532 Ochrida
age of reason, who were offered to a monastery by par-
ents to become monks or nuns for life. This offering
was a commending of the child to a sacred patron for
his or her benefit. It was in reality perhaps a parental
sacrifice or an abandonment, according to circum-
stances. The practice was not often questioned between
the sixth and 11th centuries, since oblates formed an
essential part of monastic recruitment. These children
were customarily accompanied by a gift to the
monastery. The gifts could determine their status
within the monastic family.
The children so oblated were removed from the MAR-
RIAGEplans and strategies of families. Oblation became
an economic and familial practice to position and support
second sons and daughters. The gifts were usually
smaller than the marriage expenses would be. For the
poor, oblation fed another mouth the family was unable
to feed. From the mid-11th century, certain religious
orders complained that the children being offered were
family rejects, whom new orders usually refused to
admit. During the later Middle Ages, the oblation of male
children gradually disappeared. The term oblate was
increasingly used only for adults who had attached them-
selves to a religious house.
Further reading:Mayke De Jong, In Samuel’s Image:
Child Oblation in the Early Medieval West(Leiden: E. J.
Brill, 1996).
Ochrida(Orchrid, Ohrid, Achrida) Ochrida (Achrida,
ancient Lychnidos), a religious center and city in
medieval MACEDONIA, was on a terraced site beside a
lake of the same name. It had a Christian culture from
the fourth and fifth centuries that survived ravages in
the sixth- and seventh-century invasions by various
peoples. Conversion to Christianity in 865 by the Bul-
gar king BORISI, then also the ruler of Macedonia, led
to King SIMEON I to set up a Byzantine and Slavic
school at Ochrida in the 10th century. Threatened by
BYZANTINEarmies, SAMUELII, retreated to Ochrida. The
victories of BASILII, THEBULGARSLAYER, crushed the
Bulgar army in 1014 and Basil made an entry into
Ochrida in 1018.
INCURSIONS AND CHANGESDespite SLAV, VLACH, NORMAN, and Venetian interven-
tions and attacks on the town, the BYZANTINEEmpire
maintained control at least until 1187. The religious cen-
ter of Macedonia remained Ochrida, although the bishop
usually spent his time in the imperial court in CON-
STANTINOPLE. In 1259 Ochrida supported the armies of
Michael Palaiologos from the Empire of NICAEA.
From the late 13th century, SERBIAbegan to inter-
vene in Macedonia. STEPHENDUSˇANtook power over
Ochrida in 1334, but the Serbs were unable to save the
region and Ochrida from the OTTOMANadvance. After
the Ottomans annihilated Serbian troops on the Maritsa,
Macedonia, Ochrida lost its independence before an
occupation in 1385.REMAINS
Ruins from the medieval town survive. Excavations have
revealed the remains of a building from the fourth cen-
tury, a baptistery and a chapel near a NARTHEX. From the
older Bulgar kingdoms, all that remains are traces of the
CATHEDRALof Saint Sophia, a basilica from the late 10th
or early 11th century, with FRESCOES from the mid-
eleventh century. Dating from early 14th century, the
church of Saint Nicholas at Bolnitsa has preserved fres-
coes from 1330 and 1345.
See alsoBULGARIA AND THEBULGARS.
Further reading:Kosta Balabanov, Ohrid: Cultural–
Historical and Natural Region in the Catalogue of the
World’s Heritage, trans. Tom Petsinis (Skopje: Misla,
1987); Suzy Dufrenne, “Ohrid,” EMA 2.1,044–1,045;
Vojislav J. Duric, The Church of St. Sophia in Ohrid,trans.
Sonja Bicanic (Belgrade: Jugoslavija, 1963).Ockham, William of SeeWILLIAM OFOCKHAM.Odilo of Cluny, Saint(961/962–1049) abbot of Cluny
Odilo was born in 961 or 962 in an aristocratic family
and started his career as a canon of Saint-Julien de
Brioude. From there he moved to CLUNYto be with the
abbot, Saint Maiolus (ca. 909–994). Maiolus chose his
loyal disciple, Odilo, as replacement in 993 and in 994 as
the fifth abbot of Cluny. It was under his government
that Cluny acquired from Popes Gregory V (r. 996–999)
in 998 and John XIX (r. 1024–32) in 1024 its unique
independence with immunity and a full exemption from
other monastic establishments and ecclesiastical authori-
ties. All except the pope. Odilo provided the community
with the rules and liturgical practices reflecting this spir-
itual freedom and independence from lords. Odilo
devised a network of establishments dependent on a
mother house personified by the abbot of Cluny. Odilo
linked by the memorial function for a “Cluniac Church”
to celebrate the Feast of All Souls on November 2. This
feast for the souls of the departed spread throughout
Christendom, as it grew from concern for dead monks to
concern for all of the clerical and lay DEAD. He was
active in the PEACE ANDTRUCE OFGODmovement and
in adjudicating secular disputes. The Cluniac grew from
37 houses to 65 under Odilo.
Under Odilo’s abbacy, there was a major building
program for the church at Cluny and the monastery’s
scriptoriumwas very productive. Odilo was an ardent
commissioner of the copying and illuminating of texts
and manuscripts. He also wrote HYMNS, and SERMONS
demonstrating his devotion to the Incarnation of Christ,
the Eucharist, and MARY. He wrote hagiographical