Nikolay Raynov’s literary works in school textbooks during the interwar period in Bulgaria. Between the independent and the canonical religious imaginary

Abstract

Nikolay Raynov (1889–1954) developed a modernist literary corpus that combines orthodox and heterodox religious imagery grounded in mysticism, esotericism, and occultism. This article systematically examines Raynov’s parabiblical texts in cluded in Bulgarian school readers and anthologies between 1926 and 1942. His non-canonical writing reproduces canonical forms while subtly transforming their doctrinal content, thereby preserving creative and spiritual autonomy within an institutionally regulated educational framework. School selections operate along two main horizons—history and religion—through which collective memory and national identity are constructed. Key works (“The Monk”, “The Holy Brothers / Equal-to-the-Apostles”, “The Eyeless Warriors”, “The Gifts of Mercy”) were adapted for different age groups. Mysticism, esotericism, and occultism are approached as para-canonical forms of knowledge with distinct social functions. Raynov’s texts enact a “cultural rupture” (Assmann) between the canonical and the non-canonical, redefining the boundaries of the sacred and the profane. Institutional tensions surface in critical polemics and biographical episodes, such as the cancelled jubilee of 1939. The article argues that, through didactic adaptation, esoteric motifs were effectively institutionalized within school curricula, legitimising Raynov as a formative figure in the construction of Bulgarian cultural memory.