Clement the Bulgarian, St.

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CLEMENT THE BULGARIAN, ST.

Also known as Clement of Ochrida (Kliment Ohridski), bishop of Velitsa (probably near Ochrida, Yugoslavia); b. Macedonia; d. Ochrida, July 27, 916. He was a pupil of SS. cyril and methodius, whom he accompanied on their mission to Moravia. Expelled from Moravia under the pressure of the German bishops after Methodius's death in 885, he found refuge, along with many colleagues, among the Bulgars. He was sent to Devol in western Bulgaria (now Albania), where he established a mission and school, and in 893 or 894 he was consecrated bishop of Velitsa. He is buried in the monastery of St. Panteleimon at Ochrida, which he founded. He also founded three churches, which still survive. Clement was one of the fathers of Slavonic literature; his works include liturgical texts translated from the Greek, homilies and lives of saints, and probably the surviving Life and Encomium of St. Cyril. Not all are yet published.

Feast: July 17 (West); July 27 (Eastern Church).

Bibliography: theophylact of ochrid, Vita in Patrologia Graeca, ed. j. p. migne (Paris 185866) 126:11941240. l. n. tunnickij, Monumenta ad SS. Cyrilli et Methodii successorum vitas resque gestas pertinentia I (Zagorsk 1918, rep. London 1972); Svjatoj Kliment episkop Slověnskij (Zagorsk 1913), rep. as Der hl. Clemens (Munich 1970). i. snegarov, Bŭlgarskijat pŭrvoučitel ' Sv. Kliment Okhridski (Sofia 1927). v. velinova, Kliment Okhridski: uchiteliat i tvoretsut (Sofiia 1995). v. stefanic, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, ed. a. baudrillart et al. (Paris 1912) 12:108687. a. milev, Teofilakt Ohridski, éitie na Kliment Ohridski (Sofia 1955) 3388. f. dvornik, Les Slaves, Byzance et Rome au IX e siècle (Paris 1926). f. grivec, Konstantin und Method: Lehrer der Slaven (Wiesbaden 1960).

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