Naum of Ohrid

Saint Naum of Ohrid was a disciple of Saints Cyril and Methodius, a scholar and missionary among the Slavs, counted one of the Seven Apostles of the First Bulgarian Empire. He founded a monastery on the shore of Lake Ohrid, where his relics are kept. The Church commemorates him on 23 December, the day of his repose, and in Bulgaria also on 20 June.

Beginnings

Little is known of his youth. According to his Second Life, he grew up in Moesia, that is, in Bulgaria, and one source says he was of noble family but gave up wealth and rank to follow Cyril and Methodius. In 863 he took part in the mission to Great Moravia with Cyril and Methodius and their disciples Gorazd, Clement of Ohrid, Angelarius and Sava. For twenty-⁠two years he worked with them on translating the Bible into Old Church Slavonic and spreading it in Moravia and Lower Pannonia. In 867 or 868 he was ordained priest at Rome, with Gorazd and Clement, by Bishops Formosus and Gauderic. For the mission the missionaries devised the Glagolitic alphabet, the first suited to the Slavic language, from which Cyrillic later came; they also wrote a Slavic code of laws.

Their work met opposition from German clergy, who did not want services in Slavonic. By 885 their patrons, Rastislav of Moravia and Koceľ of Pannonia, and Cyril and Methodius had died, and pressure from the German Church grew. After a brief imprisonment, Naum left with other disciples, among them Clement and Angelarius, for Bulgaria.

In Bulgaria

In 886 the governor of Belgrade received the disciples. Prince Boris had been baptized in 864, but services were held in Greek by Byzantine clergy. Fearing Byzantine influence, Boris judged that Old Church Slavonic could preserve the country’s political independence and decided to set up two schools where theology would be taught in Slavonic, one at Pliska and the other at Ohrid, in the region of Kutmichevitsa. Naum went to Pliska, with Clement, Angelarius and perhaps Gorazd, and was one of the founders of the literary school there, where he worked between 886 and 893. In 893 the new ruler, Simeon the Great, gathered a council at Preslav, where Clement was ordained bishop of Drembica and Velika. Simeon sent Naum to replace him at Ohrid, and Naum continued Clement’s work there. It is thought that in those years Cyrillic was created at the school of Preslav, perhaps at Naum’s urging.

In 905 he founded a monastery on the shore of Lake Ohrid, which bears his name. He died there in 910, and Clement began the process of his canonization. So Naum became the first “native” saint of Bulgaria. The sources say he was a wise teacher, a guide of monks, an ascetic and a man of prayer, with the gift of healing those sick in soul; a canon to the Holy Apostle Andrew is also attributed to him.

Veneration

His veneration is especially strong in the region of Ohrid. In the first half of the eighteenth century it spread with the growth of Moscopole and of the Archbishopric of Ohrid, reaching Athos and even Vienna. The summer feast of 20 June was introduced in the eighteenth century, because in December, near the Nativity, few of the faithful could come on the day of his repose. His cult is widespread among the peoples of the Balkans, including the Aromanians. His relics lie in the church of the monastery of Saint Naum near Ohrid and are venerated for healings. Saint John of Shanghai greatly honoured him and visited the sick with his icon. A boulevard in Sofia bears his name.