- Goce’s holy bones were finally buried in the capital of independent Macedonia – a symbol of a fulfilled oath, of historical justice and of an eternal bond between the apostle and his people.
History testifies that the path of Goce’s remains begins immediately after the tragic battle near Banica, where Delchev laid down his life for freedom. With the permission of the Ottoman authorities, the bodies of Gotse and his comrade Dimitar Gushtanov were buried together – the first peaceful resting place of an apostle of the Macedonian idea.
But the fate of his bones was not silence, but a journey. In 1906, Mihail Chekov and Taska Spasov-Serski, close associates of Jane Sandanski, secretly unearthed them and gathered them in the “St. Nicholas” church in Ser. The stonemason Nikola Mutafchiev made a box and hid it under the throne, sworn to keep the secret. That silence lasted until the First World War, when Chekov took them over again and carried them around Skecha, Plovdiv and Sofia, keeping them as a sacred relic.
Colorization: Dejan Joveski – “New Macedonia”
Colorization: Dejan Joveski – “New Macedonia”
Colorization: Dejan Joveski – “New Macedonia”
Colorization: Dejan Joveski – “New Macedonia”
In August 1923, the bones were exhibited in Sofia’s “St. Nedela”, and then placed in the Ilinden House of the Macedonian organization. There they were laid in a sarcophagus with an engraved oath: that they will be transported to the capital of the future independent Macedonia.
The oath was fulfilled in 1946. The Macedonian authorities asked the National Committee of Macedonian Brotherhoods in Bulgaria to allow the transfer of the remains to Skopje. On October 4, a large worship service was organized, and the new carved sarcophagus, the work of the artist Nestor Alexiev, carried the image of Gotse, the flag of VMRO and the coats of arms of Macedonia and Yugoslavia. A delegation led by General Kiril Mihajlovski-Gruica accompanied the road through Pirin Macedonia, where the people with tears and festive clothes lay on the ground in front of the gun carriage.
“Macedonian Flag” then wrote: “A touching manifestation of a nation, which was always unique in its ideals and remained faithful to Gotse Delchev until the end… Gotse – dead, united with his free people in his free state.”
The culmination occurred on October 10, 1946, when the remains arrived in Skopje and were laid to rest in the “St. Spas” church. Later, a monumental marble sarcophagus was made, where they rest to this day.
D.St.
