Saints Cyril and Methodius facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Saints Cyril and Methodius |
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"Saints Cyril and Methodius holding the Cyrillic alphabet," a mural by Bulgarian iconographer Z. Zograf, 1848, Troyan Monastery
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| Bishops and Confessors; Equals to the Apostles; Patrons of Europe; Apostles to the Slavs | |
| Born | 826 or 827 and 815 Thessalonica, Byzantine Empire (present-day Greece) |
| Died | 14 February 869 and 6 April 885 Rome and Velehrad, Moravia |
| Venerated in | Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church Anglican Communion Lutheranism |
| Feast | 11 and 24 May (Orthodox Church) 14 February (present Roman Catholic calendar); 5 July (Roman Catholic calendar 1880–1886); 7 July (Roman Catholic calendar 1887–1969) 5 July (Roman Catholic Czech Republic and Slovakia) |
| Attributes | brothers depicted together; Eastern bishops holding up a church; Eastern bishops holding an icon of the Last Judgment. Often, Cyril is depicted wearing a monastic habit and Methodius vested as a bishop with omophorion. |
| Patronage | Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Transnistria, Archdiocese of Ljubljana, Europe, Slovak Eparchy of Toronto, Eparchy of Košice |
Saints Cyril and Methodius were brothers and 9th century Christian missionaries. They Christianized the Slavic peoples of the Danube. They influenced the culture and religion of all slavic peoples. They received the title "Apostles to the Slavs".
Contents
Secular lives
The brothers were both born in Thessalonica. Methodios was born c. 815 or 826 and died in 885. Cyril was born c. 826 and died (under his adopted name Constantine) in 869. Cyril was educated at the University at Constantinople under Photios I of Constantinople. He later taught there when he replaced Photios. Methodios became governor of the province of Opsikion at about the same time.
Missionaries
In 861 the Byzantine Emperor Michael III sent the two brothers to convert the Khazars to Christianity. They continued their religious conversion of the Tatars along the Black Sea for two years. Afterwards the Emperor Michael sent them to Moravia as missionaries. They taught in the Slavic languages and translated the Scriptures into Slavonic. Cyril invented an alphabet called the Glagolitic alphabet. This became the basis for the Cyrillic alphabet. Old Church Slavonic was written in Cyrillic and Glagolitic.
Images for kids
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Cyril and Methodius, painting by Jan Matejko, 1885
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Saints Cyril and Methodius in Rome. Fresco in San Clemente
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The Baška tablet is an early example of the Glagolitic from Croatia
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Saints Cyril and Methodius procession
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Basilica of St.Cyril and Methodius in Moravian Velehrad, Czech Republic
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Cross Procession in Khanty-Mansiysk on Saints Cyril and Methodius Day in May 2006
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Inauguration of the monument to Saints Cyril and Methodius in Saratov on Slavonic Literature and Culture Day
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Thessaloniki - monument of the two Saints gift from the Bulgarian Orthodox Church
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Bulgaria - Statue of the two Saints in front of the SS. Cyril and Methodius National Library in Sofia
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North Macedonia - The monument in Ohrid
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North Macedonia - Statue of Cyril and Methodius near the Stone Bridge in Skopje
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Czech Republic - Statue of Saints Cyril and Methodius at the Charles Bridge in Prague
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Czech Republic - Saints Cyril and Methodius monument in Mikulčice
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Czech Republic - Statue of Saint Methodius at the Holy Trinity Column in Olomouc in Moravia
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Russia - the monument in Khanty-Mansiysk
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Opening of Cyril and Methodius monument in Donetsk
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Statue, Saints Cyril and Methodius, Třebíč, Czech Republic
See also
In Spanish: Cirilo y Metodio para niños
