THE FEAST OF STS. CYRIL AND METHODIUS (JULY 5TH)

Bronze Statues of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, Třebíč, Czech Republic

By Bp. Joseph (Ancient Church of the West) 

Today, we celebrate the lives and ministries of Sts. Cyril (AD 826-869) and Methodius (AD 815-885). They were sent by St. Photius the Great (AD 810-893) as missionaries to Khazarian Jews. Upon successfully answering the Jewish philosophers and apologists, they were sent to Moravia, ministering to the Southern Slavs. The Frankish Christians in Moravia already had their own bishops, but the Slavs were just converting to Christianity from paganism. The King of the Slavs, Ratizlav, sought to have bishops appointed for his people, but the Latin-speaking German bishops were disinclined to give the Slavs ecclesial independence, claiming his land as their canonical territory and preferring to subjugate the new converts to their own rule. Discouraged with the political difficulties of this project, Ratislav turned to Constantinople, and asked Patriarch Photius for missionaries. The brother saints were sent to establish a local church with a full and independent hierarchy. 

Initially, Sts. Cyril and Methodius served the Byzantine interests, started many missions and small parishes amongst the Slavs, and avoided conflict with the Frankish bishops. Due to the unavoidable controversy that their mission created, in AD 867-8 they eventually sought and received permission from the Roman Patriarch, Hadrian II. The Western Patriarch granted them full rights amongst the Slavs and appointed St. Methodius as a missionary archbishop and consecrated St. Cyril as his assistant bishop. Unfortunately, St. Cyril died only fifty days after arriving in the capital of Western Christianity, remembered as a faithful teacher of Basilian monasticism to his numerous Slavic disciples. 

Archbishop St. Methodius returned to the Moravian kingdom alone, mourning the loss of his brother, only to be entrapped and sold to his rivals in chains as a slave. After two years of imprisonment and torture, Patriarch Hadrian discovered what the Frankish bishops had done to their rival and advocated for St. Methodius’ canonicity and release, finally putting their accusations that he was a false apostle and an illegitimate “vagante” to rest. After this, St. Methodius returned for a time to Rome to rest and recover from the Frankish abuse, and there he affirmed his Orthodoxy before all of the Roman Patriarchal Court by firmly announcing his doctrine and reciting the Nicene Creed without the Filioque. 

Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Rome. Fresco in San Clemente, Where St. Cyril's Body Rests to This Day

After his second return from Rome, St. Methodius began a new work amongst the Bohemians and probably translated the Western Rite Liturgy (due to his prior agreements with Patriarch Hadrian) and the New Testament lectionary into Slavic, using an alphabet that combined elements of the Greek and Latin script with completely new symbols meant to represent the unique sounds of the Slavic language. This new writing system was immediately accepted by the Slavs and formed a part of the new Christian identity and formed a prototype for Slavic cultures throughout all of Eastern Europe. 

Due to its overwhelming success and the preference that the Slavic-speaking people showed to the new alphabet, at the expense of both Latin and Greek aspirations for hegemony, both the Roman and Byzantine Churches attempted to suppress its use officially for over a hundred years after the death of St. Methodius. Only with the gradual growth of the Slavic-speaking Churches, and the rise of the Kyivan Rus, did the Slavic alphabet find its place amongst the great written languages of the world. 

The Baška Tablet Shows One of the Earliest Forms of Slavonic in Croatia, Dating From Approx. AD 1100

Now, Sts. Cyril and Methodius are remembered with St. Benedict as founding pillars of Western Civilization by both the Roman and the Orthodox Churches. We celebrate their lives and their great witness of missionary work and indigenization. Unlike so many of their contemporaries, they attempted to spread the Apostolic Gospel in the language of their hearers, rather than attempting to preserve a “sacred language” in their new context. In doing so, these brother saints established a precedent of witnessing in new languages and allowing for new cultures to undergo the same process of Christianization that the Greek and Latin cultures had undergone centuries earlier. Because of their faithful witness through many cultural and political difficulties, the Slavic lands were eventually converted, and now many of them stand as bastions of the Orthodox Faith, even as the West increasingly falls into paganism, secularism, atheism and chaos. 

A Cartoon about Sts. Cyril and Methodius from Bulgaria in AD 1938. The Caption Reads: "Brother Cyril, go tell those who are inside to learn the alphabet so they know freedom and anarchy are not the same." (From Wikipedia)

The Monument to Sts. Cyril and Methodius "Teaching the Slavs" at Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia

Truly, when the missionary techniques of Sts. Cyril and Methodius are employed, the “students” becomes the “teachers,” and that which is radically and untrustworthily new (such as the Slavic "converts" were to the Greek and Latin “cradles”) one day becomes a pillar in the Ancient and Apostolic Church. 

COLLECT 

ALMIGHTY GOD, Who didst enlighten the Slavic peoples through Thy brother Saints Cyril and Methodius, grant that our hearts may grasp the words of Thy holy teaching, and perfect us as a people in the Communion of the One True Faith. Through our Lord Jesus Christ our Lord, Who livest and reignest with the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen. 

Sts. Cyril and Methodius, Pray for Us!