On September 13, 1996, an original of "Slavic-Bulgarian History" by Paisii Hilendarski was brought by an anonymous donor to the National History Museum. He left the manuscript, wrapped in newspaper, with the secretary of the museum's director Bozhidar Dimitrov.
An examination by the archeological commission at the National Library "St. St. Cyril and Methodius" confirmed that this was the original - an author's copy by Paisii himself, discovered in the Zograf Monastery in 1906 by Professor Yordan Ivanov. After a dispute over the fate of the manuscript that lasted more than a year, in 1997 the President of Bulgaria Petar Stoyanov (1997-2002) and the Ministry of culture decided that the manuscript should be returned to the Zograf Monastery.
On January 12, 1998, the ceremony for the handover of the historical manuscript was attended by President Petar Stoyanov, Minister of Culture Emma Moskova and Prosecutor General Ivan Tatarchev. The abbot of the Zograf Monastery, Archimandrite Ambrose, received the manuscript from the director of the National History Museum Bozhidar Dimitrov. Today, "Slavonic-Bulgarian History" is kept in the Zograf Monastery on Mount Athos next to the office of Patriarch Evtimii, the Dragan Minea and other valuable manuscripts, recalls dariknews.bg.
The scandal related to the Zograf transcript of "Slavonic-Bulgarian History" began in 1991 after the return of the Prime Minister of Bulgaria Dimitar Popov (1990-1991) from a visit to Greece, within which he visits the Bulgarian monastery “St. George Zograf” on Mount Athos.
In response to his request to the Athos monks to allow the original of “Slavonic-Bulgarian History” to be exhibited for worship in Bulgaria, the former head of the “Zograf” ephory in Sofia, Petar Mitanov, publicly stated that the manuscript of Paisii Hilendarski is in Bulgaria. The manuscript was secretly taken out of the Bulgarian monastery on the Athos peninsula in Athos in 1988. For eight years it was locked in the safe of the head of Bulgarian intelligence.
The operation itself to steal “Slavonic-Bulgarian History” was codenamed “Marathon” and was carried out by Department 14 “Cultural-Historical intelligence“ of the State Security. The aim of the operation was to replace the original manuscript with a forgery. It was prepared over a period of 10 years from 1972 to 1982. The operation itself started in 1982. In December 1984, intelligence officer Hristo Marinchev went to the Zograf Monastery on Mount Athos, but only reached Thessaloniki, as the Greek authorities denied him access to the peninsula. The officer's legend is that of deputy chairman of the Committee for Church Affairs of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, but in fact he was deputy head of Department 14, responsible for cultural and historical intelligence in Greece and Cyprus.
After the failed attempt in December 1985, the employees of the First Main Directorate, legendarily described as first secretaries at the Bulgarian embassy in Athens - Ivan Genev and Ventsislav Again - were designated as participants in the operation. They are helped by the employee of the embassy in Athens, Dinko Pehlivanov. Again takes the manuscript under his clothes and takes it to the Consulate General of Bulgaria in Thessaloniki. From there, it is forwarded to the embassy in Athens, from where it ends up in Bulgaria by diplomatic mail. Pehlivanov's role is that of the so-called "clean man", who does not suspect the actions of others. He finds out about the theft only after leaving the monastery.
On St. Nicholas Day 1985, Ivan Genev brings the historical manuscript to us.