Interesting information about Cyril and Methodius. short biography

Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.

Kurgan Technological College.

discipline: "Literature"

on the topic: Cyril and Methodius

Executor- student gr. №118

Specialty: 0514 "Design"

Voinkova A.V.

Checked by teacher:

Astafieva A.P.

Kurgan, 2007.

Introduction

INTRODUCTION

Cyril Methodius, brothers from Thessalonica (Thessaloniki), Slavic enlighteners, creators of the Slavic alphabet, preachers of Christianity. Cyril (c. 827-869; before becoming a monk in 869 - Constantine, Constantine the Philosopher) and Methodius (c. 815-885) in 863 were invited from Byzantium by Prince Rostislav to the Great Moravian state to introduce worship in the Slavic language. They translated the main liturgical books from Greek into Old Slavonic.

Cyril and Methodius, brothers, Christian missionaries among the Slavs, creators of the Slavic alphabet, the first monuments of Slavic writing and the Old Slavonic literary language. Cyril (he took this name before his death when he was tonsured into the schema, before that - Constantine) was born in 827, the year of birth and the worldly name of his elder brother - Methodius - are unknown. Saints of the Orthodox (commemorated May 11/24, Cyril also February 14/27, Methodius - April 6/19) and Catholic (commemorated February 14 and July 7) churches.

They were born in the family of a "drungaria" - a Byzantine commander from the city of Thessaloniki (hence the "solun brothers").

Methodius was appointed the ruler of one of the Slavic regions in the Balkans, after the murder in 856 of the patron of the family - the logothete Fektist - he took the veil as a monk in one of the monasteries on Olympus (Asia Minor).

Constantine received an excellent education in Constantinople, where his teachers were the largest representatives of the Byzantine intellectual elite - Leo the Mathematician and Photius, the future Patriarch of Constantinople. He was the patriarch's librarian, then taught philosophy in Constantinople, received the nickname Philosopher. Participated in Byzantine missions to the Arab Caliphate and (together with Methodius) to Khazaria. With these missions are connected the polemical debates written by him with Muslims and Jews (included in his “Large Lives”). During a trip to Khazaria in 861, he participated in the discovery and transfer to Chersonese (Crimea) of the remains of Clement of Rome. The Slavic translations preserved the texts of the legends written by Constantine about the acquisition of relics and poetic hymns on this occasion.

MAIN PART

In 863, an embassy of the ruler of Great Moravia (see the Great Moravian Empire) Rostislav arrived in Constantinople, asking for teachers to be sent to preach in a country that had recently adopted Christianity. The Byzantine emperor decided to send Constantine and Methodius there; their "Large Lives" connect with this event the creation by Konstantin of the alphabet (the so-called Glagolitic alphabet), reflecting the phonetic features of the Slavic language, and the first literary text in the Slavic language - the translation of the Aprakos Gospel (a collection of gospel texts read during worship). According to researchers, even before the arrival of Constantine and Methodius in Moravia, the Psalter was also translated. In Great Moravia, the brothers translated the text of the Liturgy into Slavonic and began to celebrate services in Slavonic. At the same time, Konstantin created "Proglas" - the first large original poetic text in the Slavic language and "Writing about the Right Faith" - the first attempt to present Christian dogmatics in the Slavic language, which marked the beginning of the creation of Slavic religious and philosophical terminology.

The activities of Constantine and Methodius met with the resistance of the German clergy (in church terms, Great Moravia was subordinate to the Bishopric of Passau in Bavaria), who opposed Slavic writing and the Slavic Liturgy, demanding that the Liturgy be performed only in Latin. Under these conditions, the brothers could not make priests of the disciples they had trained, and in 867 they left Great Moravia for Venice, hoping to consecrate disciples in the capital of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople. Having received an invitation from the Roman pope, Constantine and Methodius went from Venice in 868 to Rome. Here, Pope Adrian II consecrated Slavic books, the disciples of Constantine and Methodius became priests and deacons. In Rome, Constantine fell seriously ill and died on February 14, 869 (he was buried in the Basilica of St. Clement).

At the end of 869, Methodius was appointed archbishop of Pannonia, practically Great Moravia, which thereby acquired ecclesiastical independence. In 870 Great Moravia was occupied by the troops of the East Frankish kingdom, Methodius was arrested and exiled to one of the monasteries in Swabia. The uprising of the population of Moravia and the intervention of Pope John VIII contributed to the fact that in 873 the new Moravian prince Svyatopolk managed to achieve the release of Methodius. Pope John VIII forbade Methodius to celebrate the Liturgy in the Slavic language, but Methodius, visiting Rome in 880, succeeded in lifting the ban.

With the activities of Methodius in managing the diocese, the Slavic translation of the collection of church canons, the so-called. "Nomocanon of John Scholasticus", as well as the creation of the oldest monument of Slavic law - the "Law of Judgment to People", which established sanctions for church and secular authorities for violations of Christian morality. Methodius is also credited with an anonymous appeal to princes and judges demanding compliance with the norms of this law. At the initiative of Methodius, a translation of the main books of the Old Testament into Slavonic was undertaken (only separate parts have survived). Methodius is also credited with the Slavic canon of St. Demetrius - patron of Thessalonica.

The German clergy, favored by the Moravian prince Svatopluk, opposed the Slavic Liturgy and sought to compromise Methodius before the pope, hinting that an archbishopric with a special Slavic rite could secede from Rome and join the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Before his death, Methodius excommunicated the head of his German opponents, Wiching. He died on April 8, 885, the location of his tomb is unknown.

After the death of Methodius, his disciples, who defended the Slavic Liturgy, were expelled from Moravia and found shelter in Bulgaria. Here a new Slavic alphabet was created based on the Greek; to convey the phonetic features of the Slavic language, it was supplemented with letters borrowed from the Glagolitic. This alphabet, which was widely spread among the Eastern and Southern Slavs, later received the name "Cyrillic" - in honor of Cyril (Konstantin).

The "Large Life" of Constantine was written (in its original version) before 880, probably with the participation of Methodius by his students. Methodius' "Large Life" was written immediately after his death in 885-886. The texts of the services in their honor were already written in Bulgaria (the author of the service to Methodius was his student Konstantin Preslavsky). Among the Western Slavs (in the Czech Republic), a holiday in honor of Cyril and Methodius was established in 1349.

1. "Big Encyclopedia of Cyril and Methodius".

More than a hundred years before the baptism of Rus', almost at the same time as the foundation of the Russian state, a great deed took place in the history of the Christian church - for the first time the word of God was heard in the churches in the Slavic language.

In the city of Thessalonica (now Thessaloniki), in Macedonia, inhabited for the most part by Slavs, lived a noble Greek dignitary named Leo. Of his seven sons, two, Methodius and Constantine (in monasticism Cyril), fell to the lot to accomplish a great feat for the benefit of the Slavs. The youngest of the brothers, Konstantin, from childhood amazed everyone with his brilliant abilities and passion for learning. He received a good home education, and then in Byzantium he completed his education under the guidance of the best teachers. Here the passion for science developed in him with full force, and he learned all the bookish wisdom available to him ... Fame, honors, wealth - all worldly blessings awaited the gifted young man, but he did not succumb to any temptations - he preferred the modest title of priest and the position of librarian to all the temptations of the world at Church of Hagia Sophia, where he could continue his favorite activities - to study the sacred books, to delve into their spirit. His deep knowledge and abilities brought him the high academic title of philosopher.

Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Brothers Cyril and Methodius. Ancient fresco in the Cathedral of St. Sofia, Ohrid (Bulgaria). OK. 1045

His elder brother, Methodius, first went the other way - he entered the military service and for several years was the ruler of the region inhabited by the Slavs; but worldly life did not satisfy him, and he took the veil as a monk in a monastery on Mount Olympus. The brothers, however, did not have to calm down, one in peaceful book studies, and the other in a quiet monastic cell. Constantine more than once had to take part in disputes over matters of faith, to defend it with the power of his mind and knowledge; then he had to go to the land with his brother at the request of the king Khazar, preach the faith of Christ and defend it against Jews and Muslims. Upon returning from there, Methodius baptized Bulgarian Prince Boris and Bulgarians.

Probably even earlier than this, the brothers conceived the idea of ​​translating the sacred and liturgical books for the Macedonian Slavs into their language, with which they could fully get used to since childhood, in their native city.

For this, Constantine compiled the Slavic alphabet (alphabet) - he took all 24 Greek letters, and since there are more sounds in the Slavic language than in Greek, he added the missing letters from the Armenian, Hebrew and other alphabets; some he invented. All the letters in the first Slavic alphabet were 38. More important than the invention of the alphabet was the translation of the most important sacred and liturgical books: it was very difficult to translate from such a language rich in words and turns of phrase as Greek into the language of completely uneducated Macedonian Slavs. I had to come up with suitable phrases, create new words in order to convey concepts new to the Slavs ... All this required not only a thorough knowledge of the language, but also great talent.

The work of translation was not yet finished when, at the request of the Moravian prince Rostislav Constantine and Methodius were to go to Moravia. There and in neighboring Pannonia, Latin (Catholic) preachers from southern Germany had already begun to spread the Christian doctrine, but things went very slowly, since the service was performed in Latin, which was completely incomprehensible to the people. Western clergy, subordinate to the pope, held a strange prejudice: that worship can only be performed in Hebrew, Greek and Latin, because the inscription on the Cross of the Lord was in these three languages; the eastern clergy admitted the word of God in all languages. That is why the Moravian prince, caring about the true enlightenment of his people with the teachings of Christ, turned to the Byzantine emperor Michael with a request to send knowledgeable people to Moravia who would teach the people the faith in an understandable language.

The Tale of Bygone Years. Issue 6. Enlightenment of the Slavs. Cyril and Methodius. video film

The emperor entrusted this important matter to Constantine and Methodius. They arrived in Moravia and zealously set to work: they built churches, began to celebrate worship in the Slavic language, started and taught searching. Christianity, not only in appearance, but in spirit, began to spread rapidly among the people. This aroused strong hostility in the Latin clergy: slander, denunciations, complaints - everything went into action, if only to ruin the cause of the Slavic apostles. They were even forced to go to Rome to make excuses to the pope himself. The Pope carefully examined the case, fully justified them and blessed their labors. Constantine, exhausted by work and struggle, did not go to Moravia, took the vows as a monk under the name of Cyril; he soon died (February 14, 868) and was buried in Rome.

All thoughts, all cares of St. Cyril before his death were about his great work.

“We, brother,” he said to Methodius, “were pulling the same furrow with you, and now I am falling, I am ending my days. You love our native Olympus (monastery) too much, but for the sake of it, look, do not leave our service - you can soon be saved by it.

The Pope elevated Methodius to the rank of Bishop of Moravia; but there at that time heavy turmoil and strife began. Prince Rostislav was exiled by his nephew Svyatopolkom.

The Latin clergy strained all their forces against Methodius; but in spite of everything - slander, resentment and persecution - he continued his holy work, enlightened the Slavs with the Christian faith in a language and alphabet that they understood, book teaching.

Around 871, he baptized Borivoj, the prince of Bohemia, and established the Slavic worship here as well.

After his death, the Latin clergy succeeded in pushing the Slavic worship out of Bohemia and Moravia. The disciples of Saints Cyril and Methodius were expelled from here, fled to Bulgaria and there they continued the holy feat of the first teachers of the Slavs - they translated church and instructive books from the Greek language, the works of the “fathers of the church” ... Book wealth grew and grew and how great a legacy our ancestors inherited.

The creators of the Slavic alphabet Cyril and Methodius. Bulgarian icon 1848

Church Slavonic writing flourished especially in Bulgaria under Tsar Simeone, at the beginning of the 10th century: many books were translated, not only necessary for worship, but also the works of various church writers and preachers.

At first, ready-made church books came to us from Bulgaria, and then, when literate people appeared among the Russians, the books began to be copied in our country, and then translated. Thus, along with Christianity, literacy appeared in Rus'.

It is believed that Greek Christian missionaries are brothers Cyril and Methodius in 863 they were invited from Byzantium by Prince Rostislav to the Great Moravian Empire to introduce worship in the Slavic language.

Constantine alphabet was created - the so-called "glagolitic", reflecting the phonetic features of the Slavic language. The oldest surviving Glagolitic inscription with exact dating dates back to 893 and was made in the church of the Bulgarian Tsar Simeon in Preslav.

Cyril and Methodius translated the main liturgical books from Greek into Old Slavonic.

Later pupils Methodius created in Bulgaria on the basis of the "Glagolitic" a new alphabet, which later received the name "cyrillic" - in honor of Kirill.

Already in the 20th century, the Pope John Paul II“... he emphasized more than once that, being a Slav, he especially strongly felt in his heart the call of those peoples who were addressed by the “apostles of unity” - Cyril and Methodius, who took it upon themselves to “express biblical ideas and concepts of Greek theology in a language understood in context of a completely different historical experience and tradition", they must be understood "by those for whom God Himself is destined".
The Pope, who was especially sensitive to any manifestation of national culture, its identity, saw the main merit of the “apostles of the Slavs” in their desire for the Word of God “to find its expression in the language of any civilization”, warning in every possible way against imposing authorities, languages, images on other peoples .
To the missions of the saints, who were especially dear to the Pope, he devoted the encyclical “Apostles of the Slavs” (“Slavorum apostoli”, 1985) and the apostolic letter “Go into all the world” (“Euntes in mundum universum”, 1988), written on the occasion of the Millennium of the Baptism of Kiev Rus'.
“Saints Cyril and Methodius were formed in the bosom of the Byzantine Church at the time when she was in unity with Rome. Proclaiming them with the saint Benedict patrons of Europe, I sought not only to affirm the historical truth about Christianity on the European continent, but also to put forward another important topic for dialogue between East and West, with which so many hopes are associated in the post-conciliar period.
As in the holy Benedict, and in Saints Cyril and Methodius, Europe found its spiritual origins. And therefore, they must be honored together - as the patrons of our past and the saints to whom the Churches and peoples of Europe at the end of the second Millennium from the Nativity of Christ entrust their future.

Elena Tverdislova, And as a sign of love - a rosary as a gift - Preface to the book: John Paul II, M., Rudomino Book Center, 2011, p. 30-31.

“... the emergence of Slavic writing is associated with the second half of the 9th century (863), when, as a result of the initiative of the rulers of the Great Moravian Principality, Greek missionaries Cyril (Konstantin) And Methodius, having created a very perfect graphic system for one of the types of Slavic speech, they began to translate some parts of the Bible and create other liturgical texts.
Old Church Slavonic became the common literary language of the Slavs of the Middle Ages.
Among all Western Slavs, it was soon supplanted by the Latin language due to Western influence and the transition to Catholicism.
Therefore, the further use of the Old Church Slavonic language is mainly associated with the Slavic south (Bulgaria, Serbia) and the east (Kiev state, then Moscow Rus, Belarusian and Ukrainian lands). The use of Old Church Slavonic as a literary language led to the fact that this language was primarily subjected to grammatical processing.

Kondrashov N.A., History of linguistic doctrines, M., Komkniga, 2006, p. 31.

The main characters of which are the Slavic primary teachers, the Equal-to-the-Apostles brothers Cyril and Methodius. Today everyone knows about them. And ask "Why do we remember them after eleven and a half centuries?", Most likely you will hear: "They came up with our alphabet." True, of course, but the alphabet is an infinitesimal part of what the brothers accomplished.

The first great work of Cyril and Methodius was that they passed through their hearing, honed by knowledge of many languages ​​​​and many scripts (Greek, Latin, Hebrew, maybe Arabic ...), the sound matter of the Slavic language, in order to determine which sounds can be denoted by the letters of the Greek alphabet, and for which it is necessary to invent special signs. This work was helped by their own language experience: Slavic speech was not unfamiliar to them: in their hometown of Thessalonica, it sounded on a par with Greek. But it was exclusively an oral element, the Slavs did not know letters. And it was impossible to simply take the Greek letter with its huge tradition: in the Greek language, for example, there were no sibilants, so the letters Ts, Ch, Sh, Zh, Sh had to be invented.

The result of this work was the Slavic alphabet, which we call Cyrillic and which is now written in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Bulgaria, Serbia, Macedonia, and Montenegro.

It should not be forgotten that not only Slavs write in Cyrillic: scripts based on the Cyrillic alphabet were created already in the 20th century for all the peoples of the Soviet Union - Moldovans, Tatars, Kyrgyz, Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Azerbaijanis ... However, after the collapse of the Union, some abandoned Cyrillic - Moldova, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan. And now Kazakhstan is thinking about it.

The second incredibly important and extremely difficult work that Cyril and Methodius undertook was the translation of Holy Scripture and other church texts from Greek into Slavonic. They are the first Slavic translators who recorded the fruits of their labors in writing. It is simply impossible to imagine now the enormity of this work. In the book by Yuri Loshchits "Cyril and Methodius", which was published in the series "Life of Remarkable People" in 2013, when we celebrated 1150 years of the feat of the Thessalonica brothers, you can read about the translations of Cyril and Methodius.

When the brothers worked together, they managed to translate the Psalter, the Gospel with the Apostle, the Rules of the Law and the Books of the Fathers. And it took almost six years - from 863 to 869, when Cyril dies. Methodius is in the dungeons. Released in 873, he could only return to translation work in 882. Here is how it is described in his life, created by his students: “from your disciples, plant two priests of the cursive zeal, put all the books in the borze”. Translated into modern Russian, it could look like this: “Having chosen two priests from his students who learned to write very quickly, he soon translated all the books” (their enumeration follows). That is, the picture before us appears as follows: Methodius holds a Greek book in his hands, reads it and pronounces the Slavic text, which his students fix simultaneously in two copies. Today, translators into Slavic languages ​​and from Slavic, of course, work in a completely different way, but they are all followers of Cyril and Methodius.

Cyril and Methodius not only translated, but also created the first written texts in the Slavic language. They composed prayers, for example, canon in memory of Dmitry Solunsky, on whose life they grew up in childhood. Methodius compiled life his brother, and his disciples compiled the life of Methodius. This was the beginning of Slavic hagiographic literature, which for many centuries formed the basis of the reading of an educated person.

But in order to translate and create new texts of a completely new content for the Slavs, it was necessary to have the appropriate vocabulary - and Cyril and Methodius became the creators of the Slavic sacred lexicon. When it was created, the task was to select everything possible from the Slavic language (and then the Slavic languages ​​\u200b\u200bdispersed so far that you can talk about them as one language), so that the texts of a completely new content were understandable to the parishioners of the first Slavic churches. And at the same time, there was a need to introduce some Greek words, to bring them closer to Slavic grammar.

Let's take just two examples - two realities of church life - censer And stole(part of the priest's vestment, ribbon around the neck). In the first case, a Slavic word was taken, a verbal noun from the verb incense- How soap from wash, A awl from sew. In the second case - a Greek word, the internal form of which is quite transparent: epi means "around" trahil- “neck” (remember the medical terms trachea, trachyitis). If you translate this word in parts (such a translation is called tracing paper), you get something like an o-neck: o - around, neck - neck, nickname - object. It is difficult to say whether the Slavs had a collar as a dog accessory, but you must admit that the word does not sound somehow sacred. That is probably why the Greek word was chosen.

So, sifting through a mass of words - Slavic and Greek, Cyril and Methodius created the vocabulary of Slavic translations of liturgical books. Some they took ready - the word holiness the Slavs already had it, it only needed to be rethought. Others had to be taken from Greek as a word angel, what does “messenger” mean - who will believe now that this is not a Russian word? The third words had to be "produced" - Annunciation(this is a tracing-paper of the word gospel, thanksgiving, beneficence).

Today, this dictionary has been studied to the smallest detail. It contains 10,000 words, and half of them are not connected with the Slavic speech, then alive; these are Greekisms or what was done by Cyril and Methodius.

Finally, it must be said that Cyril and Methodius are the first Slavic teachers of literature. Their students were not only able to absorb Greek learning, instilled in the Slavic mind, but also to preserve the tradition of writing in a very difficult, tragic situation, when the mission of the Slavic first teachers in the Great Moravian Principality was defeated, the students were sold into slavery.

So, Byzantine scientists and theologians presented the Slavs with the most valuable fruits of their labors, which later began to be called philological. So, we can say that they are the first Slavic philologists, and at the same time take a look at the philological field of activity, without which no culture is possible. Of course, their studies are not theoretical philology, but applied philology - one that provides verbal communication in society, creating texts and organizing their circulation. Applied philology is primary - it is aimed at creating texts and organizing their circulation; theoretical philology studies texts and the patterns of their circulation. If we use the modern terminology of philological disciplines, then we can say that Cyril and Methodius are phonetists, graphic artists and even font designers, translators, lexicologists and grammarians, writers and creators of new genres for the Slavs. In general, all this means that they are the creators first Slavic literary language, which has been resounding under the vaults of Orthodox churches for the twelfth century, penetrating the consciousness of the Slavs of many generations and shaping the Orthodox perception of the world and the Slavic word. Of course, this literary language which we call Old Church Slavonic, could not help but change in time and space, its national varieties were formed - Russian, Serbian, but they are based on the language created by the genius of the Slavic first teachers Cyril and Methodius.

The upcoming May days are dedicated to their memory - we call them the Days of Slavic Literature and Culture. Everyone can choose how to celebrate these days. And I invite everyone to the Regional Library (in the Kremlin) to write an open dictation - that is, to celebrate the holiday of Slavic writing - with a letter, with my own hand in the society of Novgorod literati. The dictation will be dedicated to the homeland of Cyril and Methodius - the city of Thessalonica, and we will write it on Sunday, May 28th.

Name: Cyril and Methodius (Konstantin and Michael)

Activity: creators of the Old Slavonic alphabet and the Church Slavonic language, Christian preachers

Family status: were not married

Cyril and Methodius: biography

Cyril and Methodius became famous throughout the world as champions of the Christian faith and authors of the Slavic alphabet. The biography of the couple is extensive, even a separate biography is dedicated to Cyril, created immediately after the death of a man. However, today you can get acquainted with a brief history of the fate of these preachers and the founders of the alphabet in various manuals for children. The brothers have their own icon, where they are depicted together. They turn to her with prayers for good studies, luck for students, and an increase in intelligence.

Childhood and youth

Cyril and Methodius were born in the Greek city of Thessalonica (present-day Thessaloniki) in the family of a military leader named Leo, whom the authors of the biography of a couple of saints characterize as "of a good family and rich." Future monks grew up in the company of five more brothers.

Before the tonsure, the men bore the names Michael and Konstantin, and the first was older - he was born in 815, and Konstantin in 827. Controversy has not yet subsided over the ethnicity of the family in the circles of historians. Some attribute it to the Slavs, because these people were fluent in the Slavic language. Others attribute Bulgarian and, of course, Greek roots.

The boys received an excellent education, and when they matured, their paths diverged. Methodius applied for military service under the patronage of a faithful family friend and even rose to the rank of governor of a Byzantine province. In the "Slavic reign" he established himself as a wise and fair ruler.

Cyril from early childhood was fond of reading books, struck the environment with an excellent memory and abilities for science, was known as a polyglot - in addition to Greek and Slavic, Hebrew and Aramaic were listed in the language arsenal. At the age of 20, a young man, a graduate of the University of Magnavra, was already teaching the basics of philosophy at the court school at Tsargrad.

Christian ministry

Cyril flatly refused a secular career, although such an opportunity was provided. Marrying the goddaughter of an official of the royal office in Byzantium opened up dizzying prospects - the leadership of the region in Macedonia, and then the position of commander in chief of the army. However, the young theologian (Konstantin was only 15 years old) preferred to step onto the church path.

When he was already teaching at the university, the man even managed to win in theological disputes over the leader of the iconoclasts, the former patriarch John Grammatik, also known as Ammius. However, this story is considered just a beautiful legend.

The main task for the government of Byzantium at that time was considered to be the strengthening and promotion of Orthodoxy. Together with the diplomats, who traveled around the cities and villages, where they negotiated with religious enemies, missionaries traveled. Konstantin became them at the age of 24, setting off with the first important task from the state - to instruct Muslims on the true path.

At the end of the 50s of the 9th century, the brothers, tired of worldly bustle, retired to the monastery, where the 37-year-old Methodius was tonsured. However, Cyril was not allowed to rest for a long time: already in 860, the man was called to the throne of the emperor and instructed to join the ranks of the Khazar mission.

The fact is that the Khazar Khagan announced an inter-religious dispute, where Christians were asked to prove the truth of their faith to Jews and Muslims. The Khazars were already ready to go over to the side of Orthodoxy, but they set a condition - only if the Byzantine polemicists won in disputes.

Cyril took his brother with him and brilliantly completed the task assigned to his shoulders, but still the mission was not completely successful. The Khazar state did not become Christian, although the kagan allowed people to be baptized. On this trip, a serious historical event happened for believers. On the way, the Byzantines looked into the Crimea, where, in the vicinity of Chersonesus, Cyril found the relics of Clement, the fourth holy pope of Rome, which were then transferred to Rome.

The brothers are involved in another important mission. Once, the ruler of the Moravian lands (Slavic state) Rostislav asked for help from Constantinople - teachers-theologians were required to tell the people about the true faith in an accessible language. Thus, the prince was going to get away from the influence of the German bishops. This trip became a landmark - the Slavic alphabet appeared.

In Moravia, the brothers worked tirelessly: they translated Greek books, taught the Slavs the basics of reading and writing, and at the same time taught them how to conduct divine services. The trip took three years. The results of the labors played a big role in the preparation for the baptism of Bulgaria.

In 867, the brothers had to go to Rome to answer for "blasphemy". The Western Church called Cyril and Methodius heretics, accusing them of reading sermons, including in Slavonic, while talking about the Almighty can only be done in Greek, Latin and Hebrew.

On the way to the Italian capital, they stopped in the Principality of Blaten, where they taught the people book business. Those who arrived in Rome with the relics of Clement were so delighted that the new Pope Adrian II allowed worship services to be held in Slavic and even allowed the translated books to be laid out in churches. During this meeting, Methodius received the episcopal rank.

Unlike his brother, Cyril took the veil as a monk only on the verge of death - it was necessary. After the death of the preacher, Methodius, overgrown with disciples, returned to Moravia, where he had to fight the German clergy. The deceased Rostislav was replaced by his nephew Svyatopolk, who supported the policy of the Germans, who did not allow the Byzantine priest to work in peace. Any attempts to spread the Slavic language as a church language were suppressed.

Methodius was even imprisoned at the monastery for three years. Pope John VIII helped to get free, who imposed a ban on the liturgy as long as Methodius was in prison. However, in order not to escalate the situation, John also banned worship in the Slavic language. Only sermons were not punishable by law.

But a native of Thessaloniki, at his own peril and risk, continued to secretly conduct services in Slavic. At the same time, the archbishop baptized the Czech prince, for which he was later brought to trial in Rome. However, luck favored Methodius - he not only escaped punishment, but also received a papal bull and the opportunity to again conduct worship in the Slavic language. Shortly before his death, he managed to translate the Old Testament.

Creation of the alphabet

The brothers from Thessaloniki went down in history as the creators of the Slavic alphabet. The time of the event is 862 or 863. The Life of Cyril and Methodius claims that the idea was born as early as 856, when the brothers, together with their students Angelarius, Naum and Clement, settled on Mount Olympus Minor in the Polychron Monastery. Here Methodius served as rector.

The authorship of the alphabet is attributed to Cyril, but which one remains a mystery. Scientists tend to Glagolitic, this is indicated by 38 characters that it contains. As for the Cyrillic alphabet, it was brought to life by Clement of Ohrid. However, even if this is so, the student still used the achievements of Cyril - it was he who singled out the sounds of the language, which is the most important thing when creating writing.

The basis for the alphabet was the Greek cryptography, the letters are very similar, so the Glagolitic alphabet was confused with the Eastern alphabets. But for the designations of specific Slavic sounds, they took Hebrew letters, for example, “sh”.

Death

Constantine-Cyril, on a trip to Rome, was stricken by a serious illness, and on February 14, 869, he died - this day in Catholicism is recognized as the day of remembrance of the saints. The body was interred in the Roman temple of St. Clement. Cyril did not want his brother to return to the monastery in Moravia, and before his death he supposedly said:

“Here, brother, you and I were like two oxen in a harness, plowed one furrow, and I fall into the forest, having finished my day. And although you love the mountain very much, you cannot leave your teaching for the sake of the mountain, for how else can you better achieve salvation?

Methodius outlived his wise relative by 16 years. Anticipating death, he ordered to carry himself to the church for a sermon. The priest died on Palm Sunday, April 4, 885. Methodius was buried in three languages ​​- Greek, Latin and, of course, Slavonic.

At the post of Methodius, the disciple Gorazd replaced him, and then all the undertakings of the holy brothers began to collapse. In Moravia, liturgical translations were gradually banned again, followers and students were hunted down - they were persecuted, sold into slavery and even killed. Some of the adherents fled to neighboring countries. Nevertheless, Slavic culture survived, the center of book learning moved to Bulgaria, and from there to Russia.

The holy chief-apostle teachers are revered in the West and East. In Russia, in memory of the feat of the brothers, a holiday was established - May 24 is celebrated as the Day of Slavic Literature and Culture.

Memory

Settlements

• 1869 - the foundation of the village of Mefodievka near Novorossiysk

Monuments

• Monument to Cyril and Methodius at the Stone Bridge in Skopje, Macedonia.
• Monument to Cyril and Methodius in Belgrade, Serbia.
• Monument to Cyril and Methodius in Khanty-Mansiysk.
• Monument in honor of Cyril and Methodius in Thessaloniki, Greece. The statue in the form of a gift was given to Greece by the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.
• Statue in honor of Cyril and Methodius in front of the building of the National Library of Saints Cyril and Methodius in the city of Sofia, Bulgaria.
• Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and Saints Cyril and Methodius in Velehrad, Czech Republic.
• Monument in honor of Cyril and Methodius, installed in front of the building of the National Palace of Culture in the city of Sofia, Bulgaria.
• Monument to Cyril and Methodius in Prague, Czech Republic.
• Monument to Cyril and Methodius in Ohrid, Macedonia.
• Cyril and Methodius are depicted on the monument "1000th Anniversary of Russia" in Veliky Novgorod.

Books

• 1835 - poem "Cyrillo-Mephodias", Jan Golla
• 1865 - "Cyril and Methodius Collection" (edited by Mikhail Pogodin)
• 1984 - "Khazar Dictionary", Milorad Pavich
• 1979 - Thessalonica Brothers, Slav Karaslavov

Movies

• 1983 - "Konstantin the Philosopher"
• 1989 - Thessalonica Brothers
• 2013 - "Cyril and Methodius - Apostles of the Slavs"