St. Methodius (and Cyril)

St. Methodius was born around 815 in Thessalonica, the elder brother of St. Cyril (Constantine), in a prominent Byzantine family of that Greek city, where the surrounding Slavic population made the brothers familiar with Slavic speech from youth. Methodius first pursued a civil career, serving as governor of a Slavic district of the empire, before withdrawing to become a monk on Mount Olympus in Bithynia. His brilliant younger brother, a scholar and librarian at Constantinople, later joined him there. Their great mission began in 863, when Prince Rastislav of Great Moravia asked Constantinople for teachers who could instruct his people in their own language. Cyril devised an alphabet for the Slavonic tongue—the Glagolitic script, forerunner of the alphabet that bears his name—and the brothers translated the Scriptures and the liturgy into Slavonic, a bold pastoral decision that planted the Gospel deep in Slavic culture. Opposed by Frankish clergy who insisted on Latin, they traveled to Rome, where Pope Adrian II approved the Slavonic liturgy. Cyril, having become a monk in Rome, died there in 869 and was buried in the Basilica of San Clemente, where his tomb is still venerated. Methodius was ordained a bishop and appointed by the pope as archbishop for the Moravian and Pannonian mission. His fidelity cost him dearly: Frankish bishops hostile to his jurisdiction and his Slavonic liturgy had him imprisoned for over two years until Pope John VIII secured his release. Vindicated by Rome, he continued his apostolate, completing with his disciples the Slavonic translation of nearly the whole Bible before his death on April 6, 885, at Velehrad in Moravia. His exiled disciples carried the brothers' work to Bulgaria and beyond, shaping the Christian culture of the Slavic world. Venerated since ancient times in both East and West, Cyril and Methodius are celebrated together in the Roman calendar on February 14, the day of Cyril's death. In 1980 Pope John Paul II declared them co-patrons of Europe alongside St. Benedict, honoring the 'Apostles of the Slavs' as bridges between the Christian East and West. Velehrad in the Czech Republic remains a major pilgrimage center of their memory.