The original Naum's church was dedicated to the St. Archangels Michael and Gabriel. The church was built on this site in 900 A.D. as his memorial by the Slavonic educator St. Naum of Ohrid, the disciple of Cyril and Methodius, the contemporary and associate of Clement of Ohrid. St. Naum was also buried there in 910.
It is also presumed that the oldest Naum’s Church, the church of St. Archangels had been built between the years of 893, the year when Naum arrived to Macedonia and 910 when he died. The original church dedicated of St. Archangels had a three-sided apse base. There are no data available when the name of the monastery had been changed, however since 1630, in Russia this monastery had been known under its present name - the monastery of St. Naum. It is presumed that the original monastery church of St. Archangel Michael and Archangel Gabriel had been demolished and devastated by Ali Pasha Janinski, the cruel leader of the Albanian Janissaires towards the end of the 18th century, when he also destroyed Moskopole, while others considered that the old three-apse church had been completely ruined between the 15th and the 16th century.
According to the latest researches, it is ascertained that the present-day Saint Naum church originates from the period under the Turkish rule and it had been built on the foundations of the old Naum’s church. The Saint Naum Monastery had remained in such a devastating state for many years, until arrival of the hieromonk Grigorie from Moskopole – the Bishopric of Korcha (Albania). Helped by the Christians, he had renovated the monastery and built two cells. He arranged and consecrated the Saint Naum temple and had built the portico (pronaos – the nartex).
