According to the traditional trilingual dogma, which totally dominated the spiritual life in ninth century Europe, Christianity could be preached only in three languages – Latin, Greek and Hebrew. The major argument in favor of that doctrine was the statement that “those were the three languages in which Pilate ordered the Lord's cross to be inscribed”.
Devising the so called Glagolitic Alphabet – the first Slavonic alphabet – and translating the liturgical books into the language, spoken by the Slavic peoples, Constantine-Cyril and his brother Methodius “emancipated” the Slavonic language. That was a momentous event in European history and from that moment on Slavonic was recognized to be equal to the three “holy” languages, and the church services in various Slavic countries were conducted in their native tongue.
Constantine-Cyril and Methodius’s Early Life and Missions
Constantine (826 – 869), widely known by his religious name Cyril, and his elder brother Methodius (815 – 885) were born to a noble family in Thessaloniki, Byzantine Empire. Their father Leo was a Greek, who held a high-ranking military position in Byzantium. Their mother Maria was most probably a Slav. Leo died when Constantine – the youngest of seven children – was 14-year old. After Leo’s death, the family accepted the protection of one of the most powerful officials in the Empire. Later, Constantine attended the famous Magnaura Academy in Constantinople where he received a brilliant education in philosophy, linguistics and science.
After his graduation, Constantine tookthe important position of the chartophylax (a keeper ofthe church archives) and began to teach philosophy at Magnaura Academy. He had become widely famous for his erudition and was called Constantine the Philosopher. Due to his sharp polemical skills and good command of both Hebrew and Arab, Constantine was sent on two important state missions.
First he went to the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mutawakkil in Baghdad, where he discussed the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity and successfully negotiated the release of dozens of Byzantine prisoners of war. The Constantine’s second mission was an expedition to the tribe of Khazars near the Sea of Azov. He had to stop the expansion of Judaism there and convert Khazars to Christianity. However, that mission was not very successful.
Cyril and Methodius’s Mission to the Slavs
In 863, Constantine and his brother Methodius undertook an apostolic mission to Great Moravia. The mission was organized at Prince Rastislav’s request. The Moravian ruler aimed to achieve religious and political independence from the Franks. So, he asked the Byzantine emperor Michael III and Patriarch Photius to send him missionaries who would preach the Gospels and conduct the Divine service in the native Slavonic language.
Constantine and Methodius had already created the first Slavonic alphabet – Glagolitsa, and when they arrived in Great Moravia, they began to teach a number of disciples and started translating the Bible and several liturgical books into Slavonic. Later, the two brothers and their disciples traveled round Great Moravia to promote the Slavonic script and to preach Christianity in the Slavs’ native tongue. They gained huge success in that mission and incurred the wrath of the hostile German ecclesiastics, who accused them of heresy for breaking the trilingual dogma.
Cyril and Methodius’s Journey to Rome
As a result of the allegations of heresy, Pope Nicholas I summoned Constantine and Methodius to Rome in order to throw light upon their mission. Nicholas I died prior to their arrival. Thus the brothers were received kindly by his successor Adrian II. The closest disciple of the two apostles – Clement of Ohrid – wrote about the heated debate between Constantine the Philosopher and the“bishops, priests and black-robed monks”, who “swarmed upon him like crows atop a falcon”.
Answering their questions and serious accusations, Constantine had demonstrated his remarkable polemical talent: “Does not the Lord send His rain upon us equally? Does not the sun shine upon us all, too? Do not we all breathe the air in the same way? And you are not ashamed to decree only three languages deciding that all other peoples and races should remain blind and deaf! Tell me: do you hold this because you consider God is so weak that he cannot grant it, or so envious that he does not wish it?”
The Pope admired the way Constantine defended himself and his apostolic work and blessed the Slavic mission. Constantine the Philosopher died in Rome on February 14, 869. He was buried in the Basilica of San Clemente in Rome. Before his death, Constantine assumed the monastic habit and the name Cyril. His brother Methodius and their disciples continued their missionary work. Methodius died on April 8, 885. About fifty years later, Pope John IX canonized Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius. In 1980, Pope John Paul II declared them co-patrons of Europe.
Sources:
The Life of Cyril by Clement of Ohrid, Diogen Publising House, Sofia 2002
Constantine-Cyril the Philosopher: ABC of the Renaissance by Vladimir Topencharov, Narodna Mladezh Publishing House, Sofia 1984
Rumyana Mokanova - I am a Bulgarian journalist with a Master's Degree in journalism at St Clement of Ohrid University of Sofia and 15-year practice in daily ...
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