Monk and bishop, Apostles of the Slavs, co-patrons of Europe · Feast: 14 February
Open in the Daily Word app“And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.”” Mark 16:15
Cyril and Methodius were brothers from Thessalonica in Greece, a Byzantine city with many Slav neighbours. Methodius was born about 815 and Constantine, later called Cyril, about 826 or 827. Constantine studied in Constantinople, was admired for his learning and for his gift with languages, and was known as the Philosopher. Methodius served for a time as a civil governor and then became a monk on Mount Olympus in Asia Minor. The two brothers went together around 860 on a mission for the emperor to the Khazars, north of the Black Sea.
About 862, Prince Rastislav of Great Moravia, in what is now Czech and Slovak lands, asked the emperor for teachers who could instruct his people in their own language. The brothers were sent. Before leaving, Constantine devised an alphabet for the Slavonic language, the Glagolitic script, and began translating the Gospels and the liturgy. It was a huge achievement: a people came to have its Scriptures, its prayer and its written language at one stroke.
Frankish clergy working in the region objected, arguing that the liturgy could be celebrated only in Hebrew, Greek or Latin. The brothers went to Rome, bringing with them relics which they believed to be those of St Clement, Pope and martyr, and Pope Hadrian II received them with honour and approved the Slavonic books. Constantine fell ill in Rome and became a monk, taking the name Cyril, and died there on 14 February 869. He is buried in the basilica of San Clemente.
Methodius was consecrated archbishop, with authority over Pannonia and Moravia, and went back. His opponents arrested him and held him in prison for over two years until Pope John VIII obtained his release. He continued the translation of Scripture and died on 6 April 885. After his death his disciples were driven out, but they carried the work to Bulgaria and beyond, and the later Cyrillic alphabet takes its name from Cyril. In 1980 Pope John Paul II named the brothers co-patrons of Europe, and in 1985 he wrote the encyclical Slavorum Apostoli about them.
Every people may pray in its own tongue.
An alphabet and a literature were born from the love of souls.
Greek missionaries found their support at Rome.
Methodius kept working through prison and slander.
His Life says that at Venice Constantine was attacked for using Slavonic in the liturgy. He asked his opponents whether God's rain does not fall on all, and whether the sun does not shine for all, and whether they were not ashamed to allow only three languages.
The accounts of the brothers' visit to Rome say that the Pope received the Slavonic books and had them placed on the altar in the basilica of St Mary Major, and that the liturgy was then celebrated in Slavonic in Roman churches.
The Life of Methodius says that the dying Cyril told his brother that they had been like two oxen ploughing one furrow, that he was falling at the end of the day, and that Methodius must not go back to his beloved mountain, but must complete the work.
Does not God's rain fall upon all equally? Does not the sun shine on all? Do we not all breathe the air in the same way?
St Cyril, in the Life of Constantine, in substance
No people is outside the Gospel (Mark 16:15).
An alphabet made for love of a people.
They took their work to Rome and found support.
Dear friends, when Prince Rastislav asked for teachers who could speak to his people in their own language, the emperor sent two brothers from Thessalonica. Before they set out, Cyril did something remarkable: he created an alphabet. The Slav peoples could now hear the Gospel and pray the liturgy in their own tongue.
This was not easy. Some argued that God could be worshipped properly only in Hebrew, Greek or Latin. Cyril answered with a simple question: does not the sun shine on everyone? Jesus told the apostles to go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation (Mark 16:15). On the day of Pentecost, people from many nations heard God's deeds in their own languages (Acts 2:6-11). The Gospel is at home in every language.
We should feel this deeply. We pray in Malayalam, in Tamil, in Syriac, in Latin and in English. Scripture in our mother tongue and the Holy Mass / Holy Qurbana in a language we understand are gifts for which people have worked and suffered. Do we value them? Do we read the Bible in our own language? Do we teach our children to pray in words they understand?
Notice also that these Greek brothers went to Rome. They wanted their work to be in communion with the successor of Peter, and Pope Hadrian approved it. When Methodius was unjustly imprisoned, another Pope obtained his release. Let us thank God for the many ways the one Church prays, and let us ask Sts Cyril and Methodius to help us love both our own heritage and the unity of the whole Church. Amen.
O God, you gave the Slav peoples the light of the Gospel through the brothers Sts Cyril and Methodius. Open our hearts to understand your word, and make us a people united in true faith and in right confession. Amen.