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Saint Naum

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Saint

Naum
Icon of Saint Naum
Wonderworker, Apostle of the Slavs
Bornc. 830
Moesia,First Bulgarian Empire[1]
DiedDecember 23, 910
Ohrid,First Bulgarian Empire,(present-dayNorth Macedonia)
Venerated inEastern Orthodox Church,Eastern Catholic Churches,Latin Church
MajorshrineMonastery of Saint Naum in Ohrid (Sveti Naum)
Feast5 January and 3 July (Julian calendar), 20 May and 23 December (Revised Julian calendar,Gregorian calendar)
Southeastern Europe in the 9th century.
Monastery of Saint Naum,resting place of Naum, located in North Macedonia

Naum(BulgarianandMacedonian:Свети Наум,Sveti Naum,also known asNaum of OhridorNaum of Preslav(c. 830 – December 23, 910), was a medieval Bulgarian writer and missionary among theSlavs,considered one of theSeven Apostlesof theFirst Bulgarian Empire.[2][3][4][5][6]He was among the disciples ofCyril and Methodiusand is associated with the creation of theGlagoliticandCyrillic script.Naum was among the founders of thePliska Literary School.Afterwards Naum worked at theOhrid Literary School.He was among the first saints declared by theBulgarian Orthodox Churchafter its foundation in the 9th century. The mission of Naum played significant role by transformation of thelocal Early Slavsinto Bulgarians.[7]

Biography

Information about his early life is scarce. According to the Second Life of Saint Naum he grew up inMoesia,which was the Byzantine designation for Bulgaria.[8]According to thehagiographyofClement of OhridbyTheophylact of Ohridand some other sources, Naum took part in the historic mission toGreat Moraviatogether withCyril and Methodius,their disciplesGorazd,Clement of Ohrid,AngelarandSavaand otherSlavicmissionaries in 863.[9]

Great Moravia and Lower Panonia

For the next 22 years, he worked with Cyril and Methodius and other missionaries in translating theBibleintoOld Church Slavonicand promoted it inGreat MoraviaandPrincipality of Lower Pannonia.In 867 or 868 he became a priest inRome,ordained along with two other disciples of Cyril and Methodius, Gorazd and Clement of Ohrid, by bishopsFormosusand Gauderic. For the purpose of the mission to Moravia, the missionaries devised theGlagolitic Alpha bet,the first Alpha bet to match the specific features of the Slavic language. Its descendant script,Cyrillic,is still used by many languages today. The missionaries also wrote the first Slavic Civil Code, which was used in Great Moravia. However, the missionary work ran into opposition fromGermanclerics who opposed their efforts to create a Slavic liturgy. By 885, the two main patrons for the missionaries,Rastislav of MoraviaofGreat Moraviaand PrinceKoceľofLower Pannonia,as well as Cyril and Methodius had died, and the pressure from theGerman Churchbecame increasingly more hostile. After a brief period of imprisonment due to the ongoing conflict with the German clerics, Naum, together with some of the missionaries (including Clement of Ohrid and Angelar) headed to Bulgaria.

First Bulgarian Empire

In 886 the governor ofBelgrade,then inBulgaria,welcomed the disciples ofCyril and Methodius.Bulgaria was ruled then byKnyaz Boris,who converted toChristianityin 864. After thechristianizationthe religious ceremonies were conducted inGreekby aByzantineclergy. Fearing growing Byzantine influence Boris viewed the adoption of theOld Church Slavonicas a way to preserve the political independence of Bulgaria. With such views, Boris made arrangements for the establishment of two literary academies where theology was to be taught in the Slavonic language.The first of the schoolswas founded in the capital,Pliska,andthe second schoolinOhrid,in the region ofKutmichevitsa.The development of Old Church Slavonic literacy had the effect of preventing the assimilation into the neighboring cultures and promoted the formation of a distinctBulgarianidentity.[10][11]Naum moved initially to the capital Pliska together withClement,Angelarand possiblyGorazd(according to other sources, Gorazd was already dead by that time). In Bulgaria, he spent the next 25 years of his life. Naum was one of the founders of thePliska Literary Schoolwhere he worked between 886 and 893. The most reliable first-hand account of the activities at the time in Pliska is "An Account of Letters" (O pismenech), a treatise on Slavic literacy written in Old Church Slavonic, thought to be composed shortly after 893. The piece calls for the creation of a common Slavic Alpha bet. In 893, shortly after his rise to power, the new Bulgarian rulerSimeon the Great,summoned anecclesiastical councilin the new capitalPreslav,where Clement was ordained bishop ofDrembicaandVelika.To replace Clement in Ohrid, Simeon sent Naum, who until then had been active in Preslav. Afterwards, Naum continued Clement's work at Ohrid, another importantcentre of Slavic learning.In these years theCyrillic scriptwas created in the Preslav literary school,[12]and was adopted in Bulgaria, possibly following Naum's initiative.[13]In 905 Naum founded a monastery on the shores ofLake Ohrid,which later received his name. He died there in 910 and Clement initiated the process of his canonization.[14]In this way Naum became the first “native” saint of Bulgaria.[15]

Cult

The cults towards saint Naum revered particularly in the region of Ohrid. It spread in the first half of the 18th century with the development ofMoscopoleas a center of Orthodox culture and with the development of theArchbishopric of Ohrid.His name became more popular and reachedMount Athosand even Vienna. The members of theBektashi orderalso went on pilgrimage to the monastery of Saint Naum, believing their saintSarı Saltıkto be buried in it. Saint Naum's original feast day was December 23, but in 1727 on the authority of the Archbishop of Ohrid, it was changed to June 20.[16]

Legacy

St. Naum PeakonLivingston Islandin theSouth Shetland Islands,Antarcticais named for Saint Naum.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toSaint Naum.

References

  1. ^Likewise, Clement and Naum, the first born in Moesia and the second with family ties in both Moesia and Dalmatia, escaped for safety to Belgrade, capital of Moesia Prima, then in Bulgaria.For more: Eurasian Studies Yearbook, Volume 70, Eurolingua, 1998,ISBN0931922623,p. 56.
  2. ^The early medieval Balkans: a critical survey from the sixth to the late twelfth century, John Van Antwerp Fine, University of Michigan Press, 1991,ISBN0-472-08149-7,p. 128.
  3. ^Obolensky, Dimitri (1994).Byzantium and the Slavs.St Vladimir's Seminary Press. pp. 48–49.ISBN0-88141-008-X.[1]
  4. ^Monks and Laymen in Byzantium, 843-1118, Rosemary Morris, Cambridge University Press, 2003,ISBN0-521-31950-1,p. 25.
  5. ^Historical dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia, Dimitar Bechev, Scarecrow Press, 2009,ISBN0-8108-5565-8,p. 159.
  6. ^The national question in Yugoslavia: origins, history, politics,Cornell Paperbacks: Slavic studies, history, political science,Ivo Banac,Cornell University Press, 1988,ISBN0-8014-9493-1,p. 309.
  7. ^John Van Antwerp Fine, The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century, University of Michigan Press, 1991,ISBN0472081497,pp. 127-128.
  8. ^Kiril Petkov, The Voices of Medieval Bulgaria, Seventh-Fifteenth Century: The Records of a Bygone Culture, Volume 5, BRILL, 2008,ISBN9004168311,p. 161.
  9. ^Kantor, Marvin (1983). Medieval Slavic Lives of Saints and Princes. The University of Michigan Press. p. 65.
  10. ^Who are the Macedonians? Hugh Poulton, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2000,ISBN1-85065-534-0,pp. 19-20.
  11. ^A short history of modern Bulgaria, R. J. Crampton, CUP Archive, 1987,ISBN0521273234,p. 5.
  12. ^Curta, Florin, Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500–1250, Cambridge University Press, 2006,ISBN0521815398,pp. 221–222.
  13. ^The A to Z of the Orthodox Church, Michael Prokurat, Alexander Golitzin, Michael D. Peterson, Rowman & Littlefield, 2010,ISBN0810876027p. 91.
  14. ^Historical Dictionary of Byzantium, John H. Rosser, Scarecrow Press, 2012,ISBN0810875675,p. 342.
  15. ^Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500-1250, Florin Curta, Cambridge University Press, 2006,ISBN0521815398,p. 214.
  16. ^Robert Elsie, The Christian Saints of Albania; Balkanistica, issue 13 (2000), pp. 35-57.
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