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[[File:Saint Clement of Ohrid.jpg|thumb|200px|St. Clement of Ochrid,<br/> icon, 13th-14th century.]]Our father among the [[saint]]s '''Clement of OhridOchrid''' was a ninth century [[missionary]] to Moravia and [[disciple]] of Ss. [[Cyril and Methodius]] who became Bishop of Ochrid (sometimes rendered "Ohrid"). His [[feast day]] is [[July 27]]. He is also commemorated on [[November 25]].
==Life==
The early life of St. Clement is largely unknown. According to his hagiography by [[Theophylact of OhridOchrid]], Clement was born in southwestern part of the [[w:Bulgarian_Empire|Bulgarian Empire]], in the region then known as [[w:Kutmichevitsa|Kutmichevitsa]]<ref>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>. He was a member of the group of [[missionary ]] [[priest]]s that included [[Naum of Preslav|Naum]], Sava, Gorazd, and Angelar who supported the [[Cyril and Methodius|Apostles to the Slavs]] evangelizing in middle Europe. Having rejected German missionaries from the Western Church who required the use of Latin as the liturgical language, Prince [[Rastislav of Moravia|Rastislav of Great Moravia]] requested Constantinople to send [[missionaries ]] who could preach the Word of [[God]] in the Slavonic language. Arriving in Moravia as [[asceticism|ascetics]] led by Cyril and Methodius, Clement and his fellow [[missionaries ]] evangelized the Slavic tribes in the Slavonic language, using the Glagolitic alphabet devised by Cyril.
Thus, language became the center of the conflict with the Frankish and German rulers and [[clergy]] as the Germans used Latin. With their liturgy denigrated as a "heretical Slavic Liturgy", Cyril and Methodius, accompanied by Clement, twice had to defend their liturgy before the Pope of Rome, first before Pope [[Adrian II of Rome|Adrian II]] and, again, before Pope [[John VIII of Rome|John VIII]] in 880, both who authorized its use.
During these years, the [[missionaries ]] enjoyed the support of Prince Rastislav until 870. But, after Rastislav lost his realm to his nephew, prince Svyatopolk, who supported the German missionaries, the evangelization environment of the Slavic [[missionaries ]] began to change as the Germans increasingly pressed the language issue. After the death of Methodius in 885 Pope [[Stephen V of Rome|Stephen V]] forced all the Slavonic speaking [[Disciple|disciples]] of St. Methodius to leave Moravia, that is now part of the Czech Republic, after having subjecting them to trial and then dispersement.
Clement was among the disciples who were welcomed by the Bulgarian prince [[Boris I of Bulgaria|Boris]] to preach to his people in their language. As Bishop of Greater Macedonia, Clement received an appointment, in 886, to teach at Kutmichivitsa, a region in southwest Macedonia where he created separate schools for adults and for children. He organized a school at the princely court, which attained high esteem during the reign of Boris' son Simeon. St. Clement worked as a teacher until 893. In 893, St. Clement was named Bishop of Dremvitsa, or Velitsa.
St. Clement was the first hierarch of Bulgaria to serve, preach, and write in the Slavonic language. To this end he systematically prepared [[clergy]] from among the Slavic people. He labored for the glory of God into his old age. When his strength began to fail, and he was unable to fulfill his responsibilities in the [[cathedral]], he asked Tsar Simeon to let him retire. But, Simeon urged him to continue his episcopal duties, to which Clement agreed.
Later, Clement left for Ohrid Ochrid in Macedonia where he founded a [[monastery]]. There, he continued his translation activities and translated important parts of the [[Pentecostarion]] into Slavic. During 916, St. Clement became seriously ill and departed to the Lord. His body was placed in a coffin that he made with his own hands and was buried in the Monastery of St. Panteleimon which he founded at Ohrid.
Of the other members of his [[missionary ]] group, the [[relics]] of Ss. Gorazd and Angelar rest near Berat in Albania, while the relics St. Naum are in the monastery bearing his name, near Lake OhridOchrid.
==Works==
*[[Wikipedia: Clement_of_Ohrid]]
*[http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-clement-of-ohrid/ Saint Clement of Ohrid]
==See also==
*[[Missionary]]
[[Category: Saints]]
[[Category: 10th-century saints]]
[[Category: Missionaries]]
[[ro:Clement al Ohridei]]
