by Trif Trifonov
2003, THE OPEN THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE
Intro
The relations between the Protestant churches in Bulgaria and the surrounding secular culture are far from perfect. On the one hand, Bulgarian society hasn’t still overcome its hostility towards evangelicals, fanned by media and the Eastern Orthodox Church in early 90-ties of the 20th century. We are still regarded by society as national traitors since to most Bulgarians “we are Christians because we are Bulgarians”. On the other hand, the evangelical minority is often too quick to criticise or downplay our own culture as pagan or anti-Christian, refusing to see in it anything positive and good. It is true that many of the traditions and customs, handed down to us, and shaping people’s thinking about God and the created world, are nothing but pagan in their essence. These traditions are so much now part of the Eastern-Orthodox Church services and church life, that they are regarded by the majority as Christian. And yet, it seems to me that future generations (and God!) will hold us accountable for having the same attitude of hostility to His lost sheep in this nation. We need to be reminded that God is not only transcendent, but also immanent (and thus, present in Bulgarian culture, too!) if we want to win people’s hearts and minds for the gospel.
Partly because of the atheistic propaganda of the communists rule, but mostly due to the doctrine of the Orthodox Church, stating that tradition is more important than Scripture (and thus, you cannot read the Bible on your own, but only listen to the priest’s interpretation of its text), modern day Bulgarians don’t know the Bible. To them it is rather an exotic book full of fancy stories, having nothing in common with real life. And, worse still, it is a book that urges people to give up their common sense and become religious fanatics. Nevertheless, in relation to evangelism, the Bible must be our strongest weapon. The problem is, how to use something that is not only unfamiliar, but also threatening to the average Bulgarian. Are there any common ground, any similarities between Bulgarian culture and some of the books of the Bible that could be used as a bridge from the Bible into that culture? Is there an aspect of Bulgarian culture that is directly or indirectly connected to the Bible?
The answer to this question is “Yes”. Bulgarian folklore tradition has preserved many sayings that not only raise similar topics to those of the Book of Proverbs, but also are similar in content. So, in the present essay I shall argue that the Book of Proverbs can be used as a bridge from the Bible into Bulgarian culture and hence that a comparative study of both should become a prerequisite for working out an effective strategy for evangelism.
Where the common ground lies
Like any other nation’s folklore, Bulgarian language has such a big collection of sayings that we cannot explore all its characteristics and richness. If the Book of Proverbs contains altogether 560 sayings , there are more than 5 000 Bulgarian proverbs or sayings, including some known phrases and words, like blessings, curses, epithets , etc. Yet, in spite of this inequality in number, both collections are rich enough on themselves to be able to touch so many themes and aspects of life representing a complete picture of both societies, that of the early Israel and the Bulgaria of the Middle Ages.
God, wisdom, folly, family, adultery, work, wealth, relationships in the community, and the use of words – these are the central themes in the Book of Proverbs. Bulgarian wise men have something to say on all the above-mentioned, and add to them topics such as freedom, honour, perseverance, hypocricy, stubborness, anger, indifference, patience, greediness, conscience, pride, generosity, obedience and many others. But, for the sake of clarity and space, here I will divide both collections into two major parts: man and his neighbour (horizontal dimension) and second, man and his God (vertical dimension).
At first sight the reader of any Bulgarian selection of proverbs might be tempted to think that there is nothing in common between the godly teachings of Proverbs and the sayings created by a semi-pagan nation, such as Bulgaria. Because, even though Proverbs is “godliness put into working clothes” it does ultimately bring “the firstfruits of its labour” to God, pointing to Him as our Creator and Judge of all human affairs. On the other hand, how can sayings such as, for example May God keep us from pretending saints and In the daytime - a saint, in the night time a thieve, Closer to church, farther from God, and If you want to know where they serve good wine, ask for the place where priests go to - be taken as teaching morality, or at least a primitive form of piety, in those ancient Bulgarian times? This will be treated more thoroughly further on, but we may now only answer that God’s common grace is accessible even by pagan nations, and he can instill his absolute truths even in the minds of people without revelation. Furthermore, even though most of ancient Bulgarians’ were illiterate, they were more familiar with the central Biblical doctrines than modern Bulgarians and this should have impacted their folklore, too.
But, let us consider in brief some of the above-mentioned topics.
Man and his neighbour
Horizontal relationships form the bulk of Bulgarian folklore. Within that, as it might be expected of a patriarchial society, family is the central theme. It has been the smallest and yet the most important ingredient of Bulgarian society in the past. Bridal fidelity has been the norm, illustrated by the saying Cook for many, make up a bed for two (meaning, bring up many children, have just one husband). Compare with Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well. Discipline in rearing up children was also considered indispensible for their future success in life: Children suffer because of lack of discipline. Or, to put it in Proverbs’ terms, He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.
Work for the daily bread occupies most of the time of man. Although Bulgaria has mostly been a poor country, attitude to work as reflected in our folklore is not negative at all. The proverb Work makes man look beautiful, laziness makes him look ugly celebrates work as the highest virtue in people’s character, helping them realise their true potential and finding their true self (comp. with the culmination of the description of the wife of noble character, let her works bring her praise at the city gate ). Much more straightforward is Whoever doesn’t work will not eat, either. And, there is a lot of wisdom in the warning that there are moments in life when we must make the most of our time, and we will be rewarded: A day provides for a year .
Yet, not all members of a society would fit into these discriptions. That’s why among the many affirmative statements in Bulgarian proverbs, there are also many warnings. There are people who succumb to the temptation to work out evil schemes. They should think twice before acting, because Whoever digs a grave for another man will fall into it. Others who prefer the easy looking ways of lying are warned by the means of a metaphor: Lie’s legs are short. In other words, A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who pours out lies will not go free. And there are the grumblers and egoists, who constantly envy their neighbours’ skills or possessions: “The neighbour’s hen hatches bigger eggs”, they say. To this self-irony the Book of Proverbs adds the wisdom of Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice. Such negative statements are balanced by other affirmations, referring to such characteristics as honour, dignity, perseverance, peace making, meekness, humility, patience, generosity, etc.
Man and his God
In the array of sayings there are not many proverbs referring to God. Proverbs such as God gives but doesn’t bring (sheep) in the pen, or Closer to church, farther from God are a rarity. By comparison, the Book of Proverbs has 100 verses that mention God in its total of 915 verses. Most of the Bulgarian sayings concerning religion don’t mention directly God (who to the popular mind is too holy and too far to be reached; comp. with the sigh of helplessness when harrassed by the local Turkish princes, The tsar is far away, God is too high…) but target His earthly representatives, the clergy. The proverbs If you want to know where they serve good wine, ask for the place where priests go and The priest preaches the law but doesn’t keep it are typical sayings, critisizing the wickedness and greediness of those who are called to serve humbly the ordinary people. So, if the Book of Proverbs seldom takes us to church, Bulgarian proverbs advise us bluntly to avoid that place. At the same time, if we take for granted the fact that the Book of Proverbs was written in the tenth century and compiled around the 7th century BC, it is clear why pride and apostacy among religious leaders is not attacked anywhere in the book: it hadn’t been a massive problem during the time of the united kingdom. To the Biblical Proverbs it is enough to say: The Lord detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.
How to use the Book of Proverbs as a bridge to Bulgarian culture
First of all, in my opinion the Book of Proverbs could be used as a bridge from the Bible into any culture as it speaks about real life. People of all races and languages have strived to find out the key to successful life in the spheres of family relationships, business, their citizenship and its responsibilities, etc. And the Proverbs has much to say on any of these subjects, and many more. Striped of any religious attire, it speaks with a down-to-earth language about everyday life, invisibly instilling in the minds and hearts of its listeners its Biblical perspective. It is convincing enough for them to say: “This sounds interesting; I’d like to try it”. And it can provoke further interest to other books of the Bible.
Second, in the above-given examples we can see that there are many direct borrowings or elaborations on verses from the Book of Proverbs in the Bulgarian sayings. Some of them sound almost identical with the Biblical verses; others put in different words the same or similar message. This can serve as a revelation for many Bulgarian atheists and humanists who believe in social progress and hold the conviction that our culture is a result of the mere efforts of our own national genius. Evangelistic or preevangelistic lectures could be given at universities, tackling all these parallels between Proverbs and Bulgarian sayings and other pieces of literature or even all sorts of art, and proving that the Bible has influenced our thinking and paradoxically governs our collective national behaviour, even though most of us are not aware of that fact. A conference on the topic of “Christian motifs in Bulgarian language and literature” could be held at the eve of the biggest national holiday, the day of Cyrillic alphabet, May 24th. Furthermore, apologetics nights could be organised in universities and other institutions, making use of Bulgarian proverbs as their main agenda.
Something to bear in mind
It is necessary to note here that the fact that Bulgarian proverbs mention only implicitly God and even advise people to have nothing to do with churches could be used by some opponents of Christianity to show that even our predecessors have realised that it is nothing but a “scheme of the rich to control the poor”. To this accusation we may answer that the proverbs’ criticism is directed not towards God but towards those who represent Him before lay people. In other words, the proverbs don’t make the mistake, characteristic of many modern-day Bulgarians, to exclude any possibility for God’s existance on the dubious grounds of his wicked representatives. And, actually, whenever they mention the word “God”, it suggests a personal deity, the holy Agent behind all the created order and things.
Conclusion
After all is said and done, we come to the conclusion that, unlike the Book of Proverbs , man and not God is in the centre of concern of Bulgarian proverbs. Man with his economic and social status, family, business, relationships and character is the subject matter of these proverbs. Yet, the striking thing is that, although religious terms and overt Christian themes are almost lacking in them, the prevailing value system behind these sayings is that of the Bible. Their interest in economic prosperity is subjected to a calling to moral integrity. Their focus on good relationships within the household and the neighborhood is more than a concern for healthy existence; ultimately it is a rehearsal for one’s relationships with God. In other words, physical survival is important, but it is not pursued at the expense of loosing one’s good name, family and ultimately, soul. They silently bow down to virtue, ridicule folly and hypocrisy, and solemnly warn promiscuity and and evil behaviour. And in this they sound almost like their biblical counterparts. That’s why they can make a wonderful inroad for evangelism in this culture. If we give it a try.
The End
BIBLIOGRAPHY
NIV Study Bible, Hodder and Stoughton, 1995
Kidner, D., Proverbs, IVP, 1964.
Kindner, D., The Wisdom of Proverbs, Job & Ecclesiastes, IVP, 1985.
Green, M., Evangelism Through the Local Church, Hodder & Stoughton, 1993.
Григоров, М. & Кацаров, К, Български пословици и поговорки , Наука и изкуство, 1986.
Еленков, Ив и Даскалов, Р., Защо сме такива? , Светлоструй, 1994.
Carson, D.A., France, R.T., Motyer, J.A., Wenham, G.J., New Bible Commentary, IVP, 1994.
