Cyril and Methodius | |
|---|---|
 "Saints Cyril and Methodius holding the Cyrillic alphabet," a mural by Bulgarian iconographer Z. Zograf, 1848, Troyan Monastery | |
| Bishops and Confessors; Equals to the Apostles; Patrons of Europe; Apostles to the Slavs | |
| Born | 826 or 827 and 815 Thessalonica, Byzantine Empire (present-day Greece) |
| Died | 14 February 869 and 6 April 885 Rome and Velehrad, Great Moravia |
| Venerated in | Eastern Orthodox Church Catholic Church Anglican Communion[1] Lutheranism[2] |
| Feast | 11 and 24 May[3] (Eastern Orthodox Church) 14 February (present Roman Catholic calendar); 5 July (Roman Catholic calendar 1880–1886); 7 July (Roman Catholic calendar 1887–1969) 5 July (Roman Catholic and Lutheran Czech Republic and Slovakia) |
| Attributes | Brothers depicted together; Eastern bishops holding up a church; Eastern bishops holding an icon of the Last Judgment.[4] Often, Cyril is depicted wearing a monastic habit and Methodius vested as a bishop with omophorion. |
| Patronage | Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Transnistria, Serbia, Archdiocese of Ljubljana, Europe,[4] Slovak Eparchy of Toronto, Eparchy of Košice[5] |
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Cyril (Greek: Κύριλλος, romanized: Kýrillos; born Constantine, 826–869) and Methodius (Μεθόδιος, Methódios; born Michael, 815–885) were brothers, Byzantine Christian theologians and missionaries. For their work evangelizing the Slavs, they are known as the "Apostles to the Slavs".[6]
They are credited with devising the Glagolitic alphabet, the first alphabet used to transcribe Old Church Slavonic.[7] 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.[8]
- ^ "Cyril and Methodius, Missionaries, 869, 885". The Episcopal Church. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
- ^ "Notable Lutheran Saints". Resurrectionpeople.org. Archived from the original on 16 May 2019. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
- ^ In the 21st century this date in the Julian Calendar corresponds to 24 May in the Gregorian Calendar
- ^ a b Jones, Terry. "Methodius". Patron Saints Index. Archived from the original on 19 February 2007. Retrieved 18 February 2007.
- ^ History of the Eparchy of Košice Archived 22 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine (Slovak)
- ^ "Figures of (trans-) national religious memory of the Orthodox southern Slavs before 1945: an outline on the examples of SS. Cyril and Methodius". ResearchGate. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
- ^ Liturgy of the Hours, Volume III, 14 February.
- ^ "Egregiae Virtutis". Archived from the original on 4 January 2009. Retrieved 26 April 2009. Apostolic letter of Pope John Paul II, 31 December 1980 (in Latin)