Voivode Marko Lerinski

Georgi Ivanov Georgiev, known by the nicknames Georgi Geroyski, Marko Lerinski, Kuzman Galabov or simply Marko Voyvoda, was a Bulgarian soldier and revolutionary, known as a voivode of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organisation (IMARO).

He was born on 20 June 1862 in the town of Kotel. In 1883 he began military service in the Principality of Bulgaria and participated in the Serbo-Bulgarian War, where he distinguished himself through bravery and acquired the nickname Geroyski (the Heroic). In 1895 he participated in the Macedonian Committee's armed detachment campaign and belonged to Stoyo Kostov's detachment, which attacked the town of Dospat.

In 1900 he established contact with Gotse Delchev and Gyorche Petrov, who recruited him into IMARO and sent him as a voivode to the Lerin district. There he acquired the pseudonym Marko and became an important figure in the revolutionary movement. Under his leadership, his detachment became known as a training school for fighters and voivodes operating throughout the revolutionary organisation.

Marko Lerinski turned the Lerin district into a centre of revolutionary activity and created favourable conditions for training and agitation among the population. He was the first to propose and prepare a comprehensive uprising in Macedonia and the Adrianople region.

Following a betrayal by local supporters of the Greek cause, Marko Lerinski died in battle with Turkish troops in the village of Patele, now Agios Panteleimonas, Greece, on 13 June 1902.

Marko Lerinski is described as an honest, devoted patriot inspired by the cause for which he fought. He became the soul of his detachment and turned it into a centre for training new revolutionaries. His death remains part of the epic memory of the Bulgarian people and the revolutionary movement in Macedonia and the Adrianople region.