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'{{Short description|Medieval Bulgarian scholar}} {{Infobox saint |name=Свети Климент Охридски<br />Saint Clement of Ohrid |birth_date=c. 830–840 |death_date={{Death date|916|7|27|mf=y}} (date of burial) |feast_day=27 July<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20170501225420/http://westserbdio.org/en/prologue/582-july-27</ref> |venerated_in=[[Eastern Orthodox Church]], [[Eastern Catholic Churches]]<br />[[Latin Christianity]] |image=Climent of Ohrid.jpg |imagesize=150px |caption=Icon of Saint Clement, located in the Mother of God Perybleptos church, [[Ohrid]] |birth_place= [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] or [[First Bulgarian Empire]]<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=2eTamGqyQhQC&pg=PA11 ''Russian Church Singing''], vol. II, Johann von Gardner, Vladimir Morosan, St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1980, {{ISBN|0881410462}}, p. 11.</ref><ref>Alban Butler, Paul Burns and David Hugh Farmer, Butler's Lives of the Saints, Volume 7, A&C Black, 1995, {{ISBN|0860122565}}, p. 220.</ref> |death_place=[[Ohrid]], [[Bulgarian Empire]]<ref>Karl Cordell, Stefan Wolff, ''Ethnic Conflict: Causes, Consequences, and Responses'', (Polity Press, 2009), 64.</ref><br />(now [[North Macedonia]]) |titles=One of the Seven Apostles of Bulgaria, Disciple of [[St. Cyril and St. Methodius]] |beatified_date= |beatified_place= |beatified_by= |canonized_date= |canonized_place= |canonized_by= |attributes=[[Glagolitic alphabet]], [[Cyrillic script]] |patronage= [[Ohrid]], [[North Macedonia]]<ref name="saints">{{Cite web |url=http://saints.sqpn.com/saintc3h.htm |title=Patron Saints Index: Saint Clement of Ohrid |publisher=saints.sqpn.com |access-date=2008-06-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080620003930/http://saints.sqpn.com/saintc3h.htm |archive-date=2008-06-20 |url-status=dead }}</ref> |major_shrine= |suppressed_date= |issues= |prayer= |prayer_attrib= }} '''Saint Clement of Ohrid''' ([[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]] and [[Macedonian language|Macedonian]]: Свети Климент Охридски, {{lit|''Sveti Kliment Ohridski''}}; {{lang-el|Ἅγιος Κλήμης τῆς Ἀχρίδας}}; {{lang-sk|svätý Kliment Ochridský}}; {{circa|830-840}} – 916) was one of the first medieval [[First Bulgarian Empire|Bulgarian]] saints,<ref>''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.'' [https://www.uni-sofia.bg/index.php/eng/the_university/history/xi_century Short biography] of the patron of the [[Sofia University]] on its official site.</ref> scholar, writer and enlightener of the [[Slavs]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ppbuavUZKEwC&pg=PA19 ''Who are the Macedonians?''] Hugh Poulton, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2000, {{ISBN|1850655340}}, p. 19.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=oQ8BFk9K0ToC&pg=PA138 ''Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions''], Gerald H. Anderson, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1999, {{ISBN|0802846807}}, p. 138.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ylz4fe7757cC ''A Concise History of Bulgaria''], R. J. Crampton, Cambridge University Press, 2005, {{ISBN|0521616379}}, p. 15.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ILiOI0UgxHoC&pg=PA78 ''Byzantium's Balkan Frontier: A Political Study of the Northern Balkans, 900-1204''], Paul Stephenson, Cambridge University Press, 2000, {{ISBN|0521770173}}, pp. 78-79.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=dDi24Fac-rwC&pg=PA91 ''The A to Z of the Orthodox Church''], Michael Prokurat, Alexander Golitzin, Michael D. Peterson, Rowman & Littlefield, 2010, {{ISBN|0810876027}}, p. 91.</ref> He was one of the most prominent disciples of [[Saints Cyril and Methodius]] and is often associated with the creation of the [[Glagolitic]] and [[Cyrillic script]]s, especially their popularisation among [[Christianise]]d 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]],<ref>"...the First Bishop of the Bulgarian language" - [[Theophylact of Ohrid|Teophylactus]] cited in {{Cite book | last =Ramet | first =Pedro | title =Religion and Nationalism in Soviet and East European Politics | year =1989 | url =https://archive.org/details/religionnational01rame | isbn =0-8223-0891-6 | page =[https://archive.org/details/religionnational01rame/page/373 373] }}</ref><ref name="bakalov">{{cite book |title=History of Bulgaria electronic edition |language=bg |last1=Bakalov|first1=Georgi |last2=Kumanov |first2=Milen |publisher=Trud, Sirma|location=Sofia |year=2003 |isbn=954528613X |chapter=KUTMICHEVITSA (Kutmichinitsa) }}</ref> one of the [[Seven Apostles of Bulgarian Orthodox Church]] and one of the premier saints of modern [[Bulgaria]].<ref>Michael Prokurat et al., The A to Z of the Orthodox Church, Scarecrow Press, 2010, {{ISBN|1461664039}}, p. 91.</ref> The mission of Saint Clement was the crucial factor which transformed the Slavs in Macedonia into Bulgarians.<ref>John Van Antwerp Fine, The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century, University of Michigan Press, 1991, {{ISBN|0472081497}}, pp. 127-128.</ref> Saint Clement is also the patron saint of [[North Macedonia]], the city of [[Ohrid]]<ref name="saints" /> and the [[Macedonian Orthodox Church]].<ref>[http://mpc.org.mk/MPC/istorija.asp Official site of the Macedonian orthodox church] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100324104254/http://www.mpc.org.mk/MPC/istorija.asp |date=2010-03-24 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mymacedonia.net/religion/archbishopric.htm |title=Macedonia Travel info |access-date=2010-09-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101101071331/http://mymacedonia.net/religion/archbishopric.htm |archive-date=2010-11-01 |url-status=dead }}</ref> ==Life== [[File:Saint Clement of Ohrid (icon, 13th-14th century).jpg|thumb|left|170px|Icon of Saint Clement]] [[File:St._Clement_of_Ohrid_in_the_church_of_St._Athanasius,_Kastoria.jpg|thumb|left|170px|Fresco of St. Clement in the [[Church of St. Athanasius of Mouzaki|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 [[Mysian Olympus]]. According to his hagiography by [[Theophylact of Ohrid]], Clement knew the life of Methodius like no other. That is why most scholars think he was born in the [[Byzantine Empire]] in the territory where Methodius served during his political career, i.e. that he was a [[Slav]] from [[Southern Macedonia]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ry3TCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA394 ''The Oxford Dictionary of Saints''], Fifth Edition Revised, David Farmer, OUP Oxford, 2011, {{ISBN|0191036730}}, p. 394.</ref> This gives rise to some researchers to indicate the area of [[Thessaloniki]] as the possible place of birth of Clement. According to others, the area of Southern Macedonia, including the northern approach to Thessaloniki, where he maybe was born, was then part of the [[First Bulgarian Empire]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=PBGzh1JK2gUC&pg=PA220 ''Butler's Lives of the Saints''], vol. 7, Alban Butler, Paul Burns, David Hugh Farmer, A&C Black, 1995, {{ISBN|0860122565}}, p. 220.</ref> Most of [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]] became part of Bulgaria in 830s and in 840s, i.e when Clement was born.<ref>Dimitar Bechev, Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia, Historical Dictionaries of Europe, Scarecrow Press, 2009, {{ISBN|0810862956}}, p. xx.</ref> The ''Short Life of St. Clement'' by Theophylact of Ohrid testifies to his Slavic origin, calling him "the first bishop in the [[Bulgarian language]],"<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=d0OwCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA153 ''The Voices of Medieval Bulgaria, Seventh-Fifteenth Century, East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450-1450''], Kiril Petkov, BRILL, 2008, {{ISBN|9047433750}}, p. 153.</ref> while ''The Ohrid Legend'' written by [[Demetrios Chomatenos]] calls him a [[Bulgarians|Bulgarian]], who was born somewhere in Macedonia.<ref>"This great father of ours and light of Bulgaria was by origin of the European Moesians whom the people commonly known as Bulgarians…". Documents and materials on the history of the Bulgarian people. Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Dimitŭr Kosev, Khristo Khristov, 1969, [https://books.google.com/books?hl=bg&id=3D1pAAAAMAAJ&dq=Documents+and+materials+on+the+history+of+the+Bulgarian+people&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=european+moesians p. 54.]</ref> Because of that, some scholars label him a Bulgarian Slav,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=NSjRbIz4iDkC&pg=PA87 ''Historical Dictionary of Croatia, Robert Stallaerts''], Scarecrow Press, 2009, {{ISBN|081087363X}}, p. 87.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Dvwdka5aJmsC&pg=PA123 ''Greek in a Cold Climate G - Reference''], Hugh Lloyd-Jones, Rowman & Littlefield, 1991, {{ISBN|0389209678}}, p. 123.</ref> while [[Dimitri Obolensky]] calls Clement a Slav inhabitant of the Kingdom of Bulgaria.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?hl=bg&id=L0EbAAAAYAAJ&dq=clement+ohrid+was+born+bulgarian+slav&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=probably+born+around+840 ''The Byzantine Inheritance of Eastern Europe''], vol. 156 from Collected studies, ISSN 0961-7582, Dimitri Obolensky, Variorum Reprints, 1969, {{ISBN|086078102X}}, p. III.</ref> 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.<ref name="povod">Andrej ŠKOVIERA: Svätí slovanskí sedmopočetníci. Bratislava: Slovenský komitét slavistov - Slavistický ústav Jána Stanislava SAV, 2010, {{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.</ref> Clement participated in the mission of [[Cyril and Methodius]] to [[Great Moravia]]. In 867 or 868 he became a priest in [[Rome]], ordained along with two other disciples of Cyril and Methodius, [[Saint Gorazd]] and [[Saint Naum]], by bishops [[Pope Formosus|Formosus]] and Gauderic. After the death of Cyril, Clement accompanied Methodius on his journey from [[Rome]] to [[Pannonia]] and Great Moravia. After the death of Methodius himself in 885, Clement headed the struggle against the [[Germans|German]] clergy in Great Moravia along with Gorazd. After spending some time in jail, he was expelled from Great Moravia and in 885 or 886 reached [[Belgrade]], then in the borders of Bulgaria together with [[Naum of Preslav]], [[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 Church Slavonic|Old Slavonic language]]. After the adoption of [[Christianity]] in 865, religious ceremonies in Bulgaria were conducted in [[Greek language|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 founded in the capital, Pliska, and the second in the region of [[Kutmichevitsa]]. [[File:Balkans850.png|thumb|290px|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 [[Preslav Literary School|Pliska Literary School]], Clement was commissioned by Boris I to organise the teaching of theology to future clergymen in Old Church Slavonic in the southwestern part of the Bulgarian Empire, in the region then known as [[Kutmichevitsa]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=fpVOAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA169 ''The entry of the Slavs into Christendom: an introduction to the medieval history of the Slavs''], A. P. Vlasto, CUP Archive, 1970, {{ISBN|0-521-07459-2}}, p. 169.</ref> For a period of seven years (between 886 and 893) Clement taught some 3,500 disciples in the Slavonic language and the [[Glagolitic alphabet]]. At that time, Clement translated [[Christianity|Christian]] literature into Old Church Slavonic, and in this way, he and his co-workers laid the foundations of the [[Bulgarian Orthodox Church]].<ref>Alban Butler et al., Butler's Lives of the Saints, Volume 7, A&C Black, 1995, {{ISBN|0860122565}}, p. 220.</ref> In 893 he was ordained archbishop of [[Drembica]], [[Velika (bishopric)]]. Upon his death in 916 he was buried in his monastery, [[Saint Panteleimon, Ohrid|Saint Panteleimon]], in [[Ohrid]]. Soon after he was canonized as a saint by the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.<ref>Кирило-Методиевска енциклопедия: И-O, том 2, Институт за литература (Българска академия на науките), Университетско издателство "Св. Климент Охридски", 1995, стр. 334.</ref> 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.<ref>Crampton, R. J. (2005). A Concise History of Bulgaria (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-521-61637-9}}. p 15.</ref> 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.<ref>''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.'' D. Angelov, The Formation of the Bulgarian Nation, Summary, Издателство Наука и изкуство, София, 1971, pp. 413-414.</ref> Clement's life's work played a significant role in this transformation.<ref>Michael Palairet, Macedonia: A Voyage through History (Vol. 1, From Ancient Times to the Ottoman Invasions), Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2016, {{ISBN|1443888435}}, p. 260.</ref> ==Legacy== [[File:Saint Clement and Pantheleimon Ohrid. Tomb of Clement.JPG|thumb|175px|right|Tomb of Saint Clement within the [[Church of Saints Clement and Panteleimon]], [[Ohrid]], [[North Macedonia]].]] Saint 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 St. Cyril and St. 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 Saint Clement exist throughout the modern-day territories of North Macedonia, Serbia and northern Greece, with the vast majority being located in North Macedonia.<ref>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)</ref> The [[Church of St. Clement of Ohrid]] is located in [[Skopje]] and is the largest cathedral of the [[Macedonian Orthodox Church]]. The first modern [[Bulgaria]]n 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.<ref>The official site of the [http://www.nubsk.edu.mk/ National and University Library "St. Kliment Ohridski"], retrieved on October 9, 2007.</ref> The University in [[Bitola]], established in 1979, is named after Clement, as well as the Bulgarian scientific base, [[St. Kliment Ohridski 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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://news.ibox.bg/news/id_914559285|title = Македония дарява частици от мощите на Св. Кл. Охридски|date = 24 November 2008}}</ref> In May 2018 was announced that in the ruins of a [[Ravna Monastery]], near the village of [[Ravna, Varna Province|Ravna]] in [[Provadiya Municipality]], the signature of Saint 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 [[Saints Cyril and Methodius]] were settled there at one stage, after being expelled from the Great Moravia and their reception in Bulgaria.<ref>Константин Събчев, Откриха подписа на Климент Охридски. [http://www.politika.bg/article?id=55932 Политика, 25.05.2018.]</ref> ==See also== * [[Chernorizets Hrabar]] ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== {{Commons category|Clement of Ohrid}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Clement of Ohrid}} [[Category:9th-century births]] [[Category:916 deaths]] [[Category:Year of birth uncertain]] [[Category:9th-century Bulgarian people]] [[Category:10th-century Bulgarian people]] [[Category:Medieval Bulgarian saints]] [[Category:Creators of writing systems]] [[Category:Medieval Bulgarian writers]] [[Category:Bulgarian male writers]] [[Category:10th-century Christian saints]] [[Category:Medieval Ohrid]] [[Category:Saints of medieval Macedonia]] [[Category:People from Ohrid]] [[Category:Kutmichevitsa]]'