Macedonia - Ohrid's Plaoshnik Was Diocese Center Ever Since 4th Century AD

Reality Macedonia ^ | July 21, 2002 | Vest,Translated by Natenane

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The August 11 will be the moment when the renewed Temple of Saint Kliment in Plaoshnik in Ohrid will be sanctified and open for believers, thus becoming real sanctuary to whole Macedonian nation. It is not only the radiance of new temple but also the place itself which Saint Kliment chose in 11 century and built his church dedicated to the protector of health, Saint Panteleimon, which hides in itself invaluable treasure related to the marvelous history of this area.

The team that has been working on archeological excavation in the huge space of Saint Kliment sanctuary practically went crazy with the discovery of wonderful mosaic, which is among the invaluable treasures of the area. It’s a fact that Macedonia has mosaics in abundance and it’s a fact that they have entered all anthologies, especially mosaics at Heraclea in Bitola and Stobi. However, this mosaic is original in several things: there are images, which haven’t been found anywhere else. The first thing is that in the middle of one of the hems there is a lion or lioness, something discovered in these areas for the first time. Since this mosaic is in the frames of spiritual object, there are crosses drawn on the hems. The exclusiveness of this mosaic is that besides Christian cross there is also swastika drawn on it. The manager of Ohrid Museum Pasko Kuzman explains: “This indicates that swastika was known as a symbol ever since Egyptian civilization, and it also existed as a symbol in early Christian period. It is a solar symbol, which designates the center, power of the world. In the spiritual sense, it means that God is one and the most important and that the whole world revolves around him. According to that, we should not relate swastika with Hitler, and his vulgar interpretation of the sign that he, Hitler, was in the middle of the world and everything else revolved around him.” The third thing is the eel –which means that mosaic is narrating the story of Ohrid Lake as well: animals’ (birds’) world as well as vegetation typical for that area is depicted around it.

The mosaic is discovered as part of one big excavation in the courtyard around present renewed Temple of Saint Kliment. The church with five parts was revealed, which is the most impressive basilica, the biggest on the Balkans, was built in V-VI century, according to Pasko Kuzman. Inside the ruins of the church’s wall big baptistery was found and it is also among the biggest on the Balkans with dimensions bigger than the one in Stobi. The mosaic is placed precisely around this baptistery. “This indicates that the whole space around Kliment’s church in Plaoshnik was diocese center ever since IV century, because under this basilica, according to our notions, there used to be antic temples, as well as basilica with four parts. Plaoshnik is the most sacred place in Macedonia. Saint Kliment didn’t choose that place to build his temple for nothing.

“Saint Panteleimon” the temple of Saint Kliment was actually built right in the middle of the temple with five parts, i.e. he built his church on the ruins of small church at the same place. During the excavation, the temple with five parts from V-VI century was discovered with another originality: it is the atrium or the entrance hall, which is on the north side, unusual for church practice. They are usually on the west. The entrance hall or the atrium, which will be surrounded with pillars, all of them found on that place, from now on will function as courtyard for believers and people who will gather for big Christian holidays.

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Poor Translation, But I still found it an intereting read. I once heard that Hitler "borrowed" the swastika from the ancient times and always wondered what it was supposed to symbolise (Other than Nazi Germany).