PHILOSOPHICAL AND SOCIOECONOMIC OUTLOOK OF DR. IVAN SELIMINSKY

Ivan Seliminsky is born on 24 december 1799 in Sliven. His inborn name is Yordan Georgiev Christov. His father was cattle merchant but was massacred by a turk one year after his son was born. In 1812 his whole family perished from plague. Thus in august 1814 Seliminsky departs for Jerusalem as a pilgrim. On his return he stays in the city of Kidonia /Minor Asia/ where he enters the local high school sponsored for five years by Kazanluk merchant Christo hadji Petrov. As all bulgarian youths studying in Greek schools he changed his name to hide his origin.

Ivan Seliminsky studied in Kidonia till the Greek uprising in 1821. The turks started mass massacre of infidels, mainly the men who took part in the insurrection, but also woman and children which were sold as slaves. Seliminsky succeeded to escape and next three years /1821-1823/ enrolls as soldier and officer with the Greek army and takes part in many battles. In 1824 we see him in Brashov /Romania/. The bulgarian colony there includes many compatriots and young Seliminsky aquainted with way of life, socioeconomic and intellectual progress in western nations partakes actively with the life of the bulgarian settlement. The objective conditions and spiritual freedom еxite the bulgarians in exile towards liberty of ideas and actions to improve the fate of their motherland. At meetings of bulgarian colony Seliminsky explains that freedom of Bulgaria needs a national fraternity to unite all fighters and to apply in practice the act of liberty. Thus Seliminsky is chosen a leader of the emmigrees.

In 1825 Ivan Seliminsky returns in native city of Sliven. There he finds a Secret Society. Members are common people from the class of “non-nobility, the torlaks”. Seliminsky organizes also the first bulgarian school where mathematics, physics, geography and bulgarian language are studied.

The Odrin peace agreement in 1829 and the retreat of Russian troops from Bulgaria makes the population from Northeastern parts of the country to flee away in Russia afraid from the revenge of the turks. The leader of the refugees is Seliminsky. He stays some time in Galatz then works as a teacher in Greek language at Bucharest and other places.

Now from 1840 until 1844 Ivan Seliminsky studies medicine at Athens University. After graduating he transfers to Sienna in Italy where he specializes in the fields and receives the title Doctor in Medicine and Surgery. The promoted doctor returns to Braila where he spent several years working as district physician. In 1853 he leaves work to actively join the bulgarian volunteer battalion with which he serves in the Crimean war as battalion physician. There he is honorably gifted and receives two silver medals from the Russian government. The end of the war finds him in Bolgrad where he works as a district physician, with some intermissions, to his death in 1867.

Dr. Ivan Seliminsky forms his naturalistic and social views amidst a community of economic progress in the first half of XIX century. Great influence has his acquaintance with the cultural advancement of western countries. This is a time when industry and trade prosper in Bulgaria – the national bourgeoisie becomes the embodiment of the idea for democratic reform and for liberation of the masses. In his brochure “The national fraternity in Sliven and the great migration in 1830” Seliminsky outlines correctly the social stratification in bulgarian society. He depicts the class of nobility, i.e. those bulgarians who call themselves “greeks” and on the other hand the class of non-nobility, the common people or “torlaks”. The “greeks” are a caste totally favored by the greek clergy and turkish rulers and they play a role absolutely reactionary against the liberation of the country. The moral and national character of the land is preserved pure among the natives of the population. It is for them that the young bulgarian bourgeoisie is interested for national and political freedom.

As a student in Kidonia and later in Athens Seliminsky studies the Greek philosophers – Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Democritus and cites them in his works. A major influence over his views is brought by the French reformators and materialists from the XVIII century – Rousseau, Montesquieu, Helvetius, Condorcet etc., also the influence of the naturalists is great – Lamark, Humboldt etc. As an emigree in Romania Seliminsky reads Yury Venelin’s work “Ancient and contemporary bulgarians” where deeds of the ancestors are narrated. This book creates an urge to study history after 500 years of lethargy.

So far, the epoch where Ivan Seliminsky lives and works is time of enlightenment and self-consciousness of the bulgarian people. The overall public and historical backwardness, immaturity and hesitance of bulgarian bourgeoisie and poor scientific and ideological atmosphere are all reflected in the outlook of Dr. Seliminsky.