Editing Neofit Rilski

[[Image:Neofit Rilski grave-rila monastery.JPG|thumb|350px|right|Neofit Rilski gravestone in the [[Rila monastery]], [[Bulgaria]] ]]
'''Neofit Rilski''' ({{lang-bg|Неофит Рилски}}) or '''Neophyte of [[Rila]]''' ([[1793]] - [[January 4]], [[1881]]), born '''Nikola Poppetrov Benin''' ({{lang-bg|Никола Поппетров Бенин}}) was a 19th-century [[Bulgaria]]n monk, teacher and artist, and an important figure of the [[Bulgarian National Revival]].

Born in the southwestern town of [[Bansko]] (or possibly in the village of [[Guliyna Banya]]) of [[Pirin Macedonia]], Benin was educated to become a teacher, initially by his father Petar, and later at the [[Rila Monastery]], where he studied iconography and had access to [[Greek language|Greek]] and [[Church Slavonic]] books.  He went to [[Melnik, Bulgaria|Melnik]] in [[1822 AD|1822]], where he spent four years as a student of the noted teacher Adam, and perfected his Greek and [[Greek literature]] knowledge.

Initially working as a teacher in the Rila Monastery, he also spent time working in [[Samokov]] (1827-1831), then back in the monastery, then went to [[Gabrovo]] and [[Koprivshtitsa]] (1835-1839) and returned to the monastery as a teacher to join the [[Halki seminary|theological school]] on the  island of [[Halki (Turkish island)|Halki]], where he spent four and a half years only to return to the Rila Monastery in [[1852 AD|1852]], where he spent the remaining part of his life, and since 1860 was the monastery's [[hegumen]]. He stayed in the monastery despite being offered higher positions in the Orthodox hierarchy, such as becoming a bishop or the rector of the projected [[Tarnovo]] seminary.

In 1835, Rilski issued his ''Bolgarska gramatika'', the first grammar book of the modern Bulgarian language. His other books include ''Tablitsi vzaimouchitelni'', and the 1852 Greek-Slavic dictionary ''Slovar greko-slavyanskiy''.

Rilski considered [[Old Church Slavonic]] as synonymous with [[Old Bulgarian]] and he tried to unify [[Western Bulgarian|West]] and [[Easten Bulgarian]] dialects. [1]

Neofit Rilski died in the Rila Monastery on [[4 January]] [[1881]].

==Honour==
[[Neofit Peak]] on [[Smith Island (South Shetland Islands)|Smith Island]], [[South Shetland Islands]] is named after Neofit Rilski.

==References==

Olesch, R. (ed.): Neofit Rilski, Bolgarska grammatika. Kragujevac 1835. Tablici Bukarest 1848. Unveränderter Nachdruck mit einer Einleitung herausgegeben von Reinhold Olesch (Slavistische Forschungen, Bd. 41). Köln-Wien: Böhlau 1989. ([http://kodeks.uni-bamberg.de/Bulgaria/NeofitRilski.htm sample pages])

1. Discourses of collective identity in Central and Southeast Europe (1770-1945)
[http://books.google.com/books?id=k5Vsjg508EYC&pg=PA248&dq=Old+Bulgarian+Neofit+Rilski&lr=&sig=EjuKCNbdVbuq2HCY_4whKR8vWGk Page 248] By Balazs Trencsenyi, Michal Kopecek ISBN 9637326529</ref>.

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[[Category:Bulgarian writers]]
[[Category:1881 deaths]]
[[Category:1793 births]]