Cyril (; born Constantine []; 826–869) and Methodius (; born Michael []; 815–885) were brothers, Byzantine Christian theologians and missionaries. For their work evangelizing the Early Slavs, they are known as the "Apostles to the Slavs".
They are credited with devising the Glagolitic alphabet, the first alphabet used to transcribe Old Church Slavonic.Liturgy of the Hours, Volume III, 14 February. After their deaths, their pupils continued their missionary work among other Slavs. Both brothers are venerated in the Eastern Orthodox Church as saints with the title of "equal-to-apostles". In 1880, Pope Leo XIII introduced their feast into the calendar of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. In 1980, the first Slav pope, Pope John Paul II declared them co-patron saints of Europe, together with Benedict of Nursia. Apostolic letter of Pope John Paul II, 31 December 1980
Early career Early life The two brothers were born in Thessalonica, at that time in the Byzantine province of the same name (today in Greece) – Cyril in 827–828, and Methodius in 815–820. According to the Vita Cyrilli ("The Life of Cyril"), Cyril was reputedly the youngest of seven brothers; he was born Constantine,Cyril and Methodius, Encyclopædia Britannica 2005 but was given the name Cyril upon becoming a monk in Rome shortly before his death.Vita Constantini slavica, Cap. 18: Denkschriften der kaiserl. Akademie der Wissenschaften 19, Wien 1870, p. 246Chapter 18 of the Slavonic Life of Constantine , an English translationEnglish Translation of the 18th Chapter of the Vita Constantini, Liturgy of the Hours, Proper of Saints, 14 February Methodius was born Michael and was given the name Methodius upon becoming a monk in Polychron Monastery at Mysian Olympus (present-day Uludağ in northwest Turkey). Their father was Leo, a droungarios of the Byzantine theme of Thessalonica, and their mother's name was Maria.
The exact ethnic origins of the brothers are unknown; there is controversy as to whether Cyril and Methodius were of Slavic<ref> 1. Mortimer Chambers, Barbara Hanawalt, Theodore Rabb, Isser Woloch, Raymond Grew. The Western Experience with Powerweb. Eighth Edition. McGraw-Hill Higher Education 2002. University of Michigan. p. 214. ...Two Christian brothers of Slavic descent, Cyril and Methodius, set out in about 862 as missionaries from the Byzantine...
2. Balkan Studies, Volume 22. Hidryma Meletōn Chersonēsou tou Haimou (Thessalonikē, Greece). The Institute, 1981. Original from the University of Michigan. p. 381 ...Being of Slavic descent, both of them spoke the old Slavic language fluently...
3. Loring M. Danforth. The Macedonian Conflict: Ethnic Nationalism in a Transnational World. Princeton University Press, 1995. p. 49 . ...In the ninth century two brothers Cyril and Methodius, Macedonian educators of Slavic origin from Solun, brought literacy and Christianity to the Slavs...
4. Ihor Ševčenko. Byzantium and the Slavs: In Letters and Culture'''. Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, 1991. p. 481. ...63-68 (Cyril and Methodius were Slavs)...There remains that argument for Cyril's and Methodius' Slavic origin which has to do with the Slavic translation of the Gospels and...
5. Roland Herbert Bainton. Christianity: An American Heritage Book Series. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2000. p. 156. ...Two missionaries of Slavic origin, Cyril (baptized Constantine) and Methodius, adapted the Greek alphabet and translated both the Bible and the liturgy into the Slavic tongue...
6. John Shea. Macedonia and Greece: The Struggle to Define a New Balkan Nation. McFarland, 1997. p. 56 . ...Byzantine emperor Michael, on the request of the Moravian prince Ratislav, decided to send Slav priests as educators, he chose the Salonika brothers Cyril and Methodius...
7. UNESCO Features: A Fortnightly Press Service. UNESCO. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 1984. University of Michigan ...They may have been of wholly Slavic descent or of mixed Greco-Slav origin...
8. The Pakistan Review, Volume 19. Ferozsons Limited, 1971. University of California. p. 41 ...century in Salonika, then one of the largest towns in the Byzantine Empire. The brothers were of Slav origin...
9. Balkania, Volume 7. Balkania Publishing Company, 1973. Indiana University. p. 10 ...Cyril and Methodius not only lived among Slavs. ...of Slavonic, which they not only spoke and understood, but in which they also wrote—translated and composed—and for which they invented an alphabet, is proof of their Slav origin...
10. Bryce Dale Lyon, Herbert Harvey Rowen, Theodore S. Hamerow. A History of the Western World, Volume 1. Rand McNally College Pub. Co., 1974. Northwestern University. p. 239 ...brothers of Slavic origin, Cyril and Methodius, who, after being ordained at Constantinople, preached the Gospel to the Slavs...
11. Roland Herbert Bainton. The history of Christianity. Nelson, 1964. p. 169 ...Two missionaries of Slavic origin, Cyril (baptized Constantine) and Methodius, adapted the Greek alphabet and translated both the Bible and the liturgy into the Slavic tongue...
12. Carl Waldman, Catherine Mason. Encyclopedia of European Peoples: Facts on File library of world history. Infobase Publishing, 2006. p. 752. ...There is disagreement as to whether Cyril and his brother Methodius were Greek or Slavic, but they knew the Slavic dialect spoken in Macedonia...
13. Frank Andrews. Ancient Slavs'. Worzalla Publishing Company, 1976. University of Wisconsin - Madison. p. 163. ...Cyril and Methodius derived from a rich family of Salonica, perhaps of Slavic origin, but Grecized in those times. Methodius (815–885)...
14. Johann Heinrich Kurtz, John Macpherson. Church History. Hodder and Stoughton, 1891. University of California. p. 431 ...Born at Thessalonica, and so probably of Slavic descent, at least acquainted with the language of the Slavs,...
15. William Leslie King. Investment and Achievement: A Study in Christian Progress. Jennings and Graham, 1913. Columbia University. ...This man and his brother Cyril became the Methodius and Cyril apostles of the Slavic people. These two brothers seemed to have been raised up for such a mission. They were probably of Slavic descent...</ref> or Greek*
Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001–05, s.v. "Cyril and Methodius, Saints" "Greek missionaries, brothers, called Apostles to the Slavs and fathers of Slavonic literature." Encyclopædia Britannica, Major alphabets of the world, Cyrillic and Glagolitic alphabets, 2008, O.Ed. "The two early Slavic alphabets, the Cyrillic and the Glagolitic, were invented by St. Cyril, or Constantine (c. 827–869), and St. Methodius (c. 825–884). These men were Greeks from Thessalonica who became apostles to the southern Slavs, whom they converted to Christianity. Encyclopedia of World Cultures, David H. Levinson, 1991, p.239, s.v., "Social Science" Eric M. Meyers, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East, p.151, 1997 Lunt, Slavic Review, June 1964, p. 216; Roman Jakobson, Crucial problems of Cyrillo-Methodian Studies; Leonid Ivan Strakhovsky, A Handbook of Slavic Studies, p.98 V.Bogdanovich, History of the ancient Serbian literature, Belgrade, 1980, p.119
origin, or both. 1. Philip Lief Group. Saintly Support: A Prayer For Every Problem. Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2003. p. 37. ...Cyril was born of Greek nobility connected with the senate of Thessalonica, although his mother may have been of Slavic descent...
2. UNESCO Features: A Fortnightly Press Service. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization., 1984. University of Michigan ...They may have been of wholly Slavic descent or of mixed Greco-Slav origin... The two brothers lost their father when Cyril was fourteen, and the powerful minister Theoktistos, who was logothetes tou dromou, one of the chief ministers of the Empire, became their protector. 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 Cyril was to teach. Cyril was ordained as priest some time after his education, while his brother Methodius remained a deacon until 867/868.
Mission to the Khazars About 860, 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, sent Cyril on a missionary expedition to the Khazars who had requested a scholar be sent to them who could converse with Jews and Saracens. It has been claimed that Methodius accompanied Cyril on the mission to the Khazars, but this may be a later invention. The account of his life presented in the Latin "Legenda" claims that he learned the Khazar language while in Chersonesos, in Taurica (modern Crimea).
After his return to Constantinople, Cyril assumed the office of professor of philosophy in the university. His brother by this time had become a significant figure in Byzantine political and administrative affairs, and abbot of his monastery.
Mission to the Slavs Great Moravia
In 862, the brothers began the work which would give them their historical importance. That year Prince Rastislav of Great Moravia requested that Emperor Michael III and Patriarch Photius send missionaries to evangelize his Slavic subjects. His motives in doing so were probably more political than religious. Rastislav became King with the support of the Frankish ruler Louis the German, though he subsequently sought to assert his independence from the Franks. That Cyril and Methodius might have been the first to bring Christianity to Moravia is a common misconception; Rastislav's letter to Michael III stated clearly that his people "had already rejected paganism and adhere to the Christian law."Vizantiiskoe missionerstvo, Ivanov S. A., Iazyki slavianskoi kul'tury, Moskva 2003, p. 147 Rastislav is said to have expelled missionaries of the Roman Church and instead turned to Constantinople for ecclesiastical assistance and, presumably, political support.Encyclopædia Britannica, Cyril and Methodius, Saints, O.Ed., 2008 The Emperor quickly chose to send Cyril, accompanied by his brother Methodius. The request provided a convenient opportunity to expand Byzantine influence. Their first work seems to have been the training of assistants. In 863 they began translating the Gospels and essential liturgical books into what is now known as Old Church Slavonic, and travelled to Great Moravia to promote it. This endeavour was amply rewarded. However, they came into conflict with German clerics, who opposed their efforts to create a specifically Slavic liturgy.
For the purpose of this mission, they devised the Glagolitic script, the first alphabet to be used for Slavonic manuscripts. The Glagolitic alphabet was suited to match the specific features of the Slavonic language. Many languages continue to use its descendant script, Cyrillic.
The brothers wrote the first Slavic Civil Code, which was used in Great Moravia. Many Orthodox churches and some Eastern Catholic churches continue to use the language derived from Old Church Slavonic, known as Church Slavonic, in their liturgies.
Exactly how much the brothers translated is impossible to know. The New Testament and the Psalms seem to have been the first, followed by other lessons from the Old Testament. The "Translatio" speaks only of a version of the Gospels by Cyril, and the "Vita Methodii" only of the "evangelium Slovenicum", though other liturgical selections may also have been translated.