Saints Cyril and Methodius

Saints Cyril and Methodius were brothers from Thessalonica and missionaries to the Slavs in Moravia and Pannonia. Cyril, a monk, devised an alphabet for the Slavonic language, and Methodius, a bishop, led the Church that arose among the Slavs. They are called the Apostles of the Slavs and are venerated as co-patrons of Europe. The Church commemorates them together on February 14.

They were born in Thessalonica, the sons of a senior imperial official. The elder, Methodius, whose baptismal name was probably Michael, was born between 815 and 820, and the younger, Constantine, later known by his religious name Cyril, around 827; the exact dates are not known. In a city lying on the border of the Slav lands, Constantine learned the language of the Slavs as a child.

Methodius governed a province where many Slavs lived, but he gave up his career and entered a monastery on Mount Olympus in Bithynia. Constantine studied in Constantinople, received holy orders, and later taught philosophy, which earned him the name “the Philosopher.” Together they took part in an imperial embassy to the Khazars, and in Crimea they found relics that they recognized as the remains of Saint Clement, pope and martyr.

The rest of their lives was decided by a request from Rastislav, prince of Great Moravia. He asked Emperor Michael III for a teacher who would explain the faith to his people in a language they could understand. The emperor sent the two brothers, who reached Moravia probably in 863. Constantine created a new alphabet for the Slavonic tongue, known as Glagolitic. The brothers translated texts of Sacred Scripture and the liturgical books into that language. A later, modified script was named Cyrillic in Cyril’s honor.

The mission bore fruit, but it aroused the hostility of the Frankish clergy who had been working in Moravia before them. The brothers set out for Rome. Pope Adrian II received them warmly, approved the Slavonic liturgical books, and ordered them to be placed on the altar in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major. In Rome Constantine fell gravely ill. Before his death he took religious vows and the name Cyril. He died on February 14, 869. He was buried in the Basilica of Saint Clement, where his relics are venerated to this day.

Methodius, as his dying brother had asked, returned to the Slavs. Adrian II ordained him a bishop for Pannonia, with the title of archbishop of Sirmium, and named him his legate among the Slav peoples. Accused of infringing on another’s ecclesiastical jurisdiction, he was imprisoned; he regained his freedom in 873 after the intervention of Pope John VIII. In 880, in Rome, he was cleared of the charges, and the pope confirmed the rights of the Slavonic liturgy. He died on April 6, 885, in Moravia.

The brothers have been venerated as saints for centuries, especially among the Slav nations. In 1880 Leo XIII extended their cult to the whole Church with the encyclical Grande munus. On December 31, 1980, John Paul II proclaimed them co-patrons of Europe, alongside Saint Benedict, and in 1985 he devoted the encyclical Slavorum apostoli to them.