form of the letters in the second) do not give an explanation of where the Bulgarian ruler at that time, had detailed information about some events from end of the First Bulgarian Empire. It is about the kinship of the Comitopuli, as well as on some historical battles. It is not clear why this Bulgarian ruler called Ivan, who according to them was not Ivan Vladislav, claimed to be the grandson of Comita Nikola and Ripsimia of Armenia, and son of Aron of Bulgaria, who was Samuel of Bulgaria's brother. Significance During the 10th century the Bulgarians established a form of national identity, that despite far from modern nationalism, helped them to survive as a distinct entity through history. The inscription confirms that Tsar Samuel and his successors considered their state Bulgarian. The stone plate reveals, the Cometopuli also had incipient Bulgarian ethnic consciousness. The proclamation announced the first use of the Slavic title "samodŭrzhets", that means "autocrat". The name of the city of Bitola, is mentioned for the first time in the inscription. The Bitola inscription is a constructional one – it announces the reconstruction of a fortress. The text contains valuable information about the genealogy of the ruler Ivan. It becomes clear from it, that this ruler was the grandson of Nicholas and Ripsimia and the son of Aaron, Samuel's brother. The inscription also mentions the victory of the Bulgarians over the Byzantine emperor Basil II at the Trayanovi Vrata pass in 986, and the defeat of Samuel in the battle near the village of Klyuch in 1014. The inscription indicates that in the 10-11th century, the patron saints of Bitola were the Holy Virgin and the Twelve Apostles. In North Macedonia, the official historiography refers to John Vladislav as one of the first Macedonian Tsars, and ruler of the "Slavic Macedonian Empire", but there is no historical support for such assertions. Moreover, the stone definitively reveals the ethnic self-identification of the last ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire before its conquest by Byzantium. Even, according to Ugrinova-Skalovska, the claim on his Bulgarian ancestry is in accordance with the Cometopuli's insistence, to bound their dynasty to the political traditions of the Bulgarian Empire. Per Skalovska, all Western and Byzantine writers and chroniclers at that time, called the inhabitants of their kingdom Bulgarians. The mainstream academics support the view that the inscription is an original artefact, made during the