Skopje, 8 December 2023 (MIA) — The best way to honor the legacy of the Macedonian culture patron St. Clement of Ohrid is to continue his mission, which was achieved through successfully raising the Macedonian language to the level of a worldly language and the Macedonian Orthodox Church to an equal to all canonical Orthodox churches, Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski said in his remarks at the 'St. Clement of Ohrid, the Source of Our Spirituality and Education' event held to mark the national holiday of St. Clement of Ohrid Day.

The event was held at St. Clement of Ohrid the National and University Library, named in honor of the disciple of the missionary saints Cyril and Methodius, patron saint of education of language, and founder of the Ohrid Literary School.

In his speech, Prime Minister Kovachevski highlighted that the Macedonian language was equal to the languages in official use in the UN, NATO and the EU.

"This means that the Macedonian language is one of the official languages in the world," he said.

"Last year, we succeeded in signing the first international agreement with the European Union in the Macedonian language, and at the same time, we began translating all European legislation into Macedonian. Doing this, for the first time in our centuries-old commitment to its equal treatment, we put the Macedonian language on an equal footing with the languages of the 27 EU member states," Kovachevski said.

He also noted that the Macedonian Orthodox Church, the successor of the old Archbishopric of Ohrid, was now "autocephalous, equal to other sister churches, equal to all canonical Orthodox churches in the world."

Speaking about the perseverance of St. Clement in his mission to enlighten the Slavic people on Macedonian soil, Kovachevski said the saint had become "one of the most significant figures for Macedonian literacy and one of the pioneers of the idea of a unified Europe."

"St. Clement of Ohrid has a significant place in the development of European civilization," he said. "Manuscripts from the Ohrid School can today be found in almost all important world libraries and institutions.

"As early as 1,100 years ago, thanks to St. Clement, Ohrid rose into an important educational, cultural and spiritual European capital, where literacy and civilizational values spread from," Kovachevski said.

The prime minister also mentioned the government's committment to safeguarding important historic documents kept at the Macedonian Language Institute.

"We made it possible to permanently protect about five million writings of old Macedonian texts, as part of our spiritual wealth, and some of them even date back to the 14th century," he said, also listing other project implemented to promote the language, such as the official online Macedonian dictionary and a new Law on the use of the Macedonian language.

Other speakers at the event included Macedonian language scholar Dimitar Pandev and Macedonian Orthodox Church representative Milan Gjorgjevikj.

The event was preceded by delegations of the Government, Parliament, the President's Cabinet, the Army, and he Union of Fighters of the People's Liberation War as well as representatives of the diplomatic corps, political parties and citizens associations laying flowers at the St. Clement of Ohrid monument in Skopje.

St. Clement of Ohrid Day, Dec. 8, has been a public holiday for more than a decade. mr/