St Clement of Ohrid

Свети Климент Охридски Saint Clement of Ohrid
Icon of Saint Clement of Ohrid
One of the Seven Apostles of Bulgaria, Disciple of St. Cyril and St. Methodius
Born	c. 830-840 Byzantine Empire, Bulgarian Empire or Great Moravia
Died	July 27, 916(916-07-27) (date of burial) Ohrid, Bulgarian Empire (present-day Republic of Macedonia)
Venerated in	Eastern Orthodox Church, Byzantine Catholic Church
Feast	July 27 (Gregorian calendar), August 9 (Julian calendar) and November 25 (Gregorian calendar), December 8 (Julian calendar)
Attributes	Glagolitic alphabet, Cyrillic script
Patronage	Ohrid, Bulgarian Empire at his life (present-day Republic of Macedonia)

Saint Clement of Ohrid (Bulgarian, Macedonian: Свети Климент Охридски, [sveˈti ˈkliment ˈoxridski], Greek: Άγιος Κλήμης της Αχρίδας, Slovak: svätý Kliment Ochridský / Sloviensky) (ca. 840 – 916) was a medieval Bulgarian saint, scholar, writer and enlightener of the Slavs. 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 scripts, especially their popularisation among Christianised 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 regarded to be the first bishop of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, one of the seven Apostles of the Bulgarian Empire (Bulgaria), the patron saint of the Republic of Macedonia, the city of Ohrid and the Macedonian Orthodox Church.

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 Byzantine empire in the territory where Methodius served during his political career, i.e. that he was a Slav from Southern Macedonia. According to others, the area of Southern Macedonia, where he was born, was then part of Bulgaria. The Short Life of St. Clement by Theophylact of Ohrid testimonies his Slavic origin, calling him the first bishop, who used to preach in Bulgarian language, while "The Ohrid Legend" written by Demetrios Chomatenos calls him a Bulgarian, who was born somewhere in Macedonia. Because of that some scholars label him as Bulgarian Slav.