On this date in 1830, Grigor Stavrev Prlichev was born in Ohrid. He is one of the most prominent representatives of Macedonian literature, who worked during the Romantic period. He unites the specific and characteristic elements of the Classicism and Romanticism, which are dominant stylistic features the time in which he lives and works. Prlichev lived and worked in several Balkan cultural centers (Ohrid, Struga, Bitola, Prilep, Thessaloniki, Athens, Tirana, Constantinople, Sofia). He was fluent in several Balkan and European languages. The poetic work "Serdarot" (1860) is considered the absolute pinnacle of all the contributions made by this creator in the art of the word. In literary science, this poem should be considered in the context of the European theory of romanticism. Other more notable works of his are "The Autobiography (1884) and the letter-essay "Keep Yourself" (1866).
He was born as the fourth and last child of Maria Gjokova and Stavre Prlichev, an Ohrid artisan. Soon his father died, and Prlichev was left an orphan for six months. Prlichev was a student of Dimitrija Miladinov, who was teaching in Ohrid at that time. For some time he was employed as a teacher, and later he became a teacher in Tirana (Albania). Later in 1849 he enrolled as a student of medicine at the University of Athens. Then he returned to Macedonia where he worked as a teacher in Prilep and Ohrid, and with the money he earned he returned to Athens in 1859. to continue his education. During this period he writes the poem "Ο ΑΡΜΑΤΩΛΟΣ" (Serdarot). In 1860, he won the prize at the great Athenian competition for the best poem in the Greek language. In the same year, his work will be published. The results of the competition exceed even the wildest expectations, and Prlichev will be declared the "second Homer", something that has not happened in Athens before. ,,a second Homer", something that had not happened in Athens until then.
After returning to Ohrid, he immediately began work on a new poetic project - the poem "Skenderbeg", a far more ambitious creative undertaking. A turning point in Prlichev's life, according to his story, was the death of the Miladinovci brothers in the dungeons of Constantinople. With Jakim Sapundjiev, they start the "people's feat in Ohrid, i.e., the struggle for the introduction of the vernacular in schools. During this period, mainly thanks to Prlicev, a Kurci fund was established in Ohrid in 1866, which was used as a material base in the struggle to introduce the vernacular in schools and churches.
In 1868 the Turkish authorities imprison him and deport him to the Debar dungeon, due to defamation by the Greek bishop of Ohrid. After the prison period, he visits the monastery "St. Jovan Bigorski" and is amazed that it is served in Old Slavic language.
In the following 1869 in Ohrid, the vernacular language is massively introduced in schools. In the same year, he married Anastasia, daughter of Hristo Uzunov, with whom he had five children (Kostadinka, Lijza, Kiril, Despina and Gjorgi).
In the meantime, he actively works to raise the young generation in Macedonian schools. He participated in the ceremonial welcome of the first exarch bishop Natanail Kuceviski from Ohrid. On that occasion, he gives a welcome speech, and also creates a praise song in honor of Nathanael. Prlicev soon came into strong conflict with Natanaila and the church-school board. Due to the collision, Prlicev was persecuted. In his "Autobiography", Prlicev, describing this period, wrote: "How strange it is that the fatherland, which never and nowhere evaluates its sons, and the Greek Bishop Miletia, my most implacable enemy, endured my lessons, stories, admonished and reprimanded, and he never failed me", and "the first Bulgarian metropolitan, expected messiah, expels me dishonorably".
With money saved from his teaching in Struga, he left for Bulgaria (Sofia). In 1883-1890 he teaches at the Bulgarian boys' gymnasium in Thessaloniki. During this period, he writes his "Autobiography", published after his death in "Collection of Folk Thoughts, Science and Literature". He was disappointed by the refusal to print his translation of the "Iliad" (1886-1887), because of the "general Slavic" language. After Prlicev retired in 1890, he spent his last days in Ohrid, where he died on February 6, 1893.