Memorial of Saints Cyril, Monk: Methodius, Bishoop Lk 10,1-9

St. Cyril and Methodius, bishop

Cyrillus et Methodius

BIOGRAPHY

Both Thessaloniki native brothers worked for some time as missionaries to the Khazars in Crimea before they came to Great Moravia at the invitation of Prince Rostislav. From there, they returned with the remains of St. Pope Clement I, who they took to Moravia and later to Rome. Constantine compiled the Old Slavic script to evangelize Moravia and translated the liturgical books and the Holy Scriptures into the Slavic language. They took care of the education of their disciples and then, to solve three matters, went to Rome. There, 10-12 years younger, the brothers fell ill, took the name Cyril in the monastery, and died. Methodius returned as archbishop and experienced many difficulties, including prison and another accusation, which forced him to Rome again. He established a Moravian ecclesiastical province with a Slavic service. He died in Moravia.

BIOGRAPHY FOR MEDITATION

APOSTLES SLAVS

Birth brothers Cyril and Methodius were born in Thessaloniki (Thessalonica) to Maria and Leo, who were of noble birth and senior military officials of the province. Cyril’s name was Konstantin, and Methodius’s was Michal. They only changed their original names when they joined the order. Constantine was the youngest in the family, born in 827 as the seventh child.

His extraordinary talent for study soon became apparent, and at his father’s request, he went to Constantinople to study. He learned languages quickly, such as Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Slavic, Old Turkish, Arabic, and Gothic. From literature, he liked the writings of St. Gregory Naziansky. After his father’s death, the imperial administrator Theoktistos, the minister of Empress Theodora, showed interest in supporting his education. Among other knowledge, Constantine mastered theology and rhetorical readiness. He later became a professor of Christian philosophy and received the title of Philosopher for his achieved wisdom.

He could have a great career ahead of him, but he chose a spiritual state. As a deacon, he was a bibliographer and secretary to Patriarch Ignatius. He was ordained a priest in about 847.

When the Byzantine emperor Theophilus died in 842, his son and successor, Michael III, were only two years old. The widowed Theodora and Theoktistos, therefore, took over the regency government as executors of state policy.

According to his father’s wishes, Konstantin’s older brother Michal should have chosen a military career, but it was not the right path for him. At first, he was said to be in the civil administrative service for Slavs residing in the Byzantine Empire, but then he preferred religious life. About 840, he became a monk at the foot of Olympus in the Greek monastery of St. Basila vol. Polychron in Bithynia and took the name Methodius.

Constantine participated in a message to Arabia at the age of 24, advocating the teachings of the Christian faith, especially on the Holy Trinity, among the Saracens. He was probably in Baghdad. It is further stated that he went into seclusion in the monastery with his brother Methodius. With him, in 860, he was called on a missionary expedition to the Khazars in Crimea. He knew from the books that the body of Pope Clement I, who was drowned in the sea with an anchor around his neck, found and buried by the faithful, was to be buried near Kherson, but in turbulent times, his grave became unknown. The brothers saw him in the ruins of an old shrine on an island, picked up the remains, and took them with them.

So far, the Moravian prince Rostislav resisted raids from the East Franconian side, which were justified by efforts to spread Christianity. He was determined to get missionaries from somewhere other than the East Franconian empire. He wanted them to speak to the people in an understandable language. Therefore, around 861, he turned to the Pope in Rome and, in 862, to Emperor Michael III. He entrusted Constantine and Methodius with the task. The brothers prepared very responsibly.

Methodius, perhaps more spiritually, and Constantine for practical evangelization. He compiled an alphabet of 38 letters derived from Greek letters for the Slavs, which he called the Glagolitic script. He immediately translated the most important parts of the Holy Scriptures and the books of worship into Old Slavic speech. Regarding the compilation of Hadrian II, he later wrote that Cyril invented it through God’s grace and the intercession of St. Clement. Indeed, it was highly admirable how short a period it was possible to carry out the demanding preparatory work for the mission’s success. The synergy of work with prayer and blessing, for which we owe God, can be seen here.

At the Synod of Constantinople, Constantine simultaneously requested permission to elevate the Slavic language to a liturgical one. Thus, Slavic speech found itself among the languages that were considered sacred: Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.

In 863, Constantine and Methodius and their retinue came to Great Moravia. In addition to the treasure of faith and cultural values, they also brought the remains of St. Clement I, recalling the belonging and importance of communion with the victorious church.

Rostislav welcomed them with great joy, and they were very eager to introduce our ancestors to the basics of faith and to the glad tidings of God’s great love for us, sinful people. We do not know for sure where the primary residence of the Moravian princes was.

The Old Town in the Morava basin near Uherské Hradiště or Hradiště near Mikulčice is considered the most likely seat.

In Moravia, superstitions were widespread, pagan sacrifices were made, the sanctity of marriage was lacking, and infidelity was rampant. The Thessalonian heralds kindly addressed the people and showed them a reasonable path to God and mutual respect.

Raising house priests was also very important, but they could not yet be ordained. After three years of intensive activity, the brothers also had to solve other ecclesiastical-legal issues and decided to go to Rome to see the Pope. They embarked on the journey at the beginning of 867 or already in autumn, including the remains. They made a nice stop in Pannonia at the court of Pribin’s son Prince Kocel, who was enthusiastic about their evangelization program and asked that the best of the 50 young men be taken with them to Rome.

Pope Hadrian II came out to meet them with a procession. The remains of Clement were then kept in the basilica dedicated to him. Our heralds dealt with three main matters: the confirmation of Old Slavic speech in the liturgy of the Roman Rite, the ordination of disciples as deacons and priests, and the establishment of a separate hierarchy for Great Moravia, which would depend directly on the Pope.

Apparently, at Christmas 867, the Old Slavic Gospel was laid by the Pope in the basilica of (today’s ) Santa Maria Maggiore near the manger, and in this speech, Constantine celebrated the Holy Mass. There were new consecrations of clergy for Great Moravia, and the Pope decided to restore the Archbishopric of Sriemia with expansion into the territory of Pannonia and Moravia.

Constantine became seriously ill at the time and felt that he was at the end of his strength and unable to return. Therefore, he entered a Greek monastery, took religious vows, and took the name Cyril. He lived there until his death on 14. 2.869 and was then buried in the Basilica of St. Clement.

Methodius received priestly and eventually episcopal ordination in 868, with promotion to archbishop and papal legate for the Slavic peoples. On his return, he received from the Pope both a decree on spiritual function and letters for princes Rostislav, Svatopluk, and Kocel.

Along the way, however, he was captured on the instructions of the East Frankish bishops and taken to Bavaria with an escort. He was tried as an intruder, operating in a territory to which the East Franconian bishops had an exclusive right. However, Methodius defended himself that if it were such a right, he would immediately submit, but the decision-making belongs to the Apostolic Roman See, with whose consent he comes. Nevertheless, he was convicted and imprisoned in the Ellvangen monastery in Swabia for less than three years. Only then was he involved in the intervention of Pope John VIII. released and returned to Great Moravia in 873.

So far, Svatopluk has become the new ruler instead of Rostislav. He is reported to have had his uncle Rostislav blinded. Although he welcomed Methodius, he did not want to live according to his advice and committed moral lapses, for which Methodius admonished him. It was at the time of Methodius’ very successful missionary work in the mother tongue of the Slavs. In retaliation for the admonition, Svatopluk allowed the Frankish clergy to return and made Viching his advisor.

For the fact that Methodius did not submit to the prohibition of Slavic worship, handed down to him by Bishop Paul, he was accused in Rome at Viching’s instigation in 879 of covering up Greek delusion in incomprehensible language that his teachings were incorrect and that he worships in the Slavic language. Methodius arrived again in Rome, proved his orthodoxy there in the question of “coming out of the Holy Spirit,” even with the Greek formula “from the Father through the Son,” and gave the reasons for Slavic celebration. John VIII then established a Moravian ecclesiastical province with a Slavic service and reaffirmed Methodius as a valid archbishop. However, at Svatopluk’s request, he consecrated Methodius’ opponent, Viching, as bishop of Nitra.

After returning to Great Moravia, Methodius spread Christianity among the Czechs and Poles zealously, but he had enough difficulties. He also continued to translate the Bible and worship books in his last years. He died in Moravia on the 6th. 4. 885 Holy Mass was celebrated for him in three languages (Latin, Greek, and Slavic). He was buried in the main Moravian temple on the left side of the wall behind the altar of the Mother of God Mary, and the people cried during the funeral: “He was a leader for salvation to everyone!”

It is not yet known where this Marian temple stood. In 1970, an article was published in a Slovak archaeological magazine about the discovery of a skeleton in the masonry of the Great Moravian church in Uherské Hradiště – Sady. The buried person must have been more critical, but no more can be claimed.

After being expelled from Moravia, the Heralds’ students went to work in Bulgaria and Croatia, Pope Stephen VI banned the use of the Slavic language in the service 11 years after Methodius’ death.

Cyril and Methodius became our spiritual fathers, to whom we owe the Christian faith and culture, the acceptance of which placed us among the civilized nations. With the liturgy in the national language, they preceded the time by 11 centuries. After that, until II. The Vatican Council in 1962-65 proved to them that praising God in all local languages is appropriate during the liturgy.

In Moravia, both heralds were worshiped as patrons in the 14th century. The Cistercian church in Velehrad, consecrated in, became the center of respect. 1228. The official canonization took place in. 1880. Their memory was originally on the 20th. 3. In 1863, it was changed for the Czech lands and Slovakia by Pius IX. to celebrate 5. 7., while in the martyrology, the date of remembrance is 14 for the whole other church. 2. In 1863, Cyril and Methodius were declared patrons of all Slavic nations, and Pope John Paul II was 31. On 12 December 1980, he declared as co-patrons of Europe because, in addition to meriting culture, they fought for the unity of the Eastern and Western churches and showed the right way to the unification of Europe.