Raiko Zhinzifov

Raiko Zhinzifov was one of the most talented students and followers of Dimitar Miladinov. He was born on February 15, 1839 in the town of Veles (Macedonia). His name was Ksenofont but he replaced it with the Bulgarian Raiko by the demand of Dimitar Miladinov and Georgi Rakovski. Initially Raiko Zhinzifov studied in the school of his father. In 1856 he became an assistant teacher to Dimitar Miladinov in Prilep and was influenced by his conception. Then he was a teacher in Kilkis. In 1858 he went to Russia, and in 1864 he graduated at the Historical-Philological department of the Moscow University with the title candidate. In 1863 he published his book Novobalgarska sbirka (New-Bulgarian collection), which included original and translated poems. In Moscow he lived with the Bulgarian emigration together with Lyuben Karavelov, N. Bonchev, Konstantin Miladinov, Vassil Popovich, and others, and started issuing the magazine Bratski trud (Brother work). He launched a huge publicistic activity in the Russian periodicals, to acquaint the Russian people with the hard situation for the Bulgarians. He contributed to the Bulgarian papers Dunavska zora (Danube dawn), Makedonia (Macedonia), Svoboda (Freedom), Bulgarska pchela (Bulgarian bee), Vek (Century), Vreme (Time), and to the magazines Chitalishte (Community Center), Periodichesko izdanie (Periodical magazine), and others, where he published editorials, poems, folklore songs, and a story. He was interested in the Church fights, Bulgarian literature, and the Slavonic unity. His poetry steeped in nostalgia, sympathy for the Bulgarian people, and the sense of national duties. He died in 1877 in Moscow.