate a
afectului” (Pascal Bentoiu). „Créer c’est aimer ! Car la musique est
1
Apud Ion Ianoşi prefaţa la Thomas Mann, Doctor Faustus, Ed. Pentru Literatură
Universală, Bucureşti 1966, p. 29.

amour – ou elle n’est rien !, spunea Enescu la capătul carierei sale. 1
„Emoţia e la baza tuturor cvartetelor (de Beethoven) de care nu mă pot
despărţi!” „Nu pot admite muzică pur cerebrală”, declara puţin înaintea
morţii. „Ce qui ne vient pas du coeur, de l’emotion, ne survit pas!” 2
Evident, poetica enesciană este atipică şi singulară. Nu pluteşte
în siajul niciuneia dintre orientările vremii. Misterioasele ei alchimii
cristalizează uimitoare alcătuiri sonore. Structuri şi forme din trecut se
insinuează cu eleganţă în noutatea, totdeauna discretă, a discursului său
muzical prin care străbat esenţe şi densităţi necunoscute altor muzici.
Monodia, heterofoniile, modalismul, limbajul vocal şi instrumental nontemperat,
sinteza sistemelor giusto şi parlando rubato, toate aştern o
amprentă prin care creaţia enesciană se delimitează de gândirea
muzicală din epocă. Esteticianul Antoine Goléa inventaria numeroasele
elemente ce-l anticipau, cu două decenii, pe Messiaen, ca şi priorităţile
pe care muzica lui Enescu le-a deţinut vis-à-vis de creaţia unor Bartok,
Schönberg sau Anton Webern.
Probabil şi dintr-o asemenea perspectivă, s-a spus că această
muzică nu se lasă închisă între barierele inteligenţei critice, că incită la
filosofare, că depăşeşte condiţia muzicală şi că „marea lecţie filosofică”
pe care o oferă spiritului nostru „nu este extragerea din realitate, ci
înglobarea acesteia în Idee, împăcarea contrariilor, adunarea tuturor
energiilor într-una singură. Topirea multiplului în Unul. 3
Universul sonor întâlnit în Oedip configurează o experienţă
artistică aparte, oferind o sublimă revelaţie a ceea ce Proust numise
cândva un peu de temps à l’état pur. Evident, este un Timp ce vine de
foarte departe, din înaltele seninătăţi ale visului eleat-apolinic. Acelea
prin care spiritul Heladei se mântuia de spaima şi întunecimile
Destinului şi ale Moirei. Ceea ce – parafrazând o formulare proprie lui
Gilles Deleuze – s-ar părea că îndreptăţeşte gândul că: „La musique
n’est pas seulement l’affaire des musiciens, dans la mesure où elle rend
pensable des forces qui ne sont pas pensable.” 4
1
Apud Em. Ciomac, op. cit., p.111
2
Ibid., p.112.
3
Pascal Bentoiu, Capodopere enesciene, Ed. Muzicală, 1984, p. 197.
4
Conférence sur le temps musical (IRCAM. 1978), p. 3.

DAN ANGHELESCU (ROMANIA)
The Diffuse Balkan Spirit of Enescu’s Oedipee
Although his studies and – essentially – his entire intellectual and artistic
formation were achieved under the horizon of Western civilization, the ethos of
Enescu’s creation bears the mark of a spiritual experience, slightly different from the
West. It speaks on behalf of a humanity and of a civilization made up of a
spontaneous alloy of ‘oriental and occidental elements that influence the psychology,
mentality and, accordingly, the artistic creation of a southern man of yesterday and
today’. Especially in Oedipe, the Thraco-Hellenic immemorial prehistory seems to
reshape itself in a syncretism sui-generis, recalling the archaic unity between the
artistic and religious discourse.
Motto:
I am dreaming of a music similar to the shores of the isles of the Greek seas.
Steep or harmonious shores, planely drawn, empty, dry, without a stain, without a
tree; strong silhouettes are profiled against the sea and the blue sky. I would love
to get my inspiration from nature, to write a fundamental music, more severe than
Gluck’s, a music of simple and magnificent outlines.
By Enescu’s Oedipe, the Romanian music lifted ‘a masterpiece
of an absolute originality and of a simply extraordinary dramatic power
(…) different from Wagner’s succedanea and Debussy’s and Puccini’s
imitations’ to the sphere of universal values. This appreciation belonged
to the composer Arthur Honegger 1 , one of the most important masters of
the art of sounds in the XXth century. As for us, I would say that the
force, the value and the originality of this work is partially owed to a
special ethos. From its depth, Enescu could extract rare essences, that
corresponded to the ancient spirit of the world flourishing once upon a
time in South-Eastern Europe.
In the summer of 1942, in Sinaia, in the presence of a numerous
public, Enescu lauched his work, stressing a fact-somehow strange-that
his Oedipe has nothing of an ‘opera’ 2 . From the impression of the
distinguished critic (close friend of the composer and translator of the
Romanian version of Edmond Fleg’s libretto), Emanoil Ciomac, we
1 Arthur Honegger, Le Figaro Littéraire, March 1955.
2 Apparently, Enescu alluded to Nietzsche’s assertions about Opera considered as a
form ‘totally exteriorized and without devoutness’. In the Opera, thought he who
had written ‘The Birth of Tragedy’, the text was dominating the music, it chased it
away from its nature and Dionysiac meaning, chaining it for good in rational
rhetorics’ (see Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy, in vol. From Apollo to
Faustus, Bucharest, Meridiane, 1978, p. 272).

understand ‘the high, but unconfessed ambition…to give birth to the
ancient tragedy’ 1 . This assertion cited above instantaneously leads to the
territory of one of the most complicated problems in the history of the
art of sounds. The high work we owe to Aeschylus, Sophocles and
Euripides exercised such a deep fascination that, in time, it grew like a
dramatic and infatigable obsession to revive the Attic Tragedy. In its
‘shipwake’, the world of art experienced a series of events, that, ever
since Giovanni Bardi’s, Count of Vernio, Camerata Fiorentina, will
master the interest of several musicians, poets and thinkers, from
Monteverdi to Lully, Gluck, Nietzsche, Wagner, Debussy, Richard
Strauss, Stravinski or Schönberg. They apparently continue nowadays also.
Although his studies and – essentially – his entire intellectual
and artistic formation were achieved under the horizon of Western
civilization, the ethos of Enescu’s creation bears the mark of a spiritual
experience, slightly different from the West. It speaks on behalf of a
humanity and of a civilization made up of a spontaneous alloy of
‘oriental and occidental elements that influence the psychology,
mentality and the artistic creation of a southern man of yesterday and
today’ 2 . Especially in Oedipe, the Thraco-Hellenic immemorial
prehistory seems to reshape itself in a syncretism sui-generis, recalling
the archaic unity between the artistic and religious discourse. In the
beginning, this salience was so obvious that, afterwards, critics asserted
that ‘…even the criticism Greek poetry expressed against poets
ultimately remained theology 3 . This explains the contamination of all
facts of art with a discrete, but always present flame of mystical nature 4 .
This is something that always persists and spreads itself; this is what
1
Em. Ciomac, Enescu, Bucharest, Ed. Muzicală, 1968, p. 166.
2
Mircea Muthu, Balcanismul literar românesc, vol. III, Cluj-Napoca, Ed. Dacia,
2002, p. 11.
3
Hans-Georg Gadamer, Expresia estetică şi cea religioasă, in: Actualitatea
frumosului, Iaşi, Ed. Polirom, 2000, p. 130.
4
Discovered ever since Homer and the presocratics (in their fascination for the
darkness of orphic myth), this ‘incandescence’ can be found in Plato (as mix of
traditional religious motifs and philosophical concepts), in Dionysos the Areopagit
and the Atonit ascets. H.-G. Gadamer observed that, if in the West the tensed debate
between the religious tradition and the poetic one determined the definitive
separation between ‘the poetic and the religious discourse’ in the spiritual sphere of
South-Eastern Europe, if poetry and religion are split, the whole tradition of
classical ancient period ‘lacks its own pretention of truth’ (H.-G. Gadamer, cited
work, p. 127).

isolates the ethos and the philosophy on which is grounded the spiritual
architecture of the Levantine space. As a manifestation in the artistic
sphere, Enescu’s Oedipe does not make an exception. From now on, we
situate ourselves at the crossroads with possible determinations,
significations of what the concept of Balkan spirit means 1 . Having effect
even for the ethos of Enescu’s creation, this concept essentially appears
as an opening to a horizon where the significations prove an emblematic
valency. From a certain point of view, Balkan spirit identifies itself with
the evanescence of those vibrations coming from events troubled by
blows of fate: civilization and barbarity, culture, tragism, hurt,
confrontations with the irrational, beliefs, tolerance, wisdom and cruel
temptations. (For example, the Byzantine fascination that Mircea
Vulcănescu identified in Iorga’s, Haşdeu’s and Eliade’s works). The
shadow of an Ego absconditus, supra- or infrapersonal, grows from
immemorial sensations, shaping itself from the image the Levant created
about time and the world, about its lights and shadows, about fate,
people, temples and gods. These are signs and hallmarks whereby –
when it goes to culture, thinking and behaviour – we find ourselves in a
spiritual position that expresses and defines ourselves. As Blaga in
Romanian Apriorism uttered: We are who we are: together with all of
our neighbours – on a crucial land. In a way, the concept of Balkan
spirit was thus essentially envisaged by Mircea Eliade also: ‘We are in
the middle, between two cultures, the East and the West, we can build a
sort of bridge, we can facilitate the communication of values between
the West and the East and the opposite. This happens because we are
where we are – in the East and yet in the West – but because we are one
of the few European cultures that preserved some sources of the popular
1 Concept proposed by Mircea Muthu in the above cited work, Balkan spirit
presents itself as a term that corresponds to the effort to ‘depict, or at least to
approximate, a collective spiritual portrait’. By that one can offer senses and firm
outlines ‘to a fundamental dimension for the Romanian spirituality’, which,
according to the the cited author, ‘still claims enough limpidity and recuperating
synthesis’. From the comparative point of view observing the existence in the XXth
century of a South-European spirit, Mircea Muthu considers the concept of Balkan
spirit more appropriate, emphasising at the same time that the term is thought form
the perspective of ’a possible aesthetic signification of the concept’, configurating
thus a ‘typological category’. (see Introduction, cited work, vol. I, pp. 15-17).

and archaic cultures 1 ’. Consequently, Balkan spirit is superposed to that
horizon that shades ethnical differences, establishing itself where the
history, as an irrepetable mark of events, becomes the crossroads of the
ontological determinations of humanity in South-Eastern Europe. It
inspires the eleatism of the vital senses that, paradoxally, coexist with
the heraclitism owed to the events that happened to the world.
In the absence of an attentive look at the spiritual depth that the
absolute unicity of Tragedy in the 5th century of the Hellenic Antiquity
expresses, any attempt to enter the aesthetic horizons, which generate
Enescu’s Oedipe, are meant to decay. The Tragedy of ancient Attica –
sustains George Steiner – is profiled as a ‘multiple complexthat offered
epic idiom, public mythology, lyrical lamentation, as well as the ethicopolitical
requirements to necessary civic and personal attitudes that are
to be found in Solo 2 . Emphasizing the uniqueness and singularity of the
phenomenon, Steiner believes that: ‘no other Greek polis, no other
ancient culture produced anything similar to the Greek tragedy of the
Vth century’ 3 . Consequently, the phenomenon gets significant –
somehow in a strange manner – by the fact that it constituted ‘the
representation of some concordances so specific to philosophical and
political energies, that its flourishing only lasted a short period, of 75
years or even less’ 4 . What fundamentally represents the Attic tragedy is
the tragic poet’s vision. According to it, the forces that guide or destroy
us act in the absence of reason or of justice and belong to truths stronger
than knowledge. Man is surrounded by daimonic energies that throws
him in the irrational of ununderstandable crimes. The mystic
incandescence of the Attic tragedy will consequently be seen from a
perpetual proximity with the entities of that occult Ego that Empedocles
identified by the religious term of daimon. Fatally, these forces go back
against man and his fellows. From George Steiner’s opinions, it gets
obvious that the Tragic is nothing else than ‘the dramatic representation
(…) of a conception about reality, whereby man is considered an
1
M. Eliade, L’Epreuve du labyrinthe, Entretiens avec Claude-Henri Roquet, P.
belfond, Paris, 1978, p. 74.
2
George Steiner, The Death of Tragedy, Bucureşti, Ed. Humanitas, 2008,
translation by Rodica Timiş, p. 12.
3
Ibid., p. 12.
4 Ibid.

unwanted guest in this world’ 1 . It appears when the essential on the
existence is expressed by Sohocles’ affirmation: It is better not to be
born! We can read the senses of Nietzsche’s reaction regarding the
image of the Greek spirituality, image that had dominated European
thinking (thanks to Winckelmann). The stress was laid upon the idea of
Greek serenity (Griechische Heiterkeit), claiming ‘the creation and the
setting up of an order and of a correlative serenity born from long-time
efforts, without hesitations, without traces of sounds, of shadows and
regressions from their own aprioric and incorruptible substance 2 . Unlike
his predecessors, Nietzsche discerned the existential fear of ancient
people regarding nothingness, the infinite, the apeiron. He believes that
the Attic tragedy had a signification nobody had observed before him:
the metaphysic consolation of the Greek man that happened by the need
of illusion, of appearance, meant to entertain life. His subtle arguments
demonstrated that Tragedy was born ‘from the womb of music, from
that secret sunset of the Dyonisiac spirit’ 3 , because ‘myth could not find
its adequate objectivity in the uttered world’. ‘What the poet could not
achieve by words, that is to say to reach the highest peaks of spirituality
and mythical idealism he achieved as a creator musician’ 4 . Beginning
with Nietzsche, the apollinic and dyonisiac spirit become the poles that
integrated the whole Hellenic spirituality. Dionysos imposed the
domination of the ‘principle of plurality’, throwing shadows over the
lights of conscience in the ecstasy of the purest art: music. Leaving
words aside, it expresses and depicts the world, staying away from the
impurity of immanence. He who wrote about The Birth of Tragedy
considered that the art of sounds possesses an obvious apofatic
dimension. Umbilically tied to the spirit of music, ‘tragedy is born as a
gnoseology aesthetically diminished and as aesthetics gnoseologically
diminished’ 5 , by metaphysic consolation.
1
For a depiction as plastic as possible of this sense, Steiner recalls the signification
of the German term Unheimlichkeit, whose sense was an equivalent of ‘to chase
away from his own house’.
2
Petru Creţia, Hellada-între Logos şi Alogon, prefaţă la E.R. Dodds, Grecii şi
iraţionalul, Iaşi, Editura Polirom, 1998, p. 5.
3
Friedric Nietzsche, cited work, p. 232.
4
Friedrich Nietzsche, cited work, p. 256-257.
5
Gabriel Liiceanu, Tragicul, o fenomenologie a limitei şi depăşirii, Bucureşti,
Editura Univers, 1976, p. 141.

Analyzing the ascension of the musical spirit to the high
revelation of the myth that had its highest point in the tragic sublime,
Nietzsche considered with surprise that it disappears from the Greek art 1
at the highest moment of its brightness. This sudden death – he believes
– is owed to an optimism exaggerated by knowledge, to the fight
between the theoretical and the tragic conception of the world, to the
faith in ‘the capacity of science to be an universal panaceum, faith that
was first embodied by Socrates’ 2 . By all these, Nietzsche considers that
the myth was destroyed (‘the only example of a truth and generality in
front of which infinity extends’), but Poetry itself was chased away from
its ideal domain, losing its country. Art failed in the environment of a
theoretical world. ‘The genius of music’ abandoning tragedy, the
tragical conception about the world withdrew the darkness of the secret
cults. Covered by the ‘devastating joy of the theoretical world’, the
Greek world was slipping under ‘Socrates’ pleasure of knowledge and
the illusion that it could heal the eternal sound of existence’. The
theoretical man 3 became the ‘Ideal’ that Socrates will embody . One
might say that the XXth century repeats this history. Our trip to the
territory of the meditations on the Attic Tragedy is not an extrapolation
of the proposed subject, more likely it is situated in a very deep layer.
We cannot contradict the assertion that – according to certain points of
view – Nietzsche’s essay anticipates Enescu’s Oedipe. Writing about the
disappearance of Tragedy, Zarathustra’s author had imagined the
possible awake of the dionysiac spirit in the world of the art of sounds.
By German music – he says – whose ‘powerful and radiant’ tragedy
coming from Bach, Beethoven and Wagner as well as from the spirit of
German philosophy, thanks to Kant and Schopenhauer, might ‘destroy
the dull pleasure to live in the scientific socratism, showing its limits’.
This way, one might regain a ‘deeper and more serious conception about
the problems of ethics and art, that we can call the dyonisiac
wisdom…We shall realize the great value of tragedy only when it
appears, as it appeared to all Greeks like an essence of all the healing
powers’ 4 . Nietzsche’s affirmations, only apparently surprising, in detail
are bones of contention. As he was natively endowed with a spiritual
1 Friedrich Nietzsche, cited work, pp. 256-257.
2 Ibid., p. 258.
3 Ibid., p. 258.
4 Ibid., p, 261-264.

load of Eastern-European spirituality, Enescu received the elements of
musical German spirit remembered by Nietzsche in Vienna: Bach’s,
Mozart’s, Beethoven’s, Brahms’, Wagner’s classicism. Despite all this,
his creation does not resemble the French or German musical school,
where he had achieved his studies 1 . Enescu’s testimonies are
significative: ‘they could not establish exactly what kind of music I was
doing. It was not the French model according to Debussy, it was not the
German one’ 2 . Although his departure was myth and symphony, Enescu
didn’t descend from Wagner’s Total Opera. The interpretation of
tragedy from the point of view of its religious origins doesn’t locate it in
the ‘train’ of Nietzsche’s and Wagner’s aesthetics. Nietzsche was the
one who had deciphered the intonation of a triumphant hymn to the
sacred 3 in Sophocles’ Oedipe. Unlike Wagner, his events and heroes
appear in the land of the eternal sunset of the Nordic gods. By contrast,
Oedipe was conceived in a Mediterranean light. One of the critics
remarked that Enescu made his music Mediterranean following that late
and paradoxal command of Nietzsche’s anti-wagnerism 4 . Moreover, the
striking Balkan spirit of this masterpiece was premeditated. The
composer’s testimonies don’t leave any trace of doubt. Oedipe’s music
has, of course, something Balkan, a classical rigidity, inspired by the
view of some Greek buildings. In Homer’s times, there are no
documents. Artists are called to interpret them, to invent them 5 . Striving
for the originally Attic and lapidary simplicity, the sonorous architecture
of this music shows off a severe rigour. The structures of folkloric
extract continue to breathe, but only essentially. Thus, the echo of rustic
whistles having the same sounds in Greece, in the Balkans or in the
Carpathians, as well as the Attic modes bringing back the colour of
ancient melos, resurrect in Oedipe with other irisations and limpidity.
Inferring their truth and their inner trama, Enescu discretely overtook
their paradigmatic salience. Obviously, in the syncretic complexity of
1
After Vienna, Enescu had studied in Bergson’s, Verlaine’s, Mallarmé’s, Proust’s,
Valéry’s…also César Franck’s, Erik Satie’s, Debussy’s, Ravel’s, Gounod’s,
Massenet’s, Saint-Saens’ and Fauré’s Paris.
2
The hall programme of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, season 1931-1932.
3
Friedrich Nietzsche, cited work, p. 219.
4
Em. Ciomac. cited work, p. 163.
5
Petru Comarnescu, Arta românească. Lămuriri privitoare la problemele
specificului românesc. De vorbă cu maestrul George Enescu, Politica Bucureşti,
February 5, 1927.

this masterpiece: ‘…the aesthetic diminishes the ethic, continuing it: the
logos takes some attributes of mythos, in a superb adventure of spirit’ 1 .
Finding an ancient essence, Enescu appealed to the originary voice of a
genius loci, that, in Blaga’s language, had a name: Dor (longing). This
is what Em. Ciomac emphasized, with a remarkable fineness, in his
article in Convorbiri literare: ‘… in Enescu, in his most inspired pages,
the melody leaves a slight shade of mild song of our family...It is
mourning, kindness, longing, that only Romanians have…’ 2 . Of course,
the identification of a specific character of Enescu’s language unveils
several structural peculiarities. No other composer – believes Ovidiu
Varga – ‘cultivated in his creation the enharmonic modal genre,
microperiods, but only the diatonic and chromatic genre. A direct
descendant from the Thracian Orpheus, Enescu resurrected the
enharmonic modal singing, along the diatonic and chromatic, in two
contemporary masterpieces: The Third Sonata in popular Romanian
character and the typical tragedy Oedipe which characterized the music
of Thracians, Greeks and modern Romans, the music of Daco-Romans
and of medieval proto-Romanians’ 3 . Thus, Enescu was not influenced
by the filohellenism of the French school of composition: Fauré, Ravel,
Satie or Debussy. Thus his testimonies were clear: he would deliberately
ignore the Greek modes, using the quarter of tone in the half-sung, halfspoken
fragments 4 . Moreover, he would appeal to ‘the archaic modes of
Romanian popular music and of Byzantine echus (voices), diatonic,
chromatic and enharmonic, that reconstructed the musical synthesis of
Thracian-Greek-Roman ancient times! None of his colleagues and
contemporaries, mastered by the obsession to reconstruct the universe of
ancient mythology and its music in the most Greek manner 5 dared do
that. The treatment of human voice describes a typical character of the
writing. As long as for Wagner the human voice was only an instrument
among others, Enescu uses declamation in order to show all possible
nuances, any syllable and any inflexion 6 . Enescu’s miraculous writing
awards voice this opportunity to dominate the orchestral masses.
1
Mircea Muthu, cited work, vol. II, p. 15.
2
Convorbiri literare, nr. 6, 1915.
3
Ovidiu Varga, Orfeul Moldav şi alţi şase mari ai secolului XX, Bucureşti, Ed.
Muzicală, 1981, p. 18.
4
Bernard Gavoty, cited work, p. 90.
5
Bernard Gavoty, cited work, p. 90.
6 Ibid., p. 174.

Voting for simplicity and transparency, ‘the orchestra with its multiple
voices, that one would consider confuse and deafening when reading
them, is transparent by a scholarly partition, by timbres that intensify
each other 1 . The style being subordinated to declamation, the singer has
total control over the symphony with his voices. The element which,
according to the aesthetics and trends of the period, makes this creativity
unique, lies in what we call Enescu’s ethos. According to Mircea
Vulcănescu-the thinker who, practising a real spiritual archaeology, was
investigating the metaphysics and imponderable determinations of
Romanian soul-the ethos is conceived as an architecture of temptations,
an ethnic and alive reality, the past continually updated and the future
thought as the different temptations that burdened the Romanian soul in
time, offer the ethos special colours, that will remain as hallmarks of all
forms of spiritual manifestation. The ethos imagined by Vulcănescu is
represented as a secret architecture, an inter-penetration accumulated in
time. According to such an understanding, ‘creation is a spiritual
product of history, where the spirit relives, in a condensed manner, what
it owes to a period, fecundating any new spiritual contact with ancient
resonances’ 2 . From this point of view, the work of art bears the spiritual
marks situated at ‘the crossroads of metaphysics with history’ as a unity
of destiny in the passing of time. In the context created by the trends of
aesthetics of his time, Enescu represented (and continues to represent) a
special case. The clean waters of Oedipe’s sonority exhale a certain
strange esoterism, as they are dominated by the apollinic dream of
Hellas. This is where the secret charm and an alleged hermetism come
from. Let’s not forget (Schönberg wrote in his Treaty of Harmony), ‘the
laws of a man of genius are-always-the laws of a future humanity’.
Therefore, Oedipe is achieved by a unique synthesis between the
complexity of the Western civilization and the ancient spiritual charge
of South-Eastern Europe, that we understand by the term ‘Balkan spirit’.
This is how we can explain that Thracian saddness 3 , as well as the huge
expressive force and density that this music succeeded in accumulating.
1 Emil Ciomac, cited work, p. 174.
2 Mircea Vulcănescu, Dimensiunea românească a existenţei, ediţie îngrijită de
Marin Diaconu, Bucureşti, Editura Fundaţiei Culturale Române, 1991, p. 95.
3 George Călinescu: ’In Enescu’s violin vibrated the ancient lyra, it is true, but the
lyra was kept by Orpheus, therefore it was crossed by a Dacian saddness’ (see La
un portret al lui George Enescu, in: Adevărul literar şi artistic, Bucureşti,
November 1, 1931).

A real masterpiece, Oedipe reentered the world by the archaic doors of
myth, sipping what Rilke called the ‘force of those lands conquered by
gods’. But Byzance still breathes by the magic of cupolas, with the
mystery and the shades of altars and its imperial jewellery. In all the
clarity, one can observe that ‘hierarchy of temptations’ (those formulas
of anchorage into the existence Vulcănescu was talking about 1 ),
component of Enescu’s ethos: the Thracian temptation, the Greek and
Byzantine temptation, the German and the French ones. Obviously, each
one brings a certain structural quality, giving steadfastness to all that is
atypical and singular as fact of art in the environment of the period.
At the beginning of the XXth century, the fact of art was
reconsidered in an ontology invaded by implications from the sphere of
exact sciences. Deliberately situated under the cold and limpid light of
rationality, the paradigms of artistic thought entered under the
domination of an accentuated hypertrophy of the cognitive. By
Mallarmé and Valéry (Donner un sens plus pur aux mots de la tribu),
the poetic language tried to break the limits of common language. The
construction and order canceled any hazard of inspiration. In music, the
new artistic cathehisms –influenced by Compte’s positivism and
Poincaré’s mathematical thinking-we raised on confused certitudes and
scientist obsessions. For Schönberg, the art of sounds should have
become knowledge before all and at the highest degree. But the tragic
destiny that was weighing on his art bore the name of
Incommunicability. For the exit from Chaos of all his worlds, the Verb,
the world of all beginnings was missing. This will be the leit-motive of a
real lamento that the composer was uttering by Moses’ voice (in his
unfinished opera Moses and Aron): ‘O Wort, du Wort, das mir fehlt!’.
As for Stravinski, in his dogmatic confessions pronounced in
Harvard, he sustained that ‘music must not express anything’.Agreeing
with Valéry, he considers the artistic initiative fundamentally
constructive and, whenever he has the occasion, he shows hostility
towards everything that diverts spirit from the superior mathematics of
music. Also associated to the ridiculous accents of the civilization of
consummation-the idea of fabrication is supervising the act of creation,
that (according to Heidegger) dispossesses him of any secret and
overhuman aura. As in Thomas Mann’s novel Doctor Faustus, the
XXth century music seems to have concluded a pact with Lucifer, while
1 ‘building an Ego by an hierarchisation of non-egos’ (Ibid., p. 96).

the context updates Kirkegaard’s assertion about the demonic substrate
of music. In his thick novel-essay, Thomas Mann catches the essence of
the crisis: glacial intellectualism, hostile to any feeling, constructivism,
load of abstractions (the mystics of numbers), lapidarily concluding in
the imaginary (but significative) artistic nihilism formulated by Adrian
Leverkühn: ‘It must not be, he exclaimed desperately, it mustn’t be what
is good and noble, what is human […] everything that found its symbol
in the Nineth Symphony. It must be taken back. I’ll take it back’ 1 .
Nothing of all these in Enescu. He refuses the mortifying
constructivism as well as the anxiety from the expressionism of the
second school of Vienna. The idea that in music emotion can be
replaced by intelligence or that the art of sounds can be imagined –
exclusively – on a formal logic without cracks seemed nonsense to him.
In total contradiction with rationalist exaggerations, Enescu inoculated
‘an enormous density of affection’ (Pascal Bentoiu) to the sonorous
discourse. Créer c’est aimer! Car la musique est amour – ou elle n’est
rien!..., said Enescu at the end of his career 2 . Emotion lays at the
foundation of all quartets I can’t do without. I cannot accept purely
cerebral music, he declared before dying. ‘Ce qui ne vient pas du coeur,
de l’émotion, ne survit pas!’ 3 .
Obviously, Enescu’s poetics are atypical and singular. They
don’t float in the waves of any orientation of his times. Their mysterious
alchemies crystallize amazing sonorous constructions. Structures and
forms of the past insinuate with elegance into the always discrete
novelty of the musical discourse, made up of essences and unknown
densities of other musics. Monodies, heterophonies, modalism, vocal
and instrumental non-tempered language, synthesis of the systems giusto
and parlando rubato, everything suggest that Enescu’s creation was
different from the musical thinking of his contemporaries. The aesthetician
Antoine Goléa was counting the numerous elements that, two decades
before, anticipated Messiaen, as well as the priorities that Enescu’s music
possessed towards the creation of Bartok, Schönberg or Anton Weber.
Probably it was from this point of view that it was told that this
music doesn’t stay closed between the bareers of critical intelligence,
1
Apud Ion Ianoşi preface to Thomas Mann, Doctor Faustus, Bucureşti, Ed. Pentru
Literatură Universală, 1966, p. 29.
2
Apud Em. Ciomac, cited work, p. 111.
3 Ibid., p. 112.

that it urged to philosophy, that it overpassed the musical condition and
that the ‘great philosophic lesson’ that it offered our spirit ‘was not the
extraction from the reality, but its inclusion into the Idea, the
conciliation of contraria, the accumulation of all energies into a single
one. The melting of the multiple into One 1 ’.
The sonorous universe seen in Oedipe configurate a special
artistic experience, offering a sublime revelation of what Proust named
un peu de temps à l’ état pur. Obviously it is a Time which comes from
very far, from the high serenities of the eleatic-apollinic dream. Those
whereby the spirit of Greece was healed from the fear and darkness of
Destiny and Moira. Paraphrasing one of Gilles Deleuze’s own
formulations, this apparently approves the thought that: ‘La musique
n’est pas seulement l’affaire des musicians, dans la mesure où elle rend
pensables des forces qui ne sont pas pensables’ 2 .
(Translation: Ioana-Rucsandra Dascălu)
1 Pascal Bentoiu, Capodopere enesciene, Ed. Muzicală, 1984, p. 197.
2 Conférence sur le temps musical (IRCAM. 1978), p. 3.

Jane Cogeabaşia (REPUBLICA MACEDONIA)
Începuturile istorice în dezvoltarea cântării bisericeşti
Dacă vorbim de viaţa muzicală a popoarelor care
locuiau pe teritoriul bizantin, putem spune că tot ce a
fost important s-a întâmplat sub influenţa muzicii
bisericeşti. Pe baza cântării bisericeşti de origine
bizantină şi pe baza propriilor creaţii muzicale folclorice
în următoarele secole, fiecare popor în parte din imperiu
îşi va crea propriul folclor muzical, iar în cadrul relaţiilor
cu stilurile bizantine, propriul idiom al cântării bisericeşti.
Popoarele slave au primit de la Bizanţ ceea ce pentru ei a fost de o
crucială importanţă pentru înflorirea lor culturală: religia creştină şi scrisul
(alfabetul).
Arta creştină şi muzica bisericească, în sincrezia lor pe teritoriul
Macedoniei, nu pot fi privite sau analizate separat ori în afara contextului
culturii bizantine. Tot aşa, mozaicul civilizaţiei bizantine nu poate fi complet
dacă nu se iau în considerare importantele etape ale dezvoltării culturale
ale anumitor popoare – cum ar fi macedonenii.
La început, când s-a născut Creştinismul şi crucea a fost
considerată semn al marii iubiri, primii credincioşi creştini – care erau
de origine evreiască - îşi exprimau rugile lor prin cântări 1 . În timpul
rugilor desfăşurate în catacombe, Cântul simplu şi neimpunător se
potrivea mai bine spiritului lor ascetic înrădăcinat în credinţă şi viaţă,
evidenţiind în primul rând mesajul textului religios, şi nu melodia 2 .
În dezvoltarea sa ulterioară, cântarea creştină va trece prin două
faze diferite şi contradictorii: prima, de la modestele începuturi ale
creării şi stabilirii ritualului religios al bisericii creştine încă persecutate
în aceea perioadă, până la aşa numitul “Edict de la Milano” din 313,
prin care Împăratul Constantin a hotărât toleranţa religioasă şi, prin asta,
dezvoltarea liberă a creştinismului, iar a două fază, în care modestele
slujbele creştine devin solemna liturghie a Bisericii Bizantine.
Cu noul statut al Creştinismului ca religie de stat, în Imperiul
Roman apar şi primele importante modificări în domeniul muzicii
bisericeşti. Ritualurile creştine din catacombele întunecate şi nearisite se
mută în frumoasele temple noi, unde slujba era condusă liber, cu cântări
mai puternice şi mai impresionante, chiar cu participarea unor cântăreţi
1 Bogoevъ, M. Mir~o, U~ebnikъ po crkovno penie, Sofiя, 1940. p. 7
2 Andreis, Josip, Povijest glazbe, vol I. Liber - Mladost, Zagreb, 1975. p. 78

profesionişti. Aceste schimbări au contribuit la îmbogăţirea cântărilor cu
forme melodice mai dezvoltate, cu modalităţi de interpretare specifice,
adecvate ritualului festiv şi bogat al actului liturgic.
În perioada dintre anii 395, când Imperiul Roman s-a despărţit
în Imperiul Roman de Răsărit şi Imperiul Roman de Apus, şi până la
secolul al VI-lea, nu au existat diferenţe esenţiale între cântările
bisericeşti din Constantinopol şi Roma, capitalele celor două Imperii 1 . În
cursul următoarelor câteva sute de ani, odată cu adoptarea
creştinismului, fiecare popor a introdus elemente noi, atât în ritualul
bisericesc, cât şi în cântarea bisericească, caracteristice pentru tradiţiile
muzicale autohtone. În acest context, desfăşurarea serviciului religios în
limba proprie de către unele popoare care au îmbrăţişat creştinismul a
fost de o deosebită importanţă şi a dus la apariţia diferitelor tipuri de
liturghie, cum ar fi cea armeană, siriană, coptă, persană, slavonă etc. 2
Adâncirea diferenţelor dintre Imperiul Roman de Răsărit
(Bizanţ) şi Imperiul Roman de Apus (Roma) se face simţită şi în
cântarea bisericească. Având în vedere marea întindere a Imperiului, a
fost greu să se menţină unitatea formală iniţială până la separarea
definitivă din anul 476. Această unitate a început să se destrame după
marile reforme din cântarea bisericească. Mai întâi a fost reforma din
partea de apus a Imperiului, cea iniţiată de Papa Grigorian cel Mare I
(590-640), la sfârşitul secolului al VI-lea şi începutul secolului al VIIlea.
Prin alegerea cântecelor duhovniceşti cunoscute în istorie drept
Coralele lui Gregorian, acesta a făcut – împreună cu colaboratorii săi –
tot posibilul ca să elimine din cântarea bisericească influenţa cromatică
şi melismatica sensuală specifică cântarii din est. 3 Apoi, după aproape
un veac, a fost reforma lui Ioan din Damaschin (650-749), care a definit
şi trasat direcţiile cântării bisericeşti răsăriteane. 4 Mai precis, pentru a
raţionaliza şi unifica cântarea bisericească în marele spaţiu bizantin, Sf
Ioan din Damaschin a procedat la restructurarea Octoihului, stabilind în
acelaşi timp caracterul glasurilor şi tipul scărilor muzicale. Structurând
Octoihul în patru voci principale (autentice) şi patru auxiliare (Plagale),
1 Barbu-Bucur, Sebastian, Cultura muzicală de tradiţie bizantină pe teritoriul
României in secolul XVIII şi începutul XIX şi aportul original al culturii autohtone,
Editura muzicală, Bucureşti, 1989. p. 24.
2 Andreis, Josip, Povijest… op. cit. p. 79, 113.
3 Andreis, Josip, Povijest…ibidem. p. 80-81.
4 Popescu-Pasarea, I., Principiî de muzică bisericească-orientală, Bucureşti, 1939.

Damaschin a decis în mod unitar în ceea ce priveste glasurile şi cântarile
create în perioada creştină timpurie în diferite zone şi de către diferite
popoare. Asfel, acest mare reformator a reuşit să facă cunoscut şi
acceptat “octoihul” de toate popoarele de pe teritoriul Imperiului
Bizantin.
Dacă vorbim de viaţa muzicală a popoarelor care locuiau pe
teritoriul bizantin, putem spune că tot ce a fost important s-a întâmplat
sub influenţa muzicii bisericeşti. Cu conţinutul ei muzical atât de uşor
de perceput de către oameni, această muzică plăcută nu a rămas strict
legată cu slujba. În forma ei iniţială, cântarea bisericească a început să
se răspândească şi să cultive şi alte forme de practică muzicală, în care
au fost incluse şi diferite instrumente muzicale populare.
Fiind ascultată şi folosită în cadrul serviciului religios acasă sau
în biserică, cântarea bisericească l-a inspirat pe creatorul anonim din
popor ca să dea naştere unor cântări de un înalt nivel de inventivitate şi
o mare varietate tematică. Mai mult intuitiv decât conştient, creatorii de
muzică religioasă au fost şi ei, la rândul lor, inspiraţi de muzica
tradiţională. Aceste influenţe reciproce au contribuit ca muzica
bisericească şi practica muzicală ale popoarelor creştine din spaţiul
cultural, istoric şi geo-politic al imperiului Bizantin să aibă multe
trăsături comune. Aceste etape de dezvoltare ale muzicii creştine
bizantine şi-au găsit expresie şi în muzica popoarelor slave care au venit
în spaţiul balcanic în perioada secolelor VI-lea şi VII-lea. Pe baza
cântării bisericeşti de origine bizantină şi pe baza propriilor creaţii
muzicale folclorice în următoarele secole, fiecare popor în parte îşi va
crea propriul folclor muzical, iar în cadrul relaţiilor cu stilurile
bizantine, propriul idiom al cântării bisericeşti.
I. Rădăcinile bizantine ale culturii slave
Tradiţia care a început să se nască pe un teritoriu larg întins pe
trei continente aparţinând imperiului Bizantin reprezintă un produs
autentic al legăturilor, relaţiilor şi influenţelor mai multor tradiţii
culturale la baza cărora se regăseşte creştinismul – calitatea de a lega
diferite curente culturale ale lumii antice. Astfel, civilizaţia bizantină, pe
lângă dezvoltarea istorică şi culturală a popoarelor aşezate pe teritoriul
ei, a avut un rol decisiv atât în dezvoltarea culturii civilizaţiilor
europene, precum şi în apariţia altor culturi şi civilizaţii unice. Acest
lucru este valabil în special pentru cultura popoarelor slave, care au

primit de la Bizanţ ceea ce pentru ei a fost de o crucială importanţă
pentru înflorirea lor culturală: religia creştină şi scrisul (alfabetul).
Acceptând creştinismul şi, prin el, cultura bizantină ca sursă a
propriilor conţinuturi culturale, popoarele slave au dezvoltat totuşi
particularităţi proprii, tipuri istorice specifice, dar temelia este unică şi
conţinuturile de bază sunt aceleaşi, şi, ceea ce este mai important decât
toate, sistemul de semne este acelaşi. Astfel, limbajul picturii şi al
cuvântului care a făcut posibilă comunicarea spirituală dintre slavi şi
Bizanţ este unic, prin el fiind incorporate şi alte elemente din cultura
vremurilor antice şi din a celorlalte popoare din răsărit. 1
Unii bizantologi consideră că istoria popoarelor slave poate fi
văzută ca un capitol târziu al culturii bizantine. După părerea lor, arta
medievală slavonă este, de fapt, arta bizantină care şi-a trăit epoca târzie
de dezvoltare în spaţiul slav. 2
Componenta bizantină a artei sacre şi a artei populare slave este
prezentă mai ales în arta macedoneană, ai cărei mesageri, ca descendenţi
ai vechilor mecedoneneni şi slavi care locuiau în partea de sud a
Peninsulei Balcanice în secolele VI si VII, au continuat la început
cultura bizantină, devenind apoi creatori nemijlociţi. Aceasta înseamnă
că macedonenii au un statut dublu: nativi care au străbătut toate fazele
epocii antice şi romano-bizantine, dar şi triburi slave nou aşezate în
Bizanţul celorlalţi slavi, care, acceptând religia creştină, au intrat adânc
în civilizaţia bizantină, făcând faţă la tot ceea ce o societate
multiculturală poate oferi şi primi.
Arta şi cultura Bizantină create pe teritoriul Macedoniei
reprezintă semne arhetipale provenite din cele mai profunde straturi ale
trecutului cultural al poporului macedonean, ceea ce în mod
incontestabil confirmă contribuţia acestui popor la dezvoltarea
civilizaţiei bizantine. În acelaşi timp, acestea reprezintă o mărturie
autentică despre potenţialul creativ al poporului băştinaş macedonean
încă din perioada creştinismului timpuriu, iar mai târziu al slavilor care
au populat partea sudică a Peninsulei Balcanice. Acest lucru este valabil
mai ales în perioada de după creştinarea lor, când se desfăşoară
misiunile de creştinare ale sfinţilor Kiril şi Metodij şi are loc activitatea
1
Bogdanović, Dimitrije, (Predgovor, Averincev, S. S., Poetika ranovizantijske
knjiźevnosti). Knjiźevna misao, Beograd, 1982, r. 8.
2
Talbot Rice, David, Mit o ”mracnom dobu”, Rani srednji vek, Jugoslavija,
Beograd, 1976, p.11.

isericească a sfinţilor Klement şi Naum in Ohrid, iar mai târziu, în
timpul Statului medieval macedonean, cunoscut ca Regatul lui Samoil.
Toate acestea demonstrează că arta creştină şi muzica
bisericească, în sincretismul lor pe teritoriul Macedoniei, nu pot fi
privite sau analizate separat ori în afara contextului culturii bizantine.
Tot aşa, mozaicul civilizaţiei bizantine nu poate fi complet dacă nu se
iau în considerare importantele etape ale dezvoltării culturale ale
anumitor popoare – cum ar fi macedonenii.
II. Biserica cântă în limba slavonă
Începuturile cântării bisericeşti în limba slavonă, precum şi
alfabetul slavonic sunt legate de oraşul Salonic, cel mai mare centru
cultural bizantin, după Constantinopol (în lumea slavă, cunoscut sub
numele de Ţarigrad). Aflat pe un teritoriul populat mai ales cu popoare
de origine slavă, Salonicul ar fi putut să folosească drept legătură
naturală între cultura bizantină şi slavii din Macedonia şi, prin aceştia,
cu întreaga lume slavă. Astfel, este de înţeles de ce puterea statală şi
bisericească bizantină au angajat pentru misiunile de educare a
popoarelor slave oameni originari chiar din această zonă. În momentul
când kneazul Rastislav din Moravia a cerut de la imperatorul bizantin
Mihai al III-lea misionari în acest scop, alegerea au fost fraţii Constantin
şi Metodius din Salonic. 1
Constantin, fratele mai mic, binecunoscut pentru cunoştinţele şi
abilităţile lui lingvistice, a compus primul alfabet slavon şi, împreună
cu fratele sau mai mare Metodius, a tradus în limba slavonă Biblia
(Cartea Sfântă) şi alte cărţi bisericeşti. Din păcate, nu s-a păstrat niciun
document din aceasta perioadă, despre activitatea lor noi putând afla
numai din hagiografii şi jurnale scrise. Pe baza acestor surse se poate
trage concluzia că sf Kiril şi Metodij, precum şi elevii lor din Moravia,
Panonia, Roma şi din zona Macedoniei şi Bulgariei de azi cântau cele
mai importante părti ale slujbelor în limba slavonă. 2
Nu este nicio îndoială că prima întâlnire a melodiilor bisericeşti
bizantine cu textele greceşti traduse în limba slavonă de către sfinţii
1
Ilievski, Hr. Petar, Grčko-slovenska kulturna simbioza, Slovenska pismenost,
Naroden muzej Ohrid, 1966. r. 47.
2
Stefanović, Dimitrije, Ohridski neumski rakopisi i početoci na slovenskata
muzička kultura, Slovenska pismenost, Naroden muzej Ohrid, 1966, p. 131.

Kiril şi Metodius a avut loc în Macedonia, marcând astfel începuturile
muzicii bisericeşti slavone. Mai precis, adaptând aceste cântece la noile
texte slavone în sens metroritmic, au apărut şi primele elemente
specifice cântării bisericeşti macedonene. 1 Dar trebuie evidenţiat faptul
că în perioada când fraţii din Salonic îşi pregăteau misiunile slave, nu
existau încă diferenţe esenţiale între cântările bisericeşti ale diferitelor
popoare slavone. De aceea, cântările cu care fraţii din Salonic au început
misiunile lor educative au constituit cadrul general al muzicii bizantine
medievale. Melodia fascinantă bazată pe octoihul Sfântului Ioan din
Damaschin şi impresionantul ritual sacru, în care muzica ocupa locul
central, dar şi prezenţa limbii slavone în slujbele sacre au fost atuurile
principale al sfinţilor Kiril şi Metodiu în misiunea lor istorică: de a
atrage şi apropia popoarele slavone de religie creştină.
Probabil cântarea bisericească în limba slavonă pe teritoriul
Macedoniei a început să fie practicată pe la mijlocul sec. al IX-lea, odată
cu misiunea în Bregalnita a fraţilor Constantin şi Methodiu, adică
înainte de plecarea lor în Moravia. 2 Acest fel de cântare a atins apogeul
în perioada învăţătorilor Sf. Kliment şi Naum, spre sfârşitul secolului al
IX-lea şi începutul celui de al X-lea şi a continuat şi în a doua jumătate a
acestuia, în perioada statului macedonean slavonic, aşa numitul Imperiu
al lui Samoil, perioada când a fost creată şi arhiepiscopia din Ohrid,
prima organizare bisericească autonomă a poporului macedonean. 3
Spre sfârşitul secolul al IX-lea, Ohrid devine cel mai important
centru cultural al salvonilor pe teritoriul din sud-vestul Peninsulei
Balcanice. Cunoscut dinainte ca centru bisericesc, situat pe traseul unuia
dintre cele mai importante drumuri romane, acest oraş avea parcă
destinul de a juca un rol deosebit de important în includerea Slavonilor
în restul culturilor lumii. Sosirea sfinţilor Kliment şi Naum în Ohrid a
fost momentul crucial în îndeplinirea acestui rol. Ei erau capabili să
organizeze plenar o misiune culturală şi educativă. Dar, pe de altă parte,
ei au găsit şi un mediu prielnic pentru a susţine intenţiile lor în
1
Ortakov, Dragoslav, Ars nova Macedonica, Makedonska kniga, Skopje, 1986. p.
100.
2
Aleksova, Blaga, Materijalna kultura na Slovenite vo Makedonija, Slovenska
pismenost, Naroden muzej Ohrid, 1966, r. 142.
3
Belčovski, Jovan, Ohridskata arhiepiskopija od osnovanjeto do paganjeto na
Makedonija pod turska vlast, Pravoslaven bogoslovski fakultet “Kliment
Ohridski”, Skopje, 1997. p. 77.

ealizarea acestui ţel 1 . În acest oraş, în care înainte existase cultura
bizantină, sfinţii Kliment şi Naum au dezvoltat o largă activitate literară,
născând prin aceasta urmaşi nu doar din rândul clericilor, ci şi din al
celorlalte cercuri sociale. 2 Sfântul Kliment Ohridski, unul dintre cei mai
talentaţi elevi a lui Kiril si Metodiu, a avut merite remarcabile în
organizarea activităţilor sociale şi culturale în spaţiul slav. Judecând
după informaţiile din documentele păstrate, referitor la implicarea
sfântului Kliment Ohridski în domeniul muzicii şi contribuţia lui uriaşă
în dezvoltarea cântării bisericeşti macedonene, putem spune că, în
vremea lui, Ohrid a fost centrul muzicii bisericeşti. 3
În acest oraş s-a născut prima şcoală de muzică bisericească din
teritoriile slavone şi a avut o influenţă puternică în dezvoltarea cântării
bisericeşti la celelalte popoare slavone. În hagiografia Sfantului Kliment
există o informaţie care spune că acesta, ca dascăl, îi învăţa pe elevi să
cânte psalmii, să se roage cântând şi obişnuia să le spună că melodiile
heruvimilor trebuie cântate pe o singură voce. Toate acestea
mărturisesc despre atenţia cu totul specială pe care Sfântul Kliment a
acordat-o cântării bisericeşti, ca un element foarte important în cadrul
activităţii educative bisericeşti. 4
În acest moment, când procesul formării propriilor valori
spirituale începuse, şi pe fundamentul alfabetizării, culturii şi educaţiei
slavone adânc înrădăcinate - în a II-a jumătate a sec. al X - lea, au
existat condiţiile prielnice pentru Samoil (976-1014) ca să creeze un
imperiu propriu şi, în cadrul lui, o biserică macedoneană, cu centrul
iniţial în Prespa şi apoi în Ohrid. Deşi în această perioadă războaiele au
fost destul de dese, se pot nota importante momente de dezvoltare în
domeniul cultural şi educaţional. 5
Numeroasele mărturii de cultură materială din perioada lui
Samoil au fost găsite de-a lungul anilor şi ele mărturisesc fără echivoc
despre începuturile epocii slavone, când, în condiţiile în care legăturile
cu Constantinopolul şi alte centre spirituale bizantine au fost întrerupte,
1
Koneski, Blaže, Ohridska kniževna škola, Slovenska pismenost, Naroden muzej
Ohrid, 1966, p. 57.
2
Ilievski, Hr. Petar, Grčko-slovenska… ibidem. p. 47.
3
Golabovski Sotir, Osmoglasnik-makedonsko crkovno peenje, Kultura, Skopje,
1993, p. 15.
4
Belčovski, Jovan, Ohridskata arhiepiskopija ... op. cit. p. 43.
5
Ilievski, Hr. Petar, Grčko-slovenska… op. cit. p. 48.

au apărut noi direcţii în literatură şi arhitectură, cu trăsături distincte
slavo-macedonene. 1
În domeniul muzicii bisericeşti, în această perioadă începe
întoarcerea şi mai decisivă către propriile tradiţii şi crearea propriului
stil de cântare. Influenţa culturii elene în oraşele macedonene era încă
puternică în acea perioadă, dar, ca urmare a dezvoltării sociale pe toate
planurile -, conştiinţa civică slavonă a crescut permanent în Macedonia
şi, odata cu ea, au apărut tendinţe de distanţare a vieţii culturale şi
spirituale faţă de cea bizantină. Desigur, autorităţile statale şi bisericeşti
din Constantinopol au privit aceste etape din viaţa culturală şi educativă
a poporului macedonean ca atitudini contra-bizantine. 2
Jane Cogeabaşia (REPUBLICA MACEDONIA)
Historical perspectives on church singing
In describing the musical life of peoples inhabiting the territory of
Byzantium, one may assert that everything that is of importance was influenced
by church music. Building on Byzantine church singing and own traditions,
people in the empire created their own folklore and idiom of church music.
Slavic peoples retained from Byzantium two key elements to serve in their
cultural bloom: Christian religion and literacy (the alphabet). Given the
syncretism of Christian art and church music on the territory of Macedonia, the
two cannot be analyzed separately or out of the historical context provided by
Byzantine culture. Similarly, the mosaic of Byzantine civilization is incomplete
unless key stages of cultural development of certain people, such as the
Macedonians, are taken into account.
In the beginning, when Christianity was born and took the cross
as a sign of great love at prayer gatherings in catacombs, the early
Christian believers––who were of Jewish origin––prayed through
chants. 3 Simple and non-intrusive singing suited better their ascetic
spirit rooted in ancient Christians’ faith and life, emphasizing the
religious message over melody. 4
Later, Christian music experienced two highly contrasting
phases of development. The first extends from Creation and the
establishment of religious service of the (still oppressed) Christian
1 Belčovski, Jovan, Ohridskata arhiepiskopija ... op. cit. p. 105.
2 Velev, Ilija, Vizantisko-makedonski kniževni vrski, Skopje, 2005.
3 Bogoevъ, M. Mir~o, U~ebnikъ po crkovno penie, Sofiя, 1940, p. 7.
4 Andreis, Josip, Povijest glazbe, vol I. Liber - Mladost, Zagreb, 1975, p. 78.

church to the so-called “Edict of Milan” of 313 AD, when the emperor
Constantine the Great established religious tolerance, thus setting the
stage for the subsequent free development of Christianity. The second
phase is marked by the chaste Christian religious service growing into
solemn liturgy of the Byzantine Church.
When Christianity acquired the status of state religion in the
Roman Empire, church music underwent significant changes. From the
dark, stuffy and mystic catacombs, Christian ritual moved to gorgeous
temples where religious services were freely conducted, singing was
louder and more impressive, and professional singers participated.
These developments led church chants to become richer, develop
melody that was more refined, and forms of performance that were more
adequate to the festive liturgy act.
There were no marked differences in church music between
Constantinople and Rome, the two capitals of the Eastern and Western
parts of the Roman Empire between 395 and the 6 th Century. 1 Over the
next several centuries, with the adoption of Christianity, each nation
brought autochthon elements to church music and ritual. For example,
some nations used their own language in religious services; this enabled
the development of different local types of liturgy, such as the
Armenian, Syrian, Copt, Persian, Slavic liturgy, and others. 2
Church music also reflects the growing gap between the Eastern
(Byzantine) and Western Roman (Rome) Empire. Its initial formal unity
was difficult to maintain in the spread-out Empire before its final split in
476, and it started to dissolve after several big reforms. The first
reform––that of Roman pope Gregory I the Great (560-640) in the
Western Roman Empire––was conducted towards the end of the 6 th and
the beginning of the 7 th Century. It entailed the use of spiritual chants
(known as Gregorian chorals) that freed church music from its eastern,
sensual, chromatic, and melismatic traits. 3 The Eastern reform––that of
St. John Damaskin (650-749)––came almost one century later to define
and shape the trajectory of church music. 4 Specifically, in order to
1 Barbu-Bucur, Sebastian, Cultura muzicală de tradiţie bizantină pe teritoriul
României in secolul XVIII şi începutul XIX şi aportul original al culturii autohtone,
Editura muzicală, Bucureşti, 1989, pp. 24.
2 Andreis, Josip, Povijest glazbe, vol I. Liber - Mladost, Zagreb, 1975, pp. 79, 113.
3 Andreis, Josip, Povijest glazbe, vol I. Liber - Mladost, Zagreb, 1975, pp. 80–81.
4 Popescu-Pasarea, I., Principii de muzica bisericească-orientală, Bucureşti, 1939.

ationalize and unify church singing in the Byzantine space, St. John
Damaskin restructured the octoehos, redefining modes and musical
scales. By mapping the system of eight modes into four major
(authentic) and four minor (plagal) modes, Damaskin authoritatively
defined church chants created in the early Christian period by different
people on different territories. Thus, the great reformer succeeded to
render the octoehos familiar and acceptable to all Christians in the
Byzantine Empire. In describing the musical life of peoples inhabiting
the territory of Byzantium, one may assert that everything that is of
importance was influenced by church music. Due to its musical content
so easily relatable to people, church music was employed in areas
beyond religious service. In its original form, church singing started
spreading out and infiltrated other forms of musical practice played with
different folk musical instruments. As church singing was listened to at
home and used in everyday religious service, people went on to create
works of greater creativity and thematic variety. Perhaps intuitively
rather than consciously, the writers of church music themselves were
inspired by tradition. This explains why church singing and musical
practice among Christian people in the cultural, historical, and
geopolitical space of Byzantium, share many common traits.
Developments in Eastern Christian music were also reflected in the
music of Slavic people who came to the Balkans in the 6 th and 7 th
Century. Building on Byzantine church singing and their traditions, the
Slavs created their own folklore and idiom of church music.
Byzantine Roots of the Slavic Culture
The traditions developing within Byzantium, which spread on
three continents, are the authentic product of multiple connections,
relations, and influences of cultural traditions. These had Christianity as
a base for connecting different spiritual streams of the ancient world. As
such, the Byzantine civilization had a decisive role in the development
of European civilization and the birth of unique other cultures and
civilizations. This was particularly the case for the Slavs, who retained
from Byzantium two key elements to serve in their cultural bloom:
Christian religion and literacy (the alphabet).
While accepting Christianity––and through it the Byzantine
culture––as sources for their own cultural content, Slavic peoples did
develop their idiosyncrasies. However, the foundations are unique and
the basic content is the same. Ever more importantly, the system of

signs is entirely the same. Furthermore, the art of painting and writing,
which enabled spiritual communication between the Slavs and
Byzantium, is unique, having incorporated elements from ancient times
and of eastern origin. 1 Some Byzantologists believe that the history of
Slavic peoples could be treated as a late chapter in the development of
Byzantine culture. According to them, Slavic medieval art is actually
Byzantine that experienced late development mostly in Slavic areas. 2
Byzantine elements of the Slavic sacral and folk art can be
found especially in Macedonian art, the carriers of which––descendents
of ancient Macedonians and Slavs who settled in the South of the
Balkan Peninsula in the 6 th and 7 th Century––at first continued the
Byzantine culture and later became direct creators. Macedonians thus
played two roles: they were natives throughout the ancient and Roman-
Byzantine era; and they were newly-settled Slavic tribes in other Slavs’
Byzantium that penetrated deep into the Byzantine civilization by
accepting Christianity and managing all that was offered by the
multicultural society.
Byzantine Christian art and culture, created on Macedonia’s
territory, are archetypal signs deeply rooted in the basic layers of
Macedonian culture and history: Macedonians undoubtedly uphold their
contribution to the development of Byzantine civilizations. At the same
time, these reflect and certify the creative potential of the indigenous
Macedonians from the early Christian period, and later the Slavs who
settled in the South of the Balkan Peninsula. That, particularly during
the period of their Christianization marked by the education missions of
Ss. Cyril and Methodius, the church education activities of Ss. Clement
and Naum in Ohrid, and later the Macedonian medieval state, known as
Samuil’s Empire. All this demonstrates that given the syncretism of
Christian art and church music on the territory of Macedonia, the two
cannot be analyzed separately or out of the historical context provided
by Byzantine culture. Similarly, the mosaic of Byzantine civilization is
incomplete unless key stages of cultural development of certain people,
such as the Macedonians, are taken into account.
1
Bogdanovic, Dimitrije, (Predgovor, Averincev, S. S., Poetika ranovizantijske
kwi`evnosti). Kwi`evna misao, Beograd, 1982, pp. 8.
2
Talbot Rice, David, Mit o ’mracnom dobu’, Rani srednji vek, Jugoslavija,
Beograd, 1976, pp. 11.

The Church Sings in Slavic
The early developments of Church singing in a Slavic language
(and generally the Slavic literacy) can be traced back to the city of
Thessalonica, the greatest Byzantine cultural centre after Constantinople
(known among Slavs as Tzarigrad). Situated on a Slavs-inhabited
territory, Thessalonica may have served as a natural link between the
Byzantine culture and the Slavs in Macedonia, and through them with
the entire Slavic world. It is quite straightforward then why the
Byzantine state and church government employed people coming from
that area to conduct educational missions for the Slavs. The brothers
Constantine and Methodius from Thessalonica were chosen when the
Moravian prince Rastislav demanded such missioners from the
Byzantine Emperor Michael the Third. 1
Constantine, the younger brother, widely known for his
knowledge and genius linguistic skills, wrote the first Slavic alphabet.
Together with his older brother Methodius, he translated into Slavic the
Bible (Holy Script) and other religious books. Unfortunately, no
document remains from the period, and we learn about these activities
from hagiographies and chronicles, one the basis of which one may
conclude that Ss. Cyril and Methodius and their disciples in Moravia,
Pannonia, Rome and the region of today’s Macedonia and Bulgaria,
used to sing major parts of their church religious service in Slavic.
There is no doubt that the first contact between Byzantine church
music and Slavic texts translated from Greek by Ss.Cyril and Methodius
occurred in Macedonia, marking the beginning of Slavic church music.
Specifically, the first specificities of Macedonian church music were
born from the adaption of chants to the new text in metro-rhythmic
terms. 2 It must be stressed that during the period when the brothers from
Thessalonica were preparing their missions, there were no crucial
differences in church music among Slavic peoples. This is why the
church music used by the brothers in setting off their education missions
was (part of) medieval Byzantine music. The fascinating melody based
upon Damascene’s Octoehos and the impressive sacred ritual––in which
melody held the central place––and the use of Slavic during liturgy,
1
Ilievski, Hr. Petar, Gr~ko-slovenska kulturna simbioza, Slovenska pismenost,
Naroden muzej Ohrid, 1966, pp. 47.
2
Ortakov, Dragoslav, Ars nova Macedonica, Makedonska kniga, Skopje, 1986, pp.
100.

were undoubtedly the main tools used by Ss. Cyril and Methodius in
their historical mission to attract and bring together Slavs of Christian
faith. Church singing in a Slavic language on Macedonia’s territory
probably started to be practiced around the middle of the 9 th Century,
with the Bregalnica mission of the brothers Constantine and Methodius,
i.e., before their departure for Moravia. 1 This type of singing reached its
peak during the education period of St. Clement and St. Naum, towards
the end of the 9 th and the beginning of the 10 th Century, and continued in
the second half of that century, during the Macedonian-Slavic state, the
so-called Samuil’s Empire, when the Ohrid Archbishopric was
established as Macedonians’ first autocephalic church. 2
Towards the end of the 9 th Century, Ohrid became the most
important centre of the Slavic culture in the Southwest of the Balkan
Peninsula. A widely-known religious centre situated at one of the main
Roman pathways, Ohrid was set to play a key role in the Slavs’ insertion
into other cultures. The arrival of Ss. Clement and Naum in Ohrid was
the decisive point in the fulfillment of that role. They were able to
organize a broad-based cultural and church-educational mission and the
environment supported their endeavors. 3 The city, an early focal point
for Byzantine culture, was suitable for Ss. Clement and Naum to
develop intensive church and literary activities, and create followers
from clergy and other social strata. 4 St. Clement from Ohrid, one of the
most gifted disciples of Ss. Cyril and Methodius, had remarkable merit
in organizing social and cultural activities in Slavic areas. Preserved
sources regarding St. Clement’s engagements in the field of music and
his important contribution to the development of Macedonian church
music, suggest that Ohrid was the centre of church music during this
time. 5 The first Slavic church singing school was established in Ohrid
1 Aleksova,Blaga, Materijalna kultura na Slovenite vo Makedonija, Slovenska
pismenost, Naroden muzej Ohrid, 1966, pp. 142.
2 Bel~ovski, Jovan, Ohridskata arhiepiskopija od osnovaweto do pa|aweto na
Makedonija pod turska vlast, Pravoslaven bogoslovski fakultet “Kliment
Ohridski”, Skopje, 1997, pp. 77.
3 Koneski, Bla`e, Ohridska kni`evna {kola, Slovenska pismenost, Naroden muzej
Ohrid, 1966, pp. 57.
4 Ilievski, Hr. Petar, Gr~ko-slovenska kulturna simbioza, Slovenska pismenost,
Naroden muzej Ohrid, 1966, pp. 47.
5 Golabovski Sotir, Osmoglasnik-makedonsko crkovno peewe, Kultura, Skopje,
1993, pp. 15.

and had a powerful influence on other Slavs’ church music. A note in
St. Clement’s hagiography indicates that he taught his disciples psalm
singing, provided chants and explained that heruvim chants are to be
sung in one voice. This confirms that St. Clement paid special attention
to church singing as an important segment of church educational
activities. 1 In the second half of the 10 th Century, the development of
spiritual values had commenced, and Slavic literacy, culture, and
education had already been rooted. Thus, favorable conditions were in
place for Samuil (976-1014) to establish his state and the Macedonian
church, at first based in Prespa and later in Ohrid. Despite continuous
war waging in the area, notable improvement in culture and education
were recorded over the period. 2
Numerous proofs regarding material culture dating from
Samuel’s reign clearly speak to the beginnings of a Slavic era, when,
during periods of severed connections with Constantinople and other
Byzantine spiritual centers, there emerged new trends in literature and
architecture with distinctive Slavo-Macedonian features. 3
In regards to church music, this period is also marked by a more
decisive turn towards own singing traditions and creation of own
musical expression. Indeed, the influence of the Greek culture in
Macedonian cities was still strong during the period, but––as a result of
overall social development–– awareness of the Slavic civilization in
Macedonia increased and led to tendencies towards a separation of
Macedonian spirituality and culture from the Byzantine. Naturally, state
and church authorities in Constantinople regarded such development
processes on behalf of the Macedonians as counter-Byzantine. 4
(Editing: Camelia Minoiu)
1
Bel~ovski, Jovan, Ohridskata arhiepiskopija od osnovaweto do pa|aweto na
Makedonija pod turska vlast, Pravoslaven bogoslovski fakultet “Kliment
Ohridski”, Skopje, 1997, pp. 43.
2
Ilievski, Hr. Petar, Gr~ko-slovenska kulturna simbioza, Slovenska pismenost,
Naroden muzej Ohrid, 1966, pp. 48.
3
Bel~ovski, Jovan, Ohridskata arhiepiskopija od osnovaweto do pa|aweto na
Makedonija pod turska vlast, Pravoslaven bogoslovski fakultet “Kliment
Ohridski”, Skopje, 1997, pp. 105.
4
Velev, Ilija, Vizantisko-makedonski kni`evni vrski, Skopje, 2005.

ANASTASIA MOULA-HATZI
(GREECE)
Α. ΣΙΚΕΛΙΑΝΟΣ
Μα, µια µέρα έλαµψε φως. Τη µέρα εκείνη
στην Κηφισιά συναντήθηκα µ’ ένα νέο της ηλικίας
µου που χωρίς διακοπή αγάπησα και τίµησα κι ήταν
από τους λίγους που η παρουσία του µου ήταν πιο
ευχάριστη από την απουσία του. Ήταν πολύ ωραίος,
και το ‘ξερε: ήταν µεγάλος λυρικός ποιητής, και το ‘ξερε: είχε γράψει ένα
µεγάλο τραγούδι θαµαστό . ποιητική ατµόσφαιρα, στίχος, γλώσσα, αρµονία
µαγική, ∆ε χόρταινα να το διαβάζω και να το χαίροµαι. Ήταν ο ποιητής
ετούτος από το γένος των αϊτών: µε το πρώτο τίναγµα των φτερών του έφτανε
στην κορυφή. Αργότερα, όταν θέλησε να γράψει και πρόζα, είδα πως αληθινά
ήταν αϊτός…όταν δεν πετούσε µα επιχειρούσε να περπατήσει στη γης ήταν
όπως ο αϊτός που περπατάει, βαρύς κι αδέξιος…το στοιχείο του ήταν ο αέρας.
Φτερά είχε, µυαλό στέρεο δεν είχε…έβλεπε µακριά και θαµπά. Στοχάζουνταν
µε εικόνες, κι οι ποιητικές παροµοιώσεις ήταν γι’ αυτόν ατράνταχτα λογικά
επιχειρήµατα., όταν µπερδεύουνταν σε συλλογισµούς, και δεν µπορούσε να
βρει άκρα, άστραφτε µέσα του µια λαµπερή εικόνα ή ξεσπούσε σε τρανταχτό
γέλιο και γλίτωνε.
Μα είχε αρχοντιά µεγάλη, σπάνια χάρη κι ευγένεια, να τον έβλεπες να
µιλάει και να λάµπει έξαλλο το γαλάζο µάτι του ή να τον άκουες ν’ απαγγέλνει
τραγούδια του και να τραντάζουν τα τζάµια του σπιτιού, καταλάβαινες πως θα
‘ταν οι αρχαίοι ραψωδοί που, στεφανωµένοι µε κληµατόφυλλα ή µενεξέδες,
γύριζαν από παλάτι σε παλάτι και µέρωναν µε το δικό τους τραγούδι τους
ανθρώπους, που ήταν ακόµα θεριά.
Αληθινά, απ΄ την πρώτη στιγµή που τον είδα, ένιωσα πως ο νέος
αυτός τιµάει το ανθρώπινο γένος.
Μ’ αυτά τα λόγια περιγράφει ο Καζαντζάκης το Σικελιανό στο έργο
του Αναφορά στον Γκρέκο, πριν την περιήγησή τους σ’ όλη την Ελλάδα και
στο Άγιο Όρος όπου « αναζητούν την συνείδηση της γης και της φυλής τους».
Πενήντα χρόνια απουσίας από το θάνατο του Σικελιανού.(1884
Λευκάδα - 1951 Αθήνα.) Πενήντα χρόνια στέρησης ενός από τους
µεγαλύτερους ποιητές του 20ου αιώνα, όχι µόνο της Ελλάδας αλλά και
ολόκληρης της Ευρώπης.
Γιος του Ιωάννη Σικελιανού και της Χαρίκλειας, το γένος Στεφανίτη,
ήταν το τελευταίο παιδί από τα επτά αδέρφια του. Μεγαλώνει στο περιβάλλον
µιας οικογένειας µε αρχοντική παράδοση και έντονα πολιτιστικά
ενδιαφέροντα. Το 1901 εγγράφεται στη Νοµική, σχολή την οποία εγκαταλείπει
την επόµενη χρονιά, για ν’ αφοσιωθεί στη µελέτη της αρχαίας ποίησης .

Αρχίζει να δηµοσιεύει στίχους σε διάφορα φιλολογικά περιοδικά, τα
οποία βέβαια δεν προοιωνίζουν την κατοπινή του εξέλιξη.
Το πρώτο του πραγµατικό ποιητικό φανέρωµα είναι το µεγάλο
συνθετικό ποίηµα ο Αλαφροΐσκιωτος. Ο τίτλος του σηµαίνει τον εµπνευσµένο
άνθρωπο, που βλέπει οράµατα. Αυτός ήταν ο Σικελιανός, και ο
Αλαφροίσκιωτος µια λυρική αυτοβιογραφία του ποιητή. Ένα ποίηµα, όπου
ξεχειλίζει η οµορφιά του κόσµου και του λόγου, όπου ο ποιητής ταυτίζεται µε
τη φύση.
……….και λάτρεψα,
και στη λαχτάρα µου είπα:
«Βάλε το αυτί στα χώµατα».
Και φάνει µου πως η καρδιά
Της γης βαριά αντιχτύπα.
Στον Αλαφροΐσκιωτο βρίσκονται διάσπαρτα όλα εκείνα τα στοιχεία
που πιο συστηµατικά θα τα συναντήσουµε στο ώριµο ποιητικό του έργο, όπου
ο σφιχτοδεµένος λόγος οδηγεί σε βαθύτερη επικοινωνία µε τη φύση και σε
καθολικότερη αγάπη για τον άνθρωπο.
Οπωσδήποτε ο Σικελιανός -και στη ζωή του και στην ποίηση του-
ήταν ο άνθρωπος που από µακριά σε πλησιάζει µ’ ανοιχτή αγκαλιά.
Κάθε ποίηµά του, κάθε στίχος του είναι ένα άνοιγµα χεριών, άνοιγµα
καρδιάς ως το βάθος.
Αργότερα, στα έργα του Πρόλογος στη ζωή, Μήτηρ Θεού, Πάσχα των
Ελλήνων, ο Σικελιανός αποδεικνύεται ισάξιος του Παλαµά.
Εδώ ο ποιητής οικειώνεται τα µεγάλα σύµβολα της Ελληνικής
παράδοσης ακολουθώντας την πορεία του ηρακλείτειου ποταµού, που
ανανεώνεται διαρκώς κι’ όµως µένει ο ίδιος.
«Μες στον καταρράχτη των βαθιών µεταµορφώσεων
όπου ο εµπρηστής κι ο εραστής κι ο καρπιστής Ρυθµός
καλούν τον άνθρωπο»
Η ηρακλείτεια ενότητα των αντιθέσεων βρίσκεται κι’ εδώ στο
υπόβαθρο της σκέψης του ποιητή, όπως δηλώνουν και τα ποικίλα σύµβολα που
συναντούµε: ο ρυθµός, ο λόγος, η πάλη, ο έρωτας και ο θάνατος, η αρµονία.
Είναι µυστικιστής, κυρίως ορφικός και διονυσιακός, πράγµα που
φαίνεται καθαρά στον τρόπο ζωής του, στις ενοράσεις και στα ποιήµατά του.
Γράφει ο Παλαµάς στο ποίηµά του µε τίτλο:
ΣΤΟΝ ΑΓΓΕΛΟ ΣΙΚΕΛΙΑΝΟ
Της µυγδαλιάς τολόανθο το κλωνάρι
Μες στο νυχτερινό µου το κελλί
Σε φως αυγερινό φεγγοβολεί,
Γραφή σου, Αλαφροΐσκιωτε Λυράρη1

Των ανθών τα µατάκια-οιµέ στη χάρη!-
Μια αυγή τανοίγει, µια βραδιά τα κλίει.
Της τέχνης τάνθια από µαργαριτάρι
Που δύσκολα ο καιρός τα καταλεί.
Τις θείες γιορτές της ∆ήµητρας γιορτάζεις
Και ταπολλώνια δώρα τα µοιράζεις
Παντ’ από την κορφή στο ηλιοµεθύσι…
Μα µην καταφρονάς την αγορά
Παντού σπαρτά της µούσας τα ιερά,
Παντού για να’ ναι το τραγούδι, βρύση.
Είναι φύση ερωτική, αισθησιακή, παθιασµένη ευαίσθητη αλλά
ταυτόχρονα ισορροπηµένη και αρµονική. Υµνεί τον Έλληνα και την
Ελληνικότητα γιατί πιστεύει πως κλείνουν στους κόλπους τους την ενιαία
παράδοση του ανθρώπου και την ενιαία ουσία του κόσµου.
Το 1907 γνωρίζει και παντρεύεται την Εύα Πάλµερ, αµερικανίδα
διανοούµενη και αρχαιολόγο. Η Εύα παραστέκεται στον Σικελιανό πολύτροπα:
ως σύζυγος, µητέρα του παιδιού του Γλαύκου, συνταξιδιώτισσα και κυρίως
σύµβουλος, χορηγός και αφοσιωµένη συνεργάτιδα στην υλοποίηση των
οραµάτων του, που είχαν και την ίδια συνεπάρει.
Τους ενώνουν κοινά ενδιαφέροντα, ιδίως η πίστη στη λυτρωτική
δύναµη της τέχνης, η γνώση της µυθικής παράδοσης ( και η θέση της στην
αρχαία τραγωδία ) και τέλος η επιδίωξη συλλογής των στοιχείων που
δηλώνουν την επιβίωση των πανάρχαιων θεσµών στη ζωή των λαών.
Ο Σικελιανός σε σειρά διαλέξεων στους φοιτητές αναπτύσσει την ιδέα
της παγκόσµιας ελευθερίας και την ανάγκη να εξασφαλιστεί η αδελφοσύνη των
λαών.
∆ιαπνέεται συνεχώς από την ∆ελφική ιδέα και για την πλήρη
ανάπτυξή της παραµένει µόνιµα από το 1925 στους ∆ελφούς, όπου εργάζεται
πυρετωδώς µε την Εύα για την προετοιµασία των ∆ελφικών Εορτών, που είναι
για αυτόν ο βασικός παράγοντας στην υλοποίηση της ∆ελφικής ιδέας.
Η πραγµατοποίησή τους σηµαίνει και το νέο ιστορικό ξεκίνηµα για
την ανάσταση, αναστήλωση και συνειδητή αποκατάσταση του χθόνιου
ανθρωπισµού, µε σκοπό άµεσο να γίνουν οι ∆ελφοί (παγκόσµιο ενωτικό
κέντρο της ανθρωπότητας).
Το Μάιο του 1927 πραγµατοποιούνται οι Εορτές, που έχουν κύριο
στόχο την αναζωπύρωση του αρχαίου δράµατος.
Παρουσιάζεται ο Προµηθέας ∆εσµώτης , Βυζαντινή µουσική,
γυµνικοί αγώνες και άλλα- και το ζεύγος Σικελιανού τιµάται από την Ακαδηµία
Αθηνών.

Η Βουλή ψηφίζει ειδικό νόµο για την σύσταση ∆ελφικού
Οργανισµού, και ο Σικελιανός ταξιδεύει στο Παρίσι για την προώθηση των
σκοπών του.
Όµως, η ∆ελφική προσπάθεια τελικά απέτυχε και οι εορτές κατέληξαν
σε οικονοµική καταστροφή.
Η Εύα φεύγει στην Αµερική µε σκοπό την προβολή της ∆ελφικής
ιδέας και των απόψεων τους, για την νέα ερµηνεία της αρχαίας τραγωδίας, για
την λαϊκή τέχνη, αλλά και για την χρηµατοδότηση των σχετικών σχεδίων τους.
Ο προσωπικός βίος του Σικελιανού αλλάζει. Τον Μάρτιο του 1938
γνωρίζει την Άννα Καραµάνη και δύο χρόνια αργότερα παντρεύονται.
Αλλά ο Σικελιανός δεν µένει αδιάφορος και προς τα προβλήµατα του
καιρού του. Μια σειρά ποιηµάτων του µε τον τίτλο Επινίκιοι Β΄ είναι
εµπνευσµένα από τον Ελληνοϊταλικό πόλεµο και από την αντίσταση του
ελληνικού λαού κατά της γερµανικής κατοχής .
Τα περισσότερα κυκλοφόρησαν µυστικά και αποτέλεσαν ένα είδος
αντίστασης. Απ’ αυτά ξεχωρίζει ο ενθουσιαστικός -Σόλωνος απόλογος-.
Την τελευταία δεκαετία της ζωής του ο Σικελιανός στράφηκε προς την
συγγραφή τραγωδιών.
Ήταν, βέβαια, η στροφή αυτή φυσική για έναν άνθρωπο που έζησε
τόσο εντατικά το πνεύµα της αρχαίας τραγωδίας και πού ως πυρήνα της
∆ελφικής του προσπάθειας έθεσε την διδασκαλία έργων του Αισχύλου.
Η πρώτη του ολοκληρωµένη τραγωδία, η Σίβυλλα, είναι γραµµένη
λίγο πριν το 1940, και ο ποιητής την διάβασε δηµόσια λίγο πριν από την
κήρυξη του Ελληνοϊταλικού πολέµου. Στην τραγωδία συγκρούεται το ελληνικό
πνεύµα µε την ρωµαϊκή δεσποτεία.
Πιο τρανή δίψα για την ελευθερία, που γίνεται ύµνος στο
στόµα της Σίβυλλας, ίσως να µην είναι άλλη απ’ αυτή:
Κι α! Να τη, να τη
της Λευτεριάς η θάλασσα, π’ ολοένα κυλάει τα σµάραγδα της, να τα,
να τα στις όχτες της, τις άφθαρτες τα ολόασπρα τρανά πουλιά,
που φτερουγάνε……
Όµως παρ’ όλα αυτά:
Οι τραγωδίες δεν δείχνουν τον Σικελιανό στην κορύφωσή του. Ο
γνήσιος Σικελιανός µένει πάντα λυρικός µε το λαµπρό ξεκίνηµα του
Αλαφροίσκιωτου, την κορύφωση της Μητέρας Θεού, και την ωριµότητα των
ερωτικών και των ορφικών του.
Το 1938, σκοπεύοντας να εκδώσει τη συγκεντρωτική συλλογή του
«Λυρικού Βίου » έγραψε ένα ποίηµα υψηλό και βαθύτατα εξοµολογητικό, που
είναι πραγµατικά ένας άξιος επίλογος του
λυρικού βίου του .
«Γιατί βαθιά µου δόξασα και πίστεψα τη γη
και στη φυγή δεν άπλωσα τα µυστικά φτερά µου,

µα ολάκερον ερίζωσα το νου µου στη σιγή,
………………………………..
να που, ότι στάθη εφήµερο, Σα σύγνεφο αναλώνει,
να πούµε κι ο µέγας θάνατος
µου γίνηκε αδερφός!……
Στις 19 Ιουνίου του 1951 το βράδυ οι σάλπιγγες πού ήχησαν για τον
Κωστή Παλαµά, ήχησαν και για τον Άγγελο Σικελιανό.
Πνευµατικός πρόγονος, κυρίαρχη µορφή µιας ολόκληρης εποχής ο
ένας, ξεχωριστός λυρικός ποιητής ο άλλος. Και δεν είναι ο λυρισµός του
χαµηλού τόνου, ο τραγουδιστής της ήρεµης ώρας, αλλά ο λυρικός λόγος στις
πιο υψηλές συλλήψεις και στις αληθινά εθνικές συνθέσεις: δείχνοντας έτσι την
ακατάλυτη δύναµη της Ελληνικής παράδοσης, την αδιάσπαστη ενότητα της και
την παρουσία της σε κάθε εκδήλωση της ζωής µας, σε µεγάλες και σε
δύσκολες ώρες, σε οµαδικές και σε ατοµικές προσπάθειες.
℘
……Είµαι το πνεύµα , το πανάρχαιο Απολλώνιο πνεύµα που κατέβει
πρώτο από τις χιονοσκέπαστες κορφές της Ιστορίας….ο Άρρην Λόγος, ο
όρθιος ∆ωρικός σκοπός, ο Πυθικός προαιώνιος Νόµος …..Είµαι η αρχή της
Ακτινοβολίας , της Ευρυθµίας, της Πειθαρχίας, της Απλότητας, της βασικής
κάθε αρχής και του λαού Αυτονοµίας, είµαι η αρχή της τέλειας Μνήµης. Είµαι
το Γνώθι Σαυτόν, το Μηδέν άγαν, είµαι η Χρυσή Τοµή και η Τετρακτός και ο
Άκµων, είµαι το προµήνυµα του νέου χορού του καθαρµού απάνω από το
πτώµα του φιδιού, που θρέψαν στη σπηλιά της γήινης ύλης, σκοτεινοί
ληθαργηµένοι αιώνες.
Περιµένω πια την πιο µεγάλη λύτρωσή µου. Θέλω να σαρώσω µε µια
υπέρτατη αντίσταση, ότι µάταιο κι ότι σάπιο, από το χώµα. Μη µου κλείνετε
πια τα στήθη Σας, τη σκέψη Σας και την ακοή Σας. Ξεκινήστε.
…………………………………………………………………….
Βοηθήστε µε, να σας βοηθήσω.
∆εν µ’ ακούτε ; Ο βρυχηθµός µου έχει πια ωριµάσει µες στους αιώνες.
Μην αργείτε. Ελάτε, ελάτε. Ως πότε πια να Σας κράζω;
(Απόσπασµα από το ∆ελφικό Λόγο)
∆ελφοί, 18 Οκτωβρίου 1932

ANASTASIA MOULA-HATZI (GREECE)
ANGELOS SIKELIANOS
But, one day the light outshone. That day I met in Kifisia a
young man at my age who I loved him uninterruptedly and I honored
him and he was from the few ones whose presence was more pleasant
than his absence. He was very handsome and he knew it: he was a great
lyrical poet and he knew it: he had written a great magnificent song,
poetical atmosphere, rhyme, language, magic harmony. I couldn’t stop
reading it and felt wonderful with it. That poet was from the eagle’s
family: with the first whisk of his coverts he was reaching the top.
Lately, when he wanted to write also prose, I realized that he was surely
an eagle… when he didn’t fly, but he tried to walk, he was like the
walking eagle, heavy and awkward…..his precious element was the
wind. He had coverts, but he hadn’t solid mind…he saw far away and
vaguely. He was thinking with scenes, and the poetical images were for
him substantial and logical arguments, when his thoughts were
complicated and he couldn’t find a solution, a bright scene twinkled in
his heart or he exploded and he was rescued.
He had a great lordliness, precious charm and nobility, if you
could see him talking and shining his light blue eye or if you could hear
him intoning his songs and shaking the house’s windows, you could
realize how would be the ancient rhapsodists, who went from palace to
palace with wreath from vine leaf on their heads and with their songs
becalmed the people, who were wild.
Truly, from the first moment I saw him, I felt that this young
man respects the human kind.
With these words Kazanzakis describes Sikelianos in his project
“Reference to Greko” before their tour in all over Greece and in Mount
Athos where “they look for the earth’s consciousness and their race’ s
consciousness”.
Angelos Sikelianos was son of Ioannis and Harikleia Sikelianos,
nee Stefaniti (1884-1951), he was the last child from his seven brothers.
He grew up in a family environment with lordly tradition and strong
cultural interests. In 1901 he subscribed in Law faculty, but he will
leave it the next year in order to be a one for the studying of ancient

poetry. He starts publishing rhymes in different literature magazines,
which surely don’t forebode his afterwards evolution.
His first real poetical appearance is the great poet
“Alafroiskiotos”. His title means the inspired man, who sees
envisagement. That was Sikelianos, and “Alafroiskiotos” was a lyrical
poet’s autobiography. A poet, where you can see the world’s and
speeches beauty, where the poet identifies with the nature.
In “Alafroiskiotos” you can find scatteringly all these elements,
which we will more neatly find them in his mature poetical undertaking,
where the compact speech leads to the deepest communication with the
nature and to the most universal love for the human being.
Sikelianos was, certainly, not only in his life but also in his
poetry, a man who comes to you with a big hug.
Every poem, every rhyme is a span, an opening of the heart.
Afterwards, Sikelianos, in his undertakings “Life’s Prologue”,
“Mother of God”, “The Greeks’ Easter”, proved to be equal to Palamas.
The poet, here, refers to the big symbols of the hellenique
tradition according to the way of the river of Herakleitos, which
constantly renews, but always stays the same.
The unity of contrasts, a characteristic of Herakleitos, is the
base of the poet’s thoughts, as we can see from the different symbols,
which the poet uses, like the rhythm, the speech, the fight, the love and
the death, the harmony. He is mysticist, especially orphic and dionysian,
something that you can easily and clearly find in his way of life, in his
visions and in his poems. He is erotical, passional, sensible but also
stable and harmonic. He hymns the Greeks and the greek nature because
he believes that those two close in their arms the united human being’s
tradition and the united world’s sense.
In 1907 he met and got married to Eva Palmer, an American
intellectual and archeologist. Eva stands by Sikelianos in many ways: as
a wife, as the mother of his son, Glafkos, as co-traveler and mainly as
consultant, donor and devoted cooperator in the implementation of his
visions, to which she also believed.
They both have the same interests, principally the faith to the
redemptory power of the art, the knowledge of the mythical tradition
(and her position to the ancient tragedy) and finally the pursuit of the
collection of those elements, which declare the maintenance of the
ancient institutions in human life.

Sikelianos through many speeches to the students evolves the
idea of the universal freedom and the need of existing brotherhood
between the different cultures. He is fond of the Delphic idea, that’s
why he stays permanently from 1925 to Delphi, where he and his wife,
Eva, work powerfully in order to prepare the Delphic Celebrations,
which will be the basic element in the implementation of the Delphic
idea.
The realization of the Delphic Celebrations means the new
historical beginning for the resurrection and the conscious renovation of
the humanism, in order to become Delphi the universal united centre of
the humanity.
In May 1927 the Delphic Celebrations take place and their main
purpose is the enlivenment of the ancient drama. Promitheas Desmotis,
byzantine music, naked matches and other things are presented and the
couple Sikelianos is honored by the Athens Academy.
The Parliament votes a special law for the creation of the
Delphic Organisation and Sikelianos travels to Paris in order to promote
his goals. But unfortunately the Delphic try failed and the Celebrations
ended to be a financial disaster.
Eva leaves for the United States in order to promote the Delphic
Idea and their beliefs for the new explanation of the ancient tragedy, for
the popular art but also for the financing of their plans. Sikelianos’s
personal life changes. In Mars 1938 he meets Anna Karamani and two
years later they got married. But Sikelianos isn’t inconsiderate to the
everyday life problems. A series of poems with the title “Epinikioi B’”
are inspired from the Greek-Italian war and from the opposition of the
Greek people to the German possession. Most of them were published in
secret and were thought to be a kind of resistance. We can choose from
them the enthusiastical “Solonas’s Apologos”.
The last decade of his life Sikelianos turned to the writing of
tragedy.
This turn was, surely, natural for a man who believed so
intensively to the ancient tragedy’s spirit and as core of his Delphic try
was the study of Aishilos’s projects.
His first completed tragedy, Sivilla, is written before 1940 and
the poet read it in public before the beginning of the Greek-Italian war.
In the tragedy the Greek spirit interferes with the Roman despotism.
But, however, the tragedies do not appear Sikelianos in his climax. The
true Sikelianos is always lyrical with his great beginning with

Alafroiskiotos, his climax with The Mother of God and the maturity of
his erotics and orphics.
In 1938 in order to publish a unitary collection of “Lyrical life”
he wrote a great and deeply confessional poem, which is truly an
honorable conclusion of his lyrical life.
“Because deeply inside me I honored and believed to earth
and in order to escape I didn’t extend my secret coverts,
on the other hand I stayed quiet,
………………………………………..
whatever was passing, it was like a cloud
let’s say that the great death
became to me like brother!..........
In 19 June 1951, late at night, Angelos Sikelianos left his last
breath. He died poor, he was characterized left mind and he was chased
from the official government, many laughed with him, with the man
who gave a fortune for the Delphic Idea, he didn’t become an
Academic, he didn’t take the Nobel Price, which he wanted so much,
nor did his friend and his co-pilgrim to Mount Athos, Kazanzakis, but
he succeeded the unreachable, he touched the unexpectable, he reached
the orphic consubstantial, he combined the Apollonian, the Dionysian
and the Christian spirit to a united body, the body of his poetical
undertaking and he succeeded the great poets’ privilege and the orphic
idea, the immortality. The poet is born, so the poet is a complete reality.
Sikelianos’s speech is current even today and it shows us the
way and I hope it will be current for thousands of years and thousand of
centuries in Greece and in all over the world.

PAULA SCALCĂU (ROMÂNIA)
Cântecele străinătăţii. Despărţiri şi regăsiri
Unde se duc bărbaţii noştri
Dunărea de ar seca, să treacă nu i-ar lăsa…”
Versurile străinătăţii reprezintă un capitol
important al literaturii populare greceşti. Victor Papacostea sublinia
importanţa folclorului ce dezvăluie, mai mult decât orice document, cât
de puternic a fost mirajul exercitat de spaţiul românesc asupra Epirului 1 .
Despre faimoasele caravane ale epiroţilor care veneau în Ţara
Românească ne vorbesc şi azi cântecele populare. S-au păstrat mai
multe variante ale cântecului lui Rovas, pe care valahele-l aşteaptă şi-l
întreabă: „Ce ne-ai adus voinicule, din neagra Ioannină?”
Valahia era tărâmul făgăduinţei, dar în acelaşi timp, ea îi ţinea
pe cei dragi, ca şi Circe, departe de casă, uneori pentru toată viaţa.
Străinătatea e văzută ca „soră cu moartea”: Η ξενητειά κι ο θάνατος
αδέλφια λογιούνται. Dintre a fi străin, a fi orfan, amărăciune şi
dragoste, toate cântărite, cea mai grea-i străinătatea (Την ξενητειά, την
ορφανιά, υην πίκρα, την αγάπη, τα τέσσαρα τα ζύγιασαν, βαρύτερα είναι
τα ξένα).
Blestemele mamelor şi iubitelor rămase acasă se revarsă asupra
Dunării care îi lasă să treacă pe bărbaţii plecaţi din sat:
„Ανάθεµα το ∆ούναβη, δεν πνίγει τα καράβια
να µην περνούνε τα παιδιά που αφήνουνε τις µανάδες
να µην περνούν οι νιόγαµπροι στα ξένα να γυράζουν…”
(Blestemată fii Dunăre, de ce nu îneci vasele
Să nu mai treacă voinicii ce mamele le-au părăsit
Ca să colinde prin străini…)
Ţinutul sărac şi arid ca şi stăpânirea otomană, i-au determinat şi
pe bărbaţii din Papingo să-şi părăsească satul. Mulţi dintre ei, printre
care şi Gh. Ghiculescu 2 , se vor opri la Turnu Severin, unde vor prospera,
1
V. Papacostea, Esquisse sur les rapports entre la Roumanie et l’Epire, in
Balcania, I, Bucuresti, 1938, p. 230.
2
Cu ani în urmă, era o regulă, de Sfânta Paraschiva, s-o vizitez pe doamna Afrodita
Pătruţoiu, care-mi oferea întotdeauna o dulceaţă de smochine pe care o savuram în
timp ce-mi povestea de satul ei din munţii Pindului şi de afacerile negustorilor din
familia ei. La fiul ei aveam să găsesc mai târziu păstrate caietele cu versuri greceşti

contribuind la modernizarea noului oraş dunărean, dar nu-şi vor uita nici
locul de unde au plecat… Citesc pe filele îngălbenite ale caietului
menţionat anterior:
„Αλησµονώ και χαίροµαι/ θυµούµαι και λυπούµαι/ θυµήυηκα
την ξενητειά/ και θέλω να πηγαίνω/ Σήκου µάνα και ζύµωσε/ Καθάριο
παξιµάδι/ Βάζε το δάκρι σου νερό/ το σιάλι σου προζύµι”/ (Încerc să uit
şi-atunci mă bucur/ Dar îmi aduc aminte şi-ncep a mă-ntrista/ Mi-am
amintit străinătatea/ Si-aş vrea să pot pleca/ Scoală măicuţă şi
frământă/ pentru drum pâine curată/ Pune în locul drojdiei suspinele
tale/ Pune lacrima ta în loc de apă).
În notele sale de călătorie din 1898, G. Paraskevopoulos
amintea Severinul ca „cel mai frumos oraş dunărean, impresionant prin
eleganţa, curăţenia şi grădinile sale” şi pe papinghioţii întâlniţi aici, care
sperau că într-o bună zi satul lor va fi eliberat şi ei se vor întoarce
acasă 1 . Calea străinătăţii nu era uşoară, dar, în ciuda greutăţilor, grecii
ştiau că datorează mult străinătăţii şi mai ales “de mii de ori slăvitei
Valahii” 2 , unde „merg să se pricopsească, să vină încărcaţi cu bani, cu
desagii plini de groşi” (να παν να καζαντήσουν, να φέρουν γρόσια
φόρτωµα, γεµάτα τα δισάκια) şi nu o dată şi-au pus averea la dispoziţia
locurilor natale, unde au construit poduri şi fântâni, şcoli şi biserici.
Alături de urmaşii epiroţilor din Severin, descendenţii unor
greci veniţi din satele Macedoniei au păstrat şi ei astfel de versuri:
„Τί να σου στείλω, ξένε µου, εκεί στα ξένα πούσι
να στείλω το δάκρυ µου σ’ένα ψιλό µαντήλι
το δάκρυ είναι καυτερό και καίει το µαντήλι”
(Ce să-ţi trimit, străine, acolo, departe unde te afli
să-ţi trimit lacrima mea într-un batic subţire
lacrima-i fierbinte şi arde baticul ).
„Της ξενητειάς” („De-ale străinătăţii”) scrise de mâna bunicului, doctorul Gh.
Ghiculescu; versuri populare despre mirajul străinătăţii, dar şi despre frumuseţea
locurilor natale părăsite, despre dorul de mamă şi de casă.
1 Paraskevopoulos G.P., Η µεγάλη Έλλας, ανα την Ρωσσίαν, Ρουµανίαν,
Βουλγαρίαν, Σερβίαν, Μαυροβούνιον, Τουρκίαν, Κρήτην, Κύπρον, Αίγυπτον και
Παλαιστίνην, Tipografia “Korinnis”, Atena, 1898 , p.189-190
2 Zotos Dimitris, Η ξενητειά των Ηπειρότων, în “Τα Χρονικά”, Atena, 1935, p.10 şi
Giagas Ath. H., Ηπειρωτικά δηµοτικά τραγούδια 1000-1958, Ed.Pyrros, Atena

Iar la Vlasti (regiunea Kozani), unul din satele de origine ale
grecilor severineni, se mai păstrează Colindele pentru cei pribegi, ce se
cântă de Anul Nou:
Βασίληµ πόθεν έρχεσαι/ Κι αµ πόθεν κατεβαίνεις/ Από τα µέρη
της Βλαχιάς/ Κι από το Βουκουρέστι (...)/ Τον ∆ούναβη τον πέρασα/ Στο
Μπλάτσι κατεωαίνω/ Παένου στη µανούλα µου/ Γυναίκα και παιδιά µου/
Βρίσκω τις πόρτες ανοιχτές/ Τα παραθύρια φέγγουν/ Καληµέρα σου µάνα
µου/ Καλώς τον γιόµ απ ούρθε/ Σκύφτω φιλώ την µάνα µου/ γυναίκα και
παιδιά/ Και µεις τραγούδια και χαρές/ Και τώρα και του Χρόνου/ Άγιος
Βασίλης έρχεται/ Γεννάρης ξηµερώνει/ Και ο νοικοκύρης του σπιτιού/
Χίλια χρόνια να ζύσει! ” 1
(Când ai venit, Sf. Vasile?/ Şi de unde?/ Din părţile Valahiei/ şi
de la Bucureşti (…)/ Dunărea am trecut-o/ La Vlasti-am coborât/ Merg
la măicuţa mea/ soţie şicopii/ Găsesc poarta deschisă/ Ferestrele
lucesc/ Ziua bună, măicuţă/ Ziua bună, fiul meu/ Îmi strâng în braţe
mama/ soţia şi copiii/ Şi cântece, şi bucurii/ şi-acum, dar şi la anul/ Sf.
Vasile vine/ Ianuarie-n zori apare/ iar gospodarul casei/ Să trăiască o
mie de ani!).
După mai bine de un secol şi jumătate, s-a întâmplat ceva
minunat: urmaşii grecilor severineni au reluat legăturile cu locurile de
origine. Au refăcut în sens invers drumul lui Rovas, căutând satele din
care au plecat de mult înaintaşii lor. Şi-au găsit casele străbunicilor,
bisericile în care li s-au cununat bunicii ori părinţii, vechi fotografii de
familie, ba chiar şi rude care ştiau aceleaşi cântece duioase…. A fost
extraordinară această reînviere a unui vechi „coridor cultural” (cum ar
spune Răzvan Theodorescu) sau a unui vechi „traseu al Balkaniei” (cum
ar spune Monica Voudouri), traseu pe care au circulat de-a lungul
vremii atâtea idei şi atâţia drumeţi ce nu şi-au uitat niciodată punctul de
pornire.
1 Colind relatat de Ioannis K. Varvarousis.

PAULA SCALCĂU (ROMÂNIA)
Songs from Abroad. Saying Good-bye and Meeting Each Other
Again
Where are our men going?
May the Danube dry up so they
couldn’t cross it …
The poems from abroad represent an important chapter in the
Greek folk literature. Victor Papacostea emphasized the significance of
the folklore, which can reveal, more accurately than any document, how
powerful the fascination of the Romanian territory was on the Epirus 1 .
There are still folk songs which tell us about the famous caravans of the
people from Epirus who came to Romania. There have been kept several
variants of the song of Rovas, whom the women from Valahia waited
for and asked: Brave man, what have you brought us from the dark
Yannina?
Valahia was the promisedland but, at the same time, just like
Circe, it was keeping the loved ones far from home, sometimes for ever.
Living abroad was seen as a kind of death. Η ξενητειά κι ο θάνατος
αδέλφια λογιούνται. If one considers being abroad, being an orphan,
being sad and being in love, the life among strangers weighs the most
(Την ξενητειά, την ορφανιά, υην πίκρα, την αγάπη, τα τέσσαρα τα
ζύγιασαν, βαρύτερα είναι τα ξένα).
All the curses of the mothers and the lovers left behind were
directed towards the Danube, who had allowed their men to cross to the
other side.
„Ανάθεµα το ∆ούναβη, δεν πνίγει τα καράβια / να µην περνούνε
τα παιδιά που αφήνουνε τις µανάδες / να µην περνούν οι νιόγαµπροι στα
ξένα να γυράζουν…” (Damn you, Danube, why don’t you sink the ships
/ and stop the men who left their mothers behind / in order to wander
strange lands…)
The barren lands and the Turkish domination also determined
the men of Papingo to leave their village. Many of them, among whom
1
V. Papacostea, Esquisse sur les rapports entre la Roumanie et l’Epire, in
Balcania, I, Bucharest, 1938, p. 230.

Gh. Ghiculescu 1 , would stop in Turnu Severin, a place in which they
would prosper, contributing to the modernization of the new city, but
they would never forget their place of origin… I could read on the
yellow pages of the notebook:
Αλησµονώ και χαίροµαι/ θυµούµαι και λυπούµαι/ θυµήυηκα την
ξενητειά / και θέλω να πηγαίνω / Σήκου µάνα και ζύµωσε / Καθάριο
παξιµάδι / Βάζε το δάκρι σου νερό / το σιάλι σου προζύµι”( I try to forget
and I am glad/ But I remember and I get sad/ The strange land is in my
mind/ And I wish I could go/ Wake up, dear mother, and knead/ The
bread for the long road/ Use your sighs instead your dough/ Use your
tears instead of water).
In his travelling notes from 1898, G. Paraskevopoulos
mentioned the city of Severin, the most beautiful town near the Danube,
the elegance, the neatness and the gardens of which are highly
impressive. He also spoke about the people from Papingo whom he had
met and who hoped that one day their village would be freed and they
would be able to go back home 2 . This way of life wasn’t easy, but, in
spite of the hardships, the Greeks were aware of how much they were in
debt to their new countries, especially to the praised Valahia 3 , where
they went to get rich and and come back with a lot of money, carrying
heavy bags (να παν να καζαντήσουν, να φέρουν γρόσια φόρτωµα, γεµάτα
τα δισάκια). Not once did they send this money to their places of origin,
where new schools and churches, bridges and wells were built.
1 Years ago I used to pay a visit to Mrs. Afrodita Pătruţoiu on each St. Paraschiva
Day (Orthodox cellebration on October 14 th ). My hostess always offered me fig jam
that I would enjoy while she was telling me about her village in the Pindus
Mountains and about the business of the tradesmen in her family. I was going to
find in her son’s house some old notebooks containing Greek poems Της ξενητειάς
(From Abroad) written by his grandfather, the doctor Gh. Ghiculescu; these poems
mentioned the fascination of the life in a strange land but also the beauty of the
places that had been left behind and the longing to see one’s mother and one’s
house again.
2 Paraskevopoulos., Η µεγάλη Έλλας, ανα την Ρωσσίαν, Ρουµανίαν, Βουλγαρίαν,
Σερβίαν, Μαυροβούνιον, Τουρκίαν, Κρήτην, Κύπρον, Αίγυπτον και Παλαιστίνην,
Korinnis, Athens, 1898 , pp.189-190.
3 Zotos Dimitris, Η ξενητειά των Ηπειρότων, in , Athens, 1935, p.10 and Giagas
Ath. H., Ηπειρωτικά δηµοτικά? τραγούδια, in Tα Χρονικά, Pyrros Publishing
House, Athens.

Together with the descendants of the people from the Epirus,
the successors of the Greeks who came from the villages of Macedonia
also wrote similar lyrics: „Τί να σου στείλω, ξένε µου, εκεί στα ξένα
πούσι /να στείλω το δάκρυ µου σ’ένα ψιλό µαντήλι / το δάκρυ είναι
καυτερό και καίει το µαντήλι” („What could I send you, stranger, who
are so far away/ Should I send you my tears in a thin scarf/ The tear is
hot and burns the scarf).
In Vlasti (Kozani region), one of the villages from which many
people migrated to Severin, people still sing carols for the wandering
men:
Βασίληµ πόθεν έρχεσα / Κι αµ πόθεν κατεβαίνεις/ Από τα µέρη
της Βλαχιάς/ Κι από το Βουκουρέστι (...) Τον ∆ούναβη τον πέρασα / Στο
Μπλάτσι κατεωαίνω/ Παένου στη µανούλα µου/ Γυναίκα και παιδιά µου
/ Βρίσκω τις πόρτες ανοιχτές/ Τα παραθύρια φέγγουν/ Καληµέρα σου
µάνα µου/ Καλώς τον γιόµ απ ούρθε / Σκύφτω φιλώ την µάνα µου/
γυναίκα και παιδιά/ Και µεις τραγούδια και χαρές/ Και τώρα και του
Χρόνου / Άγιος Βασίλης έρχεται/ Γεννάρης ξηµερώνει/ Και ο
νοικοκύρης του σπιτιού / Χίλια χρόνια να ζύσει!” (When have you come
St. Basil?/ And where have you come from?/ Was it from Valahia?/ And
from Bucharest? (…) I have crossed the Danube/ I’m going to Vlasti/ To
see my mother/ My wife and children/ I find the door open/ The windows
are gleaming/ Good day, mother dear/ Good day, my son/ I hug my
mother/ My wife and my children/ Merry songs and happiness/ This
year and in the year to come/ St. Basil is coming/ The early January
morn’s rising/ May the master of the house/ Live for a thousand years!)
A century and a half later something wonderful happened: the
descendants of the Greeks who came to Severin got back in touch with
their places of origin. They followed Rovas’ steps back to the villages
from which their ancestors had left long time before. They found their
great grandparents’ houses, the churches in which their parents or their
grandparents got married, old family photos and even relatives who
knew the same sad songs… it was extraordinary to see this resurrection
of an old cultural corridor (as Răzvan Theodorescu would call it), or
that of an old route of Balkania (as Monica Voudouri would say), on
which so many people and ideas have travelled.
Translation: Ana Scalcău

JEAN PONCET (FRANCE)
Words of Silence to Express the Signs of the
Inexpressible
In Blaga’s case, the poet’s approach is
identical to that of the philosopher: philosophy
and poetry are but two different modalities
geared towards the same end, that which has been pursued by mankind
since his birth: to unveil the meaning of the mystery of existence.
Lucian Blaga’s poetry abounds in signs, signs from the universe,
signs through which the Great Anonymous manifests himself to man. The
poet can only note the manifestation of the signs, he cannot decipher
them. Moreover, aware that there would be no point in looking for the
meaning of the signs, he deliberately gives up and takes pride in doing
so: “I never crush the world’s corolla of wonder/ nor even kill/ by
reasoning, those mysteries/ that stray my way/ in flowers, in eyes, on lips,
or tombs.”
To me the title Words of Silence to Express the Signs of the
Inexpressible is a fairly adequate definition of poetry, or at least of what
I consider good poetry. If I were a Zen master I would end my paper
right here and leave the reader to meditate these words for the remainder
of the day. But I wear no orange robe and we are not in a monastery. I
shall therefore try and develop my topic.
All kinds of signs appear in Lucian Blaga’s poems: ‘there came
a sign from the inscrutable: “Let there be light!’ 1 (The light), ‘signs,
signs of leaving’ (Signs), ‘sighing at the last sign the hands have
stopped still’ (Old town), ‘A sign under the sky was given yesterday in
the ring of deceit’ (The sign of autumn), ‘Many times you unfold all the
signs’ (Sunset over the sea), ‘at a sign the blue sky collapsed’, ‘The
nightingales of the hour, in our rare gardens, grew silent in the light
that comes forth in vain and since then, there’s been no sign’ (The poet),
‘Sancho, do you see signs on the horizon, how they keep following us
insisting on leading us, those stars of the blue kingdom?’ (Don
Quixote), ‘Through valleys I search for buds, signs’ (Weeping willows).
1 All poems or extracts of poems quoted in this paper are taken from Complete
poetical works of Lucian Blaga, translated by Brenda Walker with Stelian
Apostolescu, The Center for Romanian Studies / UNESCO, 2001.

Thus it seems relevant to delve into the nature and function of
these signs. To throw some light on the issue I shall refer to Orthodox
theology on the one hand and Blaga’s philosophical work on the other
hand. The choice of these tools is by no means arbitrary; they are even
linked in more than one way. I need not stress that the Romanian space
belongs to what could be named the Orthodox area of influence.
Consequently the Romanian consciousness, like it or not, wallows in
Orthodoxy, just as the Western consciousness is deeply impregnated by
Catholicism or Protestantism, rather than Judeo-Christianity as is too
often said. With Blaga, the son of a pope, a student in theology, the
mark left by Orthodoxy was bound to be all the deeper and this can be
found by and large in the foundations of Blaga’s philosophy.
To begin with, I therefore propose to study a concept which,
although indeed common to several philosophical schools from Plato to
Wittgenstein, has acquired a very specific dimension in Orthodox
theory. This concept is sometimes called ‘negative theology’ or
‘aphaeretic theology’ (from the Greek αφαιρεσις, abstraction). What is
it? A method of reasoning which conceives God by applying to him
propositions which negate all conceivable predicates, a way of thinking
which aims at transcendence through negative propositions. In this
context God is not the cornerstone of a system of values or a set of
concepts, he is neither the Supreme Being, a being above all beings, nor
the intelligible essence, nor even ‘God’. Since God created man through
a free and gratuitous act of his will, there exists an impassable divide
between the Creator and his creature. God cannot be known absolutely;
by his very nature he is inaccessible to any concept, inaccessible to any
language. Gregory Palamas, one of the major theologians of the
Orthodox tradition, wrote in his Chapters on physics and theology
(chapter 77): ‘When it comes to him there is no word which the soul can
conceive or the language can utter. There is no understanding, nor
sharing through the senses or the intellect, and absolutely no
representation. This is why we are not allowed to give God’s essence a
name for, if we did so, we would attempt to define the truth which
transcends all truths’ 1 . Only another free and gratuitous act of God’s
will has enabled man to know him: Revelation, which reached its
1 Gregory Palamas, Physica, theologica, moralia et practica capita CL, in
Patrologia græca, edited by J.P. Migne, Paris, 1861 (translated from Latin by Jean
Poncet).

conclusion in the incarnation of God’s Word. To speak like Blaga I shall
say that, in aphaeretic theology, Jesus is a sign sent by God so man can
know him. I can then conclude the argument by stating that, since God
cannot be known except through the receiving of his signs, it follows
that he cannot be known through language: God is inexpressible, only
his signs can be expressed. At this stage Orthodox theology gives
Christianity a cosmic dimension: God does not dwell exiled in heaven,
he lies at the heart of all beings and things through his energy whose
signs we must discover and which we must unleash by re-establishing
the circulation of the ‘light of joy’ (φωσιλαρον) between the created and
the uncreated.
After this foray into Orthodox mysticism, let us now deal with
Blaga, Blaga the philosopher – although we shall see that the poet’s
approach is identical to that of the philosopher: philosophy and poetry
are but two different modalities geared towards the same end, that which
has been pursued by mankind since his birth: to unveil the meaning of
the mystery of existence. However – and this ties up with aphaeretic
theology – Blaga has no illusion about man’s ability to succeed in this
project. Better still, as early as his first philosophical trilogy, The trilogy
of knowledge, published between 1932 and 1934, his reasoning leads
him to theorize about man’s inability to access to the mystery of
existence. Thus, recalling in a chapter of The genesis of metaphor and
the meaning of culture, the third part of his Trilogy of culture, what he
had established some years before in his Trilogy of knowledge, Blaga
writes: ‘In the past we were given the opportunity to show that the field
of knowledge includes the existence of structural limits expressly
imposed onto our minds so as to prevent the positive and absolute
revelation of a mystery. Therefore we were led to speak of a
“transcendental censorship” to which the Great Anonymous subjects
human knowledge. In order to maintain and secure the existential
balance of the world, the Great Anonymous protects himself, and with
him all his creatures, against any attempt of the human mind aiming at
a positive and absolute revelation of the mysteries’ 1 . Confronted with
the unintelligible, should man resign to the situation and keep silent?
1 All philosophical quotations in this paper are taken from Geneza metaforei şi
sensul culturii, in Trilogia culturii, translated by Jean Poncet from the French
version by Y. Cauchois, Raoul Marin and Georges Danesco, Librairie du Savoir,
Paris, 1995.

The philosopher denies it: ‘Man has a means of revealing the mystery
other than direct and immediate knowledge. Indeed, in front of him the
way of accomplishments opens up, whether it be concrete
accomplishments, artistic accomplishments or, more generally, cultural
accomplishments’. But the same ‘transcendental censorship’, which
forces itself upon the intellect, also blocks the artist in his attempt to
unveil the mystery. Blaga continues the logical unravelling of his
reasoning, incidentally in a way that is fairly similar to Wittgenstein’s,
another aphaeretic and Blaga’s contemporary, in his Tractatus logicophilosophicus
1 : ‘If we believe that intellectual categories like the idea of
substance, the idea of causality, etc., are moments and structures
imposed upon the human mind by the working of a transcendental
censorship, then we feel entitled to assert that abyssal, or stylistic,
categories can similarly be considered as constitutive moments of a
transcendental control. The stylistic matrix, the abyssal categories, are
transcendental restraints; they function like regulatory valves which are
imposed onto man and his creative spontaneity, so that he be for ever
prevented from revealing the mysteries of the world in a positive and
adequate way’. Back to square one! Well, not quite. Since, through one
of his philosophical somersaults which are his trademark – there is even
some legitimacy in thinking that he over-uses the trick – Blaga gets us,
and himself, out of this fix: ‘Man’s mind lives essentially in the realm of
mysteries and revelations, and only one path is opened to it so it can go
beyond the immediate; as we have seen, the only path at its disposal is
1 Wittgenstein opposes language – or the world as expressed through language –
and its meaning: ‘Propositions can represent the whole of reality, but they cannot
represent what they must have in common with reality in order to be able to
represent it – logical form. In order to be able to represent logical form, we should
have to be able to station ourselves with propositions somewhere outside logic, that
is to say outside the world’ [4.12]. We cannot extract ourselves from language –
which to us is everything – to express the fact that language expresses something:
‘What expresses itself in language, we cannot express by means of language’
[4.121]. Therefore there exists an unutterable, an inexpressible and even, to a point,
an unthinkable, since for Wittgenstein the thinkable may be identified with the
representable. But the unutterable shows itself: ‘There are, indeed, things that
cannot be put into words. They make themselves manifest. They are what is
mystical’ [6.522]. For Wittgenstein the ‘mystical’ seems to correspond to an
experienced existential full which eludes any expressing: ‘It is not how things are in
the world that is mystical, but that it exists’ [6.44]. (Tractatus logico-philosophicus,
translated from German by David Pears and Brian McGuinness, Routledge, 1961).

that of stylistic elaborations. Through its various aspects, style
undoubtedly represents an attempt to leap towards the non-immediate,
but it also represents a system of restraint which prevents any positive
contact with the non-immediate or with the mystery. […] But let us not
be put off by this. […] It is the very two-pronged finality of style which
may save man’s creative destiny. […] It is because, or so it seems, the
Great Anonymous wants to keep man in a state of permanent creativity
that he grants him the prospect and the possibility of reaching beyond
the immediate through his stylistic elaborations. But it must be noted
that the very same stylistic frameworks constitute for man a sort of
restraint which also prevents him from creating at the level of the
Absolute, in other words to recreate the mysteries. […] However, style
eventually constitutes man’s utmost dignity since stylistic creation
enables him to reach beyond the immediate and attain his full human
status’.
This consciousness of Blaga’s that man has a duty to be a
creator even though he knows that he will not have access to
knowledge, seems to me fundamental and constitutive of his
personality. Perhaps we may even consider his philosophy as an a
posteriori attempt to rationalize intuitive and perfectly idiosyncratic
perceptions. His analysis is interesting; however, as it sheds light on
some aspects of his poetic creation – I am not saying it explains them,
even less it precedes them. Indeed, since there is no point attempting to
understand the unintelligible, we can (Blaga implicitly says we must), if
not express it – for this would be understanding it: the unintelligible is
necessarily inexpressible – but express its manifestations, its signs.
Now, as I wrote at the very beginning, Blaga’s poetry abounds in signs,
signs from the universe, signs through which the Great Anonymous
manifests himself to man. For example, in Runes, the most patent of
signs since it is a ‘signature’:
In the shape of runes, forgotten over the ages,
a signature has been borne by all beings.
The blessed birds under their wings – bear it
in liturgical flights as long as life.
An urn without handles, serving the light,
the moon also keeps it hidden on its spellbound
face which never turns.
Blocks of stone, wild beasts, hemlock

ear a signature whose key is lost.
A seal with two mysteries –
you, girl of fire, apparition, who on the shore
now raise your arms over the sea,
you carry it under your armpits.
Runes, runes everywhere,
who gives you meaning, who puts you there?
All beings, known and unknown,
bear a signature – who could defy it now?
Mountain lilies – under the moon –
have it out of reach on their crowns.
Under the heavens Mothers bear it on their brows.
Here the sign’s unintelligibility is clearly indicated: ‘a signature
whose key is lost’. The very origin of the sign is a problem: ‘who gives
you meaning, who puts you there?’. But there will be no answer to the
question. The poet can only note the manifestation of the signs, he
cannot decipher them. Moreover, aware that there would be no point in
looking for the meaning of the signs, he deliberately gives up and takes
pride in doing so:
I never crush the world’s corolla of wonder
nor even kill
by reasoning, those mysteries
that stray my way
in flowers, in eyes, on lips, or tombs.
The light of others
stifles the spell of the unpierceable hidden
in the depths of the darkness,
but I,
I with my light spawn the world’s mysteries –
and just as with its white rays the moon
never lessens, but trembling
makes even greater the mysteries of the night,
so I too enrich the dark horizon
with vibrant tremors of sacred secrets,
and everything that is uncertain
changes to even greater uncertainties
before my eyes –

ecause I love
flowers and eyes and lips and tombs. (I never crush the
world’s corolla of wonder)
It will be noted in passing that this deliberate refusal to ‘kill by
reasoning those mysteries’ is so constitutive of Blaga’s thought and its
literary manifestation that we find it expressed here, a genuine ars
poetica, in the first poem of the first collection which he published when
he was twenty-four.
Subsiding into silence therefore becomes very tempting.
Particularly as there is no lack of signs inviting him to keep silent:
Man, I’d tell you more,
but it’s all in vain –
and that’s why stars rise
and signal me to keep quiet
and signal me to keep quiet. (The mystery of the
initiated)
Furthermore, was Blaga not predisposed to muteness? It is a
known fact that he did not speak until he was four years old. As such it
could be but a relatively unimportant biographical peculiarity. But it
becomes relevant when we note the extent to which Blaga thrives in
emphasizing it, including it in his very poetry:
Lucian Blaga is mute like a swan.
In his country
the creature’s snow says everything.
His soul is always questing,
mutely, an age-old questing,
forever so,
until it reaches the final boundary. (Self-portrait)
Blaga turns this mutism, a personal characteristic, into the very
definition of the poet:
[…] Poets, all poets, are
just one, undivided, uninterrupted vast community.
Speaking, they are mute.[…]
They are alike in what they fail to utter. (The poets)
Why then does the world rumble with so many silent words
uttered by all those mute poets? Precisely because the world is full of
signs which prompt them to speak, to speak the words of silence that
belongs to them. Deprived of signs, the poets, like the nightingales of
the poem to the memory of Rilke, no longer sing:

The poet died killed by a rose under the sun,
by a thorn dipped
in a plain blue, in a plain light.
Since then, in bowers
all nightingales have grown silent
in wonder at what has taken place.
The nightingales of the hour, in our rare gardens,
grew silent in the light that comes forth in vain,
and since then, there’s been no sign.
I know nothing on earth
that would will them
to sing again. (The poet)
But why do the signs prompt the poet to speak? The poem on
‘the world’s corolla of wonder’ mentioned above, decidedly the key
poem in Blaga’s production, seems to provide the answer: because the
poet loves life in all its manifestations, ‘in flowers, in eyes, on lips, or
tombs’, manifestations which are all the signs of the mystery, the
unintelligible, the inexpressible. Because the poet’s function is to sing of
the signs, the mysteries. Doing which, he will say much more about the
riddle of existence than if using his powers of reasoning to try and
explain the unexplainable. More generally the poet’s words can only
exist because
[…] everywhere, through everything
it lays out its ground – poetry.. (Inscription)
Which takes us back to Orthodox mysticism and loops the loop
since, in quite a similar fashion, the Russian pilgrim says: ‘Everything
around me appeared to me beautiful […], everything prayed, everything
sang the glory of God! Now I understood what the Philokalia calls “the
knowledge of the language of the creation” and I saw how it is possible
to converse with God’s creatures’ 1 .
1 Откровенные рассказы странника духовному своему отцу (Candid tales of a
pilgrim to his spiritual father), translated by Jean Poncet from the French version
by J. Laloy, Seuil, Paris, 1966.

POEZIE – POETRY
Vesna Vujić (Bosnia and Hertzegovina)
Ispoljavanje zvuka
Na ivici mojih trepavica je slutnja
da svetlo nije ono sto reflektuje samo vid
i da su pusti jedino snovi
u kojima nema grča paklene vreline
Dobro, Ti si bez greha paganine
I nabacaj to kamenje odmah
Da više jednom vaskrsnem
hajde da pomerimo točak istorije
treba pratiti sunce
ono u mislima pesnika uvek zna svoj put
Zar nisi stigao do dovoljno glasne
Ja svoju bolest lečim
Pogledom na Tvoju ranu
Evo, biću i žrtveni jarac
Oderi kožu moju
I na njoj se razmnožavaj
Karen ima teatar
Te noći na koktelu
Znao je nekoliko francuskih reči
I baš onaj niz izazovnih
Naleteo je na njeno „Oui, je veux“

Vesna Vujić (Bosnia and Hertzegovina)
The Manifestation of a Sound
On the edge my eyelashes is a prediction
that the light is not it what reflects only sight
those only dreams are waste
in which there is no the cramp of infernal heat
All right, you are out of the sin pagan
And put on those stones immediately
That I resurrect finally
let move the wheel of history
needs accompany the sun
it in the mind of poet always knows its way
Do have come to sufficiently loud
I cure my illness
With view on Your wound
I will be the sacrificial goat
Flay my skin
And multiply itself on it
Karen has a theater
That night on a party
He knows several French words
Precisely that row of provocative words
He found her on her „ Oui, is veux “

Sa kojim je uspeo da se popne na njen motor
I pariskim ulicama vođen trenom
Slutnjom pauza na semaforima
U pauzi mirisanja njene kose
Nađe moj pogled sada
Dok mu pričam o vinskom monologu
Sa čašom na zalasku sunca
I bedrima filmskih diva
Kakve je imao
U satenskim plaštevima metropola
Karen je imala stan odmah kod Gradske kuće
Vodila je ljubav po celu noć i vozila kao manijak kroz gužvu
Dok se njegov govor orio na nekom french radiju
Čijim slušaocima nije upriličio avangardan descente
Na plašljivom engleskom do njenih svilenih nogu
Drugi su napisali eseje
A on je domislio osmeh
Nad svojim blagim „pas mieux“
U predgrađu mojih prstiju na kristalu
***
nekakvi fosilni ostaci duge muče me
kažeš
Idem, sa tvojim grudima u rukama
Nije baš poetično, ali volim te
Istina, naš prvi korak traje predugo
Iskreno, ne znam koji mi je danas
Inače, ne preferiram idealne, pa makar bili i čitaoci.

With it he climbs on her motorcycle
At moment he was took on Paris streets
Prediction of pauses on traffic lights
In pauses of smelling of her hair
He found my sight now
While I talk to him about the wine monologue
With the glass on the sunset
And thighs of movie stars
What he had
In sateen cloaks of metropolis
Karen has the apartment near the Town Hall
Has made love whole night and drives as maniac through a jam
While his speech echoes on a French radio station
Whose listeners he has not arranged the avant-garde descent
On the timid England to her silk legs
Other people has written essays
And he has thought the smile
Above its mild „pas mieux “
In suburbia of my fingers on the crystal
* * *
some fossil remains of rainbow torture me
you say
I come with your breasts in my hands
Is not precisely poetic, but I love you
Its truth, our first step lasts too long
Truly, I do not know what's about me today
Otherwise, I don't prefer ideal men,
so though that would be readers too.

Dyanko Dyanov (Bulgaria)
*
сякаш капки от вода хилядолетна
чупят вкаменените ми кости
същото събуждане отново
мимолетността дълбае монумента на сърцето
дълга дълга и предълга
нощ се ниже пред очите
на любимата ми восъчното тяло се топи
и въстават паметниците от думи
восъчното тяло в каменния въздух свети
цялата земя попада под усамотение...
същото събуждане нали
сякаш капки от вода хилядолетна
чупят вкаменените ми кости
пия чай мълча и премълчавам
мислите си на забравен и от себе си човек
- нощ не си ли и от камъка по-стара
*
който се гордее с въздуха
не спи
модерността се е събрала
в противоречието между две тела
положил сред тревите женското сърце
като лечебен камък
мъжът не предусеща върховенството на мига
и мисли че сношава вечността гали
на светлината голия корем а уморена тя
светулка в шепата таи
забравата е заразителна треви
с отци хилядолетни
младата жена остава да лежи опиянена
в руините на крепостта и запокитил глас
към дъното на нейната самотност
мъжът се изтерзава...
който се гордее с въздуха
не спи

Dyanko Dyanov (BULGARIA)
*
as though drops of millennial water
break my petrified bones
the same waking again
the transience carves the monument of heart
long, long and too long
night goes by before your eyes
the waxen body of my sweet-heart melts
and monuments of words rebel
the waxen body shines in the stony air
the whole earth falls into solitude…
it is the same waking isn’t it
as though drops of millennial water
break my petrified bones
I drink tea, I am silent and I keep silent
my thoughts of a man, forgotten also by himself
- night, are you not older than the stone
*
who is proud of the air
he does not sleep
the modernity is gathered
in the contradiction between two bodies
laying on the grass the woman’s heart
like a healing stone
the man does not anticipate the superiority of the moment
and he thinks that he has intercourse wit eternity he fondles
the naked abdomen of light and it, tired,
keeps a glow-worm in the hand
forgetfulness is infectious grass
with millennial fathers
the young woman remains laying flushed
in the ruins of the castle and, throwing his voice
to the bottom of its loneliness,
the man torments himself
who is proud of the air
he does not sleep
(from Bulgarian by Margarit Zhekov)

Aksinia Mihailova (BULGARIA)
В очакване на вятъра
Уча се да пускам хвърчила
както се уча да бъда майка:
от вчера, от седмици,
тринайсет години вече.
Няма да успея - нито книгите,
ни съветите помагат.
Резки придърпвания на кордата,
ако я отпуснеш прекалено
слънцето ще опърли опашката
на хвърчилото;
кървава резка на показалеца,
върху баира
между магарешките тръни
по стръмното
издига се пада
оранжевият триъгълник,
улавям за миг
вятъра
и му се отдавам,
преди да се изгубя
сред ятото щъркели отнасящи
август и хвърчилото зад баира.
С единия крак в детството,
толкова белези по колената
и по чернобелите снимки,
ще успееш,
прошепва ми ангелът-хранител,
да пускаш хвърчила
е като да населяваш душата си
с нови небеса,
докато сам се превърнеш
на вятър.

Aksinia Mihailova (BULGARIA)
Bracing for the wind
I have been learning how to kite
like I have been learning how to be a mother
since yesterday, since ever,
thirteen years have passed.
I can’t do it – neither books,
nor people’s advice do help.
Rapid pull of the strings,
if you loosen them too much
the sun will scorch the tail
of your kite;
a blood scar on the forefinger left,
over the hill
among the thistles
my orange triangle
is rising and falling
in a blink of an eye,
I capture the wind blowing
I give myself up to it
before immersing myself in
the flock of storks in flight carrying away
the time and the kite over the hill.
With one foot in my childhood
so many scars on my knees
on my black and white photographs,
you’ll do it,
whispers my guardian angel,
flying kites
is like inhabiting your soul
with heavens
until you yourself turn
into a wind.

Чучулига
нито се приближава
нито се отдалечава
в августовската мараня
държа я с очи
над полето с макове
и не смея да помръдна
да не предизвикам вятър
с някоя ненужна мисъл
така се чувствам нужна
на пейзажа
Опитомяване
лявата ми ръка
върху хартията;
ако заличиш
палеца и кутрето
и на мястото им
напишеш стих,
погледната отгоре
осакатената ми
костелива ръка
ще заприлича на птича стъпка
прикована към листа
с черни мастилени верижки.
Като онази екзотична птица
от картината в галерия “Gouttière”:
учи се да лети по земята,
безразлична към туристите,
и кълве зърна само
от дланта на собственика.

A Skylark
neither is she approaching
nor is she going away
in the August haze
I am holding her with my eyes
above the poppy field
not daring to move
lest I make the wind blowing
by my dispensable thoughts
so indispensable in the landscape
I feel
Taming
My left hand
over a piece of paper;
if you erased
my thumb and my little finger
and replaced them with verse,
my hand mutilated and bony
seen from the above
would resemble
a step of a bird
chained to the piece of paper
with tiny inky bracelets.
Like that exotic bird
of the painting at the Gouttière gallery:
she is learning how to fly on the ground,
ignoring the tourists,
picking up the seeds
only from the palm of her master.

Ivan Zhelev (BULGARIA)
*
Някои листа падат толкова бавно,
че падат върху следващата есен.
Признание
Обичам слънчевите места
на твоите лунички.
Страхувам се от здрача –
не ставам за звезда.
Що за птица с поведение на небе –
мислят очите ти.
Истината е по-ниско.
Аз съм пеперуда –
червей, който може да лети
малко по-високо
от цветята.
*
Слизаш от небето като птиче.
Бродиш по земята като псе.
Лесно е живота да обичаш.
Трудното е – да го понесеш.
Пустинята
Човек като премине през надеждите
навлиза в тишината на пустинята.
Но устните й бронзови и безутешни
понякога внезапно се усмихват.
И срещат се внезапно той и тя
в пустинята, която днес ги пази,
че всеки е за другия сега
вода и сянка, ангел и оазис.

Ivan Zhelev (BULGARIA)
*
Some leafs fall off so slowly,
that they fall over the next autumn.
Acknowledgement
I love the sunny places
of your freckles.
I fear the evenfall -
I am not fit for a star.
‘What a bird with a heavenly behavior’,
Your eyes think.
The truth is lower.
I am a butterfly -
A worm that is able to fly
A little bit higher
than the flowers are.
*
You fly down from heaven like a little bird.
You wander on the land like a dog.
It is easy to love the life on earth.
It is hard to suffer it.
The Desert
The man, after passing through the hopes,
comes at desert’s silence.
But its bronzed, hopeless lips
Sometimes suddenly smile.
And he and she suddenly gather
In the desert keeping them today,
That each is now for the other
water and shadow, angel and oasis.
(translated from Bulgarian by Margarit Zhekov)

Tolis Nikiforou (GREECE)
µεταγγίζει σε λέξεις το φως
ζει ο βασιλιάς Αλέξανδρος
ρώτησε στο δωµάτιο η πλαστική γοργόνα
είναι ξέρετε ο τελευταίος ποιητής
ένα χαρούµενο παιδί µε θλιµµένα µάτια
µια πνοή του απείρου σε ανθρώπινη σάρκα
ένα άγγιγµα παρήγορο της γης
απλωµένος είναι στα πόδια του ο ήλιος
οι λεπτότερες χορδές της ζωής µου
ένα κόσµος γαλάζια παιχνίδια
ο βασιλιάς Αλέξανδρος ζει
γνωρίζω τα δάχτυλα και τη φωνή του
διαγράφει αόρατα σχήµατα
µεταγγίζει σε λέξεις το φως
ανεξακρίβωτο ιπτάµενο αντικείµενο
στον Βασίλη
αλκυόνες µε περίλαµπρα χρώµατα
οι µακρινοί µου πρόγονοι
ένα σµήνος µε εξόριστα φτερά
από τον άγνωστο γαλαξία
µεσουράνησαν στην µεγάλη σκοτεινιά
έτη και έτη φωτός
κρατώντας τον σπόρο της δηµιουργίας
σφιχτά στο ράµφος
κι έρχοµαι σήµερα εγώ
µε αίµα και φως να σας µιλήσω
µε τα θαυµάτων τα λίγα ψίχουλα
θανάσιµα τοξεύω την καρδιά σας
έρχοµαι σήµερα εγώ να ζωγραφίσω
ένα φανταστικό πουλί στο µέτωπό σας

Tolis Nikiforou (GREECE)
A Transfusion of Light into Words
King Alexander's alive?
asked the plastic mermaid in the room
everyone knows he's the last poet
a joyful child with sad eyes
an immortal spark in human flesh
a consoling touch of the earth
prostate at his feet lies the sun
my life on the slimmest thread
a world full of sky blue toys.
King Alexander is alive
I know his fingers and his voice
he traces invisible shapes
transfuses the light into words
U.F.O.
to Vassilis
Halcyons with resplendent colours
my distant ancestors
a flock of birds with wings exiled
from the unknown galaxy
soared in the great darkness
for light years and years
holding the seed of creation
firmly in their beak
and I come today
to speak to you with blood and light
I shoot deadly arrows into your heart
with the few crumbs from the miracles
today I come to paint
an imaginary bird on your forehead.

χειµωνιάτικος ήλιος, 2
όπως ψηλά οι γκρίζες στέγες των σπιτιών
φωτίζονται νοσταλγικά
από τον ήλιο του χειµώνα
ακόµα βουτηγµένες στη βροχή
όπως το µακρινό βουνό
υψώνεται και αιωρείται πάνω στη θάλασσα
σχεδόν αγγίζει την ακτή
µέσα στη διαφάνεια του πρωινού αέρα
όπως τα µάτια της γάτας
ανθίζουν µε µικρές φωτιές τη νύχτα
έτσι και το χαµόγελό σου µπουµπουκιάζει
ανάµεσα στους τοίχους και την άσφαλτο
είσαι ένα φύλλο πράσινο
µε φλέβες νοτισµένες από τη βραδινή δροσιά
µια κίνηση ανάλαφρη που ζωντανεύει τη χαρά
ένα γλυκό του κουταλιού
ένα νερό στον δίσκο της γιαγιάς
µέσα στην κάτασπρη αυλή της συνοικίας
βυθισµένοι σε αχνά χαµόγελα και φως
µέσα σε πολύχρωµα αδιάβροχα και ζεστούς σκούφους,
φορώντας τις µαγικές τους µπότες, βυθισµένοι σε αχνά
χαµόγελα και φως, κάθε πρωί εισπλέουν στο νηπιαγωγείο
της γειτονιάς οι άγγελοι που δεν γνωρίσαµε. σαν µπίλιες
απ’ τις τσέπες τους στο χώµα απλώνουν όλα τ’ αστέρια
τ’ ουρανού, µας δείχνουν τον θεό που δεν πιστέψαµε,
σκορπίζουν στον αέρα θαύµατα που δεν αξίζουµε, µε
µιαν ανάσα τους στηρίζουν την ετοιµόρροπη ζωή µας

Winter Sun, 2
As, up high, the grey roofs of the houses
still drenched with rain
are lit nostalgically
by the winter sun
as the distant mountain
rises and hangs above the sea
nearly touching the shore
in the transparency of the morning air
as the eyes of the cat
make the night bloom with small fires
so also does your smile blossom
between the walls and the asphalt road.
You are a green leaf
with veins damp from the evening dew
a subtle gesture that revives joy
a spoonful of sweet preserve
a glass of water on grandma's tray
in the gleaming neighbourhood courtyard.
submerged in faint smiles and light
in coloured raincoats and warm caps, wearing their magic
boots, submerged in faint smiles and light, each morning
the angels we have never known sail in the neighbourhood
kinder garden. like marbles from their pockets on the ground
they spread all the stars of the sky, they point to the god
we have not believed, they scatter in the air miracles we
do not deserve, propping up our crumbling life with a single
breath

Theodoros Santas (GREECE)
Μαθήµατα υποµονής
Μη µε ρωτάς, πως ξοδεύω τη Μοίρα
Ψάχνω τα Καλοκαίρια
µαζί σου, άλλη ζωή να γευτώ
Κι αν µε καίει ο στίχος σου
πιο πολύ απ’τον ήλιο
κι αν του ανέµου καυτή είν’η ανάσα
εγώ ζω και σε περιµένω
στην όαση των ερωτευµένων
στης ποίησης το παράδεισο
γιατί στίχο –στίχο σ’αγάπησα
τόσο που δεν κατάλαβα
ότι η φωτιά µε περίµενε.
Και µε τα αισθήµατα
δεν πρέπει να παίζει κανένας.
Μοιάζει δυσίατο νόσηµα ο έρωτας
πάνω από λογικές και τα πρέπει.
Κι αν περιµένω ένα τραγούδι
µε των αγγέλων το άρωµα
είναι γιατί ξέρω, εσύ το έγραψες
να οµορφαίνεις τα βράδια µου
να ζω την ποιητική τη δική σου
κι ας µη σ’έχω κοντά µου.
Μόνο τα ηµιτόνια
από κάτι στίχους δικούς σου
που προεξέχουν για µένα
φτάνουν να επιχειρήσω
να σου γράψω ένα ποίηµα ακόµη
να µη µοιάζει µε τ’άλλα
Μα η αγάπη είναι µία
κι εγώ ,ένα ξεκρέµαστο εγώ
που περιµένει εσένα
να γίνουµε ένα!
Παντα κατι γραφω για σενα
Πάντα κάτι γράφω για σένα
και πάντα ζηλεύουν οι άνεµοι.
Κι είναι στ’ αλήθεια η ποίηση
µια αγάπη ανεκπλήρωτη
όταν φοβάσαι να πεις σ’αγαπώ.
Όλοι µας κουβαλάµε
σε κάτι κιτρινισµένα χαρτιά
τα απαγορευµένα ποιήµατα
τον ανεκπλήρωτο έρωτα.

Theodoros Santas (GREECE)
Patience lessons
Don’t ask me how I spend Fate
I am exploring the summers
with you, another life to taste
and if your verse burns me
more than the sun
and if the wind’s breath is fervid
I live and wait for you
at the oasis of the lovebirds
at the heaven of poetry
because verse by verse I loved you
so much that I did not understand
that fire was expecting me
And with feelings
noone should play.
Eros seems severe illness to cure
beyond reasons and musts.
And if I am waiting for a song
with the angels’ scent
it is because I know, that you composed it
in order to beautify my evenings
to live poetics your poetics
even if I don’t have you close
Only the semitones
from some rhymes of yours
that stand out for me
are enough to venture
the writing of another poem
not similar to the others.
But love is one
and I, just an I on the loose
which awaits you
so that we become one!
Always writing something for you
I always write something for you
and always winds are jealous.
And poetry really is
an unfulfilled love
when you are scared to say I love you.
All of us carry
in some off-white papers
the forbidden poems
the unfulifilled eros.

απ’ το φύλλο της µαργαρίτας.
Ποτέ δεν ξεδιπλώνεται
εντελώς η ψυχή στον αέρα
ποτέ η ποίηση δεν επιµένει
να της αποκαλυφθεί το µυστικό
απ’ το πονεµένο τραγούδι της Φεϊρούζ.
Η ποίηση ζει µε το όνειρο
για λίγο παράδεισο
απ’ την οµορφιά της «Αναδυόµενης»
και για λίγο γαλάζιο
απ’ τα µάτια του Φοίβου.
Κι είναι µεγάλη τιµή
για τα ποιήµατα που ευτυχούν
να κυκλοφορούν αδιαµφισβήτητα στους αιώνες.
Γιατί η ποίηση-αν µιλήσουµε λεύτερα-
είναι ένας έρωτας επικίνδυνος
κι εµείς, ξεχάσαµε το εµείς
κουβαλώντας αµετανόητα το Εγώ µας!
Ενασ ηλιοσ ονειρων
Πες ότι σου χρωστάω ένα ποίηµα ακόµα
λίγους στίχους ευγνωµοσύνης
πες ότι σου χρωστάω πολλά
τη ζωή µου ολάκαιρη.
Κι αν στη γλάστρα µου
ρόδινος βάφεται ο έρωτας
το τραγούδι του είσαι εσύ
σε όλες τις γλώσσες του κόσµου
κατανοητό και ανεπανάληπτο
µ’ έναν ήλιο ονείρων
να µη µου στερεύει η ποίηση.
Ήρθες ,σαν αναλαµπή
σε κάτι µέρες θαµπές
σαν άγγελος της αγάπης
µε µια εµπασιά, σαν από θύελλα
και µ’ έσπρωξες στην ποιητική.
Ήρθε σαν θείο µου δώρο
και µ’ άγγιξες µ’ ένα τρέµουλο της ψυχής
όταν τα δάκρυ της νύχτας
είχε στεγνώσει επάνω µου
κι εσύ, φίλησες το παράπονο
των εγκλωβισµένων .
Κάτι σιγοψιθύρισες
στη ρίζα της πικροδάφνης
κι άστραψε ο ορίζοντας
κι ύστερα γίναµε
ποίηµα της φωτιάς!

From the marguerite’s petal
soul never unfolds
entirely in the air
poetry never insists
on giving away the secret
from Fayrouz’s achy song.
Poetry lives with the dream
for a bit of heaven
from “resurgent” ’s beauty
and for a bit of blue
from Phoebus’ eyes.
And it’s a great honour
for the poems that thrive
to go around the centuries unexceptionably.
Because poetry –if we speak with freedom-
is a dangerous eros
we, we forgot the “we”
bearing impenitently our “I”!
A sun of dreams
Say that I owe you one more poem
a few verses of gratitude
say I owe you much
my entire life.
And if in my flowerpot,
rosy my eros is blushed
his song is you
in all the languages of the world
coherent and unprecedented
with a sun of dreams
the poetry not to run dry.
You came like a glimmer
on some blurred days
like an angel of love
with a shove, like of a storm
and you pushed me towards poetics.
You came as a devine gift
and you touched me with a tremble of the soul
when the tear of the night
dried on myself
and you, you kissed the grievance
of the enclaves.
You whispered something
to the root of the oleander
and the horizon twinkled
and then we became
a poem of fire!

Nikola Madzirov (Republica MACEDONIA)
Сенките нè одминуваат
Еден ден ќе се сретнеме,
како бротче од хартија и
лубеница што се лади во реката.
Немирот на светот ќе
биде со нас. Со дланките
ќе го помрачиме сонцето и со фенер
ќе се доближуваме.
Еден ден ветрот нема
да го промени правецот.
Брезата ќе испрати лисја
во нашите чевли пред прагот.
Волците ќе тргнат по
нашата невиност.
Пеперутките ќе го остават
својот прав врз нашите образи.
Една старица секое утро
ќе раскажува за нас во чекалната.
И ова што го кажувам е
веќе кажано: го чекаме ветрот
како две знамиња на граничен премин.
Еден ден сите сенки
ќе нè одминат.
Кога некој заминува
сè што е создадено се враќа
На Марјан К.
Во прегратката зад аголот ќе препознаеш
дека некој некаде оди. Секогаш е така.
Живеам меѓу две вистини
како неонка што се колеба во

Nikola Madzirov (Republic of MACEDONIA)
Shadows pass us by
We’ll meet one day,
like a paper boat and
a watermelon that’s been cooling in the river.
The anxiety of the world will
be with us. Our palms
will eclipse the sun and we’ll
approach each other holding lanterns.
One day, the wind won’t
change direction.
The birch will send away leaves
into our shoes on the doorstep.
The wolves will come after
our innocence.
The butterflies will leave
their dust on our cheeks.
An old woman will tell stories
about us in the waiting room every morning.
Even what I’m saying has
been said already: we’re waiting for the wind
like two flags on a border.
One day every shadow
will pass us by.
When someone goes away
everything that’s been done comes back
For Marjan K.
In the embrace on the corner you will recognize
someone’s going away somewhere. It’s always so.
I live between two truths
like a neon light trembling in
an empty hall. My heart collects

празен ходник. Моето срце собира
сè повеќе луѓе, зашто нив веќе ги нема.
Така е секогаш. Четвртина од будноста
ја трошиме во трепкање. Нештата
ги забораваме уште пред да ги изгубиме -
тетратката по краснопис, на пример.
Ништо не е ново. Седиштето во
автобусот е секогаш топло.
Последните зборови се пренесуваат
како накосени кофи во вообичаен летен пожар.
Утре пак ќе се повтори истото -
лицето пред да исчезне од фотографијата
првин ќе ги изгуби брчките. Кога некој заминува
сè што е создадено се враќа.
Дом
Живеев на крајот од градот
како улично светло на кое никој
не му ја менува светилката.
Пајажината ги држеше ѕидовите заедно,
потта нашите споени дланки.
Во преобразбите на невешто соѕиданите камења
го криев плишаното мече
спасувајќи го од сонот.
Деноноќно го оживував прагот
враќајќи се како пчела што
секогаш се враќа на претходниот цвет.
Беше мир кога го напуштив домот:
гризнатото јаболко не беше потемнето,
на писмото стоеше марка со стара напуштена куќа.
Кон тивките простори од раѓање се движам
и под мене празнини се лепат
како снег што не знае дали на земјата
или на воздухот припаѓа.

more and more people, since they’re not here anymore.
It’s always so. One fourth of our waking hours
is spent in blinking. We forget
things even before we lose them –
the calligraphy notebook, for instance.
Nothing’s ever new. The bus
seat is always warm.
Last words are carried over
like oblique buckets to an ordinary summer fire.
The same will happen all over again tomorrow—
the face, before it vanishes from the photo,
will lose the wrinkles. When someone goes away
everything that’s been done comes back.
Home
(translated by Magdalena Horvat)
I lived at the edge of the town
like a streetlamp whose light bulb
no one ever replaces.
Cobwebs held the walls together,
and sweat our clasped hands.
I hid my teddy bear
in the holes in the unskillfully built stone walls
saving him from dreams.
Day and night I made the threshold come alive
returning like a bee that
always returns to the previous flower.
It was a time of peace when I left home:
the bitten apple was not bruised,
on the letter a stamp with an old abandoned house.
From birth I’ve migrated to quiet places
and voids have clung beneath me
like snow that doesn’t know if it belongs
to the earth or to the air.
translated by Peggy and Graham W. Reid

Cassian Maria Spiridon (ROMANIA)
Glăsuirea bufonului
mă locuiesc oarecum cu indiferenţă
îmi ocup trupul
îmi ocup carnea
trec prin spaţiu
fără adieri sau valuri de frig
în urma mea
nici o hîrtie nu se ridică-n picioare
pipăi golul
sau trec prin el
*
deodată
era şi inima
amestecată prin cer
şi ningea
cu fulgi grei
de juram
că mă făcusem un lac
aproape un lac
în care alb mîna degera
*
prin noapte vine cu paşi ca de umbră
sufletul
poartă-n spinare capul palid
cu păr de cenuşă
se mişcă prin camera goală
abia răsuflînd
ascuns după cărţi aud răsuflarea
atunci cu spaimă caut Cartea
pe care o deschid

Cassian Maria Spiridon (ROMANIA)
The buffoon’ s speech
I inhabit myself quite indifferently
I inhabit my body
I inhabit my flesh
I cross the space
without stirring the light gentle wind or the waves of cold
behind me
no paper comes up from the ground
I touch the void
or I go through it
*
suddenly
my heart also
is one with the sky
and the heavy snowflakes
keep falling down
that I can swear
I have turned into a lake
almost a lake
where white my hand is frost-bitten
*
in the night with steps light as a shadow walks
my soul
on its back it bears a pale head
adorned with greyish hair
it moves through the void room
hardly breathing
hidden behind the books I can hear the breath
and quite frightened I look for the Book
which I open

*
glonţul turnat pentru inima mea
umblă rătăcind prin lume
mă caută fără odihnă
închis în dosare
cu trei sau patru parafe
prin care legea a căzut la-nvoială
să fie ştanţate cîteva grame de plumb
*
îmi duc umbra bolnavă de rău
furişată/cu petele vineţi
tăiată de firele ierbii
lovită cu pietre
îmi duc umbra bolnavă de rău
de aer/ de vîntul plin de pulberea zilei
de pulberea nopţii
bolnavă de gol
îmi duc umbra ca o lumină
urcată pe cer
prăfuită/alungată
urmează sufletul meu
*
important e
să nu terminăm
să ne ştergem pantofii
de spinările noastre
fără invidie
să nu ne facem probleme
gura se lasă văzută
dinţii se lasă auziţi
important e
primul pas
mîine voi afla uşa camerei/smulsă
hîrtii împrăştiate pe toată cîmpia
lebede lipsite de zbor
pete pe faţa nevăzută
poeme sinucise

*
the bullet cast for my heart
keeps straying into the world
looking for me without rest
enclosed in the dossiers
with three or four seals
through which the law has made a deal
so that a few grams of lead should be punched
*
I bear my shadow suffering from sickness
hidden / with spots all black and blue
cut off by the blades of grass
hit with stones
I bear my shadow suffering from
air-sickness/ from the wind full of the day’s dust
of the night’s dust
suffering from the void
I bear my shadow like a light
ascended in the sky
covered with dust / driven away
then comes my soul
*
what really matters is
that we should keep on
wiping our shoes
against our backs
without envy
that we should stop worrying about
the mouth allows to be seen
the teeth allow to be heard
what really matters
is the first step
tomorrow I will find the door of the room / torn off
papers scattered all over the plain
swans bereft of flight
spots on the invisible face
poems killed themselves
Translation: Olimpia Iacob

HAIKU
Antoaneta Nikolova (BULGARIA)
върху дъха си на стъклото Upon his breath
детето нарисува on the window
слънце a kid is drawing the sun.
през огледалото минава сянка A shadow
във стаята is crossing the mirror.
не се променя нищо No change in the room.
безлюден дом dark windows
в прозорците му – reflecting
светлините на чуждия the other home’s light
навсякъде край мене – Foreign speech around me.
чужда реч But the birds’ song
но песента на птиците е същата is the same.
Зелено, зелено... Green everywhere…
От реката извират New and newer trees
все по-нови дървета spring from the river.
лятна привечер summer dusk
рояк мушици swarm of midges
привлечени от топлината ми attracted by my warmth

Stella Leontiadou (GREECE)
Σταγόνες βροχής Raindrops
αλλαγή µιας εποχής, change of an epoch,
µελαγχολία. melancholy.
Πικρός µαρασµός Bitter decline
άνθη φθινοπωρινά, autumn flowers,
τέλος εποχής end of season
Ταξίδι στερνό, Last trip,
αστέρι στον ουρανό star in the sky
να µας φωτίζει to lighten us
Φύλλα νεκρά σε Dead leaves
φθινοπώρου τελετές, in autumn ceremonies,
άδειες ζωές empty lifes.
Πυγολαµπίδες Fire-flies
στο άδειο σκοτάδι, in the empty darkness,
νησίδες φωτιάς islets of fire
Φεγγάρι στιλπνό Glossy moon
πέπλο λευκού ονείρου, veil of white dream,
φως στο σκοτάδι light in the darkness
Άγονοι δρόµοι Unfruitful ways
σε οάσεις ονείρου, in oasis of dream,
τέλµατα ζωής morasses of life

Şerban Codrin (ROMANIA)
Printre fire verzi Among fresh green blades
un pai de anul trecut – a straw of a year ago –
singur bătrânul old and all alone
Un hoţ de iarbă A grass skillful thief
cărând luna în spate – carries the moon on his back–
noapte albastră splendid bluish night
Nopţi fără greieri – Nights withaut crickets –
ceva i se întâmplă something wrong is happening
universului to the Univers
Calea Lactee The Milky Way
în strachina cu apă in the water bowl
a tâmplarului – of the carpenter –
m-aşez la masa de lemn i sit at the wooden table
cu lingura în mână with the spoon in the hand
*
Iată cum devii Look how you become
maestrul unei arte the master of
desăvârşite – a perfect art –
culegi câteva frunze you pick up some leaves
într-o seară de toamnă in one autumnal evening

Dumitru Ene-Zărneşti (ROMANIA)
ceaţă spre măguri- fog onto the hills-
o frunză zboară a leaf is flying
spre eternitate to eternity
rouă- dew-
într-o urmă in a track
o floare strivită the crushed flower
ţarină - field -
în rouă into the dew
soarele dimineţii the morning sun
parc - park
bătrânul miroase the old sman smells the flowers
florile rourate covered with dew
apus de soare - sunset
un vultur argintiu a silver eagle
planează încă still gliding
foc de tabără - camp fire-
coroanele pomilor the corollas start
prind strălucire shining
peisaj lunar - lunar landscape-
vulcanii noroioşi muddy volcanoes
bolborosesc încă still grumbling
Translation: Mădălin Teodor Roşioru

Dragan J. Ristich (SERBIA)
mase avionu– waving to an airplane–
dete se ne seca poslednjeg the child doesn’t remember
bombardovanja the last bombing
prvi zrak sunca the first sunray
obasja rusevinu iz rata – shines on the war ruin –
macka se proteze the cat is stretching
sunce na moru seaside sun
obasja i ribice lightning up also little fisches
na tanjiru on the plate
dunuo vetar – the wind begins to blow –
promrdale ribice the fish start moving
na suncobranu on the parasol
sneg the snow
tone u tamu – is sinking in the darkness -
san the dream
selim se u nov stan I’m moving to a new flat
- pauk u uglu sobe - a spider in the corner
vec je tamo already there

Petar Tchouhov (BULGARIA)
есенно слънце autumn sun
две монети върху two coins over
очите на мама my mother’s eyes
слънчева сутрин sunny morning
обичам дори I love even
кучето на съседа my neighbor’s dog
дребна кавга petty quarrel
пух от глухарче dandelion fluff
в косите й in her hair
връстници – the same age –
нейната сянка her shadow
и моята and mine
пълнолуние full moon
проститутката ме нарича the call girl calls me
ангел angel
новолуние new moon
светулката която the firefly
убих I killed

INTERWIES
PAMELA IONESCU (ROMANIA & USA)
Amintiri de odinioară: Două oraşe levantine -
Silistra şi Turtucaia
Mihaela Albu: Dragă doamnă Pamela Ionescu, te
afli acum în pragul a nouă decenii de viaţă trăită la
cote maxime şi pe multe coordonate geografice. Eu
te-am cunoscut în New York în urmă cu circa zece
ani şi, în discuţiile noastre, mi-ai evocat adesea
momente din viaţa ta atât de plină de evenimente, ca de exemplu
bombardamente atroce germane asupra Londrei din 1940-1942, de locurile
speciale în care ai poposit, de oamenii pe care i-ai cunoscut. Care sunt
amintirile cele mai vechi?
Pamela Ionescu: Amintirile mă duc întâi cu gândul la Silistra anilor 30.
M.A.: Ce imagini ai din oraşul acesta care aparţinea pe atunci României?
P. I. : Oraşul se întindea între Dunăre şi un şir de dealuri mănoase, pline de
păduri şi vii. Trăiau acolo mulţi turci, armeni, macedoneni-negustori şi bulgari,
buni gospodari şi grădinari. Turcii vindeau iaurt excelent; treceau pe străzi cu
cobiliţele de care atârnau vasele adânci de pământ în care iaurtul se menţinea
răcoros. Se lua felii-felii, cu o paletă de lemn ... „Iaurgiuu ...., iaurgiuu” ...,
strigau. Duminicile şi sărbătorile vindeau peste tot seminţe de dovleac prăjite,
alune americane, baclavale, bragă şi salep din nişte frumoase containere de
alamă, cu ţevi sofisticate şi clopoţei coloraţi ca să atragă cât mai mult atenţia şi
în special pofta copiilor. Aceste containere erau purtate în spate şi conţinutul se
turna în pahare printr-o ţeavă cu robinet, graţioasă ca un gât de lebădă.
„Saleeep, saleep, braga dulce, braga dulce!” Erau strigăte ce se contopeau în
acel pitoresc amestec latin, slav şi oriental. Mai vindeau turcii pe micile lor
tarabe tot felul de rahat colorat, unul numit sugiuc, cu nuci, fără nuci, pistil,
floricele făcute mingişoare date prin sirop roşu, îngheţată purtată pe cărucioare.
Oh, ce ne mai plăceau toate acestea când eram copii!
M.A.: Ce populaţie predomina în Silistra?
P. I.: Aspectul populaţiei era eterogen. Doamne elegante cu pălării, turcoaice
cu şalvari, bulgăroaice cu fuste creţe, legate pe cap cu fişiuri strânse cu nod în
mijlocul creştetului, turci cu fesuri şi turbane, fiecare îşi vedea de treaba şi de
obiceiurile lui, trăind laolaltă paşnic şi în bună înţelegere.

Aceasta era Silistra, oraş cu regiment, cu trei licee româneşti şi unul
bulgăresc, cu prefect şi primar, judecătorie, avocaţi, medici, profesori ...
Destulă protipendadă ca să dea oraşului aspect monden, cu pretenţii. Ofiţerime
de elită cu colonel şi general; ei formau vârful societăţii elegante.
…………………………………………………….
M.A: Petreceai vacanţele la Silistra?
P. I.: Nu, de obicei în vacanţă, eu eram trimisă la bunici în Turtucaia, oraşul în
care mă născusem. În fiecare vară îmi pregăteam cu nespusă plăcere micul meu
bagaj, o valijoară îmbrăcată într-o husă maro, cu care mă duceam să-mi petrec
o parte din vacanţă la rudele din partea mamei, bunici, unchi şi mătuşi, veri şi
verişoare care locuiau în pitorescul orăşel de pe malul Dunării. Plecam cu
vaporul la miezul nopţii şi ajungeam dimineaţa în zori, înainte de răsăritul soarelui.
De obicei mă ducea tata la debarcader, mă urca pe vapor şi apoi ştiam că
la prima oprire voi coborî şi mă voi descurca singură. În cele câteva ore de
navigaţie pe Dunăre nu dormeam, deşi era noapte. Îmi plăcea să ascult
zgomotul surd al motoarelor şi uneori ieşeam pe punte şi priveam noaptea înstelată
de vară în liniştea străpunsă doar de prora care spinteca apele întunecate.
Prima dată, când aveam vreo 10-11 ani, m-a însoţit tata, şi atunci mi-aduc
aminte cum, până la sosirea vaporului în port, am mâncat la un restaurant,
probabil turcesc, nişte mititei care mi s-au părut atât de buni şi o pâine caldă
atât de gustoasă şi crocantă, încât multă vreme, chiar şi azi îmi aduc aminte ce
plăcere mi-au făcut. Pe vapor, spre ziuă, am băut ceai fierbinte cu lămâie, din
pahare susţinute în suporturi de metal, cu franzelă şi unt. Ceaiul, răcoarea
zorilor şi a apelor, lumina violacee a dimineţii în care începeau să se contureze
malurile, pe partea stângă mai vizibil, cu păduri pitice şi dealuri scunde în depărtare,
se asociază pentru mine într-un farmec nespus, estompat în ceaţa atâtor
amar de ani!
M.A: Cum se vedea oraşul când te apropiai de el cu vaporul? Care era prima
imagine?
P. I.: Curând apăreau căsuţele, mai rare la început, apoi mai mari şi mai grupate
în pâlcuri printre copaci, pe o colină destul de mare pe care se întindea
orăşelul. Din port, din faţa cheiului, porneau în terase, trepte de piatră, multe,
pe care puteai să urci spre străzile din deal, cum le spuneau localnicii. În port se
întindea, pe mai multe sute de metri, o faleză frumoasă cu parapet din bare de
fier şi pavată cu plăci pătrate de ciment. Apoi urcai. Tot timpul trebuia să urci
pe ulicioare şi străduţe străjuite de case cu un cat şi cerdac deschis sau cu
geamlâc, case în stil turcesc şi bulgăresc, rămas din perioade istorice când acele
locuri au fost stăpânite de cele două neamuri. De fapt, populaţia oraşului cuprindea
în mare parte turci şi bulgari, precum şi o comunitate mică de
macedoneni, cum de altfel erau şi la Silistra.

M.A.: Era un oraş mare? Îţi aminteşti cu ce se ocupau oamenii de acolo sau,
cel puţin, rudele tale? Ne poţi descrie şi casa bunicilor?
P. I.: Populaţia era pe atunci cam de 12-13.000 locuitori. Erau neamuri paşnice,
cu oameni curaţi şi muncitori, îndeobşte negustori sau meseriaşi. Românii erau
mai ales pescari. Erau mulţi pescari în acest orăşel. Şi bunicul era pescar. Şi
unchii mei. Ca să ajung la casele lor, nu trebuia să urc pe treptele de piatră. De
la capătul falezei, urcam un drum pietruit, treceam pe lângă o biserică şi
ajungeam imediat în strada „Regina Elisabeta”. O cârciumă cu leandri mari
înfloriţi lângă uşă, o băcănie, o brutărie, câteva case şi ajungeam. Paralel cu o
casă mare care începea din stradă şi se termina într-o fundătură, erau şi cele
două case ale bunicilor. Una era la stradă, cealaltă mai în fundul ulicioarei; aici
mă opream şi băteam la geam.
În căsuţa din fund locuiau numai tata mare şi mamarea. O căsuţă
bătrână, cu trei încăperi, cu zidul puţin coşcovit, cu streaşina lăsată uşor într-o
parte ca un chipiu. Casa de la stradă avea un cat. La parter nu se locuia. Aici
erau două încăperi, una foarte mare, întunecoasă şi răcoroasă, avea doar o
ferăstruică; era un fel de magazie, căreia i se spunea „maza”, desigur cuvânt
turcesc. Cealaltă dădea chiar în stradă. Era luminoasă şi avea obloane de lemn
la fereastră. Aici era războiul de ţesut al bunicii şi toate ustensilele, vârtelniţa şi
toate celelalte, necesare la pregătitul bumbacului şi aţelor de lucru. Când se
lucra, se deschideau obloanele şi se lăsa uşa deschisă. La catul de sus se urca
prin ulicioară, pe o scară de lemn cu balustradă. Deschideai o portiţă şi intrai pe
un cerdac, ca o terasă pardosită cu scânduri. Trei camere şi un antreu formau
partea de sus a casei. Spre stradă era un balcon lung, acoperit; era, de fapt, tot
un cerdac, plin de ghivece cu muşcate, garofiţe şi petunii. În camera mare era
un pat lat, cu tăblii din bare de alamă, acoperit cu o velinţă albă, ţesută cu
broderii şi dantele, perne moi cu feţe învolănate, aşezate la cap. Un scrin pe
care era o mulţime de fotografii de familie, în rame mici sau rezemate de câte o
vază sau statuetă de ceramică. Mirese şi gineri, stând solemni în faţa aparatului
de fotografiat, militari, copilaşi goi cu burta pe blăniţă, chipuri menite să
imortalizeze momente de viaţă în cronica de familie. La ferestre – perdele de
muselină albă, peste unele mai groase din pânză, care ţineau răcoare şi plăcută
umbră vara. Mirosea atât de bine a curat, cu boare de busuioc şi levănţică.
Când ajungeam la Turtucaia, o găseam pe bunica aproape mereu
singură, numai cu tanti Petranca şi copiii. Tata mare şi ceilalţi bărbaţi erau la
timpul acela plecaţi prin bălţi la pescuit. Dăinuia încă din stradă un miros plăcut
de catran de la uneltele de pescuit, năvoade, lopeţi de lotcă şi câte altele.
M.A.: Cred că îţi aminteşti şi ceva despre obiceiurile culinare de atunci....
P. I.: Da, desigur! Când bunicul, cu unchiul Costea şi unchiul Ivanciu veneau

de la pescuit, se umplea casa de peşte; se pregătea ciorbă delicioasă, acrită cu
aguridă, plachie de crap sau somn cu ceapă multă şi boia de ardei, în tăvi mari,
rotunde de aramă, saramură din peşte mai mărunt. Se aducea şi cegă cu icre
negre sau nisetru când se mergea la apă mare. Apoi, câteva zile se tăia, se săra
şi se puneau la uscat crap, ştiucă, biban şi tot felul de alţi peşti pentru provizii
de iarnă.
Noi, copiii, ne duceam la Dunăre, ne bălăceam pe malul apei, ne
duceam la vii, mâncam fructe direct din pomi, struguri încă necopţi de pe araci,
ne duceam cu urcioare de pământ să aducem apă proaspătă pentru masă. Apa
de băut se lua de la o cişmea mai la vale, aproape de Dunăre, la care ajungeam
printr-o ulicioară îngustă de tot, pietruită, întortocheată şi cu trepte din loc în
loc. Stăteam la rând şi aşteptam cu răbdare curgerea înceată a izvorului. Apa
pentru spălat se lua din Dunăre, în găleţi turceşti de aramă, aduse de cei mari pe
cobiliţă.
Spre sfârşit de august, se coceau strugurii şi se aduceau de la vie în
coşuri de nuiele. Se agăţau de grindă. Mă urcam pe un scăunel şi îmi luam
câţiva ciorchini; îmi plăceau cu nuci şi turtă de făină, nedospită, pe care bunica
o făcea fără drojdie şi o cocea pe spuză. Uneori, din aceeaşi cocă ne prăjea scovergi
calde şi buuune, bune de tot! Mai ales dacă le ungeam cu magiun de pepene
verde, făcut după reţetă turcească, maroniu şi lucios ca mierea.
Aceasta era viaţa la început de secol 20 în oraşele dunărene, dar cred
că era neschimbată de sute de ani.
PAMELA IONESCU (ROMANIA & USA)
MEMORIES OF YORE
TWO LEVANTINE CITIES -SILISTRA AND TURTUCAIA
M.A.: Dear Mrs. Pamel Ionescu, you are now on the threshold of reaching
nine decades of your life which you have lived with high intensity on several
geographical co-ordinates. I met you in New York about ten years ago and in
our friendly chat you have often conjured up events of your very exciting life, as
for instance the atrocious German bombardaments over London in 1940-1942.
You have also met outstanding personalities on important environments. Can
you tell me which are your earliest bygone memories?
P.I.: First of all, my memories take me back to the town of my childhood
which was Silistra at the beginning of the peaceful 30-th decade.
M.A.: What images still linger in your mind about this town which at that time
belonged to the Holly Integrated Romania?
P.I.: The town lied between the Danube river and a range of fertile hills

covered with forests and vinyards. The population was heterogenous. There
were also Turks, Bulgarians and Macedonians who were merchants, gardeners
or vine-growers. The Turks sold delicious yogurt. They passed by everyday at
lunch time carrying on their yokes cool earthen containers calling out: “The
yooogurt-man, the yooo…gurt-man…”
In parks, on the main streets and in front of the schools they used to
sell salted roasted bumpkin seeds and peanuts, donuts, nut and syrop pastry,
icecream and millet beer and salloop, cooling beverages, from beautifully shiny
brass containers with colored tassels and clinking bells to attract the kids’
attention. These containers were carried on the back and the liquid was poured
into glasses through the faucets of a pipe gracefully curved in front of the
vendor. “Cold saleep, sweet miller beer” were shouts that mixed together in the
picturesque Latin, Slav and Oriental fusion. The Turks sold also on their small,
street counters all sorts of coloured Turkish delight with or withot nuts and
other specific specialties such as small balls made of pop corn dipped in sticky
pink syrop. Oh, how we liked those dainties!
M.A.: What sort of population was predominant in Silistra?
P.I.: The aspect of the population was variegated. Elegant ladies and gentlemen
wearing fashionable outfits, officers in their showy uniforms, Turks in their
shalwars, Bulgarian women with creased skirts, flowered bodices and
headkerchiefs.
This was Silistra, a town with regiment, three Romanian high schools
and a Bulgarian one, with mayor and prefect, a Law Court, a Hospital, lawers,
judges, doctors. Plenty of high life to give the town the aspect of a fashionable,
pretentious place. An elite body of officers with colonel and general made the
top of the refined society.
M.A.: Did you use to spend your vacations in Silistra?
P.I.: No, like usually in summer, I was sent to my grandparents in Turtucaia
where I was born. There, I also had uncles, aunts, cousins and friends. I had to
travel there by ship on the Danube. There were cruises every day and the boat
reached town at midnight. Daddy used to take me to the harbour, embarked me
and let me manage the voyage on my own. I knew I had to get off at the first
port after about five hours, at the break of day. The first time, when I was ten or
eleven, father accompanied me to this destination. Then, I remember he took
me to a restaurant in the port, before the arriving of the ship, and we ate small
grilled sausages with soft, fresh bread. That snack seemed to me so delicious I
could not forget it to this day. Later on the boat, towards dawn, we had hot tea
served in glasses held in nice metal holders and slices of white buttered bread.
The tea, the morning coolness, the dim purple daybreak light which began to

adiate on the banks of the river with small hills on the left side where
Turtucaia lay, still persist in my mind with an undescribable charm, blurred in
the mist of such a distant span of time.
M.A.: What was the first aspect of Turtucaia as the boat came closer? Which
was the first image?
P.I.: I didn’t sleep at all during the navigation. I liked to stay on the deck, listen
to the muffled sound of the engines, watch the stary sky and the dark waters
split by the brow. When approaching the harbor, cluster of small and bigger
white houses began to be visible. The town stretched on a big hill. From the
quay there were long flights of rock steps in terraces which led to the “streets
up-hill” like they were called by the natives. There was also a beautiful long,
paved, iron railed cliff where people promenaded at twilight. I reached my
grandparents’ two houses easily, climbing only a small hillock, passing by a
tavern with splendidly blossomed oleanders at the entrance, a grocer’s store, a
bakery, a few one-stored houses with open or glass enclosed porches of Turkish
or Bulgarian style. I stopped at the second smaller house at the end of a blind
alley. The bigger house was right at the street. Uncle Costea and his family
were living there. My grandparents occupied the smaller house. I rapped at the
low window and woke my grandma up. At that time she was mostly by herself.
Grandpa and my two uncles were out fishing along the Danube waters.The day
of my arrival was never announced, therefore no one was waiting for me at the
pier.
M.A.: Was Turtucaia a big town? Do you remember what were its inhabitants
doing for living, or at least, your relatives? Can you depict your grandparents
house?
P.I.: The town's population was at that time about 12-13.000 people. They were
mixed nationalities, clean and hard working, mostly mechants and
handycraftsmen. The Romanians were generally fishermen. There were many
of them in that small town. My grandpa and my uncles were fishermen too. My
grandmother was in her early fifties. Gentle and caring which made me love her
dearly. She wore all the time only dark colors, black, dark grey or navy blue
dresses, thinner in summer, thicker in winter. Her hair with many silvery
rivulets was folded in a loop at the back and she covered it with a headkerchief
knotted on top of her forehed like Bulgarian women did. When she had no
house work to do she used to knit for all her grandchildren, woolen stockings
and gloves for winter. Oh, I still feel the rough touch of that homespun wool
which felt so coarse on our skin but they kept so warm when we went to school
or when we played in the big snow. She woke up early in the mrning when
night’s fogs were still lingering on, lit a lamp, sat down on a soft big cushion

and began to knit interweaving her thoughts with the wool thread which coiled
round the metal, thin lacers in rythmic, soft rattle. She was working as if who
knows what urgent needs pushed her to do so. Sometimes she worked in the
afternoons at her loom placed with all other utensils in a special room at the big
house in which we could enter right from the street. I liked to watch her
weaving white, thin linen for the men’s shirts or thicker one for beautiful,
striped towels. On the upper floor of the big house there was a covered wooden
terrace at the back, and a long covered balcony facing the street, filled with
flower pots: gerraniums, arthiurians pinks, petunias, zinnias or basil which
spread off a sweet fragrance, especially in the evening when we sat there
sometimes watching people passing by.
MA: What were people like in their manners of living and family behaviour?
P.I.: They were so gentle in their deportement and in their way of speaking.
When grandpa with my uncles, Costea and Ivanciu returned from fishing, it
was so much commotion in the homestead. After selling to fish-mongers the
bulk of their hunting, a good quantity of fish was brought home. Then a great
bustle and activity was on. Women, actually grandma and aunt Petranca, her
daughter-in-law, began to prepare the fish. They made savoury borsch soured
with unripe grapes, whole carp put in the oven in large, round copper baking
sheets with oil, spices, tomatoes and a lot of chopped onions. A scrumptious
dish!. Some other fish was grilled or dipped in brine, or fried. All dishes were
eaten with mamaliga made of corn meal like the Ialian “polenta”. There was
carp and sheat fish, sterlet, also herrings, perch, pike and others. Most of the
fish was salted and hung to get dry for winter when it was boiled and served
with garlic sauce and mamaliga. Delicious!
A few days later, after repairing the nets, the men went back fishing.
Grandpa was in his late fifties but he seemed to me so old. His name was Peter
and wore a hoary beard and had beautiful blue eyes. He was gentle and quiet
and loving with everybody. He looked like a Saint Peter who was a fisherman
too. He strokes my hair and I kissed his hand which felt so coarse because of
the water, the wind and the tar with which they covered the trawlers. His blue
eyes glittered like gems on his rosy, sun-tanned face. Later, when he was 74 in
1949 and after they had left for good those places, he developed a cataract
which almost blinded his sight. He was unhappy bcause he couldn’t read any
more the Bible and the newspapers. Then Stelian brought him to Bucharest and
hospitalized him for an operation. He did that even before we got married.
Being pisces, he had that strong feeling of pity towards the suffering. After
surgery grandpa regained his sight and even if it was not so perfect, he could
read and he didn’t know how to express his gratitude to his benefactor, as it
will be seen later on.

M.A.: Can you recall anything peculiar about the family customs and
behaviour?
P.I.: As I told you before, they were all so gentle with such peaceful
deportment and way of speaking. Where from did they have so much patience,
and resignation to face the hardships of life lacking almost totally any
entertainment or pleasures? I never saw them, men or women, angry, nervous,
using bad language, cursing or chiding or blaming others. It was so much
respect and consideration in their behaviour towards one another.
At lunch time we, the kids were sent with earthern pitchers to bring cool
water from a spring gushing from a rock wall down on the bank of the old river.
We reached it climbing down a very narrow winding lane with stones steps and
houses hidden behind tall plank fences on both sides. Cooking water was taken
from the same source by grown-ups in big copper Turkish buckets carried on
their shoulder yokes. Washing water was taken from the Danube. A hard, effort
consuming task but it couldn’t be helped since the sewerage system didn’t exist
at that time in small towns and villages.
Sometimes, we went to our families’ vinyards which grew close at the
town’s outskirts. We ate unripe grapes which set our teeth on edge, but there
were also, here and there, cherry trees with ripe fruit. We climbed on the lower
branches and picked them as far up as we could reach. When grapes got ripe by
the end of August, they were brought home in wicker baskets which were hung
on the beams in the store room. I would climb on a small stool, filled my hands
with the luscious clusters and ate them with pecan nuts with bread cakes baked
with no yeast on hot ashes by my grandma. This was a real treat for me.
This was the way life was passing by in the Danubian cities at the dawn of
the 20th century, but I think it had not been changed for hundreds of years.

BOOK REVIEWS
Cărturari greci în Ţările Române (sec. XIV-XIX)
Dicţionar biografic
de Elena Lazăr
Editura Omonia din Bucureşti a publicat de
curând Dicţionarul biografic al Cărturarilor greci
în Ţările Române (sec. XIV-XIX), semnat de Elena
Lazăr, cunoscută traducătoare din neogreacă, dar şi
autoare a unor lucrări de referinţă apărute în ultimii
ani: Panorama Literaturii Cipriote (1999), Panorama Literaturii Neoelene
(2001), Capodopere ale Literaturii Neoelene (2003), Literatura neoelenă în
România (1837-2005). O bibliografie (2005), Interferenţe literare românoelene
(2007). Vicepreşedintă a Societăţii de Studii Neoelene din România,
Elena Lazăr este totodată şi sufletul Editurii Omonia din Bucureşti, care de 18
ani promovează literatura şi civilizaţia greacă în România. Este prima româncă
distinsă cu titlul de Ambasador al Elenismului de Prefectura Atenei în 2005.
Dicţionarul cuprinde 130 de biografii ale unor personalităţi de origine
greacă ce au trăit, s-au afirmat şi au lăsat o puternică amprentă în spaţiul
românesc: dregători, clerici erudiţi, cronicari, renumiţi profesori ai Academiilor
domneşti, istorici, jurişti, scriitori, traducători. Ele conţin elemente interesante
privind societatea care le-a modelat şi care a fost modelată de ele, elemente
sugestive pentru dialogul cultural româno-elen.
Lucrarea, întregită de o schiţă cronologica a principalelor momente
ale istoriei intelectualităţii greceşti din Ţările Române, de ilustraţii sugestive
(hărţi, portrete, monumente) şi o amplă bibliografie, reprezintă un instrument
de lucru deosebit de util cercetătorilor şi cititorilor interesaţi de istoria
elenismului din spaţiul românesc.
Paula Scalcău (ROMÂNIA)
Greek Scholars in the Romanian Principalities (14 th -19 th centuries)
A Biographic Dictionary
by Elena Lazar
The Omonia Publishing House in Bucharest has recently published the
Biographic Dictionary of the Greek Scholars in the Romanian Principalities
(14 th -19 th century), written by Elena Lazar, the famous translator from Greek,
but also the author of some important papers that have been published quite
recently: The Panorama of the Cypriot Literature (1999), The Panorama of the
Neo-Hellenic Literature (2001), Masterpieces of the Neo-Hellenic Literature
(2003), The Neo-Hellenic Literature in Romania (1837-2005), A Biography

(2005), Romanian-Hellenic Literary Interferences (2007). Vice-president of the
Neo-Hellenic Studies Society in Romania, Elena Lazar is also the soul of the
Omonia Publishing House in Bucharest, having promoted the Greek literature
and civilization in Romania for eighteen years. She is the first Romanian
woman who has been awarded the Ambassador of Hellenism prize by the
Prefect’s Office in Athens in 2005. The dictionary contains 130 biographies of
important people of Greek origins, who lived, distinguished themselves and had
a huge impact on the Romanian life: high officials, clergymen, chroniclers,
famous professors in the princely academies, historians, journalists, writers,
translators. The biographies include some interesting elements regarding the
society which shaped them and which was also shaped by them, elements
which are important to the cultural dialogue between the Romanians and the
Greeks. The book comprises a chronological sketch of the main moments in the
history of the Greek intellectual circle in the Romanian Principalities, many
suggestive illustrations (maps, portraits,monuments) and a vast bibliography,
thus being a very useful instrument for the researchers and the readers who are
interested in the history of Hellenism in the Romanian space.
Elenismul în România
de Paula Scalcău
Translation: Ana Scalcău
Cercetarea istorică referitoare la prezenţa
grecilor în spaţiul românesc, din cele mai vechi
timpuri până în zilele noastre, s-a îmbogăţit substanţial
începând cu ultimele decenii ale secolului trecut, mai
cu seamă după întemeierea Institutului de Studii Sud-
Est Europene al Academiei Române. Ca urmare, s-au
publicat cărţi, studii şi documente inedite care au
completat diferite aspecte economice, culturale sau
politice ale colaborării româno-greceşti, un rol tot mai însemnat avându-l şi
absolvenţii Facultăţii de Arhivistică, care şi-au însuşit limba şi paleografia
greacă necesare descifrării izvoarelor istorice.
Printre mai tinerii cercetători ai prezenţei greceşti în istoria românilor
s-a remarcat în ultimii ani şi Paula Scalcău, autoare a unor studii serios
documentate, dar mai cu seamă a sintezei Grecii din România (Ed. Omonia,
2003, 2005). În 2006, ea publică în completare o Istorie cronologică a
Elenismului în România, instrument de lucru absolut necesar pentru cei care
doresc să se orienteze în investigarea prezenţei grecilor în spaţiul românesc,
începând cu mileniul al II-lea î. Hr. până în anul 2006.
Prefaţa lucrării este semnată de doamna Georgeta Filitti, care face o
succintă, dar consistentă trecere în revistă a celor mai semnificative momente
ale prezenţei grecilor pe cuprinsul românesc din antichitate până în veacul XXI.

Lucrarea e însoţită şi de o bibliografie selectivă, care cuprinde colecţii
de documente, lucrări generale şi speciale, 119 ilustraţii foarte bine realizate,
sugestive pentru diferitele perioade ale cronologiei propuse. O ilustraţie şi mai
bogată (circa 300 de imagini color) este cuprinsă în cea de-a doua ediţie a
lucrării, în limba engleză (traducere de Ileana Barbu şi Daniela Dolgu), apărută
tot la editura Omonia în 2007.
Desigur că alcătuirea unei cronologii presupune o intensă investigaţie,
cunoaştere şi mai ales selectare a informaţiei considerată a fi de cea mai mare
importanţă pentru fiecare epocă istorică.
Olga Cicanci (ROMANIA)
Hellenism in Romania
by Paula Scalcău
The historical research regarding the Greek presence on the Romanian
territory, from the old times and up to the present day, has increased
considerably since the last decades of the last century, especially after the
Institute of Southern-European Studies of the Romanian Academy was set up.
As a result, many new books, studies and documents have been
published, completing different economic, cultural and political aspects of the
collaboration between the Romanians and the Greeks. The graduates of the
Faculty of Archive, who learned the Greek language and paleography necessary
in deciphering the historical sources, have played a major part in this process.
Paula Scalcău, the author of several documented studies and of the synthesis
The Greeks from Romania (Omonia Publishing House, 2003, 2005), is one of
the youngest researchers who have recently distinguished themselves. In 2006,
she published an additional Chronological History of Hellenism in Romania, a
necessary instrument for those who wish to investigate the Greek presence on
the Romanian territory, from the second millennium B.C. and until 2006. The
preface to the book is written by Georgeta Filitti, who makes a brief, yet
consistent review of the most significant moments of the Greek presence on the
Romanian territory. The book is innovative and it is also a selective
bibliography, including collections of documents, general and special papers,
119 illustrations which are suggestive for the different moments. The latter
edition, the one in English (translation by Ileana Barbu and Daniela Dolgu)
contains an even richer collection of illustrations (300 images in colour). This
edition was also printed by the Omonia Publishing House in 2007.
The organization of a chronology is bound to imply an intense
investigation, a lot of knowledge and especially the selection of the information
which is considered to be of the utmost importance for each historical epoch.
Translation: Ana Scalcău

Coord. Andreas Rados, Valeriu Mardare, Spiritul elen – Sinteze europene
la revista Cronica, cu o „Precuvântare” de Traian Diaconescu, Editura Cronica,
Iaşi, 2008, 626 p.
În „Argument”, coordonatorii volumului, în fapt
o cuprinzătoare antologie de texte ale unor autori
(Constantin Ciopraga, Ioan Holban, Bogdan Mihai
Mandache, Ştefan Oprea, Andreas Rados, Vasile
Constantinescu, Nicolae Turtureanu, Radu Negru,
Leonidas Rados, Petros Hairs, Al. Husar, Valentin Ciucă,
Nicolae Busuioc, Valeriu Mardare, Elena Lazăr, Leonid
Maniu,. Ionel Savitescu, Al. Pascu, A. Fotinos, Ovidiu
Mardare, Lucia G. Hurmuziadis, Sorin Măriuţă, Gh. I.
Florescu, ş.a.) care ofereau, scriu coordonatorii, „la vremea respectivă, în
privinţa culturii greceşti, o anumită imagine” , anume că, dat fiind că în cadrul
revistei „Cronica” au fost publicate multe materiale despre elenism, „a devenit
mai mult decât o datorie să le valorificăm”, volumul reprezentând şi „un
document de istorie şi critică literar-artistică”. Cartea cuprinde, în afară de
recenzii, diverse articole, note despre evenimente etc. şi un capitol de „traduceri
şi creaţii literare”, cel mai cuprinzător ca număr de pagini.
Cartea este structurată astfel: I. Studii, Comentarii, Eseuri, Articole, II.
Recenzii, prezentări de cărţi, III. Relaţii şi evenimente culturale, IV.
Personalităţi ale elenismului, V. Interviuri, VI. Note de călătorie, VII. Traduceri
şi creaţii literare.
Subliniez, în acord cu cei doi coordonatori ai volumului, că această
carte relevă, pe segmentul ei de cuprindere, modul în care a fost receptată
spiritualitatea elenă la noi în ţară, începând din 1979, către zilele noastre şi,
totodată, oferă un material bibliografic compact, structurat şi sistematizat.
Marius Chelaru (ROMANIA)
Coordinators: Andreas Rados, Valeriu Mardare, Hellenic Spirit –
European Syntheses in Cronica magazine, with a “Foreword” by Traian
Diaconescu, Cronica Publishing House, Iaşi, 2008, 626 p.
In the “Argument”, the coordinators of the volume – an extensive anthology of
texts by: Constantin Ciopraga, Ioan Holban, Bogdan Mihai Mandache, Ştefan
Oprea, Andreas Rados, Vasile Constantinescu, Nicolae Turtureanu, Radu
Negru, Leonidas Rados, Petros Hairs, Al. Husar, Valentin Ciucă, Nicolae
Busuioc, Valeriu Mardare, Elena Lazăr, Leonid Maniu,. Ionel Savitescu, Al.
Pascu, A. Fotinos, Ovidiu Mardare, Lucia G. Hurmuziadis, Sorin Măriuţă, Gh.
I. Florescu etc – say that these authors offered “at that time, a certain image
regarding the Hellenic culture”, namely, as long as “Cronica” magazine

published several materials on the Hellenism, “it became more than a duty to
highlight them”, the volume representing also “a document of literary history
and criticism.” Besides reviews, different articles, notes on various events etc,
the book also includes a chapter of “translations and literary creations” which
has the largest number of pages.
The volume is structured as follows: I. Study, Comments, Essays,
Articles, II. Reviews, Book Presentations, III. Cultural Relationships and
Events, IV. Hellenic Personalities, V. Interviews, VI. Travel Notes, VII.
Translations and Literary Creations.
The same as the two coordinators, I would like to stress that this book
reveals the way in which the Hellenic spirituality has been received in our
country since 1979, and that it offers a compact, well structured and
systematized bibliographical material.
Translation Iolanda Mănescu
Prezenţa elenă în Mehedinţi
de Paula Scalcău - Tudor Răţoi
O nouă lucrare monografică
privitoare la rolul elementului grecesc în
societatea românească a fost editată în
2008 la Bucureşti de către Uniunea Elenă
din România. Autorii sunt doi cunoscuţi
istorici din Turnu Severin: Paula Scalcău
şi Tudor Răţoi.
În cele 328 de pagini, lucrarea urmăreşte urmele prezenţei greceşti în
zona Mehedinţiului, de la primele amfore de Rodos ori monede macedonene
descoperite aici, de la primii greci ce l-au însoţit pe împăratul Traian în Dacia şi
până la comunitatea elenă de astăzi.
Deşi nu de mult a apărut volumul Paulei Scalcău De la Papingo la
Turnu Severin privitor la epiroţii stabiliţi în oraşul dunărean, subiectul nu a fost
epuizat. Cercetările au continuat nu doar pe urmele grecilor din Severin, ci din
tot Mehedinţiul şi au avut în vedere nu doar pe grecii originari din Epir, ci şi pe
aceia veniţi din alte colţuri ale lumii greceşti: din Macedonia, din insule sau din
Asia Mică. Colaborarea celor doi autori, amândoi formaţi la Universitatea „Al.
Ioan Cuza” din Iaşi, a început în urmă cu un deceniu, când apăruse, în cadrul
Uniunii Elene, ideea demarării unor cercetări cu privire la istoria comunităţilor.
Principalele capitole ale monografiei sunt: Scurt istoric al prezenţei
greceşti în zonă; Ocupaţiile grecilor din Mehedinţi (negustori, arendaşi,
hangii, medici, avocaţi, profesori, scriitori); Locurile de origine; Opera
socială, culturală, filantropică a comunităţii elene; Naţionalizări şi
exproprieri; Filoelenismul la Severin; Cartea grecească în bibliotecile şi
arhivele severinene. Documentele din Anexe şi cele 26 genealogii ale celor mai

importante familii, un rezumat în limba greacă şi Indicele de nume
completează textul propriu-zis al monografiei. Volumul mai cuprinde 248 de
ilustraţii, documente şi fotografii de familie inedite. Cele mai multe provin din
colecţii particulare din Drobeta Turnu-Severin, dar şi din Craiova, Lugoj,
Bucureşti, Târgu Mureş, Atena, Papingo, Vlasti, Salonic.
Prefaţa lucrării, semnată de istoricul Georgeta Filitti, este intitulată
sugestiv „O istorie mereu vie”, argumentând că „ieşind din matca obişnuită a
istoricilor care cercetează liniştiţi trecutul glosând pe marginea informaţiilor
culese, cei doi au făcut, neobosiţi, legături între esenţa documentelor de
odinioară şi viaţa ca atare a comunităţii. Au mers şi mai departe stabilind o
apropiere sufletească impresionantă cu locuitorii actuali ai satelor de obârşie,
rude ale severinenilor greci din zilele noastre. Aceasta e substanţa volumului de
faţă: istorie şi viaţă cotidiană”.
Sofia Elena Colesca (ROMANIA)
The Greek Presence in Mehedinti
by Paula Scalcău and Tudor Răţoi
A new monograph regarding the role of the Greek element in the
Romanian society has been recently (2008) published by the Greek Union of
Romania. Its authors are two well-known historians from Drobeta-Turnu
Severin: Paula Scalcău and Tudor Răţoi.
The 328 pages study traces the Greek presence in the Mehedinţi area,
from the first Rhodos amphorae and Macedonian coins discovered in this
region and the first Greeks who followed emperor Traian in Dacia to the Greek
Community which exists today. Although it hasn’t been long since the
publication of Paula Scalcau’s volume From Papingo to Turnu Severin, which
deals with the people from Epirus who settled in the town on the Danube, the
subject was far from being exhausted. More research followed not only on the
Greeks from Severin but on those from the entire Mehedinţi area and not only
on the people who came from Epirus but from the entire Greek world: from
Macedonia, from the islands or from Asia Minor. The cooperation between the
authors, who both graduated the “Al. I. Cuza” University in Iaşi, began a
decade ago with the birth of the idea to start a rigorous research on the history
of the communities.
Here are the main chapters of the monograph: Brief Historical Events
of the Greek Presence in the Area; The Trades of the Greeks in Mehedinţi
(merchants, land agents, innkeepers, doctors, lawyers, teachers, writers); The
Origins; The Social, Cultural and Philantropical Work of the Greek
Community; Nationalizations and Expropriations; Philhellenism in Severin;
The Greek Book in the Severin Libraries and Archives. The monograph is
completed by the documents in the annexes and the 26 genealogies of the most

important families, a summary in Greek and the name index. The volume also
contains 248 illustrations, documents and family photographs. Most of them
come from private collections in Severin, but also from Craiova, Lugoj,
Bucharest, Târgu Mureş, Athens, Papingo, Vlasti, Thessaloniki.
The preface, written by the historian Georgeta Filitti, is entitled “A
Timeless History”, because the volume ’breaks the pattern of those who quietly
do research on the past and interpret the information and the two authors
constantly connect the past documents to the life of the community. They went
even further and established a moving connection with the present inhabitants
of the origin villages, who are related to the Greek people who live in Severin
today. This is the substance of the volume: history and everyday life”.
Translation: Ana Scalcău
Εµπορικοί Σταθµοί των Ελλήνων στη Ρουµανία
Editor: Eleni Gavra
Volumul Εµπορικοί Σταθµοί των Ελλήνων στη
Ρουµανία, apărut la University Studio Press din Salonic
cuprinde primele rezultate ale unei recente cercetări cu
tema: Trasee şi centre comerciale şi culturale în Balcani.
Centre comerciale ale grecilor în România. Evidenţierea
şi promovarea patrimoniului arhitectural al Diasporei
Elene. El este rezultatul colaborării ştiinţifice dintre cercetătorii greci şi români,
în cadrul unui program început în 2005, din iniţiativa doamnei Eleni G. Gavra,
lector la Universitatea Macedoniei de Vest – Secţia de Studii Balcanice din
Florina şi a văzut lumina tiparului cu ajutorul Ministerului Macedoniei şi
Traciei, Alpha Bank şi al Prefecturii Salonicului - Centrului de cercetare şi
dezvoltare a culturii elene la Marea Neagră.
Cartea aduce în atenţia cititorilor mărturiile legate de greci privind
modernizarea şi urbanizarea a opt oraşe româneşti, dezvăluind totodată
moştenirea arhitectonică legată de prezenţa greacă din România. În cele 783 de
pagini ale cărţii există 681 de ilustraţii şi sunt prezentate în total 189 de clădiri şi
ansambluri arhitecturale din Bucureşti, Brăila, Galaţi, Constanţa, Braşov, Sibiu,
Tulcea şi Turnu Severin. Echipa de cercetare a fost formată din: Eleni G. Gavra,
Iakovos Mihailidis, Peter Derer, Adrian Bălteanu, Ioana Lupoaie, Raluca Popa,
Octavia Stepan, Ciprian Suciu, Paula Scalcău.
Călătorind în timp şi spaţiu prin porturile dunărene, dar şi mai departe,
în inima României, cititorul va descoperi că a existat aici o altă Grecie, că în
Balcani „cele ce unesc două popoare sunt mult mai multe decât cele ce le
deosebesc”, aşa cum scrie în Introducerea volumului prof. Loukas Ananikas,
secretar general al Ministerului Macedoniei şi Traciei.
Paula Scalcău (ROMÂNIA)

Commercial Centres of the Greeks in Romania
Editor: Eleni Gavra
The volume Εµπορικοί Σταθµοί των Ελλήνων στη Ρουµανία, published
by the University Studio Press in Thessaloniki contains the first results of a
recent research on the following topics: the Routes and the Commercial and
Cultural Centres in the Balkans. The Commercial Centres of the Greeks in
Romania. The Commendation and the Promotion of the Architectural Heritage
of the Greek Diaspora.
It is the result of the scientific collaboration between the Greek and the
Romanian researchers within a programme that was launched in 2005, on the
initiative of Mrs Eleni G Gavra, who is senior lecturer at the University of
Western Macedonia, the Balkan Studies Department in Florina. The volume was
printed with the help of the Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace, the Alpha Bank,
the Prefect’s Office in Thessaloniki and the Centre for Research and
Development of the Greek Culture in the Black Sea Area.
The book brings to the readers’ attention several testimonies regarding
the modernization and urbanization of eight Romanian cities and also the
architectonics related to the Greek presence in Romania. The 783 pages include
681 illustrations and they present 189 buildings in Bucuresti, Braila, Galati,
Constanta, Brasov, Sibiu, Tulcea and Turnu Severin. The research team was
made up of Eleni G. Gavra, Iakovos Mihailidis, Peter Derer, Adrian Balteanu,
Ioana Lupoaie, Raluca Popa, Octavia Stepan, Ciprian Suciu, Paula Scalcau.
While travelling in space and time in the Danube ports and even
farther, towards the heart of Romania, the reader will discover another Greece
and the fact that there are more things that make these two peoples alike than
those that differentiate them, as professor Loukas Ananikas, General Secretary
with the Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace has written in his introduction to the
volume.
Translation: Ana Scalcău
Prezenţa elenilor la Tulcea
de Victor Henrich Baumann
Printre lucrările publicate în ultimii ani de
Uniunea Elenă din România se numără şi Prezenţa
elenilor la Tulcea, a istoricului Victor Henrich
Baumann. Autorul tulcean, specialist în istorie
universală veche şi arheologie, este fiul unui austriac
din Banat şi al unei grecoaice originare din Kerkira
şi, după cum însuşi mărturiseşte în prologul cărţii, mereu fascinat de „mirosul
lămâilor înfloriţi”, nu a putut elimina „frunzişul unei tulpini ancorate în

pământul sfânt şi venerabil al insulei Corfu”. Prefaţa, emoţionantă şi nostalgică,
este semnată de Vasile Calcandi, el însuşi un fiu grec al Tulcei.
Cartea porneşte de la urmele lăsate de negustorii greci prezenţi la
gurile Dunării în epoca elenistică şi în timpul stăpânirii romane şi se opreşte
asupra mărturiilor medievale care atestă prezenţa greacă. Se insistă asupra
familiilor stabilite la Tulcea în cursul sec. al XIX-lea şi prezintă activitatea lor,
oprindu-se la jumătatea secolului XX.
În cele 159 pagini, lucrarea oglindeşte rolul activ pe care grecii l-au
jucat de-a lungul timpului în istoria locului. Genealogiile, documentele şi
ilustraţia (poze de familie, clădiri, monumente, personalităţi) completează
conţinutul.
Volumul acesta relevă relaţia profundă pe care au avut-o permanent
grecii din Tulcea cu noua lor patrie. Stă mărturie numărul mare de greci care sau
distins luptând pentru cauza românească în cele două războaie mondiale.
Apariţia cărţii în sine dovedeşte cât de activă este în prezent Comunitatea elenă
din Tulcea. Ne dăm seama de acest lucru şi mai bine dacă parcurgem
bibliografia şi observăm că majoritatea surselor documentare provin din colecţii
de familie. Sunt menţionate arhivele: Petala, Vergu, Calcandi, Ionescu-
Stamatiu, Andonini, Uţanu-Stratiotis, Caliga, Mihailopol-Baumann,
Covaropol-David, Vâlcu-Papadopol.
The Greek Presence in Tulcea
by Victor Henrich Baumann
Paula Scalcău (ROMANIA)
“The Greek Presence in Tulcea”, written by Victor Henrich
Baumann, is one of the works that have recently been published by the Greek
Union of Romania. Its writer is from Tulcea and he is an expert on ancient
universal history and archeology. The son of an Austrian from Banat and a
Greek woman from Kerkira, he has always been fascinated by the “scent of the
lemon trees in bloom”, as he confesses in the book prologue, and he has never
been able to cut the roots that go deep in the holy soil of Kerkira. The touching
preface to the book was written by Vasile Calcandi, who is also a Greek son of
Tulcea.
The book describes the traces left by the Greek tradesmen present in
that area during the Hellenic epoch and the Roman occupation and the Middle
Ages testimonies, which also show the Greek presence. It insists on the families
which settled down in Tulcea during the 19 th century and it ends at the half of
the 20 th century.
The book mirrors in its 159 pages the active role played by the
Greeks throughout the history of the place. The genealogies, the documents and

the illustrations (family photos, buildings, and monuments) complete its
contents.
The book shows the continuous relation between the Greeks from
Tulcea and their new fatherland. One proof is the high number of Greeks who
fought for the Romanian cause in the two world wars. The publication of this
book proves how active the present Greek Community in Tulcea is nowadays.
We become aware of this if we check the bibliography and we notice that most
of the sources come from family collections. The following archives are
mentioned: Petala, Vergu, Calcandi, Ionescu-Stamatiu, Andonini, Utanu-
Stratiotis, Caliga, Mihailopol-Baumann, Covaropol-David, Vâlcu-Papadopol.
Translation: Ana Scalcău
Un grec, Doi Greci, Trei Greci… Brăila
Reactivarea memoriei culturale a oraşului Brăila
de Camelia Hristian şi Ghena Pop
La Muzeul Brăilei a fost lansată de curând
lucrarea Un Grec, Doi Greci, Trei Greci… Brăila –
rezultat al unui interesant proiect cultural derulat de
Consiliul Judeţean, Muzeul Brăilei şi Comunitatea
Elenă din Brăila. Principalul obiectiv al acestui
proiect este reactivarea memoriei şi a mediului cultural-istoric al oraşului Brăila
din perspectiva diversităţii etnice. Muzeul Brăilei continuă astfel seria lucrărilor
ce urmăresc valorificarea contribuţiei grecilor care au influenţat hotărâtor
istoria economică şi culturală a oraşului. Cu câţiva ani în urmă, acelaşi muzeu a
editat, în colaborare cu Uniunea Elenă din România 1 , o istorie în două volume a
Comunităţii greceşti din Brăila. Primul volum, semnat de Ionel Cândea,
urmăreşte prezenţa greacă în zona Brăilei până în secolul al XIX-lea, iar cel deal
doilea, semnat de Cristian Filip, se opreşte la anul 1900. Noi cercetări
publicate în revista Istros şi în Analele Brăilei sunt înglobate în primul volum.
Numeroase texte culese de Demostene Russo şi publicate postum în Studiile
istorice greco-române din 1939 apar pentru prima oară aici traduse în limba
română prin strădania profesorului Haris Bakirtzis, prieten al Brăilei şi a Silviei
Fotini Gănescu.
Odată cu broşura şi volumul Un Grec, Doi Greci, Trei Greci… Brăila,
s-a lansat şi website-ului “Diversitate Culturală” (http://diversitate-culturala-
1 Preocupată de amintirea rădăcinilor, U.E.R. a editat o serie de lucrări de referinţă
pentru cercetarea istoriei grecilor din spaţiul românesc. Astfel sunt Presa de limbă
greacă din România în veacul al XIX-lea, semnată de Olga Cicanci (1995) şi
Comunităţile greceşti din România în sec.al XIX-lea, semnată de regretata
cercetătoare Cornelia Papacostea-Danielopolu.

muzeulbrailei.ro/) şi Harta virtuală “Elemente urbane, mărturii ale influenţei
culturii elene în oraşul Brăila” (http://diversitate-culturala-muzeulbrailei.ro/05harta-virtuala/).
Totodată, a fost inaugurat şi Centrul Diversităţii Culturale a
Muzeului Brăilei.
Noul proiect vine să completeze datele istorice existente cu mărturiile
membrilor comunităţii elene care şi-au deschis sufletele şi au depănat poveştile
interesante ale familiilor lor. Ele îmbogăţesc nu doar istoria Brăilei, dar şi
istoria grecilor din România, reprezentând cea mai bună dovadă că atunci când
românii şi grecii lucrează laolaltă, lucrurile pot să iasă foarte bine! Noul proiect
vine să completeze datele istorice existente cu mărturiile membrilor comunităţii
elene care şi-au deschis sufletele şi au depănat poveştile interesante ale
familiilor lor. Ele îmbogăţesc nu doar istoria Brăilei, dar şi istoria grecilor din
România, reprezentând cea mai bună dovadă că atunci când românii şi grecii
lucrează laolaltă, lucrurile pot să iasă foarte bine!
Paula Scalcău (ROMÂNIA)
One Greek, Two Greeks, Three Greeks… Braila
Reactivating the Cultural Memory in the City of Braila
by Camelia Hristian and Ghena Pop
The book One Greek, Two Greeks, Three Greeks… Brăila has recently
been released at the Museum of Brăila. The paper is the result of an interesting
cultural project initiated by the County Council, the Museum of Brăila and the
Greek Community of the city. Its main objective is reactivating the memory
and the cultural-historical environment in Brăila from the point of view of the
ethnical diversity. Thus, the Museum of Brăila resumes the series of papers
aiming at the valorization of the Greek contribution to the economic and
cultural development of the city. A few years ago the same museum together
with the Greek Union of Romania 1 , brought out a history in two volumes of
the Greek Community of Brăila. The former volume, written by Ionel Cândea,
traces the Greek presence in the Brăila area until the 19 th century and the latter,
written by Cristian Filip, stops in 1900. The former volume comprises new
research works that were published in the Istros magazine and the city annals.
A lot of texts which were collected by Demostene Russo and posthumously
published in the Greek and Roman Historic Studies in 1939, have been
included here, after being translated by professor Haris Bakirtzis, a friend of
Brăila and by Silvia Fotini Gănescu.
1 Due to its concern with reminding one’s roots, The Greek Union of Romania has
edited a series of remarkable books, such as the Journals Written in Greek in 19 th
Century Romania, by Olga Cicanci (1995) and the Greek Communities in 19 th
Century Romania, by the late researcher Cornelia Papacostea-Danielopolu.

Together with the brochure and the volume One Greek, Two Greeks,
Three Greeks… Brăila, there has been another release, that of the Cultural
Diversity website ((http://diversitate-culturala-muzeulbrailei.ro/)) and of the
virtual map Urban elements, testimonies of the Greek cultural influence in
Brăila (http://diversitate-culturala-muzeulbrailei.ro/05-harta-virtuala/). At the
same time, the Centre for Cultural Diversity has been inaugurated at the
Museum of Brăila.
The new project completes the existent historical data with the
testimonies of the Greek Community members who have opened up and
disclosed the interesting stories in their families. They have enriched not only
the history of Brăila, but also that of the Greeks all over Romania, showing the
fact that things do happen well when Romanians and Greeks work hand in
hand!
Translation: Ana Scalcău
Nasos Vayenas, Despre poezie. Eseuri şi aforisme, traducere de Valeriu
Mardare, cuvânt înainte de Victor Ivanovici, ediţie
îngrijită de Marius Alexianu, Ed. Corson, Iaşi, 1999
Nasos Vayenas, Despre poezie. Eseuri şi
aforisme, traducere: Valeriu Mardare, cuvânt înainte:
Victor Ivanovici, îngrijire ediţie: Marius Alexianu, Ed.
Corson, Iaşi, 1999
„Dacă vreţi să cunoaşteţi posibilităţile poeziei de
azi trebuie să citiţi pe tinerii poeţi greci. Nu există nici o
poezie actuală care ar putea să preceadă pe cea a lor în
puritate şi intensitate”, scria Nikos Pappas (I alithini
istoria tis neoellenikis logothenias 1100-1973/ Adevărata istorie a literaturii
neo-elene 1100-1973, Ed. Timfi, Atena, 1973, p. 493-494) despre poezia unei
ţări care are la activ două premii Nobel (Seferis, 1962; Elytis, 1979).
Vayenas e un nume notabil din „generaţia 70” şi în critica, teoria şi
istoria literară a Greciei. Poate cele mai cunoscute texte ale lui sunt Poetul şi
dansatorul (1979) şi Poezie şi traducere (1989). În ţara natală a fost criticat – e
mai bun critic, teoretician literar, eseist, poet? Discuţie frecventă şi azi, când
mulţi poeţi/ prozatori sunt şi critici/ eseişti. Trebuie avut în vedere (semnalează
V. Ivanovici în Cuvânt înainte) că producţia critică a lui e mai cuprinzătoare
decât cea poetică. La fel de adevărat e că activitatea critică/ eseistică poate fi
considerată o „continuare” a operei lui de creaţie.
Vayenas abordează teme importante la vremea sa, neuitând că, până la
urmă, poetul e un conchistador al absolutului şi că fiecare vers este o incantaţie

dar şi o re-definire a sinelui, a lumii. „Tema oricărui poem”, spune el, „n-o
reprezintă vreun fapt concret, ci… destinul uman”. Iar relaţia metrului cu versul
liber „e analoagă cu relaţia dintre schiţă şi imagine în pictura nonfigurativă”
(Poezie şi metru). Relaţia logicii cu poezia e o temă fundamentală a poeticii –
în Grecia s-au ocupat de asta şi K. Palamas (1925, eseul Muzica şi logica în
poezie) sau, mai aproape de noi, A. Embirikos. Logicul şi ilogicul pot fi şi două
feţe ale cuvântului şi, spune Vayenas, tot ce a adus timpul în poezie, toate
schimbările până la secolul XX nu pot fi numite „revoluţii”, ci doar „reforme”.
Crede că prin introducerea „elementului ilogic” s-a produs şi o „extindere a
limbajului poetic”. Poezia tradiţională („de altădată”) funcţiona cu „imagini
logice şi raţionale”, cea de azi „funcţionează” cu imagini logice, raţionale dar şi
ilogice. Dar asta nu conduce la concluzia că dispoziţia antilogică este
caracteristică întregii poezii contemporane. S-a spus că unele dintre teoriile/
temele lui par mai puţin importante/ de importanţă „locală”, redundante ş.a..
Poate. Despre demersurile lui eseistice se spune că sunt „de neocolit” în
bibliografia greacă legată nu doar de traductologie sau teorie literară. Articolele
(abordează o tematică variată), sunt citite/ comentate.
Se spune că pentru poet teoriile rămân „în afară”, important fiind
momentul, starea sa şi produsul actului magic al creaţiei. Vayenas este unul
dintre poeţii care au dezbrăcat haina de zeu al cuvântului coborând în pulberea
de litere a teoriilor, subliniind că „folosim limba celor două forme de expresie,
cea non-poetică şi cea poetică, ca pe un mod de … comunicare” şi de explicare
a realităţii care se va îmbrăca în poezie. Poate şi pentru că, scrie Vayenas,
„viaţa este o formă bolnăvicioasă a literaturii”.
Marius Chelaru (ROMANIA)
Nasos Vayenas, On Poetry. Essays and Aphorisms, translation: Valeriu
Mardare, foreword: Victor Ivanovici, editor: Marius Alexianu, Corson
Publishing House, Iasi, 1999
“If you want to know the possibilities of the poetry of today, you have to read
the young Greek poets. There is no other poetry at present that could surpass
theirs in purity and intensity.” wrote Nikos Pappas (I alithini istoria tis
neoellenikis logothenias 1100-1973/ The True History of the Neo-Hellenic
Literature 1100-1973, Timfi Publishing House, Athens, 1973, p. 493-494)
about the poetry of a country that is the winner of two Nobel prizes (Seferis,
1962; Elytis, 1979).
Vayenas is a notable name of the generation of the 1970s and of the literary
history and criticism of Greece. Maybe his most famous texts are The Poet and
the Dancer (1979) and Poetry and Translation (1989). He was criticized in his
native country – is he better as a critic, a literary theoretician, an essayist or a

poet? The idea is frequent also today when many poets/ writers are also critics/
essayists. Victor Ivanovici mentions in the Foreword that we have to notice that
the author’s critical work is more extended than his poetic work. Nevertheless,
we may consider his critical work as a “continuation” of his literary work.
Vayenas approaches important themes of his epoch as he does not ignore the
fact that the poet is eventually a conquistador of the Absolute and each verse is
an incantation and also a re-definition of the self and of the world. “The theme
of a poem” he says “is not represented by a concrete fact, it is … the human
destiny.” The relation meter-free verse “is analogue to the relation sketchimage
in the non-figurative painting.” (Poetry and Meter) The relation logicpoetry
is a fundamental theme of the poetics. In Greece this topic was
approached also by K. Palamas (1925, the essay Music and Logic in Poetry)
and, more recently, A. Embirikos.
The logical and the illogical could be the two faces of the word and, says
Vayenas, everything that time has brought to poetry, all the changes up to the
20 th century, cannot be named “revolutions”, but only “reforms”. He thinks that
the inclusion of the “illogical element” brought also “an extension of the
poetical language.” The traditional poetry (“of old times”) would work by
“logical and rational images” while that of today “works” not only by logical
and rational images, but also by illogical ones. This does not mean that the antilogical
trend characterizes the entire contemporary poetry. They said that some
of his theories/ themes seemed less important or of a “local” importance or
redundant etc. Maybe. They say instead that in the Greek bibliography,
regarding not only translations and the literary theory, his essays cannot be
ignored and his articles (that approach various themes) are read/ commented.
They say that the theories are left “outside” by the poet, for him the moment is
important, his state and the product of the magical act of creation. Vayenas is
one of the poets who took off the coat of a god of words, and descended to the
letter dust of theories, stressing that “we use the language of the two forms of
expression, the non-poetic one and the poetic one, as a means of
…communication” and “explanation of the reality that will be dressed in
poetry. Maybe, also because, says Vayenas, “life is an unhealthy form of
literature.”
Translation Iolanda Mănescu
Kostas Uranis, Poeme, ediţie bilingvă română-greacă,
traducere: Valeriu Mardare, cuvânt înainte, tabel
cronologic: Elena Lazăr, Editura Omonia, Bucureşti, 2003

Kostas Uranis (pseudonimul lui Kostas Nearhos), s-a născut în 1890 în
Constantinopol. În 1908, anul în care s-a stabilit în Atena,
a debutat în presă. În 1909 publică placheta de poezie Ca
un vis/ San oneiro. Sortit de părinţi să facă studii
comerciale, se dedică studiilor literare, a călătorit în
Europa studiind literatura vremii, corespondând cu diverse
publicaţii mai ales din Atena. Traiul boem i-a afectat
sănătatea. S-a internat doi ani într-un sanatoriu din Davos -
1915.
În 1912 publică la Atena placheta de versuri
Spleen (arătând înclinaţie spre elegie), în 1913 era
corespondent de front în războaiele balcanice,
corespondent la Londra al ziarului „Nea Ellas”, la sfârşitul lui fiind la Paris; în
1918 publică la Alexandria un studiu despre Baudelaire ş.a.. În publicistică, anii
primului război mondial au fost un moment de vârf – trimitea cca. 10
corespondenţe săptămânal, din Paris, pentru ziarele din Grecia, semna cronici
în „L’Opinion”. La Davos a continuat ciclul de sonete început la Paris, a scris
proze ca Jurnalul unui tuberculos (publicată postum), Nuvelele provinciei.
După căsătoria cu portugheza Manuela Santiago, în 1919, s-a stabilit la
Lisabona fiind numit, în 1920, consul al Greciei. A stat patru ani, timp în care a
călătorit în Spania, Italia, Franţa, devenind membru al Academiei portugheze. E
o perioadă în care opera sa, mai ales poezia (tradusă în franceză, germană ş.a.,
în vers liber/ cu forma fixă – preferă sonetul decapendisilab), a ajuns cunoscută
în mai multe ţări, fiind o voce distinctă, un romantic întârziat, cu influenţe mai
ales din lirica de limbă franceză.
În 1923 călătoreşte, cu o delegaţie de ziarişti, în România; atunci a
apărut primul său text în ţara noastră, nuvela Nebunul, în numărul 9-10/ 1923
din „Convorbiri literare”. Este şi azi apreciat pentru cărţile de călătorie, gen pe
care l-a „fondat”, pentru Grecia, alături de Nikos Kazantsakis şi Zaharis
Papantoniu.
Ediţia de opere complete (Apanta), în 12 volume, publicate între 1953-
1958 prin grija Elenei Uranis (soţia sa, pseudonim Alkis Thrylos) relevă
personalitatea complexă a lui Kostas, membru fondator al Grupului celor 12
(alături de soţia sa, Odysseas Elytis, Yorgos Theotokas, Petros Haris ş.a..).
A fost impresionat de România. O credea, înainte de vizită, amestec de
„pitoresc balcanic şi european, răsăritean şi apusean – amalgam de regres şi
progres”, dar l-a surprins prin cu totul alte elemente. „Cineva a scris că există
ţări pe care ai vrea să le strângi la pieptul tău. România e una dintre ele”. Sau
(în 1939): „literele în România – la fel ca şi reprezentanţii lor – nu numai că nu
sunt împinse la marginea vieţii sociale şi nu au caracter parazitar, dar sunt
preţuite la fel ca în cele mai avansate ţări europene pe tărâm spiritual.” Şi

„Oamenii de litere… se află în centrul vieţii sociale.” (Viaţa literară în
România). Şi, ca tabloul să fie complet (şi depărtat de ce este azi): „Am
străbătut-o… fără să văd vreun teren sărăcăcios sau viaţă în mizerie.” (Dacia
Felix, 1937) Şi: „…produsele pe care le scoate pe piaţă, mai mult sau mai puţin,
sunt toate de primă necesitate, în vreme ce nu importă decât la scară redusă, şi
articole… de care ar putea să se lipsească fără să sufere.” „Bucureştiul… e un
oraş care are toate calităţile marilor capitale europene, fără mizeria cartierelor
populare de la periferia acestora, fără şomerii lor…” (Chipul României, 1939).
Volumul Poeme („bine lucrat” – cu repere cronologice, cuvânt înainte,
Addenda cu referinţe critice) cuprinde poeme din volumele: Spleen, Nostalgii
(despre care Linos Politis scria că a influenţat mulţi dintre tinerii generaţiei 20),
Cântece vechi, Călătorii, Cântece şi Note de călătorie din România.
Marius Chelaru (ROMANIA)
Kostas Uranis, Poems, Romanian-Greek bilingual edition, translation: Valeriu
Mardare, foreword and chronological table: Elena Lazar, Omonia Printing
House, Bucharest, 2003
Kostas Uranis (Kostas Nearhos’ literary pseudonym), was born in
Constantinople, in 1890. In 1908, he made his press debut. In 1909 he
published his poem volume Like A Dream/ San oneiro. Destined for
commercial studies, he traveled in Europe and studied the literature of his time,
corresponded with different publications especially from Athens. His bohemian
lifestyle affected his health, he had to be interned for two years at a sanatorium
in Davos - 1915.
In 1912 he publishes in Athens his volume of poems Spleen (shows
the inclination towards elegy), in 1913 he was a war correspondent during the
Balkan wars, a correspondent in London of the Nea Ellas newspaper, at the end
of the same year, he was in Paris; in 1918 he publishes in Alexandria a study on
Baudelaire etc. The years of the World War 1 represented the top of his press
career – he was sending from Paris about 10 materials a week to newspapers in
Greece, and was writing reviews for L’Opinion. In Davos he continued the
sonnet cycle he had begun in Paris, and also wrote prose such as The Diary of a
Phthisical Patient (published posthumously), Short Stories of the Provinces. In
1919, after having married the Portuguese Manuela Santiago, he settled in
Lisbon and in 1920 he was appointed Counselor of Greece there, where he
lived for four years during which he traveled to Spain, Italy, France, became a
member of the Portuguese Academy. Meanwhile his work, especially poetry
(translated in French, German etc, in free verse/ in fixed form he prefers the
decasyllabic sonnet) became known in several countries, and he was perceived

as a distinct voice, a late Romantic poet, influenced mainly by the French
poetry.
In 1923 he traveled to Romania, together with a delegation of
journalists; now was published his first text in our country, the short story The
Madman, in Convorbiri literare no 9-10/ 1923. He is appreciated even today
for his travel literature, a genre that he “founded” in Greece, the same as Nikos
Kazantsakis and Zaharis Papantoniu.
His complete works (Apanta), published in 12 volumes between 1953
– 1958, edited by Elena Uranis (his wife; pseudonym Alkis Thrylos), reveal
Kostas’s complex personality; he was also a founding member of the Group of
the 12 (together with his wife, Odysseas Elytis, Yorgos Theotokas, Petros Haris
etc).
Uranis was particularly impressed by Romania. Before seeing it, he
had imagined it as a mixture of “Balkan and European, Eastern and Western
picturesque – namely an amalgam of regress and progress”, yet totally different
elements surprised him: “Someone once said that there are countries that one
feels like hugging. Romania is one of them.” In 1939 he wrote: ”Literature in
Romania is not marginalized, but valued, the same as in the most spiritually
advanced European countries.” and “The men of letters …are in the centre of
the social life.” (The Literary Life in Romania) The image is very far from what
happens today: “I crossed it … and did not see any poor area or poor living.”
(Dacia Felix, 1937) Or: „… the products on the market are all, more or less, the
bare necessities while the imported items are few, and they could easily live
without them.” “Bucharest …has all the qualities of the great European
capitals, without the misery of their outskirts, and their unemployed … “
(Romania’s Face, 1939).
The volume Poems (a “well edited” book – with a chronology, a
foreword, an Addenda containing critical references) includes poems from the
volumes: Spleen, Nostalgias ( Linos Politis wrote that it alone influenced many
of the young generation of the 1920s), Old Songs, Travels, Songs and also a
series of serie de Travel Notes from Romania.
Translation: Iolanda Mănescu

VARIA
Congres de literatură la Atena
În intervalul 18-21 octombrie 2009, a avut loc la Atena primul
Congres de literatură desfăşurat sub auspiciile Clubului UNESCO şi cu
sprijinul nemijlocit al Primăriei Paleo Faliro, având deviza „Lumi înfrăţite prin
cultură”.
Au participat 45 de scriitori din Albania, Bulgaria, Grecia, Cipru,
Malta, România, Ucraina, Rusia. România a fost reprezentată de o delegaţia
alcătuită din doi membri, în persoana doamnei Mihaela Deşliu - poetă şi
traducătoare de limbă bulgară şi a lui Vasile Datcu - prozator.
Acest congres a avut câteva particularităţi, rezultate, cum era şi de
aşteptat, din specificul întâlnirii.
În primul rând, congresul nu a avut translatori. Fiecare vorbea
preponderent pe limba lui, precum şi în celelalte limbi de circulaţie, pe care
fiecare le stăpânea mai bine ori mai rău.
În al doilea rând, acest fapt nu a reprezentat un impediment prea mare
– oricum, nici nu credem că s-ar fi putut proceda altfel, întrucât noi nu
participam la un congres de mecanică ori agricultură, de exemplu, unde s-ar fi
comunicat, în mod normal, idei. Noi eram creatori de literatură, iar aceasta este
înainte de toate operă de limbă şi mai apoi de idei. Din acest motiv, cu toţii am
luat decizia ca lecturile din creaţia proprie să fie citite în limba de origine, apoi
explicate într-o limbă de circulaţie, rămânând fiecăruia desfătarea şi deliciul
izvorâte din ritmul, rima, ori muzicalitatea celor citite.
Până la urmă, experienţa a fost inedită, congresul stimulându-ne într-o
măsură destul de însemnată, tocmai deoarece comunicarea se dovedise din start
a fi una aproximativă.
Ceea ce am trăit noi, prin tot complexul de manifestări organizate în
acele zile s-a concretizat în expoziţii de arte vizuale, muzee, audiţii de muzică
instrumentală, lecturi, iar aceasta a însemnat mult mai mult decât o simplă
comunicare şi cunoaştere personală. Noi, participanţii, am experimentat în fapt
o formă originală de literatură trăită şi asta chiar în ţara unde ea a fost inventată.
O remarcă specială trebuie făcută implicării domnulnui Ilias
Demirtzoglu, preşedintele Clubului UNESCO, prin a cărui grijă şi solicitudine
s-a organizat această manifestare.
Zilele petrecute la Atena s-au transformat într-o frumoasă frăţie
literară.
Vasile Datcu (ROMANIA)

Literary Conference in Athens
In the range 18th - 21th October 2009, under the patronage of the
UNESCO Club and with the direct support of the Town Hall in Paleo Faliro, in
Athens was held the first Literary Conference, having the motto: “Worlds
united by culture”.
At this conference participated forty-five writers from Albania,
Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Romania, Ukraine and Russia. Romania was
represented by a delegation, composed of two members, Mrs Mihaela Deşliu –
a poet and Bulgarian translator- and Vasile Datcu - prose writer.
This conference had certain particularities, which resulted from the
specific features of the meeting.
First of all, at the conference there have been no translators. Every one
talked mostly in his or her mother tongue, as well as in other well-known
foreign languages, which every one mastered more or less.
Second of all, this was not a great obstacle – anyway, we did not think it
could be done otherwise, because we were not participating at a conference on
mechanics or agriculture, for example, where normally there are communicated
ideas. We were literary creators, and this is first of all a work of language and
then of ideas. This is why, we have all decided that the lectures from our
personal creation should be read in the native tongue, and then explained in a
wide-known foreign language, each of us having the delight and extreme
pleasure that came from the rhythm, rime or the musicality of what we read.
In the end, the experience was an original one, in a great extent the
conference stimulated us, mainly because from the beginning communication
proved to be an approximately one.
What we have lived there, through the whole complex of
manifestations organized during those days was concretized into visual art
exhibitions, museums, instrumental music auditions, lectures, and these meant
more than a simple communication and personal acquaintance. We, the
participants, have practically experimented an original form of lived literature
and all this exactly in the country where it was invented.
A special remark has to be done about Mr. Ilias Demirtzoglu, the
president of the UNESCO Club, whose care and solicitude made possible the
organization of this manifestation.
The days spent in Athens transformed themselves into a beautiful
literary brotherhood.
Vasile Datcu (ROMANIA)

NOTES on CONTRIBUTORS
Vesna Vujić Jajce (BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA) was born in Jajce (Bosnia and
Herzegovina) in 1981 and she lives in Brčko (Bosnia and Herzegovina). She graduated
graduated from Serbian language and literature on the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi
Sad in Serbia. She published the collection of poetry Bijela jutra/ White Mornings
(Rijeka, Croatia, 2006), and for it she won „Anka Topić“ prize. Her second collection of
poems Retrogradnja/ Repair Works was published in Zenica, Bosnia and Hercegovina,
2008. She is currently working as a journalist at Radio TV station HIT in Brčko.
Dyanko Dyanov (BULGARIA) was born in 1961 in Rousse, Bulgaria. He, a Sofia
University graduate in Philosophy, has also specialized in furniture design in Finland.
He is the author of three collections of poetry. His works have been translated into
Hungarian and German. He lives and works as furniture designer in Sofia, Bulgaria. He
is the winner of the Southern Spring Winners’ National Award for 1997.
Zdravko Kissiov (BULGARIA) is a poet, translator, and essayist; born in 1937. He
has worked as an editor and journalist in the city of Rousse. Zdravko Kissiov is the
author of 20 poetry books, which include: Revelation (1962), Soliloquies (1966), The
Balladic Hour (1974), Innerscape (1976), Needed Pain (1978), Residence (1982),
Eyesight (1984), A Distinctive Mark (1985), Cryptogram (1987), Breath (1987),
Evidences (1990), Daily Crucifix (1995), Canon (2002), Heavenly Voice (2002),
Reversed Time (2007) and travel notes about Latvia – Between Salt and Fresh Water
(1977), and others. His poems have been translated into 19 languages. Zdravko
Kissiov is an active translator, mainly of poets from Poland and the Baltic countries.
He is member of the Bulgarian Writers’ Union. He has been awarded many prizes and
insignia of honour, one of which is “Honoured Worker For Polish Culture”.
Antoaneta Nikolova (BULGARIA) was born in Sofia on June 26, 1961. She read
Philosophy at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. She has taken her Ph.D. in
Philosophy with the dissertation on “Ecology and Religion”. Now she is Associate
Professor in Eastern philosophy at South-West University, Blagoevgrad. She is a poet
and translator. She is author of several books of poetry: Liquefied Light, 1994, Tales for
Unnamed Beings, 1998, Green Mirror, 2003, Breathing, 2008; as well as of the
philosophical study on poetry, The Language of the Void (2003). She translates poems
from Old Chinese and is a translator of the first anthology of Old Chinese poetry in
Bulgarian, Poetry of Mountains and River, 2003. Her poems have been translated in
English, German, French, Japanese, Hungarian, Greek, Russian.
Aksinia Mihailova (BULGARIA) was born in 1963 in North-West of Bulgaria. She
graduated from Sofia State University “St Climent Ohridsky” - master degree in
Bulgarian and French philology. So far she has published the poetry collections “The
Grasses of a Dream” (1994), “A Moon in an Empty Wagon” (2004), “Three Seasons”, a
Bulgarian-French bilingual (2005), “Krotenie” (2006 –Bratislava, Slovakia), “The
Lowest Layer of the Sky” (2008). Her poems are published in French, English, Arab,
Lithuanian, Latvian, Roumanian and different Slavic languages. She is compiler and
translater into Bulgarian of the “Anthology of Contemporary Lithuanian Poetry” (2007),

the “Anthology of Contemporary Latvian Poetry” (2008), also novels and poetry
collections of others authors. She is a co-founder of the first Bulgarian private literary
magazine “Ah, Maria” and co-founder of the French speaking Central and East Europe
poets’ movement “Cap à l’Est” - Boudmeritze, Slovakia (2002). She participated in
different literary events in Bulgaria and abroud. Member of the Association of the
Bulgarian Writers and the World Haiku Association. Lives and works in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Petar Tchouhov (BULGARIA) Born in 1961 in Sofia, Bulgaria, holds a B.A. in Library
Science, a M.A. in Social Sciences. He has published seven books of verse, including
Pedro’s Mule (1999), Provinces (2000), Small Days (2002), Three (2010). He is the
winner of the 2004 MTel text-message poetry contest, as well as the recipient of the
Development Group special award for the best manuscript for his novel Snowmen
(2003). His poems have been published in many newspapers, magazines and anthologies
in Bulgaria and abroad, including: Frogpond /USA/, Modern Haiku /USA/, bottle rockets
/USA/, Contemporary Haibun /USA/, Haiku Presence /England/, Magnapoets /Canada/,
Ginyu /Japan/, World Haiku 2006, 2007and 2010, Mainichi Daily News /Japan/, A New
Resonance: Emerging Voices in English-Language Haiku 5, The Red Moon Anthology
of English-Language Haiku 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, Simply Haiku, The Heron’s Nest,
Full Moon, Roadrunner, tinywords etc. Tchouhov has played guitar and written music
and lyrics for various rock bands and is currently playing with the ethno-rock band
Gologan /www.gologan.net; www.myspace. com/gologanmusic. He is a member of the
Association of Bulgarian Writers, the Sofia Haiku Club, the Haiku Society of America,
the World Haiku Association and Musicautor.
Ivan Zhelev (BULGARIA) was born in 1964 in the town of Yambol. He is a University
of Architecture, Construction and Geodesy graduate in Sofia. Winner of the Southern
Spring National Award in 1996 for his debut collection Angel and Oasis, Free Poetry
Society, Sofia, 1995, and of the Ivan Nikolov National Poetry Award in 2007 for his
second poetry collection Without Ash, Bulgarian Writer, Sofia, 2006. He lives in Sofia.
Jean Poncet (FRANCE) was born in 1949 in the southern French city of Marseilles. A
Mediterranean as much as a European, he shares his time between his native place and
more remote lands, in Europe, Asia and the Pacific where he spent close to 30 years as a
diplomat. A poet and a linguist, he has published five collections of verses – some of
which have been translated into Chinese, Croatian, Italian or Romanian – he has
translated numerous Romanian and Irish poets. His anthology of Lucian Blaga's poetry,
to this day the most extensive in French language, earned him several distinctions in
Romania. In 1997 he was awarded the Lucian Blaga Prize for his contribution to the
understanding of Romanian poetry in France. He is an honorary member of the Writers'
Union of Romania. He collaborated with the French review SUD from 1988 to 1997. He
is currently a member of the editorial committee of Autre SUD which he co-founded in
1998. Bibliography: • Poetry: Katiouchka, Éditions du Marais, 1974; Il faut lutter,
Maison Rhodanienne de Poésie, 1991; Chemin de lune, Encres Vives, 1997; Champs
d’amour brûlés / Lanuri de dragoste arse, Helicon, 1997; Des lieux et des hommes,
Éditions des Moires, 1998. • Translation: Lucian Blaga ou Le chant de la terre et des
étoiles, SUD, Grand Prize of the Oradea Book Fair 1996; Lucian Blaga: Poezii /
Poésies, Libra, Grand Prize of the City of Cluj 1997, Special Prize for translation of the

Cluj Lucian Blaga Festival 1998; Voix de Roumanie, SUD, 1997. Desmond Egan :
Holocauste de l’Automne, Alidades, 1998. Several translations of poems by Gheorghe
Zamfir, Rodica Draghincescu, Cassian Maria Spiridon, Ioan Ţepelea, Horia Bădescu
and Cezar Ivănescu have also been published in the following French reviews: SUD,
Autre SUD, Europe and Les Archers. • Monograph: Marc Rambeau : Chine, Tahiti,
Australie, Nouvelle-Zélande, L’Après-Midi, 2008.
Apostolos Patelakis (GREECE) was born in Craiova, Romania, in 1951, to a family of
Greek political immigrants. After graduating from high school he attended the courses
of the Institute of History – Geography in Craiova (1973). He was then a history teacher
in the village of Botiza – Maramures and attended, at the same time, the courses of the
Faculty of History – Philosophy in Cluj – Napoca (1976). Thanks to his bilingual
fluency, he was able to use a vast bibliography in Greek for his graduation paper The
Greek Independence War and the European Public Opinion (1821-1829). In 1979 he
officially returned to Greece, together with his family. Since 1980 he has been teaching
a course of Romanian language, culture and civilisation at the Balkan Languages School
within the Institute of Balkan Studies in Thessaloniki. Between 2000 and 2006 he was a
lecturer at the Faculty of Balkan Studies within the Macedonia University of
Thessaloniki where he taught a course in the Romanian language, culture and
civilisation. He translated several works from Greek into Romanian, including Manolis
Andronicos, Royal Tombs in Vergina, An Anthology of Balkan Poetry, Foreign
Investments in Romania. In 1992 he published the brochure Thessaloniki, the Capital of
Modern Macedonia and the Cultural Capital of Europe in 1997, he was co-author of
The Bibliography of the City of Thessaloniki (1987), Supplimentary Texts in Acquiring
the Romanian Language (2002). He worked also as a correspondent in Greece for the
Romanian newspapers Adevărul (1994-1995), Vocea României (1995-1996),
Actualitatea românească (2002-2006), Curierul Atenei (2007-2008).
Stella Leontiadou (GREECE) is a Greek, born in Constantinople in 1959. She studied
management administration and knows French, English, German, Italian, Turkish. She
writes in Greek, French and English language, since she was adolescent and translates
poems mainly from French language into Greek. She has participated in panhellenic and
international competitions of poetry, awarded in Greece and abroad. She was also
awarded prizes by the Society of Greek Authors for her work. Her poems and articles
have been published in magazines and newspapers; her poems have been translated in
English, French, Albanian, Roumanian. She deals with painting, photography and
handmade jewels and has participated in several exhibitions. She is the cultural
representative of the Club for UNESCO of Arts, Literature and Sciences of Greece. She
has issued the Parnassus Memories and scents of my Constantinople and has also many
other oeuvres that have not been published.
Anastasia Moula-Hatzi (GREECE) was born at Pogoni a village close to Ioannina in
the North of Greece, but now she lives in Thessaloniki and works at the medical school
of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She is a member of ’’The Literature Union
of Northern Greece’’, ’’The European Society of Authors and Poets’’, and ’’Musical
Society of Northern Greece’’. She is an active member of ‘’The Greek Amphictyony‘’
and ‘’The Organisation of the Internationalism of the Greek Language’’. Anastasia first

approached the Literary community when she participated in the First Pan-Hellenic
Poetry Competition where she was awarded the 1st Prize for her poem Epilogue. She
published her poetry collection which included Testimony 98-99’, Testimony II and The
Topography of Devastation. Her latest work is Fragments of Memory. In March 2000
she was awarded a prize for her poem Kisses of the Air in the 1 st Pan-Hellenic poetry
Festival. Several of her poems have been published in poetry anthologies. She is also
part of the “Crossroad” theatre stage group of the Municipality of Thessaloniki.
Tolis Nikiforou (GREECE). The son of Greek refugees from Salihli in Asia Minor and
Sozopoli on the Black Sea Coast, was born in Thessaloniki in 1938. He graduated from
Anatolia. College, studied Business Management and worked mainly as a management
consultant until 1999.He lived in London and travelled during the dictatorship, returning
to Thessaloniki in 1971. He belongs to the second post-war generation of Greek poets.
He has published 14 collections of poetry, 6 collections of short stories, 4 novels and 3
books of fable. His poems have been translated into 9 European languages and included
in several Greek and foreign anthologies as well as in Greek high school textbooks.
Theodoros Santas (GREECE) was born in Heracleia of Fthiotida region, southern
Greece. He is a mathematician and is a former president of "The writers' association of
Nothern Greece." He made his literary debute in 1997 with his poetic anthology The
journey of the star. He has been repeatedly awarded by the "Panhellenic writers'
Association. In March 1999, he released his second poetic anthology At the Aegean's
amour and in 2004 his third entitled Everything rain doesnt wash out. He was honoured
by the Academy of Greek Language and culture and by the Municipality of Halkida.
Some of his lyrics became songs with refference to Greek heroes by his eminence father
Theodoros Tsabatsides and were released on cd entitled Hellas, the Womb of Heroes,
birthplace of Faith and Freedom In December 2006 his fourth poetic anthology Amour
has always a full moon was published.
Baki Ymeri (MACEDONIA & ROMANIA) is a poet, a translator, an essayist and
publicist. He was born in Sipkovita (Macedonia) to an Albanian father and a Roumanian
mother. He graduated from The Faculty of Philosophy (Albanian Language and
Literature) at the University of Kosovo, Prishtina, and then he specialized in the
Romanian language at the Universities of Bucharest and Vienna. He is a member of the
Romanian Union of Writers, editor in chief of the Albanezul/ Shqiptari magazine, the
author of many articles about the Romanians in Valea Timocului (Serbia) and the
Albanians in Kosovo. He also published poetry: Kaltrina (a Romanian-Albanian edition,
Bucharest, 1994); Dardania (a Romania-Albanian edition, 1999); Zjarr i Shenjtë/ Foc
Sacru (Tetova, R. Macedonia, 2001); Lumina Dardaniei (Bucharest, 2004); Drumul
iadului spre Rai (Bucharest, 2005). For his rich cultural activity, he was nominated as
the Man of 2001 by the ABI (American Biographic Institute). He also translated
thousands of poems by over 50 Romanian writers and historians into Albanian,
Macedonian and Slovenian, as well as volumes by Nichita Stanescu, Ekspozitë e të
palindurve/ Expoziţia celor nenăscuţi (Prishtina, 1986); Anghel Dumbrăveanu: Kënga e
mullibardhës/Cântecul sturzului (Scopje, 1986); Slavco Almăjan: Xhuxhmaxhuxhët
harruan të rriten/Piticii au uitat să crească (Prishtina, 1989); Marin Sorescu: Eja të ta
them një fjalë/Vino să-ţi spun un cuvânt (Prishtina, 1990) etc.

Katika (Kata) Kulavkova (MACEDONIA) was born in 1951. She is a member of the
Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, a poet, theoretician of literature, literary
essayist, and Professor of the Theory of Literature and Literary Hermeneutics at the
Department of General and Comparative Literature in the Faculty of Philology, Ss. Cyril
and Methodius University, Skopje. Her poetry has been translated into many languages
and represented in books, anthologies and selections of contemporary Macedonian
poetry. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the international P.E.N. e-Collection Diversity
(www.diversity.org.mk). Areas of interest include: theory of intertextuality, literary
poetics and hermeneutics, cultural theory, Balkan identities. Publications include:
Poetry: Annunciation, 1975; The Act, 1978; Our Consonant, 1981; New Sweat, 1984;
Neuralgic Spots (bilingual edition, Serbian/Macedonian) 1986; Thirst, 1989; 1989; Wild
Thought (selection), 1989; Domino, 1993; Exorcising Evil, 1997; Via Lasciva (into
French), 1998; Time Difference (into English), 1998; Preludium, 1998, World-In-
Between, 2000, Expulsion du mal (into French, Ecrits des Forges), 2002, Dead Angle,
2004, Dorinte (into Romanian, 2004), Thin Ice (2008); Short stories/Poetic fiction:
Another Time, and several books of literary theory and hermeneutics: Figurative Speech
and Macedonian Poetry, Pact and Impact, Stone of Temptation, Cahiers, Small Literary
Theory, Theory of Literature, introduction (2004, in English), Hermeneutics of
Identities. She has also been the editor of several anthologies of Macedonian short
stories and essays, and several readers (Dialogue of Interpretations, Theory of
Intertextuality, Poetics and Hermeneutics, Balkan Image of the World, Interpretations
Vol. 1 on Violence & Art, Notions of Literary Theory). She has prepared two anthologies
of world short stories (1996, 2008). Personal website: www.kulavkova.org.mk
Nikola Madzirov (MACEDONIA) (poet, essayist, translator, editor) was born 1973 in
Strumica (Macedonia). For his book of poetry Locked in the city (1999) he received the
Studentski Zbor award for the best debut book, while for his Somewhere nowhere
(1999) the Aco Karamanov award. In 2004 he published the collection of poems In the
city, somewhere. For the poetry of his latest book Relocated stone (2007) he received
the European Hubert Burda poetry award and the most prestigious Macedonian poetry
award Miladinov Brothers. His poetry has been translated into more than twenty
languages and published in collections and anthologies in Macedonia and abroad. He is
the Macedonian coordinator of the international poetry net Lyrikline. He has participated
at many international poetry festivals and has received several international awards and
scholarships: International Writers Program (IWP) at the University of Iowa in US;
Berlin's Tandem project; KulturKontakt scholarship in Vienna; Internationales Haus der
Autoren in Graz etc. He lives and works in Macedonia.
Mihaela Albu (ROMANIA, email address: malbu_10@yahoo.com) is a Professor -
teaching Romanian literature - at the University of Craiova, Romania. Between 1999
and 2004 she taught as a visiting professor at Columbia University, New York. She is a
member of the Union of Romanian Writers, of the Union of Professional Journalists in
Romania, of the Romanian-American Academy, and also the editor-in chief of the
literary magazine Gracious Light (USA), of the newspaper Lumea Românească (USA)
and also a member in the editorial board of several newspapers and magazines. She
published essays (literary criticism) and poems both in Romanian and foreign magazines

(from the United States, Germany, Italy, Israel, Moldova, Canada) and is the author of
some books such as: Memoria exilului românesc: ziarul Lumea liberă din New York
(Memory of the Romanian Exile: the newspaper Lumea libera in New York), Bucharest,
2008, Cultură şi identitate (Culture and Identity), Craiova, 2008; Literatura pentru
copii. Discursul epic (Literature for Children. The epic discourse), Craiova, 2007;
Catharsis. Poems, Bucharest & Montreal, 2006; Ca o dragoste târzie… Poezii, (As a
Late Love … Poems), Craiova 2005; Ion Biberi – Suferinţă şi cunoaştere (Ion Biberi –
Suffering and Knowledge). Studiu monografic/ a monography, (second edition),
Craiova, 2005 (edited with the help of the Romanian Ministry of Culture, awarded the
Prize of International Society LitterArt, USA); Iscusită zăbavă, New York, 2004 -
essays about classic and contemporary Romanian writers; Citind la New York scriitori
români (Reading Romanian Writers in New York), Botosani, 2002 (edited with the help
of the Ministry of Culture, awarded the Prize of International Society LitterArt, USA);
Între două porţi (Between Two Gates), Poems, New York, 2002; Relatare/ Reprezentare
(Narration/Representation), Craiova, 1997; Ion Biberi (first edition), 1994.
Dan Anghelescu (ROMANIA), email address:dan45_anghelescu@yahoo.com, a poet
and an essayist, was born in Romania on May 1945. He is a member of the Union of
Romanian Writers, of the Union of Professional Journalists from Romania, an editor of
the literary magazine Lumina lina. Gracious Light, New York and also a correspondent
for the newspaper Lumea Romaneasca. Romanian World, USA. He graduated from The
Academy of Music “George Enescu” in Iasi, Musicology and Composition Department.
Since his debut in 1969 in the magazine Iaşul literar, Dan Anghelescu has had a rich
and diverse activity, signing musical chronicles („Podium” in some magazines such as
Cronica - Iaşi, Flacăra – Bucharest), interviews, book-reviews, poems, essays in other
Romanian magazines such as Cronica, Tomis, Convorbiri Literare, Luceafărul,
Contemporanul, Literatorul, Sudt, Vatra, Oglinda literară, Excelsior, Porto Franco,
Lumina lina (Gracious Light). His debut was in 1970 with a book of poetry, Cerul în
apă. This and other volumes: Lumea ca adiere, 198o; Maşinarii de traversare a
sufletului toamna, 1983; Poeme, 1989; Pietrificarea memoriei, 1998 had very good
chronicles signed by important Romanian literary critics. Besides this activity, he has
activated also in different cultural domains. Thus, in 1990, together with a playwright,
Dinu Grigorescu, and a director, Tudor Marascu, he founded the first private theater in
Romania and printed the magazine Scorpion. In 1999 he edited (together with other two
poets) - being the editor in chief – the magazine Axa. In 2007, in Braila, he was coinitiator
of International Poetry Festival „Balcanica”, and also president of the first
edition. Other activities: a founder and vice-president of Romanian National Employers;
Vicepresident in the Commission „Education-Culture-Research” from Economic and
Social Council of Romania; Member of the Governing Board – European Foundation
for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions – Dublin, Ireland.
Marius Chelaru (ROMANIA) (name: Marius Chelariu, Pen Name: Marius Chelaru),
email: marius.1961.@yahoo.com, was born in Negreşti, Vaslui county, Romania, on
August 30, 1961; Present day – lives in Jassy, where he graduated from The Faculty of
Economics, University “Alexandru Ioan Cuza”; He is a contributor with articles/ poems/
critical articles. He worked as the editor of some cultural magazines: Timpul/ Time,
Cronica/ Chronicle, Convorbiri Literare/ Literary Conversations, Poezia/ Poetry etc., or

Publishing Houses such as: Junimea (1994-1998, editor, 1998-1999: editor in chief,
1999-2000: Director), Sakura (1999-2002, Director), Parnas (2000-2002), Timpul/ Time
(2001-2003, Executive Director), Secretary of Association of Magazines and
Publications from Europe etc. He is also a member in the editorial board of several
newspapers and magazines. He contributed with articles, poems, essays, literary
criticism, prose, translations, interviews, book-reviews in various international
anthologies, and in magazines/ journals from Romania, Republic of Moldavia, USA,
England, Belgium, Canada, Sweden, Paraguay, Japan, Irak, Egypt, Jordan, Vietnam,
Lebanon, Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania, Holland etc. He is a member of The Romanian
Writers Society, member of the famous club Junimea in Jassy, a member of Constanta
Haiku Society, a member of the Haiku Romanian Society, a member of World Haiku
Association, Japan, an honorary member of Maison Naaman pour la Culture, Beirut,
Liban, Member of Romanian Language Writers from Québec, Canada. He published
over 30 books (novels, poems – haiku and tanka, also –, literary critique, essays,
translations); part of them edited with the help of the Romanian Ministry of Culture or
Ministry of Education, Research and Inovation; he was awarded some national prizes
(including the Romanian Union Writers’ Prize, for essay in 2005 for the book The Book
between East and West (edited with the help of the Romanian Ministry of Culture). He
got the Award of Critics of the prestigious Romanian Literary Magazine „Literary
Conversations” in 2008 etc.) and other international literary awards.
Şerban Codrin (ROMANIA) - Born May 10th, 1945, Bucharest. Literary pseudonym
of Dencă (Denk) Şerban Ioan. Graduate of University of Bucharest, Department of
Romanian Language and Literature, 1968 (under the name of Petrovici Şerban).
Substitute teacher of Romanian Language and Literature in Slobozia area, Ialomita
county. Member of Culture Council of Ialomita county (1990-1995), Director of
UNESCO's Cultural Center "Ionel Perlea" (1990-1995), Director of Ialomita County
Library (1976-1982, 1998-2002), Honor Citizen of Slobozia City (2009). Literary work:
poetry Imnuri către Soare (1982); dramatic trilogy Întemeietorii (1984); play Secerătorii
(1985) – translated in Russian as Jneţâ; zen poems Între patru anotimpuri (1994); zen
poems Dincolo de tăcere (1994); Ion Budai-Deleanu's "Ţiganiada" revisited by Şerban
Codrin, (1994, 2002); Carte dintr-un exil interior (1997); O sărbătoare a felinarelor
stinse (1997) - partially translated in English (2005); zen poems antology Scoici fără
perle, (1997); zen poems Missa Requiem (1999); work antology Marea tăcere (2001),
poetry Testamentul din strada Nisipuri, (2002) - revised edition in 2008; Lieds were
composed on Serban Codrin's poetry by composers Theodor Grigoriu, Dan Dediu, Ede
Terenyi, Vasile Spătărelu, Cornelia Tăutu, Dan Voiculescu, Felicia Donceanu, Satoshi
Tanaka (Japonia). He has founded "Slobozia School of Tanka, Renku and Haiku" (1995)
as well as the literary journals of zen poetry "Orion" and "Little Orion”, also published
online. He put together, along with Florin Vasiliu a zen poetry antology O sută de
catarge (1997) and he also put together the online zen poetry antology Stâlpi de felinar.
Theodor Damian (USA, ROMANIA) was born in December 1951 in Romania and
emigrated to the USA 1988. He is a poet, a theologian and the minister of the “Saints
Apostles Peter and Pavel” Romanian Church in Queens, NY, as well as a professor of
Philosophy and Ethics at “Metropolitan College” in New York. In 1993 he founded and
registred with the American authorities “The Romanian Institute of Theology and

Orthodox Spirituality”, “Saints Apostles Peter and Pavel” Church and also the Literary
Club “Mihai Eminescu”. At the same time Th. Damian edited the magazine of
Romanian culture and spirituality Lumină lină. Gracious Light. He made his debut as a
poet in Romanian magazine Săptămâna, and then he published in many other
periodicals in Romania and abroad. His first book was the bi-lingual volume Liturghia
cuvântului/ The Word’s Liturgy (1989), followed by Roua cărţilor, Dimineaţa Învierii,
Rugăciuni în Infern, Ispita rănii, The Icons, Implicaţiile spirituale ale teologiei icoanei,
Pasiunea textului, Nemitarnice, Poesias, Semnul Isar, Stihiri cu stânjenei etc.
Vasile Datcu (ROMANIA) was born in Balta Albă, Buzău, Romania in 1949 and
graduated from the Polytechnic Institute in Galaţi, the Ship Building Department in
1972. He is a poet and a fiction writer, a member of the Union of Romanian Writers. As
a prose writer he started by publishing a short story, called Caseta, in the volume
Debut’86 (Cartea Romaneasca Publishing House). After his debut, Vasile Datcu
published: Singurătate în tranzit, Galaţi, Porto-Franco Publishing House, 1991; Timpul
şi cultura europeană. Eseu. Bucharest, Eminescu Publishing House, 2000; Paznic la uşa
nopţilor, Bucharest, Eminescu Publishing House, 2002; Veşnicia cu patent. Roman
ultramodern românesc, Bucharest, Vremea Publishing House, 2005.
Ioana-Rucsandra Dascalu (Romania) was born in Romania, in Medgidia, Constantza
county in 1979, in a family of intellectuals. She graduated from an English bilingual
high-school in Craiova, Dolj county and from the University of Bucharest (BA Faculty
of Foreign Languages and Literatures, in 2002 and MA Faculty of Letters, in 2003).
During her formation years she was awarded several national prizes and participated
also in international competitions (Italy). Doctor in philology since 2009 with a thesis on
Latin lyrical poetry. Author of several books: translations from ancient literatures:
Plinius, Naturalis Historia, XXth book, Iaşi, Polirom Publishing House, 2003, Plinius,
Naturalis Historia, XXXIst book, Iaşi, Polirom Publishing House, 2004, monographies
Limbajul erotic al comediilor în Roma antică, Craiova, Universitaria Publishing House,
2007, Procedee ale intertextualităţii în canonul antic şi modern, Craiova, Universitaria
Publishing House, 2008, of dozens of studies and articles on humanistic themes. She
leads a very prolific didactic activity at the University of Craiova, Romania, where she
is teaching classical languages and literatures.
Sanda Golopentia (ROMANIA, USA) is Professor of French Studies at Brown
University. She has published on the subject of literary pragmatics (mostly analyzing
French novels and plays of the XXth century) and cultural semiotics. Among her works,
one can mention books such as: Les voies de la pragmatique (Stanford French and
Italian Studies, Anma Libri, 1988); Voir les didascalies (Université de Toulouse Le
Mirail & Editions Ophrys, Paris, co-authored), Les propos spectacle: Études de
pragmatique théâtrale (New York…: Peter Lang, 1996); Desire Machines: A Romanian
Love-Charms Database (Bucharest: The Romanian Foundation Publishing House,
1998), Chemarea mâinilor negative (The Call of the Negative Hands) (Bucharest:
Cartea Româneasca, 2002), Hacia une nueva definición de las didascalías (Madrid:
ADE, in press), Emigranţii Carter (Bucharest: Paideia, 2008); Viaţa noastră cea de
toate zilele (Bucharest: Curtea Veche, 2009), Româna globală (Bucharest: Fundaţia

Culturală Secolul 21, 2009) as well as over 200 studies and essays that were published
in the U.S., France, Romania, Italy, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, South Africa and Mexico.
Pamela Ionescu (ROMANIA, USA) was born in Turtucaia (actual Bulgaria). Before
1940, when the Cadrilater was returned to Bulgaria, she lived in Turtucaia and Silistra,
thereafter she lived in Turnu-Magurele, Cernauti, Craiova and Bucharest. Later on she
had the opportunity to travel and live in London, Nottingham and Oxford. In 1973, her
husband, professor Gh. Petrescu Prim set up in Cernauti the magazine "Britanica" under
the auspices of the Anglo-Romanian Association - section of the Young Friends of
England, having Pamela Young (the pen name of Pamela Ionescu) as managing editor.
Between 1938 and 1939, 11 issues of "Britanica" magazine were published with a
couple of double issues (3-4 and 7-8). The magazine is mentioned in the General
Dictionary of the Romanian Literature, edited by the Romanian Academy. Pamela
Young's contriburion to Britanica consisted in translations and commented poetry and
prose from English literature, using as well, the signature of Cecilia Niculescu. In 1939,
together with the magazine director, Professor Petrescu Prim, were granted a scholarship
offered by the British Council and left for England to attend specialy studies in the
literary field. Later on, after returning to Bucharest, she published in "Fapta" newspaper
genuine reportages from times of war and the bombardaments over London city. Pamela
Ionescu worked after that as a translator and polyglot typewriter for two cultural
institutions in Bucharest and for the "Munca" newspaper. She collaborated with the
Romanian National Radio at the foreign section broadcasting. In 1993 she established
in New York where she collaborated for some time with Columbia University. Beside
her intense activity as a translator, she made her debut as a writer with a series of
memorialistic episodes published in Lumea Libera and Romanian Herald newspapers
and with original poetry in Micro Magazin, Lumina Lina and other publications in New
York. In 2009 her memorialistic novel On the Burning Stake was published in New
York by the H&H Promotions Publishing House.
Iolanda Manescu (ROMANIA, email address: iomanescu@yahoo.co.uk) was born in
Craiova, Romania, and studied at the Universities of Bucharest and of Craiova. She
teaches at the University of Craiova’s Department of Applied Foreign Languages, and is
a literary consultant at the National Theatre of Craiova, being also involved in the
Romanian International Shakespeare Festival. She is a member of the Romanian theatre
association, UNITER. She has published articles and translations in different Romanian
and foreign journals, annals and magazines such as: Lo Straniero, Ultimate Reality and
Meaning (Interdisciplinary Studies in the Philosophy of Understanding), Teatrul azi,
Scrisul Romanesc, Proceedings of the Romanian Academy etc., and books: The Ancient
Greek-Latin Theatre in Romanian Performances of the Last Decades of the 20th
Century (her PhD thesis held at the National University of Theatre and Film in
Bucharest), and translated into Romanian, Is It True What They Say about
Shakespeare?, by Stanley Wells.
Vasile Moldovan (ROMANIA) was born in Bistrita-Nasaud county in 1949. He
Graduated from Law school ((1967-1971) and Journalism (1975-1979), having also a
master in psychology and the science of communication. He published poems and
essays in different Romanian literary magazines such as “Luceafărul”, “Tribuna”, “Viaţa

Armatei”. He has been involved in the Romanian school of haiku and now he is
vicepresident of the Romanian Society of Haiku. He attended many international
meetings of haiku in Frankfurt on Main (2005), Sofia (2005) and Tokyo (2007). So far
he has published over 1000 haiku poems in 12 languages in different international
anthologies or online. Starting with 2001, Moldovan has been awarded many prizes at
the international competitions in Japan, U.S.A., Australia, Canada, India, Croaţia. His
most representative books are: Via dolorosa (1998), Faţa nevăzută a lunii/ The moon’s
unseen face (2001), Arca lui Noe/ Noah’a Ark(2003), Ikebana (2005).
Mircea Muthu (ROMANIA) was born in Iernut, Mures in 1944 and graduated from
“Babeş-Bolyai” University of Cluj-Napoca where he has been teaching as full professor
now. He has been Doctor in philological sciences since 1976, title awarded in Romania
for a doctoral thesis on Romanian literature in the south-east European context.
Professor Mircea Muthu’s fields of specialization are studies of Balkanology and of
south-eastern Europe (field in which he has published the greater part of his books and
studies; General and literary esthetics, Theory of literature). He published 20 volumes as
a single author and 17 books written in collaboration, in Romania and in other countries
(France, Spain, Germany, Italy). M. Muthu is also co-author of Scriitori români. Mic
dicţionar (Romanian Writers - a Small Dictionary), 1978; Dicţionarul scriitorilor
români (The Dictionary of Romanian Writers) : tome I (A-C), 1995 ; tome I (D-L),
1998; tome III (M-Q), 2000 ; Dicţionar analitic de opere literare româneşti (Analytical
Dictionary of Romanian Literary Works ), tome I (A-D), 1998 ; tome H (E-L), 1999;
tome m (M-P) 2000; Dicţionar Esenţial al Scriitorilor Români (Essential Dictionary of
Romanian Writers), 2001. He published about 800 studies and articles in the main
Romanian cultural magazines as well as in magazines in France, Southern Africa,
Greece and Austria. Professor M. Muthu is a member of the following Scientific and
Cultural Societies: The Romanian Writers Union (since 1980); Les amis de Jules
Romains » Association, France (since 1978), The International Comparative Literature
Association (AILC). He is a Knight of the National Order Pentru Merit (2000); Knight
of the Ordre des Palmes Academiques for services rendered to French culture (2001).
Emilia Parpală (ROMANIA) was born in 1947. She is a professor at the University of
Craiova, Faculty of Letters teaching Semiotics, Stylistics, Poetics, Communication
Theory, Imagology; she obtained PH.D. in 1984 at the University of Bucharest. Her
researches focus on the interdisciplinary dimensions of the literary text and on verbal
aspects of communication. She published books (Poetica lui Tudor Arghezi. Modele
semiotice şi tipuri de text, Bucureşti, Minerva Publishing House, 1984; Poezia
semiotică. Promoţia ’80, Craiova, Sitech Publishing House, 1994; Poetica. O
introducere, Craiova, „Scrisul Românesc Fundation” Publishing House, 1998;
Introducere în stilistică, Piteşti, Paralela 45 Publishing House, 1998; the 2nd edition –
2005; the 3rd edition revised, Craiova, Universitaria Publishing House, 2006; Semiotica
generală. Pragmatica, Craiova, Universitaria Publishing House, 2007), dictionaries
(Dicţionar român-coreean, Craiova, TUC, 1978; Dicţionar român-arab, Craiova, TUC,
vol I – 1985; vol II – 1996) and more than 100 articles in academic periodicals in
Romania and abroad.

Gabriela Rusu-Păsărin (ROMANIA) was born in Slatina, Olt county, in 1958. She is
Reader at the University of Craiova, Faculty of Letters, Department of Public Relations
and also a journalist (coordinator) at the radio station “Oltenia” Craiova, a regional
public station of the Romanian Society of Radio. Gabriela Rusu has won scholarships
and attended different programs in Spain, France and Italy. She is the author of 10
volumes of literary criticism, ethnology and folklore, as well as of text books for the
students such as Comunicare audio-vizuală, Universitaria Publishing House, Craiova,
ed. I 2005, ed. II 2008, Prolegomene la o istorie a mass-media, Universitaria Publishing
House, Craiova, 2006, Calendar popular românesc, Fundaţia Editura Scrisul Românesc,
Craiova, 2006, Marin Sorescu. Imagini. Ethos. Evocări, Editura Academiei Române,
Bucureşti, 2007. As a journalist, Gabriela Rusu-Păsărin is a vice president of the Union
of Profesional Journalists in Romania and was awarded Ordinul ziariştilor (the
Journalists’ Order, 1st class (Gold).
Paula Scalcău (ROMANIA) was born in 1958 in Moinesti (Bacău County), Romania.
She studied History and Philosophy at the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Iaşi and
she has been teaching at the Petre Sergescu School in Drobeta Turnu Severin since
1981. Lecturer at the Turnu Severin College of the University of Craiova. PhD in
History with a dissertation on Scholars from Ioannina in the 18th century Romanian
Principalities. She is the author of many articles and studies on Romanian-Hellenic
relations, and of two reference books: The Greeks of Romania (2003, second edition
2005) and Hellenism in Romania (2006, second edition in english 2007). In 2007 the
Prefect’s Office of Athens granted her the title of Ambassador of Hellenism.
Cassian Maria Spiridon (ROMANIA) (born on April 4th, 1950 in Iaşi), poet and essay
writer. Son of Maria Spiridon, primary school teacher. He graduated the Polytechnic
Institute in Bucharest. Until December 1989 he worked as a mechanic engineer and
scientific researcher in different enterprises and institutes. In December ’89 he was
arrested for having organized and led a revolt against the communist dictatorship. In
January 1990 he founded the Time (“Timpul”) Magazine (which went on appearing until
October 1991). In November 1991 he founded the “Timpul” Publishing House, whose
manager he is at present. From 1991 to 1992 he worked as an editor-in-chief at the
Chronicle (“Cronica”) Magazine, at The Event of the Day (“Evenimentul zilei”) from
1992 to 1994. In 1994 he founded the Poetry (“Poezia”) Magazine and in 1995 the
Notebooks of Durău (“Caietele de la Durău”). Since 1995, he has been editor-in-chief of
the Literary Discussions (“Convorbiri Literare”) Magazine, to which he imposed a
distinctive mark. Present in different anthologies in the country and abroad.
Books: Pornind de la zero (poems), 1985; Zodia nopţii (poems), 1994; Iaşi, 14
decembrie 1989, Începutul Revoluţiei Române (documents) 1994; Piatră de încercare
(poems), 1995; De dragoste şi moarte (poems), 1996; Intrarea în apocalipsă (poems),
(bilingual edition Romanian& French), 1997; Arta nostalgiei [Poeme cuantice] (poems),
1997; Întotdeauna ploaia spală eşafodul (versuri), 1997; Atitudini literare, (essyas and
literary criticism) vol. I., 1999; Clipa zboară c-un zîmbet ironic (poems), 1999; Dintr-o
haltă părăsită (poems), 2000; Pornind de la zero (an anthologie), 2000; Între două lumi
(an anthologie in Romanian, Spanish, French, English), 2001; Über den Wald (poems in
Romaian and German), 2002; Atitudini literare, (essays and literary criticism) vol. II,
2002; Ucenicia libertăţii (Atitudini literare III), 2003; Nimic nu tulbură ca viaţa

(poems), 2004, Petre Ţuţea între filosofie şi teologie, 2004, Eminescu, azi, 2005, Între
două lumi (an anthologie in Romanian, Spanish, French, English, German), 2006,
Orizonturi duble (Atitudini literare/IV), 2006, Aventurile terţului, Ananda Collection,
2006, Marea înfăţişare a lui Mihai Ursachi, 2006, Noduri pe linia vieţii, 2007, 101
dialoguri în libertate, 2008, Vieţi controlate, 2009.
He was awarded the Romanian Writers’ Union Prize for essay and several prizes for
poetry. His poems have been translated into French, English, German, Spanish,
Swedish, Russian, Chinese, Finnish, Polish, Slovak, Hungarian, Albanese, Serbian etc.
He is the recipient of many prizes for poetry, essay conferred by The Writers’ Union. He
is member of the Writers’ Union of Romania, of the Romanian Journalists’ Society and
the Romanian Journalists’ Association, and of the European PEN-Club.
Elena-Camelia Zăbavă (ROMANIA) was born in Rosiorii de Vede, a small town in the
South of Romania, in 1964. She graduated from the University of Craiova where she is a
lecturer now teaching Linguistics. She obtained her PH.D. in 2004 at the University of
Bucharest, Faculty of Letters, with a dissertation on anthroponymy. Camelia Zăbavă
published many scientific articles and is co-author of important dictionaries such as
Dicţionarul istoric al localităţilor din judeţul Olt, vol. I (Oraşele), Craiova, Alma
Publishing House, 2006; Dicţionarul istoric al localităţilor din judeţul Olt, vol. II (A-F),
Craiova, Alma Publishing House, 2006; Dicţionarul istoric al localităţilor din judeţul
Olt, vol. III (G-N), Craiova, Alma Publishing House, 2006. Camelia Zabava is a
member of the Union of Slavists from Romania; between 1996 and 2007 she was a
member of the editorial board of „Arhivele Olteniei” (an important magazine published
under the auspicies of Romanian Academy).
Dumitru Ene-Zărneşti (ROMANIA) (1937-2009). Military officer and then lawyer, he
was founding member of the Haiku Society of Constanta (1992), member of the Military
Writers' Society (2002), and member of Writers' Union of Romania (2007). He
published ten books: three of poetry - Bătrâne Cronos, de-ai mai vrea (Old Cronos, if
you’d like), 1993; Clopote de lut (Clay bells), 1995; Fulguraţii lirice (Lyrical
fulguration), 2002; two novels - Şarpele şi genţiana (The snake and Gentiana), 2003
and Sentinţă amânată (Deferred sentence), 2008; four haiku series - Zefir nippon
(Nippon sephyr), 1996, Cocorul de pază (The guardian crane), 2000, Albastrul mării
(The azure of the Sea), 2001 and Gânduri haijine (Haijin thoughts); one volume of short
prose, haibun - Simfonia anotimpurilor (Season’s Symphony), 2009.
Heinz Uwe-Haus (USA, GERMANY), educated and trained in Germany at the Film
Academy Potsdam-Babelsberg, as well as at the Humboldt University in Berlin
(Cultural Studies, German Literature and Theatre Science), is a theatre director, Cultural
Studies expert and Theatre scholar. Since 1997, Uwe Haus has been a Professor at the
Professional Theatre Training Program and the Theatre Department of the University of
Delaware, Newark (USA). His productions include plays of the Ancient Greeks,
Shakespeare, German classics, Brecht and the Expresionists, performed both in
Germany and such countries as Canada, Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Italy, Turkey and the
USA. Dr. Haus has been a guest professor at more than a dozen North American
universities and has given more than 500 lectures and workshops worldwide. Besides
publishing in his field, he writes about intercultural and political topics in German,

English and Greek media. He is a Honorary Member of the Cyprus Centre of the
International Theatre Institute and Honorary Citizen of the Greek community Katohi.
Dr. Haus co-founded with Nikos Shiafkalis in 1986 the International Work-shop and
Study Center for Ancient Greek Drama in Oinides (Greece). Since 2004 he has served as
Academic Chair of the Institute for Ancient Greek Drama and Thetre in Droushia-
Paphos (Cyprus).
Zoran Pešić Sigma (SERBIA) was born on 30 th November 1960. in Bela Crkva. He
studied physics at the University of Niš. He was an editor, a chief manager and director
of Student Cultural Centre of Niš (1985-1990). From 1990 to 1999 he worked in the
Cultural Centre as the editor of film program, chief editor of the magazine “Niš
Analyst”, chronicles of culture of the city of Niš and the chief manager of program of
the Cultural Centre. At the moment, he works at the Cultural Centre of Niš as an editor
in the publishing department and the editor of the magazine for literature, art and culture
“Gradina”. He also worked for four years as a chief of a building site in Asghabat
(Turkmenistan, Middle Asia). He is a member of the Union of Writers. He published
several books of poems: Draught (Promaja), edition “Pegaz”, Belgrade 1983; The
Orgies of Emptiness (ORGIJANJE PRAZNINE), published by “Gradina”, Niš 1992; The
Shadow of Cactus – epic poem on fear (Kaktusova senka – ep o strahu); edition of
“Krovovi”, Sremski Karlovci 1993; The Confort of Meaninglessness (Udobnost
besmisla)), published by „Prosveta“, Niš, 2004.and books of prose (as a co-author):
Chronicles about Hloyge; samizdat, Niš 1991; Terra Marginalis, edited by “Stubovi
Kulture”, Belgrade, 1997. He is one of three authors of the physistic manifest – new
poetic movement (1981), The Epic on the Pollution of the Gabrovac River, a poetic
exhibition New Mythic Landscapes (maps and collages) and the author of many other
artistic projects. He is the author of television serial COOLTOURA, the cultural review
of Niš, Dodo diary (Aster Fest, Strumica).
Dragan J. Ristich (SERBIA) born in 1948, Nish, Serbia, where lives and works as
teacher of German language in Nish, Serbia. He is literature translator from German
(Brecht, Canetti…, editor of “Anthology of the Short German Stories”) and haiku
translator from English, Italian, Bulgarian and Macedonien. He writes short stories (3
books), aphorisms (one book), poetry and haiku poetry. His haiku has appeared in many
famous world haiku magazines and anthologies in 13 languages. He has 35 awards for
haiku (Japan, USA, England, Italia, New Zealand ). Since 1996 he has been editor in
chief of international haiku magazine “Haiku novine” (“Haiku Newspapers”) Books of
haiku: 1995: Iz dnevnika jednog haijina (From the Diary of an Haijin), 2000: Bubice u
glavi (Having Obsession), 2002: Pchela u celofanu (A Bee in the Cellofane), 2002:
Cvrchak u saksiji (A Cricket in the Flowerpot), 2003: Raskrshche vetrova (Crosswind -
in English, Serbian, German and French - with four another poets), 2004: Chas
chudoredja (Moments of Miracles Arranging), 2007: Obznanjeno (Announced).