14 February: Saints Cyril and Methodius
Evangelizers of the Slavs
Cyril and Methodius are known for being the evangelizers of the Slavs, for whom they created an alphabet that was understandable to a large part of the people, in order to pass on the teachings of the Scriptures. The two brothers, Cyril and Methodius, were from Thessalonica, today known as Salonika, in Greece, but then part of the Byzantine Empire. Methodius was born around 825, while Cyril was born two years later. Cyril’s original name was Constantine, but he changed his name when he became a monk on his deathbed.
Cyril moved to Constantinople as a young man to further his studies in theology and philosophy. He was ordained a priest in the Empire’s capital and joined the clergy of the Basilica of Saint Sophia.
Byzantine Emperor Michael III sent the two brothers to Great Moravia at the request of Prince Rastislav. At the time it was a vast territory that included the majority of today’s Baltic States. They were sent there to evangelize the people, but their contribution went beyond the activities of the Christianization of pagan Slavs.
Cyril had the reputation of being knowledgeable and learned because he could speak Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Armenian and Old Slavonic. He created a Glagolitic alphabet (from glagol, meaning word or verb). The new alphabet had 40 letters and gradually gave shape to a language which, until then, was only in the spoken form, and which today is the basis of the culture of many Eastern European countries. He translated the Bible, along with his brother Methodius, as well as liturgical books and some legal texts. Slavic became one of the languages of the Christian liturgy in Great Moravia.
The Cyrillic alphabet, which was understood by many people, paved the way for the significant Christianization of Moravia, and Great Moravia became a Christian nation.
The true and proper advent of the Cyrillic alphabet, instead, dates back to the tenth century when King Boris I of Bulgaria commissioned Clement of Ohrid, a pupil of Cyril and Methodius, to develop a simpler alphabet.
Once they had reached the Kingdom of Rastislav, the two brothers experienced some conflict with the French and German clergy, who claimed control over the territory, which had been evangelized by the missions in Salzburg and Passau. Cyril and Methodius were called to Rome in 867, for talks with the Pope about the cultural use of Slavonic. Nicholas I approved the translation of the Bible into Slavonic, on condition that the readings be preceded by the same passages in Latin.
Cyril died in Rome in 869. His brother Methodius was ordained a priest and continued to evangelize the Slavs. During a later trip to Rome, he was appointed Archbishop of Pannonia and Moravia. Wrongly accused of heresy by his opponents, he was imprisoned in Bavaria and only freed after an intervention from the Pope in 873.
Methodius returned to Rome in 880 to defend himself from the accusations of his opponents. He travelled to Constantinople between 881 and 882, perhaps to seek the approval of the Patriarch. He returned to Great Moravia and in 885, he died in Velehrad and was buried there.
On 31 December 1980, Saint John Paul II proclaimed the two brothers, who had been witnesses of the undivided Church in the plurality of rites and languages, and had been faithful to the Pope and to the Patriarch of Constantinople, co-patrons of Europe, along with Saint Benedict.