Saints Cyril and Methodius/Sv. Kiril i Metodij. What are they known for and why are they important? Simple. My short answer and knowledge is that, they are the apostles to the Slavs. How? They made the Glagolitic alphabet so that the pagan Slavs at that time would be converted and enlightened by the word of Christ.
The Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets are the oldest known Slavic alphabets, and were created by the two brothers and their students, to translate the Bible and other texts into the Slavic languages. The early Glagolitic alphabet was used in Great Moravia between 863 (the arrival of Cyril and Methodius) and 885 (the expulsion of their students) for government and religious documents and books, and at the Great Moravian Academy (Veľkomoravské učilište) founded by Cyril, where followers of Cyril and Methodius were educated, by Methodius himself among others. The alphabet has been traditionally attributed to Cyril. That attribution has been confirmed explicitly by the papal letter Industriae tuae (880) approving the use of Old Church Slavonic, which says that the alphabet was "invented by Constantine the Philosopher". The term invention need not exclude the possibility of the brothers having made use of earlier letters, but implies only that before that time the Slavic languages had no distinct script of their own.
Ever since their students made and perfected the Slavic alphabets over time, they are considered ''Equal to the Apostles'' and their feast day are either celebrated at May 11(New Calendar) and May 24(Old Calendar).
No comments:
Post a Comment