Saints Cyril and Methodius, equal to the apostles

published on 5/11/11 9:59 AM

Photo: www.pravoslavieto.com

On 11 May the Bulgarian Orthodox Church commemorates the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius and their great work – the Slavonic alphabet. Today they are among the most venerated saints in Bulgaria, and their icons and portraits are proudly displayed in churches and schools across the country. The brothers were born in the first half of 9 c. in Thessaloniki to a renowned family. Cyril graduated from the celebrated Magnaur Academy, the most prestigious school in the whole of Byzantium. Singled out for his talents and skills, he was appointed chief librarian of the Patriarchal Library of Constantinople and lectured in philosophy at the Magnaur Academy. For his fluency in several languages, Cyril was sent to important diplomatic missions abroad. His elder brother Methodius took part in some of them. Earlier in his career Methodius worked as governor of an administrative region close to Thessaloniki.

In 851 Methodius left his prestigious office and took the monastic vows at the St. Polychron Monastery in Asia Minor. It is believed that it was there that Cyril with assistance from his brother, created the Glagolitic Alphabet compliant with the phonetic norms of the Old Bulgarian language. The brothers from Thessaoniki made the first Old Bulgarian translation of the Holy Scriptures. At first they translated a concise gospel that would be used widely in church service. “Until then in the churches of this region of Europe, the Greek language was in wide use. In Great Moravia (today in the Czech Republic and Slovakia) where the brothers went to promote Christianity in the Slavonic tongue, the official language in church service was Latin”, explains Dr. Svetlina Nikolova, Director of the Cyrillo-Methodian Research Center at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. “Their work was an important contribution into European civilization, because they defended the right of every nation to develop its own language and culture, for both church and civil usage.”

In this way the two spiritual leaders were the first who defeated the so-called trilingual dogma. Until then Europe accepted as holy only three languages – Hebrew, Greek and Latin. Cyril died in 869 in Rome and was buried in the San Clemente Basilika there. His brother died in Velegrad, Moravia, in 885. After his death church service in Slavonic there was banned, and his most devoted disciples fled to Bulgaria. In this country they enjoyed a warm reception from the Bulgarian Prince Boris I. They created two literary centers - in the capital Pliska, and in the western city of Ohrid. The output of the schools together with the translations made by the holy brothers, served as a major impetus for the development of the Bulgarian, Serbian, Romanian and Russian literatures, and assisted the Christianization of other peoples. Later in its history Bulgaria adopted a more practical alphabet known as the Cyrillic Alphabet used today by millions of people in Europe and Asia. In is not accidental that Pope John Paul II declared in 1980 the Holy Brothers Patrons of Europe – for their huge contribution not only into Europe’s Christianity but also into the civil and cultural unity of Europe.

Translated by Daniela Konstantinova

По публикацията работи: Veneta Pavlova

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Saints Cyril and Methodius, equal to the apostles

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