112 chapter two
skirmishes as clearly pointed out in answer N 35 by Pope Nicholas I
to the questions of the Bulgarian knyaz Boris-Michael.
The attitude towards these personages, as it was already mentioned,
was ambivalent, especially in the time of peace for they used to stay
in the periphery of their own space and at the border between the
sacred and the profane. In doing so, they were able to help but also to
harm the community. Precisely because of that reason their position
in society was modeled by the relation own—foreign. The word “vrach”
(“healer”, but also “one who tells the fortune”), in old-Bulgarian lan-
guage actually alludes to the healing practices of the ‘magi’. This is eas-
ily proven by the later developments of the Bulgarian language where
“healer” is “a person who heals with sorcery and herbs; fortune teller”
while the initial meaning was “sorcerer”, or “conjuror”.^103
Along with the processes of centralization and adopting certain
world religions in these confederations, to a certain extent, the shamans
and magicians felt themselves marginalized for they were the product
of the old tribal (i.e. decentralized) society (and thus supporters of the
status quo). The new conditions required coming to the fore of the
khagan, who was already the supreme priest of the cult of Heaven and
that of the predecessors,^104 and especially for the Bulgars—the figure
of the supreme boila-kolobur, as it is stated in the Philippi inscrip-
tion of khan Persian dated 837 A.D. Ruth Meserve considers this as a
transition to “imperial” religion that showed inclination of contradict-
ing shamanism and totemism, being more focused on the myths of
origin and the ancestral cult. The latter got its final form much later,
during the time of Chengis khan. Ceremonies in definite time of the
year and keeping the common memory about the divine predecessors
of the ruling clan or tribe became part of the tribal identity and often
even an indicator of political legitimacy. Based on the worship of the
almighty Heaven (Tengri), this religion also emphasized the vertical
(^103) Kaloianov 2003, 55.
(^104) Gumilev 1967, 80–81, 83. For some sacral aspects in the figure of the Khazar
khagan after tenth century that bear signs of the priest’s power see, Stepanov 2003c,
219–232, and Golden 2007b, 161–194. For the Bulgar ruler as supreme priest who
was cutting the dog and was making offerings to the gods see, Beshevliev 1992, N N 3
and 6. For the Central Asiatic shamanism in general see, Baialieva 1972; Basilov 1984;
Sagalaev 1984; Alekseev 1980; Alekseev 1984; Novik 1984; Potapov 1991, and several
works of M. Eliade. For the magical acts of the Bulgar ruler Krum during the siege of
Constantinople in 813 A.D. see the commentary of Beshevliev 1981, 85–86; for that
same position of supreme priest but this time in relation to the deeds of Omurtag see,
Beshevliev 1992, N 6.