Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Brothers Cyril and Methodius. Cyril and Methodius short message

CYRILL AND MEFODIUS, Slavic educators, creators of the Slavic alphabet and literary language, the first translators from Greek into Slavic, preachers of Christianity, saints equal to the apostles.

According to the lives, brothers Cyril (before taking monasticism - Constantine) [about 827, Thessaloniki (Thessaloniki) - 14.2.869, Rome] and Methodius (name unknown before taking monasticism) [about 815, Thessaloniki (Thessaloniki) - 6.4.885, Velegrad ] came from the family of drungaria (Byzantine military leader and mid-ranking administrator). Methodius entered the government service in his youth, ruled a region with a Slavic population for some time, then retired to a monastery. Constantine was educated in Constantinople, among his teachers was the future Patriarch of Constantinople, Saint Photius. Having completed his education, Constantine took the position of librarian of the Church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, or, according to another version, the position of skeuphylax (cathedral sacristan). Leaving the capital, he settled in one of the monasteries of Asia Minor. For some time he taught philosophy in Constantinople, and participated in polemics with the iconoclasts (see Iconoclasm). In 855-856 Constantine took part in the so-called Saracen mission to the capital Arab Caliphate, where, according to his life, he conducted theological discussions with Muslims. In 860-861, as part of a diplomatic mission, he traveled to the Khazar Kaganate and conducted polemics with Jews and Muslims. During this journey, Constantine found near Korsun (see Chersonesus) the relics of the holy martyr Clement I, Pope of Rome; He took some of the relics with him.

"Cyril and Methodius". Icon by G. Zhuravlev (1885). Samara Diocesan Church History Museum.

According to the lives of Cyril and Methodius, an embassy from the Great Moravian prince Rostislav, who arrived at the end of 862 to the Byzantine Emperor Michael III, asked to send a “teacher” to Moravia to expound the Christian faith in the Slavic language. The mission was entrusted to Constantine and Methodius, who knew the Slavic language well. In Constantinople, in preparation for the trip, Constantine compiled an alphabet (Glagolitic) for the Slavs, which is an independent graphic system. The Glagolitic alphabet is based on the phonemic principle: in general, it is characterized by a one-to-one correspondence between the phoneme and the letter. Having created an alphabet and a writing system, Constantine began translating from Greek language liturgical Gospel. The first recorded Slavic phrase (John 1:1) in Glagolitic looked like

(in Cyrillic - from time immemorial ѣ word). The main merit of the enlightenment brothers is that thanks to their works, on the basis of the unwritten Slavic dialect, a book-written language was developed, suitable for translating the Holy Scriptures and liturgical texts, capable of conveying the most complex theological ideas and features of Byzantine liturgical poetry (see Old Slavonic language, Church Slavonic language).

“Bishop Methodius dictates the text of the Slavic translation to the scribe.” Miniature of the Radziwill Chronicle. 15th century

At the end of 863, Constantine and Methodius went to Great Moravia, where they continued their translation activities. The Apostle, the Psalter, a number of liturgical texts, the essay “Writing about the Right Faith” (the translation is based on the “Great Apologetician” of Nikephoros of Constantinople) - a brief summary of the main tenets of Christian doctrine - were translated into the Slavic language, and a poetic preface to the Gospel was compiled (“Proglas "). At the same time, training was actively underway local residents Slavic writing. The success of the missionaries displeased the German priests who served in the Moravian churches in Latin. In disputes with Constantine and Methodius, they argued that worship could be performed only in one of three languages: Hebrew, Greek and Latin, in which, according to the Gospel, the inscription was made on the cross over the crucified Jesus Christ (Luke 23:38). Since the territory of Great Moravia was under the jurisdiction of the Roman Church, Constantine and Methodius were summoned to Rome. The brothers brought part of the relics of the holy martyr Clement I to Rome, which predetermined the favor of Pope Adrian II towards them; he approved the books they translated, approved Slavic worship and ordained Methodius to the priesthood. While in Rome, Constantine fell ill, took the schema with the name Cyril and soon died. By order of the pope, he was buried in the Basilica of St. Clement.

Returning with his disciples to Moravia, Methodius enlisted the support of princes Rostislav and Kocel, again went to Rome, where no later than the end of the summer of 869 he was installed as archbishop of the restored Sirmian diocese, which included Great Moravia and Pannonia, and continued to strengthen and spread Slavic writing and worship. Methodius's activities continued to provoke opposition from the German clergy, who, taking advantage of the successes of the East Frankish king Carloman in the war with Rostislav, achieved his arrest and trial. For two and a half years, Methodius and his closest disciples were imprisoned in Ellwangen Abbey (according to another version - Reichenau). Thanks to the intercession of Pope John VIII in the spring of 873, Methodius was released and returned to the see. However, the opposition of the German clergy did not stop. Methodius was accused of rejecting the doctrine of the Filioque. In 880 he was summoned to Rome, where he was acquitted, after which he returned to Moravia.

Methodius directed his efforts towards organizing a full-fledged church life and disseminating Byzantine legal norms in Great Moravia. For this purpose, he translated the Nomocanon and compiled “The Law of Judgment for People” - the first Slavic legal collection. On the initiative of Methodius, and possibly with his participation, the life of Cyril and the service to him were written (originally in Greek). IN last years life, according to the life, Methodius, with the help of two assistants, translated the entire Old Testament(except for the Maccabean books), as well as “the books of the fathers” (in all likelihood, the Patericon). Shortly before his death, he named Gorazd, one of his students, as his successor. Methodius was buried in the cathedral church of Velehrad, the capital of Moravia (the grave has not survived). Soon after the death of Methodius, his students were expelled from Moravia, and most of them (Clement of Ohrid, Naum of Ohrid, Konstantin of Preslav) ended up in Bulgaria, where the tradition of Slavic writing was continued.

The veneration of Cyril and Methodius probably began immediately after their death. Their lives and services to them were created in the 9th century. The names of Cyril and Methodius appear in the monthly book of the Assemanian Gospel (1st half of the 11th century). The early veneration of Cyril and Methodius in Rus' is evidenced by the inclusion of their names in the month books of the Ostromir Gospel (1056-57) and the Archangel Gospel (1092). At the end of the 17th century, during the correction of the Menaion (see Book on the right), the names of Cyril and Methodius were excluded from church calendar. The renewal of veneration dates back to the mid-19th century and is associated with the ideas of Slavic unity that were relevant at that time. The days of memory of Cyril and Methodius were included in the Russian Orthodox Church calendar in 1863.

Images of Cyril and Methodius are quite widespread. Cyril is depicted in monastic attire - in a dark tunic and mantle with a hood, Methodius - in bishop's vestments. The earliest depiction of Cyril and Methodius is considered to be the miniature “Transfer of the Relics of St. Clement, Pope of Rome” from the Menology of Basil the Great (between 976 and 1025, Vatican Library). Sometimes a 9th century fresco of the Basilica of St. Clement in Rome is cited as the earliest image. In Rus', images of Cyril and Methodius have been found since the 15th century among the miniatures of the Radziwill Chronicle and in the minea icons, which depicted saints of the entire month. In Russian iconography, their images have become especially popular since the mid-19th century.

Days of remembrance according to the Russian calendar Orthodox Church- February 14(27) (Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril), April 6(19) ( Holy Methodius), May 11(24) ( Equal to the Apostles Methodius and Kirill); according to the calendar of the Roman Catholic Church - February 14. Since 1991, Russia has established an annual secular holiday, the Day of Slavic Literature and Culture, which falls on the day of church memory of Cyril and Methodius.

Lit.: Lavrov P. A. Kirilo and Methodology in Old Slavonic writing Kiev, 1928; aka. Materials on the history of the emergence of ancient Slavic writing. L., 1930; Kirilo-Metodievsk encyclopedia. Sofia, 1985-2003. T. 1-4; Vereshchagin E. M. History of the emergence of the ancient common Slavic literary language. Translation activities of Cyril and Methodius and their students. M., 1997; Florya B. N. Tales of the beginning of Slavic writing. St. Petersburg, 2004; Tahiaos A.-E. N. Holy brothers Cyril and Methodius, educators of the Slavs. Sergiev Posad, 2005.

Their memory is celebrated on May 11 in honor of the consecration of the Slavic language with the Gospel, February 14. memory of St. Kirill on the day of his death, April 6. memory of St. Methodius on the day of his death

Siblings Cyril and Methodius came from a pious family that lived in greek city Thessaloniki. They were the children of a governor, a Bulgarian Slav. St. Methodius was the eldest of seven brothers, St. Konstantin, monastically Kirill, is the youngest.

St. Methodius was at first in military rank and ruled subordinate Byzantine Empire a Slavic principality, apparently Bulgarian, which gave him the opportunity to learn the Slavic language. Having stayed there for about 10 years, St. Methodius then became a monk in one of the monasteries on Mount Olympus ( Asia Minor). From an early age St. Constantine was distinguished by his mental abilities and studied with the young Emperor Michael from the best teachers Constantinople, including Photius, later Patriarch of Constantinople. St. Constantine perfectly comprehended all the sciences of his time and many languages; he studied the works of the saint especially diligently. For his intelligence and outstanding knowledge, St. Constantine was nicknamed the Philosopher.

At the end of the teaching of St. Constantine took the rank and was appointed keeper of the patriarchal library at the Church of Hagia Sophia, but soon left the capital and secretly went to the monastery. Found there and returned to Constantinople, he was appointed teacher of philosophy at the Higher School of Constantinople. The wisdom and strength of faith of the still very young Constantine were so great that he managed to defeat the leader of the iconoclast heretics, Annius, in a debate. After this victory, Constantine was sent by the emperor to debate about the Holy Trinity with the Saracens and also won. Soon Constantine retired to his brother Methodius on Olympus, where he spent time in constant prayer and reading the works of the holy fathers.

One day the emperor summoned the holy brothers from the monastery and sent them to the Khazars to preach the gospel. On the way, they stopped for some time in the city of Chersonese (Korsun), where they prepared for the gospel. There the holy brothers miraculously found the relics of the Hieromartyr Clement, Pope of Rome. There, in Chersonesus, St. Konstantin found the Gospel and the Psalter, written in “Russian letters,” and a man speaking Russian, and began to learn from this man to read and speak his language.

Then the holy brothers went to the Khazars, where they won victories in debates with Jews and Muslims, preaching the gospel teaching. On the way home, the brothers again visited Chersonesos and, taking the relics of St. Clement, returned to Constantinople. St. Constantine remained in the capital, and St. Methodius received the abbess in the small monastery of Polychron, not far from Mount Olympus, where he had previously labored.

Soon, ambassadors from the Moravian prince Rostislav, oppressed by the German bishops, came to the emperor with a request to send teachers to Moravia who could preach in the native language of the Slavs. The emperor called Constantine to him and told him: “You need to go there, because no one will do this better than you.” St. Constantine, with fasting and prayer, began a new feat. With the help of his brother Methodius and his disciples Gorazd, Clement, Savva, Naum and Angelyar, he compiled the Slavic alphabet and translated into Slavic the books without which worship could not be performed: the Gospel, the Apostle, the Psalter and selected services. This was in 863.

Having completed the translation, the holy brothers went to Moravia, where they were received with great honor, and began to teach worship in the Slavic language. This aroused the anger of the German bishops, who performed divine services in Moravian churches on Latin, and they rebelled against the holy brothers, arguing that worship could only be performed in one of three languages: Hebrew, Greek or Latin. St. Constantine answered them: “You recognize only three languages ​​worthy of glorifying God in them. But David said: “Let every breath praise the Lord!” The Lord came to save all nations, and all nations should praise the Lord in their own languages.” The German bishops were disgraced, but became even more embittered and filed a complaint to Rome. The holy brothers were called to Rome to resolve this issue. Taking with him the relics of St. Clement, Pope, St. Constantine and Methodius went to Rome. Having learned that the holy brothers were carrying holy relics with them, Pope Adrian and the clergy went out to meet them. The brothers were greeted with honor, the Pope approved the service in the Slavic language, and ordered the books translated by the brothers to be placed for consecration in Roman churches and the liturgy to be performed in the Slavic language.

While in Rome, St. Constantine fell ill and, informed by the Lord in a miraculous vision of his approaching death, took the schema with the name Cyril. 50 days after accepting the schema, on February 14, 869, Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril reposed at the age of forty-two. Going to God, St. Cyril commanded his brother St. Methodius to continue their common cause - enlightenment Slavic peoples light true faith. St. Methodius asked the Pope to allow his brother’s body to be taken away for burial in native land, but the Pope ordered the relics of St. Cyril in the Church of St. Clement, where miracles began to occur from them.

After the death of St. Cyril Pope, following the request of the Slavic prince Kocel, sent St. Methodius to Pannonia, ordaining him Archbishop of Moravia and Pannonia, to the ancient throne of St. Apostle Andronikos. In Pannonia, St. Methodius, together with his students, continued to spread worship, writing and books in the Slavic language. This again angered the German bishops. They achieved the arrest and trial of Saint Methodius, who was exiled to prison in Swabia, where he endured much suffering for two and a half years. Released by order of the Pope and restored to his rights as archbishop, St. Methodius continued his evangelical preaching among the Slavs and baptized the Czech prince Borivoj and his wife Lyudmila, as well as one of the Polish princes. For the third time, German bishops initiated persecution against the saint for not accepting the Roman teaching about the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and from the Son. Saint Methodius was summoned to Rome and proved before the Pope that he preserved the purity of Orthodox teaching, and was again returned to the capital of Moravia - Velehrad.

There, in the last years of his life, Saint Methodius, with the help of two disciple-priests, translated into Slavic the entire book except the Maccabean books, as well as the Nomocanon (Rules of the Holy Fathers) and the patristic books (Paterikon).

Anticipating the approach of death, St. Methodius pointed to one of his students, Gorazd, as his worthy successor. The saint predicted the day of his death and died on April 6, 885 at the age of about sixty years. The funeral service for the saint was performed in three languages: Slavic, Greek and Latin; The saint was buried in the cathedral church of Velegrad.

Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius were canonized in ancient times. In the Russian Orthodox Church, the memory of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles enlighteners of the Slavs has been honored since the 11th century.

The lives of the holy Slovenian first teachers were compiled by their disciples in the 11th century. The most complete biographies of the saints are the lengthy, or so-called Pannonian, Lives. Our ancestors were familiar with these texts from the time of the spread of Christianity in Rus'. Solemn celebration of the memory of St. High Hierarchs Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius were established in the Russian Church in 1863.

At the end of 862, the prince of Great Moravia (the state of the Western Slavs) Rostislav turned to the Byzantine Emperor Michael with a request to send preachers to Moravia who could spread Christianity in the Slavic language (sermons in those parts were read in Latin, unfamiliar and incomprehensible to the people).

863 is considered the year of birth Slavic alphabet.

The creators of the Slavic alphabet were the brothers Cyril and Methodius.

Emperor Michael sent the Greeks to Moravia - the scientist Constantine the Philosopher (he received the name Cyril Constantine when he became a monk in 869, and with this name he went down in history) and his older brother Methodius.

The choice was not random. Brothers Constantine and Methodius were born in Thessaloniki (Thessaloniki in Greek) into the family of a military leader and received a good education. Kirill studied in Constantinople at the court of the Byzantine Emperor Michael III, knew Greek, Slavic, Latin, Hebrew, Arabic languages, taught philosophy, for which he received the nickname Philosopher. Methodius was on military service, then for several years he ruled one of the regions inhabited by the Slavs; subsequently retired to a monastery.

In 860, the brothers had already made a trip to the Khazars for missionary and diplomatic purposes.

To be able to preach Christianity in the Slavic language, it was necessary to make a translation Holy Scripture into Slavic language; however, there was no alphabet capable of conveying Slavic speech at that moment.

Constantine set about creating the Slavic alphabet. Methodius, who also knew the Slavic language well, helped him in his work, since a lot of Slavs lived in Thessaloniki (the city was considered half-Greek, half-Slavic). In 863, the Slavic alphabet was created (the Slavic alphabet existed in two versions: the Glagolitic alphabet - from verb - “speech” and the Cyrillic alphabet; until now, scientists do not have a consensus which of these two options was created by Cyril). With the help of Methodius, a number of liturgical books were translated from Greek into Slavic. The Slavs were given the opportunity to read and write in their own language. The Slavs not only had their own Slavic alphabet, but also the first Slavic alphabet was born literary language, many of whose words still live in Bulgarian, Russian, Ukrainian and other Slavic languages.

After the death of the brothers, their activities were continued by their students, expelled from Moravia in 886,

in South Slavic countries. (In the West, the Slavic alphabet and Slavic literacy did not survive; Western Slavs - Poles, Czechs ... - still use the Latin alphabet). Slavic literacy was firmly established in Bulgaria, from where it spread to the countries of southern and Eastern Slavs(IX century). Writing came to Rus' in the 10th century (988 – the baptism of Rus').

The creation of the Slavic alphabet was and still is of great importance for the development of Slavic writing, Slavic peoples, and Slavic culture.

The Bulgarian Church established the day of remembrance of Cyril and Methodius - May 11 according to the old style (May 24 according to the new style). The Order of Cyril and Methodius was also established in Bulgaria.

May 24 in many Slavic countries, including in Russia, is a holiday of Slavic writing and culture.

The holy Equal-to-the-Apostles first teachers and Slavic enlighteners, the brothers Cyril and Methodius, came from a noble and pious family that lived in the Greek city of Thessaloniki.

Saint Methodius was the eldest of seven brothers, Saint Constantine (Cyril was his monastic name) the youngest. While in military service, Saint Methodius ruled in one of the Slavic principalities subordinate to the Byzantine Empire, apparently in Bulgarian, which gave him the opportunity to learn the Slavic language. Having lived there for about 10 years, Saint Methodius then became a monk in one of the monasteries on Mount Olympus.

From an early age, Saint Constantine was distinguished by great abilities and studied together with the young Emperor Michael from the best teachers of Constantinople, including Photius, the future Patriarch of Constantinople. Saint Constantine perfectly comprehended all the sciences of his time and many languages; he especially diligently studied the works of Saint Gregory the Theologian, and for his intelligence and outstanding knowledge Saint Constantine received the nickname Philosopher (wise). At the end of his studies, Saint Constantine accepted the rank of priest and was appointed custodian of the Patriarchal Library at the Church of Saint Sophia, but soon left the capital and secretly entered a monastery. Found there and returned to Constantinople, he was appointed teacher of philosophy at the higher school of Constantinople. The wisdom and strength of faith of the still very young Constantine were so great that he managed to defeat the leader of the iconoclast heretics, Annius, in a debate. After this victory, Constantine was sent by the emperor to debate about the Holy Trinity with the Saracens (Muslims) and also won. Having returned, Saint Constantine retired to his brother, Saint Methodius on Olympus, spending time in unceasing prayer and reading the works of the holy fathers.

Soon the emperor summoned both holy brothers from the monastery and sent them to the Khazars to preach the gospel. On the way, they stopped for some time in the city of Korsun, preparing for the sermon. There the holy brothers miraculously found the relics of the Hieromartyr Clement, Pope of Rome (November 25). There, in Korsun, Saint Constantine found the Gospel and the Psalter, written in “Russian letters,” and a man speaking Russian, and began to learn from this man to read and speak his language. After this, the holy brothers went to the Khazars, where they won the debate with Jews and Muslims, preaching the Gospel teaching. On the way home, the brothers again visited Korsun and, taking the relics of Saint Clement there, returned to Constantinople. Saint Constantine remained in the capital, and Saint Methodius received the abbess in the small monastery of Polychron, not far from Mount Olympus, where he had previously labored.

Soon, ambassadors from the Moravian prince Rostislav, oppressed by the German bishops, came to the emperor with a request to send teachers to Moravia who could preach in the native language of the Slavs. The emperor called Saint Constantine and told him: “You need to go there, because no one will do this better than you.” Saint Constantine, with fasting and prayer, began a new feat. With the help of his brother Saint Methodius and the disciples Gorazd, Clement, Savva, Naum and Angelar, he compiled the Slavic alphabet and translated into Slavic the books without which the Divine service could not be performed: the Gospel, the Apostle, the Psalter and selected services. This was in 863.

After completing the translation, the holy brothers went to Moravia, where they were received with great honor, and began to teach Divine services in the Slavic language. This aroused the anger of the German bishops, who performed divine services in Latin in the Moravian churches, and they rebelled against the holy brothers, arguing that divine services could only be performed in one of three languages: Hebrew, Greek or Latin. Saint Constantine answered them: “You recognize only three languages ​​worthy of glorifying God in them. But David cries: Sing to the Lord, all the earth, praise the Lord, all nations, let every breath praise the Lord! And in the Holy Gospel it is said: Go and learn all languages...” The German bishops were disgraced, but became even more embittered and filed a complaint to Rome. The holy brothers were called to Rome to resolve this issue. Taking with them the relics of Saint Clement, Pope of Rome, Saints Constantine and Methodius went to Rome. Having learned that the holy brothers were carrying special holy relics, Pope Adrian and the clergy went out to meet them. The holy brothers were greeted with honor, the Pope approved worship in the Slavic language, and ordered the books translated by the brothers to be placed in Roman churches and the liturgy to be performed in the Slavic language.

While in Rome, Saint Constantine fell ill and, informed by the Lord in a miraculous vision of his approaching death, he took the schema with the name Cyril. 50 days after accepting the schema, on February 14, 869, Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril died at the age of 42. Going to God, Saint Cyril commanded his brother Saint Methodius to continue their common cause - the enlightenment of the Slavic peoples with the light of the true faith. Saint Methodius begged the Pope to allow his brother's body to be taken away for burial in his native land, but the Pope ordered the relics of Saint Cyril to be placed in the church of Saint Clement, where miracles began to be performed from them.

After the death of Saint Cyril, the pope, following the request of the Slavic prince Kocel, sent Saint Methodius to Pannonia, ordaining him archbishop of Moravia and Pannonia, to the ancient throne of Saint Andronicus the Apostle. In Pannonia, Saint Methodius, together with his disciples, continued to spread divine services, writing and books in the Slavic language. This again angered the German bishops. They achieved the arrest and trial of Saint Methodius, who was exiled to prison in Swabia, where he endured much suffering for two and a half years. Released by order of Pope John VIII and restored to his rights as an archbishop, Methodius continued preaching the gospel among the Slavs and baptized the Czech prince Borivoj and his wife Lyudmila (September 16), as well as one of the Polish princes. For the third time, German bishops launched a persecution against the saint for not accepting the Roman teaching about the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and from the Son. Saint Methodius was summoned to Rome, but justified himself before the pope, preserving the purity of the Orthodox teaching, and was again returned to the capital of Moravia - Velehrad.

Here, in the last years of his life, Saint Methodius, with the help of two disciple-priests, translated the entire Old Testament into Slavic, except for the Maccabean books, as well as the Nomocanon (Rules of the Holy Fathers) and the patristic books (Paterikon).

Anticipating the approach of his death, Saint Methodius pointed to one of his disciples, Gorazd, as a worthy successor. The saint predicted the day of his death and died on April 6, 885 at the age of about 60 years. The funeral service for the saint was performed in three languages ​​- Slavic, Greek and Latin; he was buried in the cathedral church of Velehrad.

This is the only state and church holiday in our country. On this day, the church honors the memory of Cyril and Methodius, who invented the Cyrillic alphabet.

The church tradition of honoring the memory of Saints Cyril and Methodius arose in the 10th century in Bulgaria as a sign of gratitude for the invention of the Slavic alphabet, which gave many peoples the opportunity to read the Gospel in native language.

In 1863, when the alphabet turned one thousand years old, the holiday of Slavic writing and culture was celebrated on a grand scale for the first time in Russia. At Soviet power They stopped celebrating the holiday, but the tradition was revived again in 1991.

The creators of the Slavic alphabet, Cyril (Konstantin before becoming a monk) and Methodius (Michael), grew up in the Byzantine city of Thessaloniki (now Thessaloniki, Greece) in a wealthy family with a total of seven children. Ancient Thessaloniki was part of the Slavic (Bulgar) territory and was a multilingual city in which different language dialects coexisted, including Byzantine, Turkish and Slavic. The elder brother, Methodius, became a monk. The younger one, Kirill, excelled in science. He perfectly mastered the Greek and Arabic languages, studied in Constantinople, and was educated by the greatest scientists of his time - Leo Grammar and Photius (the future patriarch). Having completed his studies, Constantine accepted the rank of priest and was appointed custodian of the patriarchal library at the Church of St. Sophia and taught philosophy at the highest school in Constantinople. Cyril's wisdom and strength of faith were so great that he managed to defeat the heretic Aninius in the debate. Soon Constantine had his first students - Clement, Naum and Angelarius, with whom he came to the monastery in 856, where his brother Methodius was the abbot.

In 857, the Byzantine emperor sent brothers to the Khazar Khaganate to preach the gospel. On the way, they stopped in the city of Korsun, where they miraculously found the relics of the Holy Martyr Clement, Pope of Rome. After this, the saints went to the Khazars, where they convinced the Khazar prince and his entourage to accept Christianity and even took 200 Greek captives from captivity.

In the early 860s, the ruler of Moravia, Prince Rostislav, who was oppressed by the German bishops, turned to the Byzantine Emperor Michael III with a request to send learned men, missionaries who spoke the Slavic language. All services, holy books and theology there were in Latin, but the Slavs did not understand this language. "Our people profess Christian faith, but we have no teachers who could explain the faith to us in our own language. Send us such teachers,” he asked. Michael III responded to the request with consent. He entrusted the translation of liturgical books into a language understandable to the inhabitants of Moravia to Cyril.

However, in order to record the translation, it was necessary to create a written Slavic language and a Slavic alphabet. Realizing the scale of the task, Kirill turned to his older brother for help. They came to the conclusion that neither the Latin nor the Greek alphabets correspond to the sound palette of the Slavic language. In this regard, the brothers decided to remake the Greek alphabet and adapt it to the sound system of the Slavic language. The brothers did great work on isolating and transforming sounds and writing letters new writing. Based on the developments, two alphabets were compiled - (named in honor of Cyril) and the Glagolitic alphabet. According to historians, the Cyrillic alphabet was created later than the Glagolitic alphabet and on its basis. Using the Glagolitic alphabet, the Gospel, Psalter, Apostle and other books were translated from Greek. According to official version, this happened in 863. Thus, we are now celebrating 1155 years since the creation of the Slavic alphabet.

In 864, the brothers presented their work in Moravia, where they were received with great honors. Soon many students were assigned to study with them, and after some time all of them were translated into Slavic. church rite. This helped teach the Slavs everything church services and prayers, in addition, the lives of saints and other church books were translated into Slavic.

The acquisition of its own alphabet led to the fact that Slavic culture made a serious breakthrough in its development: it acquired a tool for recording its own history, for consolidating its own identity back in those days when most modern European languages ​​did not yet exist.

Due to the constant intrigues of the German clergy, Cyril and Methodius twice had to justify themselves to the Roman high priest. In 869, unable to withstand the stress, Cyril died at the age of 42.

When Cyril was in Rome, a vision appeared to him in which the Lord told him about his approaching death. He accepted the schema (the highest level of Orthodox monasticism).

His work was continued by his elder brother Methodius, who was soon ordained to the rank of bishop in Rome. He died in 885, having suffered exile, insults and imprisonment that lasted several years.

Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius were canonized in ancient times. In the Russian Orthodox Church, the memory of the Slavic enlighteners has been honored since the 11th century. The oldest services to the saints that have survived to our time belong to XIII century. The solemn celebration of the memory of saints was established in the Russian Church in 1863.

The Day of Slavic Literature was first celebrated in Bulgaria in 1857, and then in other countries, including Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. In Russia, at the state level, the Day of Slavic Literature and Culture was first solemnly celebrated in 1863 (the 1000th anniversary of the creation of the Slavic alphabet was celebrated). In the same year, the Russian Holy Synod decided to celebrate the Day of Remembrance of Saints Cyril and Methodius on May 11 (24 New Style). During the years of Soviet power, the holiday was forgotten and restored only in 1986.

On January 30, 1991, May 24 was declared the Holiday of Slavic Literature and Culture, thereby giving it state status.