A special place in the gallery is also dedicated to St Clement of Ohrid, the faithful disciple and follower of Saints Cyril and Methodius and the creator of the Cyrillic alphabet.

Professor Iliya Iliev describes him as follows: “As a result of scholarly research, his epoch-making work could be given a brief but precise definition: ‘fruitful versatility’. His contemporaries, as well as his extensive body of work, present Clement as the most versatile and gifted figure in Bulgaria at the end of the 9th and beginning of the 10th century.”

Clement followed Constantine-Cyril and Methodius from the time of their stay at the Polychron Monastery. During the mission to Rome, he was one of the three disciples of Cyril and Methodius whom Pope Adrian II ordained as priests.

As a scholar at the royal court in Pliska, and later as head of the Ohrid Literary School, which he founded at Boris’s request, Clement educated more than 3,500 students. He transcribed liturgical books into the Cyrillic alphabet, which he had created, and wrote original works of his own. In them, he “explained the mysteries of Christianity – concepts that were highly abstract for ordinary people – in the most accessible way, while through his accounts of Christian feast days he drew the people permanently into the life of the Church. A talented orator and preacher, he inspired people not only through his words, but also through the compelling example of his deeds.”

Clement was the first bishop to conduct religious services in the Bulgarian language. Thanks to his extensive lives of Constantine-Cyril and Methodius, we know the lives of the two saints in great detail today. Clement’s own life is known to us through the writings of the Byzantine Archbishop Theophylact of Ohrid, who described his deeds and literary work with great admiration.

Clement lived to an advanced age. He died on 27 July 916 and was buried in his beloved monastery on the shores of Lake Ohrid. He was canonised as a saint, and his tomb and relics became objects of veneration.