Icon of Saint Clement of Ochrid – S361

Description

Saint 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 Saint 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.

Saint Clement and others went to Ochrid, in present day Macedonia, and Saint 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 Saint Nahum of Ochrid, who had come with him from Moravia.  Saint Clement built the church dedicated to Saint Panteleimon there in Ochrid, and spent much time translating books for the church into Slavonic.  The present Slavonic alphabet comes from Saint Clement, who changed it to this form from the more complex Glagolitic of SS Cyril and Methodius.  Saint Clement headed a Slavonic school for many years to teach clergy and laity in their own language.