By Sister John Vianney, SS.C.M.
Within the Church as in the world of commerce, brothers have often pursued similar professional goals and have worked side by side. It is not uncommon for brothers to become business partners. Plumbers, morticians, grocers - and even producers of cough drops - have "Bros." in their titles.
Among the original apostles Andrew and his brother Peter were among the first chosen. Another pair, James and John - sons of Zebedee - were in the fishing business with their father before the Lord invited them to become "fishers of men."
Such was the case with two ninth-century Greek brothers, Constantine and Methodius. (Shortly before his death in 869, Constantine retired to a monastery in Rome and took the name Cyril. Throughout this article, Methodius' younger brother will be identified as Cyril.)
During 1985, the Church celebrated the 1100th anniversary of the death of St. Methodius. He and his brother, Cyril, have become more prominent in the global Church since 1980, when, on New Year's Eve, Pope John Paul II named them, along with St. Benedict, as co-patrons of Europe.
Historians suggest that Methodius was born about the year 815. Cyril, the youngest child in the family, was born in 826 or 827. Their father, Leo, was a wealthy nobleman with a prominent position in their native city of Thessalonica.
Because of their father's position, the boys were well educated and were being groomed to succeed him. Methodius was tutored in law by his father with the understanding that he would enter government service upon the completion of his studies. Eventually, the competent young lawyer was appointed administrator of a district in the Byzantine Empire where the majority of the inhabitants were Slavs. Having pursued his career in civil law until he was 40 years of age, Methodius abandoned his promising position and retired to a monastery on Mt. Olympus in 855.
The younger of the two brothers was gifted in other ways. Cyril was a scholar, philosopher and linguist - one who constantly pursued wisdom. He, too, was granted positions of prominence. He served as teacher and librarian in the court of the Empress Theodora, who was regent for her young son, the future Emperor Michael III.
When Cyril was merely in his twenties he was sent on a diplomatic mission to the Arabs. No doubt his facility with languages, his familiarity with philosophy and theology, as well as his courtly discretion, were factors which qualified him for such a trustworthy mission. Worldly prestige, however, did not hold any attraction for him and, eventually, Cyril joined his elder brother at the monastery, not as a professed monk, but rather as an associate or guest.
Both by education and natural talent, these brothers distinguished themselves. Their gifts, used ultimately to promote God's Kingdom, were complementary. Methodius was the administrator; Cyril the gifted linguist and theologian. Together they would in time become the glorious Apostles to the Slavs.
God's plan for them evolved through a variety of human events. Between 859 and 861, the Emperor Michael wished to strengthen political ties with the Khazars, who lived in what is now southern Russia. Cyril and Methodius were asked to represent him on a delicate diplomatic mission which would strengthen political ties and offset invasion from the north. The zealous brothers took advantage of this opportunity also to proclaim God's Word. It was while on this mission that they discovered the relics of the martyred fourth pope, St. Clement, which they eventually transported to Rome.
Exhausted from this missionary journey and eager for the solitude of monastic life, the brothers returned to Mt. Olympus. They may have planned on spending the rest of their lives in seclusion there, but this was not to be. They were destined for a more active apostolic life.
In 862, Rastislav, Prince of Moravia, sent a delegation to Emperor Michael III with the request that missionaries be sent "to explain to us the Christian truths in our own language." This request, like the previous missions to the Arabs and the Khazars, was both political and religious in nature.
The most likely candidates for this mission were the experienced teachers and diplomats, Cyril and Methodius. Their familiarity with the Slav language was certainly another factor in their favor.
Because the city of Thessalonica was surrounded by Slavs from the north, and because their household had employed Slav servants, Cyril and Methodius had a familiarity with the Slav language. Aware of the fact that the Slavs lacked a written language, Cyril prepared for his mission of evangelization by developing the Glagolitic (from glagol - "to speak") alphabet employing, for the most part, Greek characters.
Sensitive to the needs of the people they were called to serve, and aware of the need to proclaim the Gospel in a manner in which they might be understood, the brothers set before themselves the task of translating the Scriptures and the Liturgy.
Upon their arrival in Great Moravia (present day Czechoslovakia) in 863, the brothers and their disciples from Greece began teaching the young to read and write. At the same time they instructed children and adults in the faith.
Not only did Cyril inculcate religious values in his students, he also established a school in which he taught grammar, music, philosophy, and practical subjects. His school became the foundation of the Slavonic culture. He was convinced of the obvious; instruction in one's native tongue has a more powerful influence than education in a foreign language.
Being of the Byzantine rite, Cyril and Methodius adapted the newly devised language to the Greek liturgy. The residents of Great Moravia had experienced the Latin liturgy because of the presence of Scotch, Irish, and Bavarian missionaries who had tried for almost a century to convert them. Because Cyril and Methodius were accustomed to using the vernacular in the liturgy, they simply translated the Latin liturgy into Slavonic also. They realized that both Greek and Latin were equally unfamiliar to the people. By introducing the liturgy in the language of the people, they expected to win them over to Christianity more easily.
So great was the zeal of the ninth-century missionaries Cyril and Methodius that they not only instructed their flocks in Slavic Eastern Europe in the Faith, but they also set about preparing almost immediately for a native clergy. This, in time, would reduce the Slavs' dependence on foreign neighbors for missionaries and preachers.
These innovations were not well received by the neighboring Bavarian bishops, whose missionaries had not been as successful in converting the Slavs. Cyril and Methodius were accused of heresy and reported to Rome.
The brothers responded to their summons with humility and submission. They left for Rome accompanied by disciples whom they had been preparing for the priesthood. Late in 868, Pope Hadrian II, having examined their works, not only approved their translations of Scripture and Liturgy, he also approved the ordination of the men they had prepared and established a Slavonic hierarchy by designating Methodius as archbishop. (Some historians suggest that both brothers were ordained bishops. Artists, however, have traditionally portrayed Cyril as monk and Methodius as archbishop.)
Exhausted from his labors and in a state of physical weakness, Cyril - then only 42 years of age - donned the habit of a monk on December 26, 868. He renounced all worldly and ecclesiastical honors, and spent the last 50 days of his life in the solitude of the monastery. His death occurred on February 14, 869. Historians have recorded that Cyril was buried with great dignity in the Church of St. Clement in Rome. That church, near the Coliseum, remains a veritable shrine in honor of SS. Cyril and Methodius.
Methodius had considered returning to Constantinople, allowing the newly ordained disciples to continue the work of evangelization among their own people. Prior to his death, however, Cyril had urged him to return and continue the work they had begun together.
Much suffering awaited Methodius upon his return to Great Moravia. Although he had been appointed archbishop and papal legate to the Slav peoples, he was abducted, imprisoned, and held captive for three years. Political and ecclesiastical jealousies had prompted this action. In 873, only after Pope John VIII threatened to suspend all the bishops responsible for Methodius' imprisonment, was he released.
Despite many obstacles, Methodius continued his work of evangelization and continued using Slavonic in both Byzantine and Latin liturgies. For 15 years the persevered in the mission he had begun with his younger brother. In that time the faith was gradually taking root in the peoples who were then living in present day Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Russia, the Ukraine, and Yugoslavia.
Methodius died near Velehrad, Moravia, on April 6, 885. Although they were acclaimed as saints shortly after their deaths, SS. Cyril and Methodius were virtually unknown and unrecognized - except by the Slavs - for almost a thousand years. Their feast was not extended to the universal Church until Pope Leo XIII commemorated the millennium of Slavic Christianity and extolled the missionary endeavors of these two brothers in his 1880 encyclical Grande Munus.
In recent years, a greater awareness and appreciation of the apostolic efforts of these extraordinary brothers have been generated. The descendants of the ninth-century converts have, over the centuries, suffered much because of persecution and schism, yet their staunch faith has sustained and even strengthened them.
In 1963, the Slav world celebrated the 11th centennial of the arrival of SS. Cyril and Methodius in Great Moravia. During that year Slav Christians of both rites throughout the world participated in liturgies and pageants in which they gratefully celebrated the faith brought to them by the brothers from Thessalonica. During that year Pope John XXIII dedicated the Institute of SS. Cyril and Methodius in Rome, a seminary for Slovak candidates for the priesthood who have been exiled from their native land because of religious persecution by the atheistic communists.
In 1969, the "Year of St. Cyril," the feast of SS. Cyril and Methodius was changed from July 7 to February 14, the date of Cyril's death. During his homily at a Mass commemorating the 1100th anniversary of Cyril's death, Pope Paul VI commended Cyril and Methodius for introducing the vernacular into the liturgy, for providing this language as a common base for worship among the various Slav peoples, and for instructing "the young future collaborators who were to continue their work."
Fidelity to the See of Peter has been a hallmark of Slav Catholics of both Latin and Byzantine Rites. Pope Paul VI continued; "Love for the universal Church of Christ, which embraces all peoples under the leadership of the Roman Pontiff, was the fulcrum of the work and the teachings of St. Cyril. He dedicated his intellectual and physical energies to the spreading of Christianity among the Slav peoples who at that time were culturally and socially inferior to Byzantines. He respected their special ethnic traits, he considered them all equal in Christ and tried to make them a part of the universal Church."
On the last day of 1980, the Slav Pope John Paul II designated Cyril and Methodius co-patrons of Europe, along with St. Benedict.
Cyril and Methodius clearly read the signs of their times
and met them. They serve as models of adaptability, courageous
and responsible innovation, fidelity, and humble submission. There
is no way that they could have anticipated the long-lasting effects of
their labors. They simply planted seeds that took root and have flourished
for 11 centuries. Under the influence of the Holy Spirit their efforts
have not been in vain.