Clement of Ohrid

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'Saint Kliment' redirects here. For other uses, see Saint Kliment (disambiguation).
Saint

Clement of Ohrid
Климент Охридски
Glagolitic alphabet, Cyrillic script
PatronageOhrid, North Macedonia[5]

Clement or Kliment of Ohrid (

Christianised Slavs. He was the founder of the Ohrid Literary School and is regarded as a patron of education and language by some Slavic people. He is considered to be the first bishop of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church,[b][13] one of the Seven Apostles of Bulgarian Orthodox Church since the 10th century, and one of the premier saints of modern Bulgaria.[14] The mission of Clement was the crucial factor which transformed the Slavs in then Kutmichevitsa (present-day Macedonia)[c] into Bulgarians.[15] Clement is also the patron saint of North Macedonia, the city of Ohrid[5] and the Macedonian Orthodox Church.[16][17]

Life

Icon of Saint Clement, located in the Mother of God Perybleptos church, Ohrid
Fresco of St. Clement in the Church of St. Athanasius, Kastoria

The exact date of his birth is unknown. Most probably, he joined Methodius as a young man following him later to the monastery on

Moesians, commonly known as Bulgarians.[d] Because of that, some scholars label him a Bulgarian Slav,[23][24] while Dimitri Obolensky calls Clement a Slav inhabitant of the Kingdom of Bulgaria.[25] A fringe view on his origin postulates that Clement was born in Great Moravia. This view is based on the lexicographical analysis of Clement's works.[26]

Clement participated in the mission of

Angelarius and possibly Gorazd (according to other sources, Gorazd was already dead by that time). Thereafter, the four of them were sent to the Bulgarian capital of Pliska, where they were commissioned by Boris I of Bulgaria to instruct the future clergy of the state in the Old Slavonic language
.

After the adoption of Christianity in 865, religious ceremonies in Bulgaria were conducted in Greek by clergy sent from the Byzantine Empire. Fearing growing Byzantine influence and weakening of the state, Boris viewed the adoption of the Old Slavonic language as a way to preserve the political independence and stability of Bulgaria. With a view thereto, Boris made arrangements for the establishment of two literary academies where theology was to be taught in the Slavonic language. The first of the schools was to be found in the capital, Pliska, and the second in the region of Kutmichevitsa.

Southeastern Europe in the late 9th century.

According to his hagiography by Theophylact of Ohrid, while Naum stayed in Pliska working on the foundation of the

Saint Panteleimon, in Ohrid. Soon after he was canonized as a saint by the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.[29]

The development of Old Church Slavonic literacy had the effect of preventing the assimilation of the South Slavs into neighbouring Byzantine culture, which promoted the formation of a distinct Bulgarian identity in the Empire.[30] During the first quarter of the 10th century, the ethnonym “Bulgarians” was adopted by the Slavic tribes in most of Macedonia, while their names were abandoned.[e] Clement's life's work played a significant role in this transformation.[32]

Legacy

Tomb of Saint Clement within the Church of Saints Clement and Panteleimon, Ohrid, North Macedonia.

Clement of Ohrid was one of the most prolific and important writers in Old Church Slavonic. He is credited with the Panonic Hagiography of Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius. Clement also translated the Flower Triode containing church songs sung from Easter to Pentecost and is believed to be the author of the Holy Service and the Life of St. Clement of Rome, as well as of the oldest service dedicated to Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius. The invention of the Cyrillic alphabet is also usually ascribed to him although the alphabet is most likely to have been developed at the Preslav Literary School at the beginning of the 10th century (see Cyrillic script).

Medieval frescoes of Clement exist throughout the modern-day territories of North Macedonia, Serbia and northern Greece, with the vast majority being located in North Macedonia.[33] The Church of St. Clement of Ohrid is located in Skopje and is the largest cathedral of the Macedonian Orthodox Church.

The first modern Bulgarian university, Sofia University, was named after Clement upon its foundation in 1888. The Macedonian National and University Library, founded on November 23, 1944, also bears his name.[34] The University in Bitola, established in 1979, is named after Clement, as well as the Bulgarian scientific base, St. Kliment Ohridski on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica.

In November 2008, the Macedonian Orthodox Church donated part of Clement's relics to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church as a sign of good will.[35]

In May 2018 was announced that in the ruins of a

Provadiya Municipality, the signature of Clement was identified on a stone plate with a large amount of graffiti on it. The signature is dated as of April 24, 889. The finding gives reason to assume that the disciples of Cyril and Methodius were settled there at one stage, after being expelled from the Great Moravia and their reception in Bulgaria.[36]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "He died at an advanced age in 916. His disciples buried him in the monastery "St. Panteleimon" in Ohrid, which he had established. He was canonized in X c. and joined the pantheon of the Bulgarian saints."[6]
  2. ^ "...the First Bishop of the Bulgarian language".[12]
  3. theme of Bulgaria
    .
  4. ^ "This great father of ours and light of Bulgaria was by origin of the European Moesians whom the people commonly known as Bulgarians…"[22]
  5. ^ "Early in the tenth century, the name 'Bulgarians', in its wider meaning, was widespread and used throughout the country, while the names of the separate Slav tribes were abandoned. An interesting instance of the use of the name 'Bulgarians' is found in the so-called 'Expanded Biography of Clement of Ochrida'... It, therefore, mirrors developments and the situation in the south-western Bulgarian territories (Macedonia) in the beginning of the tenth century. It is this disciple of Clement, namely, who wrote in the tenth century, that called himself and his compatriots by the name 'Bulgarians'. This is obvious from a text in the biography, which glorifies Clement that he gave everything, related to the church 'to us, the Bulgarians'. This means that the name 'Bulgarians' was already firmly established among the population in the south-western Bulgarian territories early in the tenth century."[31]

References

  1. ISBN 0881410462
    , p. 11.
  2. ISBN 0860122565
    , p. 220.
  3. ^ Karl Cordell, Stefan Wolff, Ethnic Conflict: Causes, Consequences, and Responses, (Polity Press, 2009), 64.
  4. ^ "Western American Diocese - July 27". westserbdio.org. Archived from the original on 1 May 2017. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  5. ^ a b "Patron Saints Index: Saint Clement of Ohrid". saints.sqpn.com. Archived from the original on 2008-06-20. Retrieved 2008-06-12.
  6. ^ "XI Century", Official site, Sofia: Sofia University.
  7. ISBN 1850655340
    , p. 19.
  8. ISBN 0802846807
    , p. 138.
  9. ISBN 0521616379
    , p. 15.
  10. ISBN 0521770173
    , pp. 78-79.
  11. ISBN 0810876027
    , p. 91.
  12. ISBN 0-8223-0891-6
    .
  13. ISBN 954528613X
    .
  14. ISBN 1461664039
    , p. 91.
  15. ISBN 0472081497
    , pp. 127-128.
  16. ^ Official site of the Macedonian orthodox church Archived 2010-03-24 at the Wayback Machine
  17. ^ "Macedonia Travel info". Archived from the original on 2010-11-01. Retrieved 2010-09-19.
  18. ISBN 0191036730
    , p. 394.
  19. ISBN 0860122565
    , p. 220.
  20. ISBN 0810862956
    , p. xx.
  21. ISBN 9047433750
    , p. 153.
  22. ^ Kosev, Dimitŭr; et al. (1969), Documents and Materials on the History of the Bulgarian People, Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, p. 54.
  23. ISBN 081087363X
    , p. 87.
  24. ISBN 0389209678
    , p. 123.
  25. ISBN 086078102X
    , p. III.
  26. ISBN 978-80-89489-02-2
    , pp. 110-113. Ján STANISLAV: Starosloviensky jazyk I. Bratislava: Slovenské pedagogické nakladateľstvo, 1978, pp. 20-21; 174, 219-230.
  27. ISBN 0-521-07459-2
    , p. 169.
  28. ISBN 0860122565
    , p. 220.
  29. ^ Кирило-Методиевска енциклопедия: И-O, том 2, Институт за литература (Българска академия на науките), Университетско издателство "Св. Климент Охридски", 1995, стр. 334.
  30. ISBN 978-0-521-61637-9
    . p 15.
  31. ^ Angelov, D. (1971), "София [Summary]", Издателство Наука и изкуство [The Formation of the Bulgarian Nation] (in Bulgarian), pp. 413–414.
  32. ISBN 1443888435
    , p. 260.
  33. ^ The Sacred Landscape of Saint Clement of Ohrid as Reflected in his Frescos, Markus Breier and Mihailo Popovic, Department of Geography and Regional Research, University of Vienna (2015)
  34. ^ The official site of the National and University Library "St. Kliment Ohridski", retrieved on October 9, 2007.
  35. ^ "Македония дарява частици от мощите на Св. Кл. Охридски". 24 November 2008.
  36. ^ Константин Събчев, Откриха подписа на Климент Охридски. Политика, 25.05.2018.

Sources

External links

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