May: Day 11: Teaching 1: Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodios

 

May: Day 11: Teaching 1:
Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodios
 
(Lessons From Their Lives:
a. We Must Have Brotherly Love and Unanimity, and
b. Cherish our Faith Above All Else)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Saints Cyril (in the world Constantine) and Methodios, whose memory is celebrated today, were the children of Leo, the Grand Duke of Thessaloniki, a Slav who received a high education from the Greeks. Their mother's name was Maria. The eldest of the brothers, Methodios, first ruled a Slavic region near Thessaloniki, and then withdrew to Asia Minor, to Mount Olympus, for feats of piety. Cyril studied first at home, then in Constantinople, together with the young Emperor Michael, under the famous learned man Photios, who later became Patriarch. For his extensive knowledge he was called a Philosopher. After completing his studies, Cyril was first a bookkeeper at the Hagia Sophia Cathedral, then taught philosophy. But the world did not bind him to itself, and soon Cyril, leaving all his worldly pursuits, settled with his brother on Mount Olympus.

Boris, or Bogoris, the Tsar of Bulgaria, wished to accept the Christian faith, to which his sister, who lived for some time in Constantinople, persuaded him. Methodios was sent to Boris. Having shown Boris a picture of the Last Judgment and depicted to him the blessedness of the righteous and the torment of sinners, Methodios convinced him to become a Christian.

Then other Slavic princes wanted to hear the gospel not in Latin, in which the Latin and German bishops preached to them, but in Slavic. These were the Moravian princes - Svyatopolk and Rostislav, and Kocel the Pannonian prince. Cyril and Methodios were sent to them, as they knew the Slavic language.

Wanting the work to be lasting, Cyril did not want to be satisfied with oral preaching alone, but conceived the idea of inventing a Slavic alphabet. After fervent fasting and prayer, he composed the alphabet – that is, he undertook and completed a task of the greatest importance for the entire Slavic world – and began to translate the Gospel from Greek into Slavic. The brothers labored for four and a half years in Moravia and Pannonia and called the people to the knowledge of the true God. Cyril translated the Gospel, the Psalter, many readings from the Old Testament, the liturgy and the liturgical rite into Slavic.

But the preaching of the holy brothers caused them many troubles. The Latin bishops complained to Pope Nicholas about the teachers of the Slavs, that they were alienating the Slavs from the authority of the Roman pope. Cyril and Methodios, obeying the pope or patriarch, who had not yet separated from the universal Church, went to Rome, taking with them part of the relics of Saint Clement. But in Rome there was already another pope, Adrian II. Desiring peace in the Church, he received the preachers graciously, showed due honor to the relics of Saint Clement, transferred them to the church built in memory of Saint Clement, accepted from the hands of Cyril and Methodios the Slavonic translation of the sacred books, and allowed Mass to be celebrated in some churches of Rome, partly in Latin, partly in the Slavonic language. In Rome, Cyril became seriously ill from incessant exhausting labors. Before his death he took the schema and bequeathed to Methodios not to abandon the work of enlightening the Slavs, he prayed to the Lord not to abandon the Slavs enlightened by the Christian faith and to unite them in Orthodoxy and unanimity. Cyril died, at the age of 42, on February 14, 869.

Pope Adrian, with many Greek and Roman clergy, performed the funeral service for the body of the deceased. Methodios wanted to transfer his body to his homeland, but, at the request of the Roman clergy, it was buried in the Church of Saint Clement, where it rests today.

Having buried Cyril, Methodios, in the rank of Bishop of Pannonia and Moravia, returned to the Slavs and with apostolic zeal labored here for many years among the Latin preachers who were hostile to him. Methodios firmly established the work of evangelical preaching in the Slavic lands, and his labors were crowned with complete success. Over the course of six years, almost all the Slavic peoples began to conduct services in the Slavic language.

Feeling the nearness of his end, Methodios chose from among his disciples a pious and learned man named Gorazd, to whom he bequeathed to continue his labors. Methodios died on April 6, 885. His funeral service was held in Slavonic, Greek and Latin. The holy books and church services translated by the holy brothers and their disciples were later transferred to the Russian Church. Therefore, we glorify Cyril and Methodios for the fact that they gave us the highest blessing: knowledge of the true God, literacy and spiritual enlightenment.

II. The life and work of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles brothers presents us with many instructive lessons.

a) First, they teach us brotherly friendship and unanimity. Without a doubt, the holy brothers were bound together by the same rich gifts from nature, and the excellent education they had received, and their same holy disposition, and their one common task of apostolic service to their fellow Slavs; but was not the bond of blood relationship - brotherhood - deeper than all these ties? Was not this blood brotherly bond what led them to their same pious disposition and to one apostolic and literary work, to which they devoted themselves throughout their lives with such constancy, with such selflessness? Soon after receiving a well-rounded education at the royal court, Constantine (in monasticism Cyril), instead of the brilliant position that awaited him, chose the life of a simple, modest monk. Is it not because his elder blood brother, Methodios, after several years of secular service as a military commander, chose a modest monastic life on Olympus? The young monk Cyril hastens to Olympus to join his elder blood brother, and here they devote themselves together to prayer and bookish labors. Cyril is summoned to the capital, Constantinople, for his embassy to the Slavic peoples for apostolic preaching; Cyril begs his brother Methodius to accompany him. Together they diligently prepare for missionary work; together they share the labors and dangers of a long journey; together they labor here to educate the Slavs both in their schools and in churches; together they are subjected to reproaches and attacks from the enemies of the Slavs; together they are sent to Rome for trial before the Roman high priest. Cyril in Rome is exhausted by the heavy, grueling labors and prepares to leave the earthly arena. “My brother,” Cyril says to Methodios just before his death, “you and I were like a friendly pair of oxen cultivating the same field; and here I fall on the furrow, having finished my day early. I know that you love the solitude of Mount Olympus, but I beg you, do not abandon our work; you will please God with it.” And so, in the name of blood brotherhood, Saint Methodios sacredly fulfills the dying request of his brother and steadfastly continues the work of apostleship and book writing among the Slavs. Despite numerous difficulties and troubles, he continues to labor for about sixteen years on the holy work bequeathed to him by his brother. Here is an example of mutual, brotherly blood love, strong as death.

Let us all, brethren, firmly learn this lesson of brotherly love, especially those of us for whom kinship and even blood brotherhood are beginning to lose their strength little by little. This is how it happens with us, unfortunately. While still boys, brothers begin to quarrel among themselves and show hostility, sometimes against each other, sometimes against their sisters; and when they grow up, and get married, then not only is their father's house small for them, but their father's estate is cramped; they quarrel not only about their father's inheritance, or about some patch of land, but about some chicken that has flown from one's garden to the garden of another. Brothers quarrel among themselves, their wives quarrel, their children quarrel. And what comes of it? Because of quarrels and disorder in both families, work does not go well; from time to time, both families are eaten up by envy and malice and become poor, especially when those who are at odds with each other are brought to trial in distant courts. It is a sin against God and a shame before men. It is hard for the bones of parents to lie in the damp earth from such family disorder, leaving their children, as if they had settled down and set them on their feet. And what else can come of this? The same disorder, the same shame, the same sin, the same grief from generation to generation, until the end of the family. May God deliver us from such wickedness!

"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" says the prophet of God David. Live, brethren, among yourselves in a brotherly manner, in familial love, in unanimity, and the Lord will bless you, and your children, and your grandchildren with all goodness throughout your generations.

b) The second lesson that we take from the lives of the holy brothers is that we must value holy faith above all else.

They suffered many troubles and severe hardships throughout their difficult lives, but they did not betray the faith, but remained faithful to it until the end of their lives, showing us in this that we too must cherish the faith of Christ as the apple of our eye, and not forsake it for fear or for earthly gains, if there can indeed be any benefit to a person when they might change their faith?!

III. Brothers and sisters! The Orthodox faith should be dearer to us than anything else. “The Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodios passed on this faith to their disciples, so that believing in it on the dread day of judgment they might again hand it over as true, unchangeable, and perfect, and stand at the right hand of the Lord Jesus Christ, our true God.” Therefore, brethren, I beseech you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, "live a life worthy of the gospel of Christ" (Phil. 1:27). Do not be children, "tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceit" (Eph. 4:14), do not listen to those who trouble you and want to "twist and change the gospel of Christ" (Gal. 1:7); "beware of these evil workers" (Phil. 3:2); "be vigilant, stand firm in the faith, be of good courage and be strong" (1 Cor. 16:13). Do you hear what the Holy Apostle says: “Though we, or even an angel from heaven, should preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:18). Be warned by this, brethren, "do not listen to various seducers who, under various colors of eloquence, under the charm of worldly wisdom, and sometimes even under cunningly chosen sayings of the holy scriptures, pronounce strange and various teachings" (Heb. 13:9), do not be carried away by their teachings and do not destroy your souls! Amen. 

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.