Solemnities, Feasts, Obligatory and Optional Memorials, and Traditional Dates of Commemoration
- Cyril, monk, and Methodius, bishop
- John Baptist of the Conception, priest
- Valentine, priest and martyr
- Abraham, bishop
- Maro, abbot
- Auxentius
- Conran, bishop
- Antonius of Sorrento, abbot
- Adolf, bishop
St. Cyril and St. Methodius, are known as the "apostles of the Slavs". Their principal missions were to territories encompassed by modern-day Czech Republic, Croatia, Serbia, and Slovenia. Cyril and Methodius are brothers, in a family of seven children in Thessalonica, with Cyril being the youngest.
Cyril began as a professor of philosophy while his brother Methodius entered a monastery in Bithynia after a brief government career. Both were commissioned by the Emperor Michael III ca. 862 A.D. to become missionaries in Moravia at the request of the local ruler. The local ruler, Rotislav, wanted the brothers to teach the Christian faith in the vernacular, as an alternative to the German missionaries who were already there. Both Cyril and Methodius spoke Slavonic since childhood. But to put Slavonic in written form, Cyril invented a Slavonic alphabet (Glagolithic, from which the term Cyrillic was derived) which was based on the Greek alphabet. From this Cyrillic alphabet, both Cyril and Methodius translated together major portions of the Bible and the liturgy.
For probably political reasons, the German bishops opposed Cyril and Methodius' missionary efforts and refused to ordain them and their followers. So the two brothers left Moravia and headed back to seek help in Constantinople. While enroute, they stopped at Venice, and attended to the invitation of Pope Nicholas I to visit Rome. However, it was the successor of Nicholas I, Hadrian II, who received the brothers with great honor because Cyril and Methodius were also carrying with them the relics of St. Clement.
Pope Hadrian II approved the Slavonic liturgy and ordained Methodius and three of their disciples as priests. The newly ordained celebrated the Slavonic liturgy at St. Peter's Basilica and in other Roman churches. By this time Cyril decided to become a monk. Afflicted with serious health problems, he died at 42 years of age on February 14, 869 A.D. Methodius, on the other hand, continued using the Slavonic liturgy and in 870 A.D. was consecrated to the episcopate. But the German bishops and the Hungarian clergy opposed him, had him removed from his see and exiled him to Swabia. The new pope, John VIII, recalled Methodius and restored him to his see in 873 A.D., with the order that he should not use the Slavonic liturgy. In 879 A.D., Methodius was called to Rome to answer charges of his not using the "Filioque" in the creed and for continuing to use Slavonic in the liturgy. When the charges proved without basis, Methodius went back to Moravia in 880 A.D. with his appointment to archbishop confirmed and with papal permission to use the Slavonic language in the liturgy restored. St. Methodius died on April 6, 885 A.D. in Velehrad in modern-day Czech Republic.
Related blog post:
- Sts. Cyril and Methodius and the Patron Saints of Europe, Learn more
- The Growth of Christianity in Europe, Learn more
Saints in the Byzantine Calendar [February 14]
- Auxentius, Hegumen
- Cyril, Bishop of Catania
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