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Macedonian National Holiday "Saint Clemens of Ohrid"

Uploaded by: Makedonier
Video Description:
08.12.2007 - Celebrating the Macedonian national holiday in the Republic of Macedonia to honour the medieval ethnic Macedonian scholar and writer, Saint Clemens of Ohrid/ Kliment Ohridski (ca. 840-916).
The principle written testimonies to Clement's life are his hagiography known as Comprehensive, by Archbishop Theophilact of Ohrid, written at the end of the 11th century, and the Prologue by Demetrius Chomatianus, an Ohrid archbishop of the l3th century. Both are written in Ecclesiastical Greek.
As to the life of Nahum, Clement's companion and brother-in-faith, it is most thoroughly, though still scantily, dealt with in his two Slavonic Hagiographies which remained unknown until the end of the last century. According to the written documents, the faithful disciples of Cyril and Methodius, t
he godly and righteous Clement, Nahum, Gorazd, Angelarius and Sava, were of equal learning and maturity as apostles. Methodius had been preparing Gorazd to be his successor, but destiny decided otherwise. Clement and the rest of the exiles, following the Danube via Singidunum (Belgrade) reached Plis
ka and the court of the Bulgarian Prince Boris-Michael. Having long wished for his own clerical elite, the latter gave the exhausted newcomers a warm welcome. After a few months Clement was appointed to Ohrid, Devol and Glavenica to preach the gospel and introduce the Slavonic alphabet to the flock
there. Nahum stayed in the Monastery of St. Panteleimon near Preslav teaching the monks and instructing them in the Gospel. Seven years later in 893, after the coronation of Simeon, Clement was summoned to Kutmicevica and to the new capital, Preslav. Simeon - one of the most educated spirits of the
time, "a child of the Great School" - immediately summoned a council at which Clement was probably also present. It was expected that Clement would be given the position of the prince's royal counselor and assistant. This, however, did not happen. The reformation of the alphabet and the introductio
n of the Cyrillic (knigi - letters), apparently attenuated the relationship between the Ohrid apostle and the prince, who was later to become the Bulgarian czar. Clement was appointed to a peripheral province of the state, the Velicka bishopric. This appointment somewhat resembles a "reproach", a di
stancing. The disagreement on the painful issue of the alphabet and Clement's opposition to the new "hellenized" alphabet appear to be the reasons for the alienation between Clement and the Prince Simeon over the cultural policy of the state. The benefits were manifold. The Apostolic work continued
in Ohrid. Clement was joined by Nahum. The Ohrid region became the centre of the first Slavonic University. The alphabet used was the Glagolitic. The tradition of Cyril and Methodius was preserved and continued. Ohrid was thenceforth a spring of new water, a fast-flowing stream which flowed uncheck
ed through Macedonia and merged, as a constituent part, into the vast sea of Slavonic and Byzantine culture. The role played by the founders of the first schooling in the Balkans was immense. Legends speak of 3000 students. Theophilact says that Clement preached "...in a few words... about the eccl
esiastical life, the memory of the saints, the enlightenment of the soul..." He translated continuously: chants, psalms, festal fragments from the Bible, moralities... Thus the Slavonic liturgy was beginning to be created. In their beloved Ohrid, Clement and Naum built their churches on opposite si
des of the lake. In the town itself Clement dedicated a shrine to the holy healer Panteleimon. At the same time, towards the end of the 9th century, by the springs of the Crn Drim river, Naum erected a monument to the archangels of the bodiless army, Gabriel and Michael. Both Clement and Naum were b
uried in the tombs which they themselves had built in the churches they bequested: Naum in the year 910, and Clement six years later, in 916. The belief that St. Naum in his monastery heals the mentally ill and those possessed by demons survives to this very day.

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