May: Day 11: Teaching 2: Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodios

May: Day 11: Teaching 2:*
Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodios
 
(The Merits of the Holy Brothers Cyril and Methodios for the Slavs)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Methodios, whose memory is celebrated today, together with his brother Cyril (whose memory is celebrated on February 14), was a teacher of the Slavs, to whose race we Russians also belong in the Christian faith. He came from a noble family in the city of Thessaloniki. Having received an education in his native city, he became governor of a Slavic region in Macedonia. But his heart was not inclined toward the world and its vain pleasures. After ten years of service he withdrew to the Monastery of Polychronion on Mount Olympus, where his brother Saint Constantine soon arrived. In the year 857 both brothers were called to preach to the Slavs. In order to accomplish this great and holy work more successfully, the holy brothers created the Slavic alphabet, translated the liturgical books from Greek into the Slavic language, and for the first time introduced divine services among the Slavs in their native tongue.

Because of the slanders of the German bishops, the holy brothers were summoned to Rome as preachers of the gospel in the Slavic language, while those bishops claimed that the word of God should be read only in the three languages in which the inscription on Christ’s Cross had been written. Pope Adrian vindicated the holy brothers. Saint Cyril, exhausted by his unceasing labors, became gravely ill in Rome and soon reposed there, while Saint Methodios was elevated to the rank of Archbishop of Pannonia or Moravia and returned to his flock, where he continued enlightening the Slavs until the end of his life. He reposed in the year 885.

II. On the day of the commemoration of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Methodios, whose name is inseparably joined to that of his ever-memorable brother Cyril, let us speak about the merits of these holy brothers for the Slavs, including us Russians, who belong to the Slavic race.

а). The holy brothers Cyril and Methodios were the first to preach the Christian faith to our Slavic forefathers in their native Slavic tongue; they were the first to give them the word of God and to teach them to celebrate the church services in their own understandable Slavic language, whereas the Western preachers of Christianity at that time taught the Slavs to pray in foreign languages unintelligible to them, insisting that God could be glorified only in three languages — Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. “And thus the Slavs were enabled to hear the greatness of God in their own language,” remarks the most ancient Slavic chronicler.

And how could they not rejoice? Until then, it was as though the holy truth had been hidden from them, conveyed in a foreign and incomprehensible speech; but now the holy truth shone before them like rays of the sun emerging from behind clouds. It was painful and humiliating for a Slav when he was forced to hear and memorize what he could not understand, while being told that his language was crude and barbaric, unfit for prayer or for conveying the words of God. Such an offense against the Slavic people still partly continues in the West even today.

Behold, we Orthodox Christians come into our Orthodox churches; everything there is understandable to us, because both the reading and the singing are in our familiar native Slavic language. One who attentively attends our church experiences great consolation from the holy, understandable, and instructive words. But this is not so in Catholic churches. There the services are conducted, as is known, in the Latin language.** We see that nearly all who are present there — both Poles and Russians (Slavs) — do not know this language; and what then remains for them to do? Either to listen without understanding anything, or else to pray their own prayers, whatever each one knows. This is why literate people in Catholic churches stand during the services with prayer books in hand and pray from them; and so it turns out that the priest is praying about one thing, while each of the laity prays about his own concerns. Thus the prayer “with one mouth and one heart” never exists in their churches as it does in our Orthodox churches. An illiterate person who does not know prayers by heart would even find it boring to stand in their churches, had they not introduced music there, which at least somewhat occupies and distracts the attention of those present.***

Thanks be to God! Glory to you also, holy first teachers of the Slavs, Cyril and Methodios, for from the time of our ancient Slavic forefathers you taught us the holy faith and the holy services in our understandable native Slavic language, thereby exalting our Slavic speech and our Slavic people!

b). But the merit of our holy first teachers Cyril and Methodios lies in something else as well. It is not enough merely to proclaim the holy truth orally; only those who hear it directly can know it. True, those who hear it may pass it on to others, and those to still others, and so forth. But words transmitted orally, as you yourselves know, become lost and distorted over time; it is far better when those words are written down and preserved in writing.

The Slavic language had no written alphabet before the holy brothers Cyril and Methodios. “To preach the Christian faith orally alone,” the holy brothers said in their time, “is like writing on sand.” Therefore they resolved to give the Slavic peoples, who had not yet possessed an alphabet, the word of God in written form. For this great work they prepared themselves through prayer and a forty-day fast, and the Lord blessed their labor with complete success.

When the Slavic alphabet was ready, Constantine (later the monk Cyril) wrote in Slavic letters, according to tradition, the opening words of the Holy Evangelist John the Theologian: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” and then proceeded to translate the entire Holy Gospel. With what joy was this first work written in the Slavic tongue received! In Constantinople, in the presence of the emperor himself (in the year 863), a solemn thanksgiving service was celebrated for this priceless gift of God.

Sending the holy brothers Cyril and Methodios into the Slavic lands for gospel preaching, the Greek emperor wrote to Rostislav, the Moravian prince: “God, who commands every man to come to the knowledge of the truth, has accomplished a great work by revealing letters in your language. We send to you that honorable man through whom the Lord has revealed these letters, a faithful and learned philosopher. He brings you a gift more precious than gold or precious stones. Help him establish your language and seek God without sparing yourself in any labor; then you too, having brought your people to the knowledge of God, will receive your reward both in this age and in the age to come.”

And the holy brothers went into the Slavic lands and generously sowed there the word of God, transmitting it both orally and in writing.

“Hear, O Slavs, all the word that comes from God — the word that nourishes human souls, the word that strengthens hearts and minds,” cried the wise Constantine to all the Slavic people. “The soul has no life if it does not hear the words of God. Open diligently the doors of your mind; take up the strong weapon forged by the books of the Lord. In letters the wisdom of Christ is revealed, which strengthens your souls. Understand with your own minds, lest, though possessing reason, you hear a foreign word like the sound of a brass trumpet. As the eye rejoices not without light in seeing God’s creation, so every soul without understanding, ignorant of God’s law... A soul without letters appears dead within a man.”

From these words of Saint Cyril, I ask you, brethren, to pay particular attention to his final words: “A soul without letters appears dead within a man,” that is, an illiterate person resembles one who is dead. And is this not truly so? A dead man may stare with dim, half-open eyes upon God’s world, yet he sees and understands nothing. Likewise an illiterate person may look at books and turn their pages, but sees and understands nothing in them. Much in God’s world and in human affairs remains unknown to him, things books could reveal if he were able to read them.

An illiterate person, like a dead man, scarcely exists for those who are far away, for those who lived before him, or for those who will live after him, whereas a literate man through writing converses with those far away, listens to those who lived before him through their writings, and speaks to future generations through his own writings. An illiterate person does not know how to glorify God and please Him properly; he cannot read the word of God, the writings of the Holy Fathers and Teachers of the Church, and many soul-profiting books.

III My brethren! If the Lord did not grant some of you to become literate yourselves, then at least do not leave your children without letters, I beg you. Saints Cyril and Methodios themselves entreat you for this from the other world. Amen. 

(Compiled from the homiletic supplement to “Guide for Rural Pastors” for 1885, April.)

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

Notes:

* In the Slavic calendar, Sts Cyril and Methodios are celebrated together on May 11th, but individually St. Methodios is commemorated on April 6th and St. Cyril on February 14th. This text in translation is taken from April 6th and tranferred to May 11th, since in the Greek calendar they are only commemorated together on May 11th.

** For the vast majority of Catholics in the Latin Rite, Mass was celebrated entirely in Latin from the late 4th century until the 1960s reforms of Vatican II. The "Tridentine" Mass, often called the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM), refers to the specific form of the Roman Rite Mass standardized in 1570 by Pope Pius V following the Council of Trent, which was done in the Latin language only. Latin allowed Catholics to attend Mass anywhere in the world and experience the same, familiar rite. The priest typically faced the altar (away from the congregation) and used low, often inaudible, tones of voice for the Latin prayers. While the liturgical prayers were in Latin, the sermon (or homily) was almost always delivered in the local vernacular language. Following Vatican II (around 1965-1970), Catholics moved to the "Novus Ordo" Mass, allowing the local language to make it more accessible.

*** Since the congregation was not expected to sing or even hear every word during a Catholic Mass, this created a "sacred space" where complex music could function independently as an offering to God. As Latin evolved into local Romance languages (like French or Italian), the laity's ability to sing "correct" Latin declined. By the 6th and 7th centuries, the clergy increasingly used trained choirs and professionals to ensure the sacred language was handled with proper "regality," leading to more complex musical forms like Gregorian chant and later polyphony. Because the action of the priest was the focus, music didn't need to be simple enough for a crowd to sing along; it could be "monumental" and elaborate, designed to lift the soul through beauty rather than explain a text. In the Tridentine Mass, the priest often prays the Canon (the most central part) in a low, inaudible voice. This "sacred silence" provided a perfect backdrop for elaborate polyphonic settings by composers like Palestrina, Mozart, or Bach, which could be performed while the liturgical action continued at the altar. In contrast, the shift to the vernacular (local language) after Vatican II emphasized "active participation". This often required music to be simplified so the entire congregation could sing together, which is why folk-style hymns and simpler melodies became more common.