Saints Cyril and Methodius

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cyril and Methodius (Greek: Κύριλλος και Μεθόδιος, Bulgarian: Кирил и Методий, Macedonian: Кирил и Методиј) were two Byzantine Greek brothers born in Thessaloniki in the 9th century, who became missionaries of Christianity in Khazaria and Great Moravia.

They are credited with devising and spreading the Glagolitic alphabet, which was used for Slavonic manuscripts before the development of the Cyrillic, the alphabet derived from Glagolitic, that, with small modifications, is still used in a number of Slavic languages. After their death their pupils became missionaries among other Slavic peoples. Both brothers were glorified in Eastern Orthodoxy as "equal-to-apostles" and were canonized by the Roman Catholic Church. They became the patron saints of Europe in 1980.^[1]

[edit] Early life

"It is a long lasting dispute: who were Constantine-Cyril and Methodius—Greeks or Bulgarians?"^[2]. Their father, Leon, was a Byzantine military officer (with the rank of drungarios) in the thema of Thessaloniki and their mother was his wife, Maria. Opinions about their ethnicity vary from both Greek parents through Greek father and Slavic mother^[3] to purely Slavonic (or, more specifically, Bulgarian) origin^[4]; the "Slavonic" and "mixed origin" versions are seen as a possible explanation of the fluency of the two brothers in the local Slavic dialect, although historic sources suggest that Slavic was spoken fluently by most Salonikans due to the predominance of Slavs in Macedonia.

Cyril's birth name was Constantine (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Konstantínos) and he was probably renamed Cyril (Greek: 'Lordly') just before his death in Rome.

The two brothers lost their father at a young age, and their uncle Theoktistos (Greek: Θεόκτιστος) became their protector. Theoktistos was a "Logothetes tou dromou," a powerful Byzantine official, responsible for the postal services and the diplomatic relations of the Empire. He was also responsible, along with the regent Bardas, for initiating a far-reaching educational program within the Empire which culminated in the establishment of the University of Magnaura, where Constantine/Cyril was to teach.

Theoktistos invited (843) Cyril to Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, and helped him continue his studies at the University there. He also arranged the placement of Methodius (Greek: Μεθόδιος Methódios) as an abbot in the famous Greek monastery of Polychron (Μονή Πολυχρονίου) in Constantinople.

[edit] Early career

The fact that Cyril was a master theologian with a good command of both the Arabic and Hebrew languages made him eligible for his first state mission to the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mutawakkil in order to discuss the principle of the Holy Trinity with the Arab theologian and to tighten the diplomatic relations between the Abbashid Caliphate and the Empire.

The two brothers' second mission (860) requested by the Byzantine Emperor Michael III and the Patriarch of Constantinople Photius (a professor of Cyril's at the University and his guiding light in earlier years) was a missionary expedition to the Khazar Khagan in order to prevent the expansion of Judaism there. This mission was unsuccessful, as later the Khagan imposed Judaism to his people as the national religion.

After their return to Constantinople, Cyril assumed the role of professor of philosophy at the University while Methodius had been designated as the bishop of the Moni Polychroniou.

[edit] Moravian mission

In 862 they were invited by prince Rastislav to propagate Christianity in the Slavic language in Great Moravia, which they did until their deaths, Cyril's in 869 (in Rome) and Methodius' in 885 (in Great Moravia).

For the purpose of this mission, they devised the Glagolitic alphabet, the first alphabet to be used for Slavonic manuscripts. The Glagolitic alphabet was suited to match the specific features of the Slavic language. Cyrillic is a modification of the Glagolitic alphabet with a closer resemblance to the Greek alphabet. The Cyrillic alphabet is still used with small modifications in a number of Slavic languages.^[5]

They also translated Christian texts for Slavs into the language that is now called Old Church Slavonic and wrote the first Slavic Civil Code, which was used in Great Moravia. The language derived from Old Church Slavonic, known as Church Slavonic, is still used in liturgy by several Eastern Orthodox churches.

Saint Cyril's remains are interred in a shrine-chapel within the Basilica di San Clemente in Rome, Italy. The chapel holds a Madonna by Sassoferrato, and it is said^{[citation needed]} that Pope John Paul II used to pray there sometimes for Poland and the Slavic countries.

[edit] Commemoration

The saints' feast day is celebrated by the Eastern Orthodox Church on May 24 and by the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Church on 14 February as Saints Cyril and Methodius Day. Lutheran Churches commemorate the two saints either on 14 February or 11 May. It is a public holiday in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, the Republic of Macedonia, and Slovakia; it is celebrated in Russia as a holiday associated with the two brothers, who are considered patrons of learning and education.

In the Czech lands and Slovakia, the two brothers were originally commemorated on March 9, but Pope Pius IX changed this date to July 5. Today, the St. Cyril and Methodius Day, believed to be the date of the arrival of the two brothers to Great Moravia in 863, is a national holiday both in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje in Republic of Macedonia and St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo in Bulgaria bear the name of the two saints.

St. Cyril Peak and St. Methodius Peak on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica are named for the two brothers.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ John Paul II's Egregiae Virtutis
2. ^ П. Н. Динеков, Д. С. Лихачёв (P. N. Dinekov, D. S. Likhachyov), Дело Константина-Кирилла Философа и его брата Мефодия (The work of Constantine-Cyril the Philosopher and his brother Methodius), in: Жития Кирилла и Мефодия. Факсимильное издание (Lives of Cyril and Methodius. Fac-simile edition), Moscow-Sofia, 1986, p. 8.
3. ^ Barford, Paul M. (2001). The Early Slavs: Culture and Society in Early Medieval Eastern Europe. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. ISBN 0801439779. 
4. ^ The versions are:
   • The "Bulgarian" (or, in a wider form, "Slavonic") version is probably the first explicitly documented one. It is based primarily on the evidence of the short variant of St. Cyril's biography (so-called "Успение Кириллово" (Uspenie Kirillovo) - "Assumption of St. Cyril"), an Old Slavonic text saying that St. Cyril "родомъ сыи блъгаринь" (rodomŭ syi blŭgarinĭ, "being Bulgarian by birth"). Two copies of the text (one belongs to the beginning of the 15th century, another from late 15th - early 16th c.) are published in: Боню Ст. Ангелов (Boniu St. Angelov), Из старата българска, руска и сръбска литература (From old Bulgarian, Russian and Serbian literature), Sofia, 1978, pp. 7-10 and 13-16. This version is popular mostly among Bulgarian scholars. Critics say that "Assumption of St. Cyril" is not a very reliable source: it is a relatively late evidence, and it contains a lot of other dubious statements. See: Б. Н. Флоря (B. N. Florya), Сказания о начале славянской письменности (Narrations on the beginning of Slavonic written language), 2nd ed., St. Petersburg, 2000 (ISBN 5-89329-328-2), p. 203-204.
   • The "Greek" version is the most widespread in non-Slavic literature. It argues that only native Greeks could take so high position as their father had, and that only Greeks were able to protect Greek interests so strongly as the brothers did; see: Tachiaos A. E. L'origine de Cyrille et de Méthode. Verité et légende dans les sources slaves. In: Cyrillomethodianum, Thessalonique, 1972-1973, II. This wersion also is not fully satisfactory. Critics say that the range of their father was not so high (so-called "Uspensky's Taktikon", a Byzantine source from 842/43 A. D., mentions his title of "drungarios" as the 198th out of 210 Byzantine ranges - compare with the "strategon" of Thessaloniki who was the 23th one), and that the brothers share ethnicity-independent patriotism of political and cultural elite of the Byzantine society of their time (see: Florya, op. cit., p. 204-205).
   • The "mixed origin" version tries to be a middle point of view, combining reasonable parts of both extremities. As an argument "pro" for this version (and/or Slavonic origin version as well), the following evidence from the earliest and most detailed Cyrilo-Methodian source—"Life of St. Cyril": as a suckling, he did not accepted the foster-mother, and only the milk of his own mother could feed him. As a symbolic presage of his further life—service for the Slavonic people—it can be interpreted as serving to the people of his mother (see: Dinekov and Likhachyov, ibid.).
   • One more point of view is popular in Slavonic literature and is shared by Florya himself: "при имеющемся состоянии источников вопрос об этническом происхождении Кирилла и Мефодия определенно решен быть не может" (under existing state of the primary sources, the question about ethnic origin of Cyril and Methodius cannot be solved determinately—Florya, op. cit., p. 205). Or: "станем поэтому в вопросе о национальности Кирилла и Мефодия на более мудрые позиции и признаем их славянами по языку и самосознанию, не заглядывая в вопрос об их крови — славянской, греческой или иной" (therefore, let us stand in the problem of Cyril and Methodius ethnicity on a wiser position: let us confess them Slavs in language and in self-consciousness, not looking into the question of their blood—Slavonic, Greek, or other—Dinekov and Likhachyov, op. cit., p. 9).
   • There exist also certain various rather marginal opinions: Bulgarian father and Greek mother (version of Arseny Sukhanov, 17 c., brought from the Mt. Athos); ellinized Slavs (Malishevsky); descendants of emigrants from Rome (bishop Porfiry Uspensky). These variants are mentioned in: Іван Огієнко (Ivan Ohiyenko), Костянтин і Мефодій, їх життя та діяльність (Constantin and Methody, their live and works), Warsaw, 1927, p. 19.
5. ^ The Cyrillic alphabet was developed in the beginning of the 10th century, and was named so in honor of St. Cyril. Its probable creator is Clement of Ohrid, one of the closest disciples of the two holy brothers. Compared to the earlier Glagolitic alphabet, it uses letters closer to those of the Greek alphabet, but has been adapted for use in some fifty languages.

[edit] See also

• Brotherhood of Saints Cyril and Methodius
• SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary
• St. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje
• St. Cyril and Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo
• SS. Cyril and Methodius National Library in Sofia

[edit] External links

• SLAVORUM APOSTOLI by Pope John Paul II
• Cyril and Methodius - Encyclical epistle, 31 December 1980 by Pope John Paul II
• "Cyril and Methodius, Saints" article in Encyclopædia Britannica.
• ^  The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, Cyril and Methodius, Saints.
• 24 May - is the Day of Cyrillic Alphabet and St. Cyril and St. Methody
• Cyril and Methodius in the "Catholic Encyclopedia"
• "Equal to Apostles SS. Cyril and Methodius Teachers of Slavs", by Prof. Nicolai D. Talberg
• GRANDE MUNUS ON SS. CYRIL AND METHODIUS
• Cyril and Methodius at orthodoxwikibs:Ćirilo i Metodije

bg:Кирил и Методий cs:Cyril a Metoděj de:Kyrill und Method el:Άγιοι Κύριλλος και Μεθόδιος es:Cirilo y Metodio eo:Cirilo kaj Metodo fr:Cyrille et Méthode hr:Ćiril i Metod it:Santi Cirillo e Metodio la:Cyrillus et Methodius mk:Св.Кирил и Методиј pl:Cyryl i Metody ru:Кирилл и Мефодий sr:Ћирило и Методије fi:Kyrillos ja Metodios uk:Кирило і Мефодій