Description
St. Clement of Ochrid (a.d. 840-916) was one of the five chief disciples of SS Cyril and Methodius, the Enlighteners of the Slavs. When St. Methodius died, they were chased out of Moravia by German clerics, and fled across the Danube to the Bulgarian King Boris-Michael. It was at this time that the Bulgarians accepted Christianity and chose to have the Orthodox Christian Faith because they could worship in their own Slavic tongue.
St. Clement and others went to Ochrid, in present day Macedonia, and St. Clement was made the bishop of this entire region. He saw to the development of many aspects of religious life in his diocese, and worked together for many years with St. Nahum of Ochrid, who had come with him from Moravia. St. Clement built the church dedicated to St. Panteleimon there in Ochrid, and spent much time translating books for the church into Slavonic. The present Slavonic alphabet comes from St. Clement, who changed it to this form from the more complex Glagolitic of SS Cyril and Methodius. St. Clement headed a Slavonic school for many years to teach clergy and laity in their own language.