(St. Clement of Ohrid and His Activities in Macedonia)

Abstract: St. Clement od Ohrid received a rich cultural heritage from Sts. Cyril and Methodius. One of the most important aspects of this heritage was Clement’s strong conviction of to keep the unity among the Slavic nations despite their diversity. The Bible played a key role in this process as the source not only spiritual revival but also of national pride. In the life of St. Clement of Ohrid we distinguish specific aspects of literal creation that enriched Slavic language models. Those models became a basis for the formation of a literary language. Therefore, we can assume that Clement’s compositions and scripts have their own liturgical and literary significance. He created very impressive and original corpus of literary writings which were designed for newly baptized Christians in order for them to became familiar with the specifies and basis of Christians faith. In the majority of his hymnography and oratories St. Clement presented himself as a theologian and theorist who created and deeply developed selected topics of Christian theology and Soteriology. His written works had a spiritual character. In the 15th century there was a big interest in his work and several translations appeared. St. Clement significantly participated in the development of Slavic cult of the saints. In his works not only textual and stylistic elements are present. New moral and spiritual values are found there as well. He devoted himself to work on small literary compositions such as word of recognition, advice on life, church poetry, medieval novels, poems and translations. Within the Ohrid Literary School he was most likely involved in the information of the oldest preserved manuscripts written in the Glagolic alphabet. St. Clement was an author of many hagiographic works, oratories and hymnography books. On this basis, we can conclude, that St. Clement of Ohrid profoundly influenced his disciples and successors. Furthermore, his works played a key role in the formation and development of the Macedonian language. The significance of his influence on this process cannot be overstated.

Author: Kocev, Pavle – Kondrla, Peter – Králik, Roman – Roubalová, Marie

DOI: 10.17846/CL.2017.10.2.88-97

Publication order reference: Mgr. Pavle Kocev; Centre of Incentive for Creative Endeavours, Skopje, The Republic of Macedonia; email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Doc. PhDr. PaedDr. Peter Kondrla, PhD.; Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Faculty of Arts, Department of Religious Studies, Hodžova 1, 949 74 Nitra, Slovakia; email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

prof. PaedDr. ThDr. Roman Králik, Th.D; Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Faculty of Arts, Central European Research Institute of Søren Kierkegaard, Slovakia, Hodžova 1, 949 74 Nitra, Slovakia; email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

ThDr. Marie Roubalová, Th.D.; Hussite Theological Faculty, Department of Biblical Studies, Pacovská 350, 140 21 Praha, Czech Republic; email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Source: Konštatínove listy, 2017, vol.: 10, issue: 2, pages: 88-97 (PDF file)
Key words: ST. CLEMENT OF OHRID, OHRID LITERARY SCHOOL, HAGIOGRAPHY, HYMNOGRAPHY

Language: SLOVAK