Cyril and Methodius
9th-century Byzantine Christian theologians and missionaries / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Cyril (born Constantine, 826–869) and Methodius (815–885) were brothers, Byzantine Christian theologians and missionaries. For their work evangelizing the Slavs, they are known as the "Apostles to the Slavs".[6]
Cyril and Methodius | |
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Bishops and Confessors; Equals to the Apostles; Patrons of Europe; Apostles to the Slavs | |
Born | 826 or 827 and 815 Thessalonica, Byzantine Empire (present-day Greece) |
Died | (869-02-14)14 February 869 and (885-04-06)6 April 885 Rome and Velehrad, Great Moravia |
Venerated in | Eastern Orthodox Church Catholic Church Anglican Communion[1] Lutheranism[2] |
Feast | 11 and 24 May[3] (Eastern Orthodox Church) 14 February (present Roman Catholic calendar); 5 July (Roman Catholic calendar 1880–1886); 7 July (Roman Catholic calendar 1887–1969) 5 July (Roman Catholic Czech Republic and Slovakia) |
Attributes | Brothers depicted together; Eastern bishops holding up a church; Eastern bishops holding an icon of the Last Judgment.[4] Often, Cyril is depicted wearing a monastic habit and Methodius vested as a bishop with omophorion. |
Patronage | Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Transnistria, Serbia, Archdiocese of Ljubljana, Europe,[4] Slovak Eparchy of Toronto, Eparchy of Košice[5] |
They are credited with devising the Glagolitic alphabet, the first alphabet used to transcribe Old Church Slavonic.[7] After their deaths, their pupils continued their missionary work among other Slavs. Both brothers are venerated in the Eastern Orthodox Church as saints with the title of "equal-to-apostles". In 1880, Pope Leo XIII introduced their feast into the calendar of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. In 1980, the first Slav pope, Pope John Paul II declared them co-patron saints of Europe, together with Benedict of Nursia.[8]