Cyril and Methodius were born in Thessaloniki. They were probably of Greek nationality, but since Thessaloniki was surrounded by Slavs, they learned the Slavic-Macedonian dialect.
Cyril, according to the book “The Life of Cyril,” was the youngest of seven brothers and his baptismal name was Constantine. Methodius’s baptismal name was Michael, and he received the name Methodius when he became a monk on Mount Uludag, in northwestern Turkey.
They spent their earliest youth in Thessaloniki, which at that time was surrounded by Slavs. Methodius became the administrator of an archontia in eastern Macedonia, while Cyril, who grew up in the imperial court, after completing philosophical and theological studies, was appointed librarian of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople and a teacher of philosophy at the Constantinople Higher School.
However, by order of the Byzantine Emperor Michael III and the Patriarch of Constantinople Photius, the two brothers went as missionaries to the Turkish-Tatar Khazars in southern Russia in 860 to prevent the spread of Judaism. This missionary mission was unsuccessful, as the Khazar Khagan later established Judaism as the national religion.
Two years after the mission to Russia (in 860), the brothers were engaged for a new mission among the Slavs. Namely, in 862, the embassy of the Moravian Prince Rastislav requested from Emperor Michael a bishop and priests who would preach the Christian faith in the Slavic language.
The task was great and delicate. In the area of Rastislav’s vast state, Christianity was spread by Frankish priests from the Regensburg and Passau bishoprics. Fearing their political influence, Rastislav sought support in Byzantium against Emperor Louis the German, from whose rule he had fiercely struggled to break free.
The brothers prepared themselves seriously for this job: Cyril composed the first Slavic script – the Glagolitic alphabet, and translated the most necessary church books into the language of the Macedonian Slavs from the surroundings of Thessaloniki. In this way, the brothers created the first Slavic literary language and laid the foundations of Slavic literature.
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Pope Hadrian saw in the Slavic missionaries good helpers in the fight against the defiant and disobedient Frankish archbishops and their sovereign, and solemnly received them. In Rome, Cyril fell ill and soon died. He was buried in the Church of St. Clement, where his relics are still located today.
In Moravia, Methodius translated the Bible into the Slavic language. After his death, the Slavic liturgy was banned in Moravia, and Prince Svatopluk exiled his disciples. Some of them were sold into slavery, and some managed to take refuge in Bulgaria, Macedonia, Rascia and coastal Croatia, where they continued their work.
By translating liturgical and biblical books, Cyril and Methodius laid the foundations of Slavic literacy. With their work, they helped the cultural progress of the Slavs, which is why they were remembered as “Slavic apostles”. Their disciples Clement and Naum composed the Cyrillic alphabet.
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Source: Dnevno.rs, Photo: Sveti Ćirilo i Metodije / Wikimedia Creative Commons