CLEMENTE of SMOLENSK. — A Russian monk, elected in 1149 metropolitan of Kiev during the absence of the incumbent, the Byzantine Michele, despite the oath he had taken not to proceed with the election without the approval of the Byzantine patriarchate.
When the political situation changed, C. was transferred to the see of Vladimir in Volhynia. He was a learned man, also in Byzantine literature, which he defended in a specific letter and studied solely from a religious point of view.
BIBL.: A. M. Ammann, Storia della Chiesa russa e dei paesi limitrofi, Turin 1948, pp. 35–38. Alberto M. Ammann