St. Cyril and St. Methodius were important evangelizers living in 9th century Europe who were instrumental in spreading Christianity to Great Moravia (now primarily Czech Republic and Slovakia) and Eastern Europe; and are honored in both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches for their evangelization. The brotherly saints named Constantine (Cyril) and Michael (Methodius) were born in Thessalonica (Greece) in around 815 A.D. (Michael) and 825 A.D. (Constantine). They are called the “Apostles to the Slavs” as they traveled to Great Moravia in 863 to evangelize the people at the request of the Byzantine Emperor Michael III. At that time, it was normal in the Eastern church to translate the liturgy into the language of the people, although the Western church evangelized in Greek or Latin. Since the Slavic people did not have a written language, Cyril (and his brother) devised the Glagolitic alphabet which was based on the Greek alphabet that evolved into the Cyrillic script and is still in use today in many languages including Russian. The saints used the alphabet to translate the liturgy, and parts of the Bible into the Slavonic language including the New Testament and many of the Psalms.
There are many twists and turns in the lives of the brothers and their missions (as outlined below, and gathered from various sources), but in the end, the brothers are given much credit for the spread of Christianity in Eastern Europe – particularly due to their development of an alphabet in which liturgical and sacred texts could be disseminated.
Highlights of Their Lives (A.D. – some dates are approximate)
815 / 825 St. Methodious (Michael) and St. Cyril (Constantine) were born in Thessalonica (Greece). There were seven children in the family. When they became monks, they changed their names.
St. Cyril (Constantine) went to Constantinople at age 14 to receive a classical education. He excelled in many subjects and after determining not to be married, was ordained a priest and served as an official at the Hagia Sophia Church, and then became the bishop’s librarian. Because of his abilities, he was asked to become a teacher and earned the nickname of “Philosopher”. He followed his call to solitude and joined his brother Michael on Mount Olympus in about 858 to meditate and pray, but he didn’t become a monk until just before his death in 869.
St. Methodious (Michael) worked in an administrative career in Macedonia in his early life before moving to Mount Olympus to become a monk. (Macedonia is now North Macedonia – a separate country north of Greece. At that time, Thessalonica, the brothers’ birthplace, was an important city in the Macedonia region.)
Around 860, the brothers were sent on their first mission to the Khazars on the Sea of Azov (the Khazar Khaganate was a significant empire in this period in the area between the Black and Caspian Sea which includes today’s Crimea). Tengrism seems to be their main religion, but they also practiced other religions. For the mission, a scholar was needed who could converse with both the Jews and the Saracens, and St. Cyril fit the bill. The mission was not successful in converting the country to Christianity, but the brothers did recover the relics of St. Clement which they returned to Rome in 867 with great appreciation.
Their most notable mission started in around 863 when they were requested to go to Great Moravia by Emperor Michael III who had received a request from Prince Ratislav of Moravia. The Prince wrote to the Emperor, “Since our people rejected paganism, they have embraced the Christian law; but we do not have a teacher who can explain the true faith to us in our own language.” As such, the task of the brothers was to communicate in the local language both verbally and in writing. To do so, since the Slavic people did not have a written language, Cyril (along with his brother) devised the Glagolitic alphabet which evolved into the Cyrillic script and is still in use today in many languages including Russian. Their mission was extraordinarily successful and Pope Benedict XVI described their approach in a General Audience on June 17, 2009 as “a classic example of “inculturation”: every people must integrate the message revealed into its own culture and express its saving truth in its own language. This implies a very demanding effort of “translation” because it requires the identification of the appropriate words to present anew, without distortion, the riches of the revealed word.”
The saints’ success in Great Moravia started a conflict with the German church leaders who opposed using a language other than Latin, Hebrew or Greek for the liturgy and sacred texts. In 867/868, the brothers traveled to Rome to resolve the “trilingual heresy” which claimed that there were only three languages in which it was lawful to praise God. After heated discussions in Venice, Pope Adrian II approved the activities of the brothers in Great Moravia and approved the use of the Slavonic language in the liturgy. Pope Adrian II also gave St. Methodious the title of Archbishop of Moravia and Pannonia (Hungary).
St. Cyril (Constantine) became ill while in Rome and decided to become a monk and fully dedicate himself to God. It was at this time that he change his name to Cyril. Before his death on February 14th, 869, St. Cyril urged his brother to return to Great Moravia to continue the mission of evangelization.
St. Methodius returned to Moravia and Pannonia in 870, but met with continued opposition from Frankish (now in the area of Germany and France) missionaries who imprisoned St. Methodius for 3 years. After release, St. Methodius was again subject to charges of heresy for using the Slavonic language in the liturgy, but was cleared of the charges by Pope John VIII. However, after the death of St. Methodius in 885, successor bishops again opposed the use of the Slavonic liturgy, and the Latin-only policy was followed for centuries. As such, around 886, Methodius’ followers moved to Bulgaria with success where the Cyrillic script was developed (that evolved on the basis of the Glagolitic script which the brothers developed) and eventually became the standard for Eastern Orthodox countries – thus, St. Cyril and Methodius efforts are largely credited for the spread of Christianity in Eastern Europe.
The saints were canonized in 1880 by Pope Leo XIII; and in 1980, Pope John Paul II declared them as co-patrons of Europe together with St. Benedict of Nursia. The saints are celebrated in the Eastern Orthodox Church on May 11th and on February 14th in the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches. Saints Cyril and Methodius Day is a national holiday in the Czech Republic and Slovakia on July 5th. May 24th is the day of their celebration in Bulgaria, Macedonia and Russia.
Iconography of St. Cyril and St. Methodius
The brother saints are nearly always pictured together in paintings, images and stained glass, but the iconography has more variation that for some saints, as shown in the photo at the top of the page. If they are depicted in sculpture, two statues are generally displayed. The easiest to recognize is St. Cyril who is nearly always shown with a scroll or tablet displaying writing in Glagolitic or Cyrillic script as he is usually given primary credit for the development of the script (since the follow-on Cyrillic script was named for him.) In some images, the script illustrates the words of St. Paul, “bonum certamen certavi” (I have fought the good fight. 2 Timothy 4:7) St. Cyril is often shown in monk’s garb, as it is told that he joined a monastic community just before his death on February 14, 869 and changed his name from Constantine to Cyril.
The most common attribute of St. Methodius is his dress as an archbishop, as he was designated as Archbishop of Moravia and Pannonia by Pope Adrian II. This attire may include a bishop’s mitre and staff, although these attributes may vary between images of Roman Catholic and Orthodox icons. In some images, he is not shown as a bishop. An image of the “Last Judgment” is also frequently shown with St. Methodius. This image derives from a legend that when the saint visited the King of Bulgaria in the late 9th century, he painted a scene of the Last Judgment to illustrate some of the concepts of Christianity. The Bulgarian King Boris I was reportedly so impacted by the image, that he converted to Christianity.
St. Cyril and St. Methodius Churches
The brother saints are popular patrons of churches in both the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Church. In the U.S., most churches are, not surprisingly, found in states with higher levels of immigration from Eastern Europe in the late 19th century. The states with the most such churches are Pennsylvania and Texas, but there are numerous churches in other states, too, including Nebraska, Wisconsin, Illinois and California.