Today's Saints (July 7): Cyril & Methodius
Saints Home Page | BACK | NEXT
Called the Apostles to the Slavs, Saints Cyril (called Constantine until he became a monk in 868) and Methodius were brothers, born to a senatorial family in Thessalonica.They became priests and later bishops. In 863, they were commissioned by the Emperor of Constantinople as missionaries in Moravia and while there translated the Scriptures and the Liturgy into the Slavonic language.
Their labour bore much fruit, bringing many Bulgarians, Moravians and Bohemians to Christ.
They are esteemed as the creators of Slavonic literature for having created the Glagolithic alphabet in which to write the Scriptures and sacred liturgies.
They are oftentimes portrayed in art as holding Holy Writ and raising the cross, as they are in the accompanying picture.
Cyril died in a monastery in Rome and was buried in the church of San Clemente. Methodius was then consecrated Bishop, returned to Moravia, and endured opposition by the German bishops, even being imprisoned by them for some two years.
May more faithful men be called to articulate the gospel in such a way so as to bring people to Christ. "What I tell you in darkness that speak ye in light, saith the Lord: and what ye hear in the ear,that preach ye upon the housetops." (The day's Communion sentences, page E 89, People's Anglican Missal)
The Mass Propers
Catholic Encyclopedia articleBooks, Items worth Considering
Cyril & Methodius of Thessalonica: The Acculturation of the Slavs
Cyril & Methodius: Illuminators of the Slavs
Icon of St. Cyril & St. Methodius 1862 Giclee Poster Print
The Treasury of Saints and Martyrs
The Oxford Dictionary of Saints (Oxford Paperback Reference)
The Penguin Dictionary of Saints: Third Edition (Dictionary, Penguin)
Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church
www.episcopalnet.org
