Saints Cyril and Methodius – co-patron saints of Europe

Most holidays are dedicated to important political changes in the history of each country. There are holidays celebrating different religious, social and cultural events. The feast of St. Cyril and Methodius, the creators of the Cyrillic alphabet, combines the spirituality not only of Bulgarians but of the whole of Europe. The legacy of the two brothers is still playing a huge role today in the cultural development of the Old continent. They were recognized as saints as early as the late 9th century and the first clues for the marking of their holiday on May 11 date back to the 12th century. During the Revival Period in Bulgaria in the 18th and 19th century, this date was established as the religious feast of the Apostles of the Slavs Cyril and Methodius (and we celebrated it two weeks ago on May 11th,).

To ordinary Bulgarians this is the church holiday of the holy brothers, while today, it is the non-religious, rather cultural and intellectual aspect of their deed that we are celebrating. 24th may became the day to mark the Slavonic Alphabet after 1916 when Bulgaria switched to the Gregorian calendar and the date May 11 was moved to May 24. Later the Bulgarian Orthodox Church kept its strictly religious feast on May 11.

The exact year in which the Slavonic Alphabet was completed is still subject to dispute, but it is assumed that it was created in 855 by the evidence of medieval monk, scholar and writer Chernorizez Hrabar who worked in the Preslav Literary School in his work “The Story of the Letters (An Account of Letters)". Its creation was probably the result of years of hard work. The alphabet created by the Holy Brother was the so-called Glagolitic alphabet. The letters in it are mostly combinations of the three main symbols of Christianity - the triangle, the cross and the circle. Today, science suggests that the compilation of the Glagolitic alphabet was done in Saint Polychron monastery in Asia Minor. It is suggested that in the same period the most important books on Christian worship were translated into Slavonic. The Glagolitic script was later modified by one of the disciples of Cyril and Methodius, making it easier to use and it was named the Cyrillic alphabet.

In 863, after the request of Rostislav, Prince of Great Moravia, the two brothers with several of their disciples arrived in the capital of the principality of Velegrad. There they were actively engaged in translation of liturgical texts from Greek into Slavonic, they also laid the foundations of the Great Moravia Literary School. They introduced for the first time the church services as they are known today: the matins, the vespers, and the liturgy. Cyril and Methodius spent three years in Greater Moravia, teaching many students. In the spring of 867, they went to Constantinople to ordain their followers in the church clergy. On the road to Constantinople, they stayed for a short stay in the Slavic Principality of Pannonia at the request of Prince Kotzel.

Later, they set off to Venice where Cyril led his famous dispute on the trilingual dogma with the Latin clergy (the text of this dispute is an obligatory part of the school curriculum here). According to this dogma, Christianity could only be preached in three languages: Jewish, Greek and Latin. "As crows on a falcon", the Latin clergy attacked the younger brother Cyril. Yet, his undisputed logic, strong reasoning and theoretical arguments win the dispute. He pointed out many peoples who have Christian worship in their own language: Armenians, Persians, Goths, Avars, Khazars, Arabs, Syrians, Egyptians and others.

After the dispute in Venice the two brothers arrived in Rome. Meanwhile, the Roman Pope Nicholas I who had summoned them there for explanations had died and his successor Hadrian II welcomed them solemnly. Learning that they carry with them the relics of St. Clement, he went out of town with the clergy and ordinary people to meet them with great reverence.

On February 14, 869, Cyril died at the age of forty-two. The Pope offered a place for his tomb in the Basilica San Pietro but Methodius wanted to execute his mother's behest and carry the relics of his brother back home. The people and clergy of Rome insisted that Cyril should find eternal rest in their city. Then his brother Methodius wished that his brother be buried in the church "San Clemente" where this was done with great solemnity.

Cyril’s soul found eternal rest there, in this Latin Church in Rome. Originally he was buried in this place, in its antique bottom part. His grave was to the right of the altar. For the first time the memory of two brothers was celebrated in Rome in 1881. In connection with this anniversary, a chapel was built in the basilica "San Clemente" with the financial assistance of several countries, where the relics of St. Cyril are stored to this day. For several decades, every year there, a Mass is held in the chapel and the basilica.

St. Methodius died on April 6, 885, and was buried in Velegrad, and according to his biography – his body lies in the great Moravian Church on the left side, in the wall behind the altar of the Virgin Mary. After his death the church liturgy is Slavonic was prohibited there. Thus, five disciples of the two brothers: Climent, Naum, Sava, Gorazd and Angelarius arrived in Bulgaria where the Bulgarian state created the favorable conditions for the flourishing of the Slavonic literature and culture, which in the following centuries would transcend its national boundaries.

The wide recognition of the apostolic and cultural activity of Saints Cyril and Methodius took place on December 31, 1980 when Pope John Paul II declared them co-patrons of Europe. In their lifetime and through their deed perpetuated by their disciples and the Alphabet they created, they act as a spiritual bridge between eastern and western traditions, and their contribution to building a Europe of no only religious communion but also of a cultural civil union is strongly felt to this day.

English version: Rossitsa Petcova

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Saints Cyril and Methodius – co-patron saints of Europe

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