Bulgarian historians are opening new fronts in the historic dispute with Macedonia, this time over two 19 century religious scholars. Kiril Pejcinovic i Joakim Krcovski were active in Tetovo and Kriva Palanka, respectively, and wrote popular religious texts. The Macedonian Orthodox Chruch canonised Pejcinovic and is preparing to canonize Krcovski, but this is causing a reaction in Bulgaria, where historians want to claim them as their own.

This is not the first example of such theft. Both were Bulgarian enlighteners, and worked in Macedonia and in other Bulgarian lands in the Western Provinces (eastern Serbia), claims Bulgarian historian Plamen Pavlov.

He insists that their works were written in Bulgarian – this is long before the formal codification of either of the two languages.