HIEROMARTYR CLEMENT, THE POPE, AND THE CREATION OF THE SLAVIC WRITTEN LANGUAGE IN CHERSONESE

Aleksandr V. Palitsyn

Aleksandr V. Palitsyn, Research Scholar, Russian New University, Radio St., 22, 105005 Moscow, Russia. E-mail: apalicin@gmail.com

Theory and history of culture

2017

Vol. 43

Pp. 70–80

September 14, 2016

March 15, 2017

993+1751

86.37

Clement came from the Flavian Imperial family. On hearing in Rome the preaching of the apostles Peter and Paul, he became their disciple and later “Apostolic man.” Following the path of the great teachers of Christianity, Clement continued their works and deeds “in the gospel” (Phil. 4: 3). In the year 96 for spreading of the Christian faith, he was sent into exile on the outskirts of the Roman Empire, in the Chersonese, where he spent the last years of his life. In exile Clement continued to preach, turning to Christianity many pagans, including Slavs. He founded the Church of Chersonese, which became the first Church on the territory of the future Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian Federation, and became the first Bishop of Chersonese. The opponents of Christians informed Rome about his ministry. Repressive measures took place, and in 101 under the Emperor of Trajan, Clement was thrown into the sea with an anchor on his neck. The memory of Clement and the veneration of his relics stood at the origins of the Slavic literature in the Chersonese. Following in his footsteps, Cyril and Methodius continued his work. In Chersonese they created the alphabet for the Slavic peoples and translated the brief liturgical Gospel and the Psalter from Greek into the Slavic. They created the written language that became the basis of Slavic and later Russian literature.

Clement of Rome, Cyril and Methodius, Chersonese, Slavic written language, Russian literature.

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