Latin To Kiril
Alke Stilwell
They are credited with devising the Glagolitic alphabet, the first alphabet used to transcribe Old Church Slavonic.[7] After their deaths, their pupils continued their missionary work among other Slavs. Both brothers are venerated in the Eastern Orthodox Church as saints with the title of "equal-to-apostles". In 1880, Pope Leo XIII introduced their feast into the calendar of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. In 1980, the first Slav pope, Pope John Paul II declared them co-patron saints of Europe, together with Benedict of Nursia.[8]
The exact ethnic origins of the brothers are unknown; there is controversy as to whether Cyril and Methodius were of Slavic[14] or Greek[15] origin, or both.[16] The two brothers lost their father when Cyril was fourteen, and the powerful minister Theoktistos, who was logothetes tou dromou, one of the chief ministers of the Empire, became their protector. He was also responsible, along with the regent Bardas, for initiating a far-reaching educational program within the Empire which culminated in the establishment of the University of Magnaura, where Cyril was to teach. Cyril was ordained as priest some time after his education, while his brother Methodius remained a deacon until 867/868.[17]
About the year 860, Byzantine Emperor Michael III and the Patriarch of Constantinople Photius (a professor of Cyril's at the University and his guiding light in earlier years), sent Cyril on a missionary expedition to the Khazars who had requested a scholar be sent to them who could converse with both Jews and Saracens.[18] It has been claimed that Methodius accompanied Cyril on the mission to the Khazars, but this may be a later invention. The account of his life presented in the Latin "Legenda" claims that he learned the Khazar language while in Chersonesos, in Taurica (today Crimea).
After his return to Constantinople, Cyril assumed the role of professor of philosophy at the University. His brother had by this time become a significant figure in Byzantine political and administrative affairs, and an abbot of his monastery.
In 862, the brothers began the work which would give them their historical importance. That year Prince Rastislav of Great Moravia requested that Emperor Michael III and the Patriarch Photius send missionaries to evangelize his Slavic subjects. His motives in doing so were probably more political than religious. Rastislav had become king with the support of the Frankish ruler Louis the German, though he subsequently sought to assert his independence from the Franks. That Cyril and Methodius might have been the first to bring Christianity to Moravia is a common misconception; Rastislav's letter to Michael III states clearly that his people "had already rejected paganism and adhere to the Christian law."[19] Rastislav is said to have expelled missionaries of the Roman Church and instead turned to Constantinople for ecclesiastical assistance and, presumably, a degree of political support.[20] The Emperor quickly chose to send Cyril, accompanied by his brother Methodius.[21] The request provided a convenient opportunity to expand Byzantine influence. Their first work seems to have been the training of assistants. In 863, they began the task of translating the Gospels and essential liturgical books into what is now known as Old Church Slavonic,[22] and travelled to Great Moravia to promote it.[23] This endeavour was amply rewarded. However, they came into conflict with German ecclesiastics, who opposed their efforts to create a specifically Slavic liturgy.
For the purpose of this mission, they devised the Glagolitic alphabet, the first alphabet to be used for Slavonic manuscripts. The Glagolitic alphabet was suited to match the specific features of the Slavic language. Its descendant script, the Cyrillic, is still used by many languages today.[20]
The brothers wrote the first Slavic Civil Code, which was used in Great Moravia. The language derived from Old Church Slavonic, known as Church Slavonic, is still used in the liturgy by several Orthodox Churches, and also in some Eastern Catholic churches.
Exactly how much the brothers translated is impossible to say for certain. The New Testament and the Psalms seem to have been the first, followed by other lessons from the Old Testament.[citation needed] The "Translatio" speaks only of a version of the Gospels by Cyril, and the "Vita Methodii" only of the "evangelium Slovenicum", though other liturgical selections may also have been translated.
The mission of Constantine and Methodius had great success among Slavs in part because they used the people's native language rather than Latin or Greek. In Great Moravia, Constantine and Methodius also encountered missionaries from East Francia. They would have represented the western, or Latin, branch of the Church, more particularly epitomizing the Carolingian Empire as founded by Charlemagne, and intent on linguistic and cultural uniformity. They insisted on the use of the Latin liturgy, and they regarded Moravia and the Slavic peoples as part of their rightful mission field.
With them they brought the relics of Saint Clement and a retinue of disciples. They passed through Pannonia (the Balaton Principality), where they were well received by Prince Koceľ. This activity in Pannonia made a continuation of conflicts inevitable with the German episcopate, and especially with the bishop of Salzburg, whose prerogative Pannonia had been for seventy-five years. As early as 865, Bishop Adalwin was found to exercise Episcopal rights there. The administration under him was in the hands of the archpriest Riehbald. He was obliged to retire to Salzburg, though his superior was instinctively disinclined to abandon his claim.
The brothers sought support from Rome, and arrived there in 868, where they were warmly received. This was partly due to their bringing with them the relics of Saint Clement; rivalry with Constantinople over the territory of the Slavs would have inclined Rome to value the brothers and their influence.[20]
The brothers were praised for their learning and cultivated for their influence in Constantinople. Anastasius Bibliothecarius would later call Cyril "a man of apostolic life" and "a man of great wisdom".[24] Their project in Moravia found support from the new Pope Adrian II (867-872), who formally authorized the use of the new Slavic liturgy. Subsequently, Methodius was ordained as priest by the pope himself, and five Slavic disciples were ordained as priests (Saint Gorazd, Saint Clement of Ohrid and Saint Naum) and as deacons (Saint Angelar and Saint Sava) by the prominent bishops Formosus and Gauderic.[25] Since the 10th century Cyril and Methodius along with these five disciples are collectively venerated by the Bulgarian Orthodox Church as the "Seven Saints".[26][27] The newly made priests officiated in their own language at the altars of some of the principal churches. Feeling his end approaching, Cyril was tonsured a monk and given the name Cyril.[28] He died in Rome fifty days later (14 February 869). There is some question whether he had been made a bishop, as is asserted in the Translatio (ix.). Upon Cyrils death Methodius was given the title of Archbishop of Sirmium (now Sremska Mitrovica in Serbia) with jurisdiction over all of Moravia and Pannonia, and authority to use the Slavonic Liturgy.[29]
The statement of the "Vita" that Methodius was made bishop in 870 and not raised to the dignity of an archbishop until 873 is contradicted by the brief of Pope John VIII, written in June 879, according to which Adrian consecrated him archbishop; John includes in his jurisdiction not only Great Moravia and Pannonia, but Serbia as well.
Methodius now continued the work among the Slavs alone; not at first in Great Moravia, but in Pannonia (in the Balaton Principality). Political circumstances in Greater Moravia were insecure. Rastislav had been taken captive by his nephew Svatopluk in 870, then delivered over to Carloman of Bavaria, and condemned in a diet held at Regensburg at the end of 870. Meanwhile, the East Frankish rulers and their bishops decided to try and depose Methodius. The archiepiscopal claims of Methodius were considered so threatening to the rights of Salzburg that he was captured and forced to answer to East Frankish bishops: Adalwin of Salzburg, Ermanrich of Passau, and Anno of Freising. After heated discussion, they declared the intruder deposed, and ordered him to be sent to Germany. There he was kept prisoner in a monastery for two and a half years.[30]
Notwithstanding strong representations of the Conversio Bagoariorum et Carantanorum, written in 871 to influence the pope, though not conceding this purpose, Rome declared emphatically for Methodius. He sent a bishop, Paul of Ancona, to reinstate him and punish his enemies, after which both parties were ordered to appear in Rome with the legate.Thus in 873, new Pope John VIII (872-882) secured the release of Methodius, but instructed him to stop using the Slavonic Liturgy.[31]
In 878, Methodius was summoned to Rome on charges of heresy and using Slavonic. This time Pope John was convinced by the arguments that Methodius made in his defence and sent him back cleared of all charges, and with permission to use Slavonic. The Carolingian bishop who succeeded him, Wiching, a Swabian, suppressed the Slavonic Liturgy and forced the followers of Methodius into exile. Many found refuge with Knyaz Boris the Baptizer in Bulgaria, under whom they reorganized a Slavic-speaking Church. Meanwhile, Pope John's successors adopted a Latin-only policy which lasted for centuries.
Methodius vindicated his orthodoxy and promised to obey with regard to the liturgy. He could the more easily defend his omission of Filioque from the creed as this also pertained in Rome at the time. Though Filioque could, by the 6th century, be heard in some Latin-speaking churches in the west, it was not to be until 1014 that Rome followed suit (see Nicene Creed). Methodius' critics were mollified by Methodius having to accept the appointment of Wiching as his coadjutor. When relations between the two factions again became strained, John VIII steadfastly supported Methodius. After his death (December 882) it was the archbishop himself whose position looked insecure. His need for political support, visiting the Eastern emperor, inclined Goetz to accept the account in the Vita (xiii.).
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