Front Matter - Part 07

According to old accounts, Tsar Samoil also built a church on Goritsa Hill near R’bi. This church was dedicated to Sveti Iovan Prespanski. This church was built to guard the fields and keep the crops safe from storms. In 1870 the villagers from R’bi rebuilt this church and made it much bigger. At the front door they placed Samoil’s gravestone for safekeeping which earlier, for many centuries, was kept in the church of the Virgin Mary in R’bi. This church now became a symbol for the Prespa population in which the people gathered to celebrate Sveti Iovan. Unfortunately in 1918, during World War I, one day the Bulgarians discovered Samoil’s grave stone and took it. They also took many other artifacts from all the churches in R’bi and Goritsa, annihilating walls and tombstones in the process. All the artifacts were taken to Bulgaria.

The village R’bi was named “R’bi” meaning “slaves” because of the proximity of the neighbourhood where Samoil kept his slaves, whom he had captured during his various campaigns against Byzantium. Because of its location, climate and sources of water, R’bi was a good place for Samoil to spend time and relax. Because it was a nice place, Samoil enriched it with churches where rites and ceremonies could be performed which he personally could attend. The Slaves who existed adjacent to R’bi were guarded by the military. They were put to work on various projects and, guided by the master builders, built buildings, churches, roads and other structures. One section of slaves worked in the fields and gardens growing food for the military. Unfortunately those fields and gardens located near the village Onaa, now all rest under water.

Ail had little surface water and its drinking water had to be obtained from several dug wells. Unfortunately the wells were not sufficient to provide enough water for the entire population so more water had to be obtained from alternate water sources such as those from Vineni 3 km away. It is also worth mentioning that Samoil made every effort to drain the Prespa swamps, clear the debris in the Prespa River and build several bridges to keep the communities and his military connected together. He himself was a great worker and supervisor. He was also a great strategist and won many victories over the Byzantines, bringing much wealth to Prespa. Much of the wealth and treasures Samoil looted he kept in various caves in Ail.

Lured by desires to find treasures and gold left behind by the Tsar, in 1937 excavators, under the strict supervision of the Greek government, began to dig in various places on Ail. They dug in places where knowledgeable people of the island’s history had advised them to dig, during which time they uncovered a number of gravestones inscribed with Slavic letters, as well as many other items of that time. The tombstones and other objects found during the digging were then confiscated by the Greek government, packed in crates and sent south to Greece. Many of the diggers were hoping to find Patriarch Achilles’s bones and return them to their original tomb in Larissa but without success.

Tsar Samoil won many victories over the Byzantines and when he returned to Prespa he brought the spoils of war with him which included slaves. The Prespa population always paid him homage and often celebrated his victories by conducting rites and ceremonies in the various churches. Every time Samoil was spotted from Graishta returning to Prespa with his entourage, the people lit large fires and the smoke was seen in all the Prespa villages. At the same time the people rang the church bells in all the villages marking his arrival to the capital.

There are two stories in regards to where Tsar Samoil was buried. According to one story he was buried on Ail in one of the altars in the church of St. Achilles. According to the other story he was buried in R’bi, in the church of the Virgin Mary. Considering that he often visited R’bi to rest and after he met his blinded soldiers in Prespa, he became very ill and died. Because his gravestone was kept for centuries in the church of the Virgin Mary, many believe he was buried in R’bi.

Mala Prespa under Turkish rule

Stories

In the late 17th and early 18th century the Ottomans were committing unprecedented violence and crimes against the Prespa villages. This unbearable tyranny was perpetrated against the Macedonian Christian population, in an attempt to force the people to obey the Ottomans and accept Islam. Killings and violence were a common theme with open aims at Islamizing the Christians.

The Islamic minority which lived in several villages, held most of the fertile land which had been confiscated and forcibly acquired from the people by the Ottoman hierarchy including the Albanian Beys and Agas for whom the Macedonian people worked. Most of the Macedonian population lived in villages on the mountains. And almost all the villages in the mountains were barren land. Even the barren land was owned mostly by Albanian landlords who were able to buy it from the Ottomans with money they earned working abroad.

The Macedonian population also raised livestock which has been part of their economy for a long time. They were good at rearing large flocks of sheep, goats and cattle. Each family owned a flock of sheep and goats. The villages near the lakes also dealt with fishing. The people utilized the natural resources of the lakes with members in larger families exclusively dealing with fishing and others with dairy farming. Markets in Bitola and Korcha were consistently supplied cheese, butter, wool, meat and fish from Prespa. The Prespa villagers, to some extent, also supplied their products to the Albanians who dealt mainly in agriculture by employing Macedonians to do the work.

It was common practice for the Albanians to go to Macedonian villages and kidnap young people, especially young women, and force them to harvest and process their crops without pay while they kept their own women behind high fences. This was an age during which the Christian Macedonian woman was seen as a lower form of life and abused in unimaginable ways by these Albanian Muslims.

There is much to say about the Macedonian woman in the history of mankind. There were four things with which she was inextricably connected. The Macedonian woman also deserves the greatest credit for the preservation of the Macedonian nation. She did that in spite of all odds and how she was treated and exposed to the many conquerors who trampled over Macedonia.

The Macedonian woman was a great devotee to our religion and consistently performed religious rites. Her Macedonian language was the only language for her. Unlike her male counterpart who spoke foreign languages, she never wanted to speak a single foreign word. Unlike her male counterpart who traveled far and wide looking for migrant work and returned home with money and a few of someone else’s words, she preferred to stay home and labour on her own lands and despised his foreign words: Vlach, Bulgarian, Greek, Albanian…

The Macedonian folk dress is the greatest cultural identifier of the Macedonian woman. It is not just the uniqueness of her dress but the fact that she fashioned it herself with utmost patience, decorating it with unique patterns and colours that not only look beautiful but identify her family and community. The woman’s dress is much more complex than the man’s which, by the way, is also made by the Macedonian woman.

The Macedonian woman is a great mother. Her husband sometimes helps with rearing the children but when he is forced to leave home and go to work far away, sometimes for years, the woman takes over maintenance of the entire household. She worked on the Bey’s fields, shepherded the sheep and cut the firewood in the mountains.

She was valuable and adorned with her folk dress which made her very attractive to the Albanian Muslims. Being Muslim and allowed to bear arms, the Ottoman authorities armed the Albanian men and gave them unlimited authority, which they often used against the Macedonians. This unlimited authority was exercised to misappropriate Macedonian women to satisfy their passions. They killed any Macedonian man who tried to protect the honour of the women. Even Albanian men from the lower class often grabbed

Macedonian girls, if not for themselves then for someone wealthy. A wealthy Albanian would be willing to pay large sums of money.

Religion was the only legal defense the Macedonians had. The Christian population was maintained in large family groups, sometimes reaching up to fifty members per family. The priests were the initiators for organizing religious celebrations, such as fairs where the entire village or a number of villages could participate. These celebrations quickly developed into popular attractions. The priests sometimes played the role of teachers and counselors, and sometimes used their position for their own enrichment.

I will try to highlight some events that took place during Ottoman times, in order to provide a clearer picture of events that took place during that period and subsequent to the period when the Albanians disappeared from Prespa. I will confine my scope to R’bi only.

There are 18 villages, including the village R’bi, located in the lower part of Prespa situated next to the Republic of Macedonia’s southern border. These villages are now occupied by Greece. This settlement, according to old legends, dates back to before Tsar Samoil took residence in Prespa. We are told that Tsar Samoil kept many of the slaves he captured, during his campaigns against the Byzantines, in the R’bi vicinity. Samoil built many magnificent churches in this settlement with marble columns as seen today in the ruins. R’bi now has four churches one of which is the church of Sveti Nikola (St. Nicholas).

About a dozen large Macedonian families lived in R’bi in the period from 1780 to 1820, with 30 to 50 family members in each. There were also a few but much smaller Albanian families also living in R’bi but they possessed most of the fertile land, much of which in fact belonged to the Bey Alia. The Bey was a young Albanian man who inherited the chiflik (feudal estate) from his father. The Bey rented his fields to the Albanians who then had the Macedonians work them.

The Macedonians had a small stretch of barren land. They raised large flocks of sheep and goats, fished and on occasion managed to earn higher revenues than the Albanians. While the Macedonian

men and women worked on the Albanian fields, the Albanian Muslims kept their wives and women locked in their yards behind high walls.

When the young Albanian Bey took over the estates from his father he brought violence and crime into the village. Before that Alia Bey served in the Ottoman army and had taken part in many battles in the Ottoman-led wars against various countries. He was brought up by the state and by the Muslim religion and was unable to see the Christians as people and only saw them as “infidels”, a plague in the Ottoman Empire. He wanted to be very rich and live in luxurious quarters with a large harem of women from many nations and religions who he was prepared to Islamize. He was a true Islamic commander of his time. Supported by his government he took personal action to exert pressure to Islamize the entire R’bi population. The Macedonian population, however, resisted and, as a result, suffered many casualties. The village priest, a man named Giorgia, used his position to encourage the villagers not to give in to Albanian demands and sacrifice themselves if necessary.

Young Alia Bey ordered his minions to destroy the Sveti Nikola Christian Orthodox church down to its foundation and build a mosque on top of it. He also ordered an Islamic school (meftep) be built beside the mosque. The priest Giorgia did his best to oppose the Bey but was unable. The Bey forced the villagers to send their children to attend Muslim school and learn the Koran. The priest opposed the Bey again but this time the Bey had him killed. Before he was murdered, the priest had gathered all the Christian children in the church and had taught them to sing religious psalms and much about the Christian religion. After the Bey killed the priest he grabbed one of the priest’s daughters, a girl name Ristana, and to spite him even more put her in his harem.

A little later, Alia Bey and several prominent Albanians from the village invited all the villagers to the village square and told them that they had three days to convert to Islam or otherwise their churches would be demolished and mosques would be built on top of their foundations. The women were ordered to wear Muslim clothing. Then everyone was invited to attend a Muslim celebration that was going to be attended by Muslim representatives from Bitola

and Ianina. Those who did not attend the celebration, they were told, would be put to the sword.

The villagers were worried like never before. They gathered in the church and everyone was given a chance to speak. In the end they all decided to go and visit the Bey and beg him not to change their identity and religion. They were prepared to give him everything he wanted in exchange for not changing their identity and religion. They appointed a few older men and sent them to see the Bey. The Bey received them and they humbled themselves down to earth, bowed down before him and said: “Dear Bey, we beg you not to change our nationality and religion. Your religion and nation are good, we have nothing bad to say about it, but God ordered us to be this way and that is how we wish to remain. We do not want to go against God’s will. Our faith and nation was left to our care by our past generations and we want to leave it the way, it is for our future generations. If we don’t we will be committing a great sin against God and against our descendants. Ask for whatever you want, whatever you say we will deliver to you but please spare our identity and faith.

The Bey, sitting down with his legs crossed, drank his coffee and listened to the old people humble themselves before him. He then put his cup down, stood up and said: “Since you have come to me with a concern, I take it upon himself to take care of your concern and make it easier for you…” The Bey then thought for a moment and continued. “You can keep your language but your religion must change…” He paused, thought about it for a moment and said: “Our Muslim faith is better than all the religions in the world, including the Christian faith. It is time now for you Macedonian Christians to give up your current faith and embrace Islam; many other Macedonians have already done that.” He then told them that he was not a Turk but an Albanian and his origin was from the Albanian village Frasher. He then spread his arms wide open and said: “I received Islam and I became a Bey…” after which he chuckled.

The old people were not happy with the Bey’s demands and tried to haggle with him, offering him everything they had but he refused to back down. For his final offer he said: “This is how it’s going to be, you will give me all your lands and you will come and work for me

as my slaves. I will be your owner and you my slaves. I and only I will own you, none of the other Beys and Agas will be able to touch you.” At that point the three old people looked at each other and, without saying another word, rose, bowed to the Bey and left. The Bey too motioned with his hand to honour them and escorted them to the courtyard.

Taip was an Albanian who lived with the Albanians in the village. He was an older dignified man who respected everyone and never had any trouble with the “infidels” (Christians). He always invited everyone to his place during Bairam and Ramadan. Also included among his houseguests were Christians who came to honour him during the Muslim holidays. Taip was well-aware of the wicked deeds perpetrated by his compatriots against the Christians. About that he often used to say: “The Turks still have the warrior and conquering spirit but Allah is going to punish them for what they are doing to the Christians because Allah is Allah for both Muslims and Christians and he loves all his people equally. Allah himself made both the Turks and the Christians and all the many nations and religions that exist in this country.” To his Christian friends Taip used to say: “Struggle for your nation and faith because they were given to you by God. It is a great sin to forsake them.” Both Albanians and Macedonians used to visit Taip and he advised them both about their fortunes and misfortunes.

At night the villagers gathered together in several of their houses and during the day they gathered in the fields. They talked and talked and no one wanted to give up their identity or faith. They convinced themselves that they would rather die than give up their nation or their faith. A man called Ognen Nivichki who had moved to R’bi from Nivitsi said: “We have come this far; why should we wait any longer. Let us grab some weapons and fight the Turks and whoever wins, wins. At least our voices will be heard everywhere and in Istanbul, and whoever dies, dies but we are all not going to die and our nation and the faith will remain. Let those who remain alive honour our deeds and keep our identity and our faith will remain alive…” When the women found out about this they began to cry and wail as if their men had already been killed. They even went to church to pray for their souls. They were afraid their men would be killed and they would all end up locked up in harems,

covered with veils and never again be able to wear their beautiful folk dresses which they had fashioned with their own hands.

The situation was dire and the poor people became desperate. Everything that took centuries to build was about to be destroyed. The men gathered together in the church and decided to give the Bey everything he wanted including themselves, to become his slaves in order to save their identity and faith. They then went home to sleep.

When Taip found out about this he took it very hard. He got some of the older Christians together and said: “If you become the Bey’s slaves he will not protect you. The Albanians will still abuse you, even more now, and will take your women. The Bey himself will even do that because you will be his slaves. You will still have no weapons or power. In fact you will have nothing, not even the protection of others who might want to help you.” Taip then went to the Bey and told him that if he does what he is planning to do he will be attacked, he will die at the time when he wants to live the most. The property he was about to acquire, he told the Bey, will be taken by the wind. He predicted the Muslims may have a bit more daylight but the Macedonians will have the night. He said that there will be war and many people will be lost. And Taip was right, all his predictions eventually did come true.

When the villagers gathered at the village church Naido Mundushev, head of the Mundushev family with thirty men, wives, children and grandchildren in the households, said: “Hold on to what you have and do not surrender anything to the Albanians, not our nation, not our faith and not our lands. They are now afraid, terribly scared of what we might do to them and they will do nothing to get in our way. If they kill some of us then let them kill us but we will not surrender. Ognen and Naido got together and they tried to hold onto everybody’s lands but they couldn’t. They tried to persuade the villagers not to give them up but could not convince them. This is because the villagers were very frightened and the Bey and the Albanians knew it. Only Naido and Ognen did not surrender their lands to the Bey.

The Bey then took all the men from the village who promised him their lands along with everything they owned, and together they rode on horses all the way to Ianina, because Ianina was the pashadom (administrative centre) where the Bey could legally acquire these people’s properties. Naido and Ognen and some of the other villagers did not go to Ianina and did not give up their lands. All those villagers who gave their lands to the Bey then became his slaves and whatever they earned had to be shared with the Bey, who took half of their proceeds for himself.

With his newly acquired wealth the Bey built a hospice in Prespa. Around the hospice he planted trees which grew into a forest. He brought more women into his harem, beautiful young Christian women who gave him a lot of pleasure. But for some reason he became cruel towards his slaves and also against the Albanians. The Bey also forced himself on Naido and Ognen and wanted to take their lands but they refused to give them to him. The Bey threatened to murder them and killed Naido’s son Temelko and took one of his granddaughters, Ristana, daughter of his son Ilia. He also tried to kill another son, Naum, but only wounded him in the leg. Naum was crippled but died of old age. The Bey continued to threaten these two families to no end, so they decided to leave the village and Prespa altogether. They went to Saragiol, Kozhani Region, where the Bey was unable to mistreat them. The R’bi villagers in the meantime kept working for the Bey, making him richer and richer with each passing day while his beautiful and slender women lived lavishly in his quarters. The Albanians in the village began to envy him so he procured a number of body guards who kept him safe and followed him around wherever he went.

After Greece became independent the situation in Macedonia began to change. Instead of pushing to Islamize the Macedonian population, to forcibly take its lands and to terrorize it to no end, the Muslims began to fear it. They realized a Macedonian insurrection was imminent and so the Muslims gradually began to sell their lands for money and the Bey in R’bi began to seek buyers for his slaves and for the land he had seized from them.

The first person to buy part of the Bey’s estate was a priest named Naum from Nivitsi who had moved to R’bi. This priest had about 20

Prespa villages under his jurisdiction where he performed religious ceremonies. The Bey also authorized his own slaves as well as all Christian villagers to purchase parts of his estate. As a result many men from Prespa left their families and went abroad, all around the world, to seek work and earn money to expand their holdings. Prespa men took on migrant work in Vlashko (Wallachia), Anatolia and even in Russia. Many of these people went around the world to earn money so that they could buy back their own lands. Many Macedonians fought in the Peloponnesus and helped the Greeks liberate Morea during the Greek uprising, believing that the Greeks would do the same for the Macedonians when their time came. Unfortunately the Greeks had different ideas.

A year after Naido Mundushev fled to Saragiol, he died. He passed away longing for his son Temelko and for his niece Ristana. He died missing his home and the lands he had abandoned and for having had to start building his life all over again. The trauma of all this was too great for him and he died of a broken heart. His sons Naum and Ilia, as well as Temelko’s children, remained in Saragiol for the next 30 years. Then when the situation in Prespa changed, they returned back to their native village, together with their families. They took back their properties from the Bey by legal means because they still had evidence (title and deeds) that they were the rightful owners. Naum and Ilia settled with their families in R’bi while Temelko’s sons and their families settled in German. It is interesting to mention here that the Temelkov families that settled in German were nicknamed “Saragilov” by the villagers of German because they came from Saragiol. Even though the Saragilov families in German and the Mundushev families in R’bi had gone for 30 years, they still longed for Prespa and were happy to return.

The priest Naum, unlike the priest Giorgia who fought to save the Macedonian identity and faith, used his position and influence to enrich himself. He had 20 villages under his jurisdiction and was unable to perform all his religious rites. He, however, developed a clever plan and in it he included his trusted followers. Every time there was an event somewhere in his jurisdiction, Naum had his devoted followers come to see him. Naum always stayed in R’bi wherever he performed the religious services. The people who came to see him humbly bowed in front of him and kissed his hand and

then informed him of an event taking place where his services were required. Some person would inform him for example that someone named Filian had died in a village and that the priest was needed to perform the funeral. Another person would inform him that Filian’s son was getting married on Sunday and that the priest was needed to perform the marriage ceremony. All these people who came to see the priest brought with them cakes and wine. Then another person would come and tell him that Filian had a newborn son and that he needed a priest on Sunday to do the christening. The priest obviously could not possibly go to all these services so his reply was: “Go, do the funeral yourselves, go get married and enjoy the wedding, go and give your infant son a name, I will perform all the services for you from right here and place their names here in my big book.

Naum continued with his plan year round. Twice a year, in the spring and fall, he climbed on his horse and together with his servant went to visit the villages. The villagers in each village were honoured to have him as their guest and looked forward to his visits. His church assistants in the villages made sure that he was accommodated in the homes of the most prominent families where he dined well in the company of the most prominent villagers. For the village the priest’s visit was a great event during which he held liturgy in the local church. At the end of the day he invited all the villagers, opened his big book and read the names of all those people for whom he had provided religious services from afar and who owed him money. He then, in addition to asking to be paid for the supposed work he had done, also wanted the gifts owed to him from the funerals, weddings, baptisms and so on, such as tips, socks, scarves, etc. Because everyone wanted to be indebted to the priest, they all paid up and made good on what he asked. By the time the priest went through all the villages he had collected a horse load of money and gifts. After returning to R’bi, Naum visited the Bey and purchased more of his estate.

One time Naum purchased a large field near the entrance of the village for much less than the field was actually worth. The field unfortunately was littered with rocks both large and small. Every morning after he purchased the field, Naum picked up his walking stick and went to visit it. Passersby who saw him standing at the

road beside his field often greeted him with kind words and kissed his hand. With time more and more people came to see him and get his blessings. Then as the number of people increased he asked them to help him move the rocks out of the field. Some even spent the entire day obliging him. So, over time, the priest not only removed the stones but he had the people build a wall around his field. And he did it for free.

The Bey kept many young and beautiful women in his harem. Outside, the beautiful women swam in the pool and wandered around in the garden, which was surrounded by a high fence. Inside the harem there were individually furnished rooms and many bathrooms where the beautiful women bathed. One day, as the Bey lay on his couch under the shade of his trees, smoked his tobacco pipe and stared at the slender figures of the naked women, a wasp began to buzz. He tried to swat it but it fell on his cheek and stung him. He screamed in pain and all the women ran to him. His face immediately began to swell and one of his eyes became swollen shut. The women took him to the hospice but because he was not a Turk he asked them to take him home to Frasher, to his own hometown in Albania. Being certain that he was going to die he wanted his soul to rest in Frasher and his body to be buried in his family’s cemetery. Twenty of his slaves from R’bi were summoned to help. They put him on a stretcher and walked him to Frasher, about 150 kilometres away from R’bi, and far from his lodgings and his homestead. The Bey did not make it and died along the way. One of his three sons, the youngest, inherited his estate and hospice in R’bi. The other two went to his other estates. The Bey was rich and had many estates. His women remained in Frasher to mourn him.

Many men from Prespa pursued employment elsewhere, even migrant work overseas. While some were coming back with money in their pockets, others left to seek their fortunes. Everyone’s aim was to purchase back the lands that the Ottomans and, in the case of R’bi, the Albanian Bey had confiscated from them. They were prepared to purchase their lands back, be it from the Bey or from the other Albanians who began to feel uncomfortable living in R’bi. Many also held onto their money and even pooled it with others, waiting for the right moment so that they could purchase a lot more land for less.

Lazo Bechkov returned to R’bi from having worked in Vlashko (Wallachia) and with the money he made he wanted to purchase a field from the Bey. Lazo made a deal with the Bey. But before he was able to deliver the money to him, the money he had worked so hard to make in Vlashko so that he could purchase the field he wanted, a Turkish man name Rustem was appointed civil guard in R’bi. When Lazo met Rustem, Rustem was carrying a rifle over his shoulder and a dagger on his belt. Rustem greeted Lazo and sat on one of the small stools in Lazo’s yard. Lazo greeted him back and asked him what he wanted. Rustem then asked Lazo how his return trip from abroad was and so on. When the pleasantries were over Rustem informed Lazo that he intended to come back later to his house to have dinner with him and instructed Lazo to prepare dinner for him. Lazo had no problem with that and accepted him as his guest. Rustem then said: “Great then, this young lady here will prepare two chickens, one roasted and the other boiled.” Lazo had two daughter-in-laws whose husbands, his sons, were working abroad in Vlashko. Lazo had returned home so that he could purchase the field he wanted from the Bey. True to his word Rustem came back in the evening and the two men had dinner together. After dinner Rustem said: “Well Lazo, thank you for the dinner, but now I am going to tell you why I came here. I came here to tell you that your father owed my father one golden lira. I have not told you about this before but now I want the lira back.” Lazo looked at him with a surprised look on his face because he did not know anything about this. He asked his mother and she too did not know anything about this. Lazo’s father was dead now but he had never mentioned anything like this to him or to his wife. Lazo did not believe such a transaction ever took place and could not accept Rustem’s word alone and told him so. Rustem became very upset and sprang to his feet. He then pulled out his dagger and yelled: “You dirty bastard, you think I would lie for one lira? Give me the lira or I will end your life right now!” Rustem’s outburst upset the women and they all began to cry. Lazo agreed to give him a lira and asked his wife to bring one over. Rustem then said: “Wait a minute, its no longer one lira but five gold coins, I also want interest for it.” Lazo realized that Rustem was there to swindle him but he had no choice and so he gave him the five gold liras and Rustem went on his way.

Rustem took the five gold coins and went straight to his cousin’s house. He went to boast to his cousin Nedzhat how he had swindled 5 gold coins from Lazo Bechkov. After hearing Rustem’s story Nedzhat figured that he too could swindle some gold coins from Lazo. Without wasting much time Nedzhat threw his rifle over his shoulder, placed his dagger in his belt and off he went to Lazo’s house. Nedzhat greeted Lazo and sat down on the stool. He then explained to Lazo why he was there. He said that his father had given Lazo’s father 5 gold coins and that Nedzhat was now there to collect them. Lazo told Nedzhat exactly what he told Rustem; that he was not aware of such a transaction ever taking place. Nedzhat then got very upset and rushed towards Lazo to stab him. At that very moment a number of men from the neighbourhood entered the room, who had been summoned there to help by one of Lazo’s daughter-in-laws. Nedzhat again tried to stab Lazo but one of the men grabbed him and said to him: “You will only kill one of us but the rest of us will cut you to pieces and toss you in the lake. All the men had axes in their hands and were ready to attack him. Nedzhat became so frightened that his dagger fell out of his hand and he fled Lazo’s home in fear.

In 1840 on Petrovden (St. Peter’s day), Prespa was hit with a bad storm. The clouds were dark and dense with much lightning and strong thunder. The villages German and R’bi were experiencing the worst part of the storm, which extended on the hills beyond these villages. The heavy rains created torrents of water that flooded the villages and all the fields. When the first torrents appeared, the river was pushing all sorts of debris including rocks and uprooted trees. The debris knocked out the bridges as if they were made of paper. When the flood waters entered R’bi they swept away the mosque and many houses including the Bey’s residential quarters. All that was left was wasteland and heaps of stones. The river, that until then emptied its water in Lake Mala Prespa, had changed its course and during the flood began to empty in Lake Golema Prespa. Several villagers from German and R’bi lost their lives in the flood and so did many sheep, goats and cattle. It was said that fish were found on the hills above the villages, fish and a lot of water that was sucked out by the storm (tornado) from the lakes and deposited high on top of these hills.

Some years after the mosque was destroyed by the storm in R’bi, the people of R’bi decided to rebuild their old Sveti Nikola church on its original foundation. As mentioned earlier, this was the church the Albanians had destroyed and on top of which they built a mosque. Now that the water had taken away the mosque, it was time to bring back the old church. The villagers decided on this and swore that they would spill their blood if necessary to bring back their church. Soon after that Sveti Nikola came back to life. Their intention to resurrect the church was made very clear even to the Albanians. The Bey naturally objected with the words: “It is too controversial to be building a church or a mosque on that spot...” The priest Foti, however, advised the villagers to be ready and to start building when he gave them the signal and the signal was given to them during a Muslim holiday. The people built the church, covered it, hung icons, lit oil lamps and remained in it despite Albanian attempts to ruin it. After it was built the priest occupied it and would not come out. Unable to destroy the church themselves, the Albanians took their complaints to Bitola. Bitola sent investigators who visited the church and ruled that it should stay and Sveti Nikola was allowed to exist.

Encouraged by their victory with re-building Sveti Nikola, the villagers from R’bi decided to renew the little Sveti Iovan church on Goritsa Hill and turned it into Sveti Iovan Prespanski monastery. Turning it into a monastery naturally gave Sveti Iovan greater importance and more people could attend, especially during the Sveti Iovan holiday. On top of that, as mentioned earlier, Tsar Samoil’s tombstone was moved here and built into the front wall at the entrance. And as mentioned earlier, Samoil’s tombstone was kept at the “Prechista” (Virgin Mary) church in R’bi. And also, as mentioned earlier, the Bulgarian troops during World War I discovered the tombstone and took it to Bulgaria.

Influenced by the Bishop of Bitola, a Greek teacher was sent to R’bi in 1875. His name was Hristidis. He was sent to R’bi to teach the Macedonian children the Greek alphabet. The teacher, however, was a Macedonian and knew the Macedonian language well. In the few years he spent in R’bi he taught the children to write using Greek letters with Macedonian words. The priest Foti and many of the villagers wanted him to teach the children the Macedonian alphabet

and when they made that clear to him he left the village. Foti, the priest, was then summoned to see the bishop in Bitola who scolded him. In response Foti said: “The Greeks too are Christians but they are Greeks, speak Greek and study Greek, but we are Macedonians and we want our children to be taught Macedonian…” The Bishop told the priest that he was anathematized and the priest in response said: “I don’t serve you, my holy bishop; I serve God, our faith and our people...”

The Albanians unfortunately continued to harass the people of R’bi, robbing them, abducting the women, plundering their properties and livestock and even committing murder. In 1880 the 30 year-old R’bi Bey named Arslan, riding on horseback with his armed companions, came upon Krstin Krstinov’s vineyard. Krstin, his son Petre and his daughter Dafina were digging the vineyard. The Turks got off their horses and tried to abduct Dafina. Petre jumped in front of her in an attempt to prevent her abduction and was shot. There were other villagers in the vicinity who quickly arrived and defended Dafina. A few days later a number of the village men visited the Bey and told him to leave the village and to take precautions because the villagers were upset by what he had done and were ready to lynch him. The Bey became frightened and left the village and his estate unguarded.

The priest Foti, unlike the priest Naum, was a pious and honest person. He strictly followed the rules of his Christian religion and introduced some rules of his own. He always carried a weapon and was ready to use it, especially against those who challenged his nation and religion. Foti followed his own regime in the church. He would not give communion to anyone who walked into his church dirty and with dirty clothes and shoes. He went to Bitola, bought shoes and a new robe and kept them in the church. During Christmas and Easter all the villagers were given communion. Those who came with dirty clothes were not allowed to enter the church and waited outside. He then made them wear the gown he kept in the church before offering them communion. They had to wait outside in the snow and wind before the priest took them inside, one by one, for their communion.

One day in 1892 Stefana Bakushova was returning from fetching water from the spring. Alia, with several of his Albanians friends

and family members, grabbed the girl and forcibly carried her running towards their house. Stefana resisted with all her might but they overpowered her. Stefana, however, had three brothers and they, with several other men from the village, ran after Alia and gave him chase. In the fight that took place when they caught up to Alia, Mitre, her oldest brother, shot and killed Alia. The brothers took Stefana from the Albanians and returned her home. Two of the brothers, Mitre and his younger brother Petre, then fled R’bi and went to Anatolia in hiding. No one knew where they were for a long time. Several years later Mitre died. Petre married a native of Anatolia and lived there for 30 years. He returned to R’bi with his two sons under the population exchange Agreement between Greece and Turkey, during which Muslims from Greece were expelled to Turkey and Christians from Turkey were sent to Greece.

One day in the summer of 1901, Spiro Petkov-Lopataro was watering his field planted with corn. At the time a Muslim Albanian man named Orhan lived in R’bi, whom the Albanians called Aga because he had a lot of land. He was a grumpy old man who had mischievous grandchildren who ran around the village streets throwing rocks at the Macedonian people. But, because of him, no one dared complain. Orhan also had a field adjacent to Spiro Petkov’s and that field too was planted with corn. The same day Spiro was watering his field, Orhan decided to water his and so he cut off Spiro’s water. When Spiro’s water dried up he went looking to see what had happened. He found Orhan sitting in the corner of his field smoking a cigarette. When Spiro asked him what happened to his water, Orhan told him to get lost and called him all sorts of names. He then told him that he did not want to speak to him. Spiro got angry and struck Orhan on the head with his hoe and cracked his skull open. Orhan fell into the water. Spiro then went home, took his wife and children and fled to the mountains. There he lived with the rebels and he himself became a rebel. He was assigned to the squad led by Kote from Rulia. Kote unfortunately switched sides and fought for the illegal Greek armed bands. Spiro was killed fighting as a rebel during the 1903 Ilinden Uprising.

The people of Prespa were ready and prepared to fight in the Macedonian Ilinden Uprising against the Ottoman Empire. They wanted their freedom and to make Macedonia an independent state

for the Macedonian population. The villagers had purchased their own weapons and ammunition mainly from the donations they received from the migrant workers working abroad in America, who themselves could not join the sacred struggle for their freedom and to put an end to their tyranny under the Ottoman yoke. All men who could carry a gun took up arms and went to the mountains to become rebels. The Macedonian Revolutionary Organization made an appeal to all Macedonians including those in America to return to Macedonia and join the armed struggle. Many did. On the day of the uprising, the Albanians were told that the Macedonians had raised arms against the Ottoman establishment and anyone who fought in aid of the establishment would face consequences. Most of the Muslims, including the Albanians, locked themselves in their homes and did not come out until the villages were silent again. There was no presence of Albanians anywhere while the rebellion was taking place. The only ones present were the rebels patrolling the roads and maintaining the communication links.

When the Ottoman army arrived in Prespa the situation began to change. Ottoman soldiers were stationed between the villages Shtrkovo and Rudari and were preparing to attack the rebels who were holding the hills. With the emergence of the Ottoman army the Albanians in the Prespa villages began to again attack the Macedonian population. Macedonian families who had family members involved with the rebels were advised to immediately leave. Most families fled to the mountains and joined the rebels and some hid in the lake reeds. All the elderly and sick who remained at home were savagely beaten, tortured and abused by the Albanians. There was an incident in P’pli where a woman was ordered to get out of the house. But because she was giving birth she could not get out fast enough. So the enraged Albanians savagely tore her up, removed her child from her womb and stabbed it with a bayonet. The mother also died. In their crazed state the Albanians burned both villages, R’bi and P’pli.