Cyril and Methodius
Cyril and Methodius | |
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"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 (41 or 42 and 54) Rome and Velehrad, Great Moravia |
| Venerated in | Eastern Orthodox Church Catholic Church Anglican Communion Lutheranism |
| Feast | 11 and 24 May (Eastern Orthodox Church) 14 February (present Latin Catholic calendar); 5 July (Latin Catholic calendar 1880–1886); 7 July (Latin Catholic calendar 1887–1969) 5 July (Latin 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. 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, Slovak Eparchy of Toronto, Eparchy of Košice |
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| Eastern Orthodox Church |
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| Overview |
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".
They are credited with devising the Glagolitic alphabet, the first alphabet used to transcribe Old Church Slavonic. 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.