Saints of the day: Sts. Cyril and Methodius

Cyril, born Constantine, and Methodius were brothers, Byzantine Christian theologians and missionaries. For their work evangelizing the Slavs, the two are known as the “Apostles to the Slavs”.

Cyril and Methodius are credited with devising the Glagolitic alphabet, the first alphabet used to transcribe Old Church Slavonic. Following their deaths, their pupils continued their missionary work among other Slavs. The duo are venerated in the Eastern Orthodox Church as saints with the title of “equal-to-apostles”. Pope Leo XIII introduced their feast into the calendar of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church in 1880. In 1980, the first Slav pope, Pope John Paul II declared the brothers co-patron saints of Europe, together with Benedict of Nursia.

Cyril and Methodius’ first appearance in a papal document is in Grande Munus of Leo XIII in 1880. They are still highly regarded by both Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christians. Their feast day is currently celebrated on February 14, in the Roman Catholic Church (to coincide with the date of St Cyril’s death); on May 11, in the Eastern Orthodox Church (though for Eastern Orthodox Churches which use the Julian Calendar this is May 24, according to the Gregorian calendar); and on July 7, according to the old sanctoral calendar that existed before the revisions of the Second Vatican Council. The celebration also commemorates the introduction of literacy and the preaching of the gospels in the Slavonic language by the duo. In 1980, they were declared “Patrons of Europe”.

Saints Cyril and Methodius are remembered in the Church of England with a Lesser Festival, and with a lesser feast on the Episcopal Church calendar on February 14.

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