Naum of Ohrid

Life events

1. Born — 830

   Naum was born around 830, likely in Moesia — the Byzantine designation for Bulgaria — according to the Second Life of Saint Naum.

2. Other — 863

   Naum joined the mission to Great Moravia led by Cyril and Methodius, alongside disciples Gorazd, Clement of Ohrid, Angelar, and Sava, to spread Christianity and literacy among the Slavs.

3. Ordained — 868

   In Rome, around 867 or 868, Naum was ordained a priest by bishops Formosus and Gauderic, together with fellow disciples Gorazd and Clement of Ohrid.

4. Imprisoned

   After the deaths of Cyril, Methodius, and their patrons Rastislav and Prince Koceľ, Naum was briefly imprisoned amid intensifying hostility from German clerics who opposed the Slavic liturgy.

5. Other — 886

   Naum and the surviving missionaries arrived in Bulgaria in 886, welcomed by the governor of Belgrade. Knyaz Boris, who had converted to Christianity in 864, established two literary academies to teach theology in Old Church Slavonic; Naum took up work at the first, the Pliska Literary School.

6. Other — 893

   At the ecclesiastical council convened in 893 by the new Bulgarian ruler Simeon the Great in Preslav, Clement of Ohrid was ordained bishop; Simeon then dispatched Naum to Ohrid to continue Clement's educational work at the Ohrid Literary School.

7. Other — 905

   In 905, Naum founded a monastery on the shores of Lake Ohrid, which subsequently bore his name and became the centre of his cult.

8. Died — 910

   Naum died on December 23, 910, at his monastery on Lake Ohrid. Clement of Ohrid initiated the process of his canonization, making Naum the first 'native' saint of Bulgaria.

Relationships

Documented claims

• Naum was among the missionaries who devised the Glagolitic alphabet — the first script designed to match the specific phonetic features of Slavic — for use in the Great Moravian mission. (likely)
• The missionary team of Cyril and Methodius, including Naum, composed the first Slavic Civil Code, a legal text used in Great Moravia. (likely)
• Naum's original feast day of December 23 was moved to June 20 in 1727 by the authority of the Archbishop of Ohrid. (likely)
• Members of the Bektashi Sufi order made pilgrimage to the Monastery of Saint Naum, believing their own saint Sarı Saltık to be buried there. (likely)
• Naum is venerated as one of the Seven Apostles of the First Bulgarian Empire, a group of disciples of Cyril and Methodius who evangelized the Slavic peoples. (likely)