Czech Christians commemorate the most important monks of local and European history – 1150 years after their arrival in Great Moravia
Constantine, better known by his monastic name Cyril, and his brother Methodius became known as the “Slav Apostles” and deserve the appellation of heroes, because in the ninth century they evangelized the Slavic people and invented the Glagolitic alphabet. Today they are revered as saints by the Catholic and Orthodox Church and considered the patron saints of all the Slavic people. However, restricting their importance to the Slavic world would be an understatement. In 1980, in fact, Pope John Paul II elevated them to patrons of Europe, together with Saint Benedict of Nursia.
A vast number of legends arose around their figure, also due to scarcity of reliable sources. Cyril and Methodius were born in Thessaloniki, in present day Salonika, an important center of the Byzantine Empire, which at the time had a strong Slavic presence, with whom the brothers came into contact with, thus acquiring their language. Methodius had legal training, whilst the eclectic Constantine studied philosophy and became a priest, but it was mainly in the field of linguistics, that he gave proof of his genius. In 862, Cyril was sent, with his brother, to evangelize Pannonia and Great Moravia, a region that included present-day Moravia, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia, ruled by Prince Rastislav. The latter asked the emperor of Byzantium to send missionaries to his lands, concealing behind religious reasons his real political intent, which was to strengthen the independence of his state by moving it away from its dependence on the German clergy. The two brothers, surrounded by distrust from the Latin clergy, did not impose the superiority of Greek civilization on the Slavs, but on the contrary, carried out their Christian and cultural mission by respecting local customs. Constantine began translating passages from the Gospel of St. John, inventing a new alphabet called Glagolitic, which was based on the Slavic dialect spoken in Salonika. However, contrasts soon began to break out with the German clergy and, in the wake of growing contrasts between the Church of the East and the West for the control of the Moravian faithful, in 867 the two saints were summoned to Rome, where Pope Hadrian II approved the translation of the Bible and the use of the paleoslavic liturgical service. Methodius was consecrated priest and Constantine became a monk acquiring the name of Cyril. However, in Rome he became ill and died. Methodius returned to Moravia where the new king, who favoured the German presence there, accused him and his disciples of heresy. Methodius continued his mission until 885, the year in which he died in Velehrad. Part of his followers fled to Bulgaria and others travelled to other Slavic lands where they spread the use of Glagolitic, giving rise to the Cyrillic alphabet, which in the Middle Ages, laid the bases for the written culture of the new great Russian states.
The Salonika saints are commemorated on July 5 by the Western Church and on 11 May (24 in the Julian calendar) by the Eastern church.
The main celebrations in the Czech Republic take place on July 5 in the Moravian town of Velehrad, heart of the mission of the Thessalonica brothers and one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Central Europe. This year, the most eminent representatives from numerous states, confessions, scientific and cultural delegations will arrive from all over the world. In 1990, Pope John Paul II paid a visit there during his first trip to a post-Communist country after the fall of the Iron Curtain. “Cyril and Methodius represent the link or spiritual bridge between Western and Eastern traditions – the Slavic pope stated in the Encyclical Slavorum Apostles – they are the patrons of the ecumenical endeavour of the Eastern and Western sister Churches” to find a common unity. On the one hand, this unity is perceived by the convergence of the two churches that conceive the significance of the event in the same way, but on the other hand, the watchword of the anniversary is “unity with diversity”, because in all the countries where the two saints have left their mark, separate initiatives are taking place to commemorate the two saints.
There are two main spiritual meetings taking place in Moravia. The first entitled the “Meeting of Cultures”, and organized by the Czech Orthodox community, took place in Mikulčice from 24 to 26 May, with the participation of Bartholomew I, Patriarch of Constantinople, and the highest authority of the Orthodox Church. The rain did not discourage the two thousand Czech and Slovak pilgrims, but there were also Bulgarians and Russians, who stoically followed the two and a half hours of liturgy, celebrated in various languages by Patriarch Bartholomew and by a dozen representatives from the Orthodox Church. “I believe it is a good thing that the Orthodox and Catholic celebrations are held separately – said František Synek, head of the archaeological site of Slovanské hradiště in Mikulčice – thus we have more opportunities to remember the significance of the apostles”.
The festivities will end with the Catholic event called “Days of the people of goodwill”, that has taken place in Velehrad on July 5 ever since the year 2000. The town, which holds the most important sanctuary of the Czech Republic, is the proper closing place for the annual National Pilgrimage, which attracts about 30,000 followers each year from all parts of the country. This year, at least twice as many people are expected to arrive. Most of the hotels in the area are in fact already fully booked. In his 2012 homily, Cardinal Miloslav Vlk opened the year of preparation for the important anniversary “that involves not only Christian followers from our country, but all people, regardless of their convictions”, and emphasized the role of the two saints, who created a bridge between East and West and whose arrival signified that “we have really entered into Europe”.
Given the importance of the event, Cardinal Dominik Duka and president Miloš Zeman have sent a letter of invitation to Pope Francis. The recent visit by Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli to the Zlín region and opening to ecumenism, and consequently to the Orthodox and the East by the new pontiff, had raised hopes of a possible participation on his part, but around the middle of May, in an official statement the absence of the Pope was confirmed.
In addition to the usual scheduled activities of the program, such as the hand transcription of biblical passages, children’s time and the various conferences, the organizers have heralded a few novelties. The release of a documentary film by director Petr Nikolaev entitled “Cyril and Methodius. The apostles of the Slavs”, which will be released in Autumn and be preceded by a TV series in four episodes to be aired in June.
A further confirmation that the celebrations will be fragmented, with parallel events taking place in Slovakia. To coincide with the Velehrad days in Nitra, Slovakia – seat of an important bishopric – Catholic celebrations will take place, including the presentation of a stamp dedicated to the two saints; while at the castle of Branč there will be a joint commemoration on the part of the Slovak, Czech and Silesian Evangelical Churches, including the Czech Brethren, an event sponsored by the Slovak President Ivan Gašparovič. In 2013, the Slovak Mint dedicated a two-euro commemorative coin to Cyril and Methodius in Moravia with a circulation of one million pieces.
Finally, a series of commemorative exhibitions are already taking place in various Czech cities, such as Velehrad, Prague, Brno and Olomouc, but also in the former Bat’a shoe factory in Zlín and in Moravian Wallachia, where you may find a large number of churches, chapels and statues dedicated to the Thessalonica brothers. In Salonika itself, the Slovak National Museum has opened an exhibition, and the birthplace of the two saints will be the stopping place of a pilgrimage dedicated to the footsteps of Constantine and Methodius in Greece and Macedonia. A rather curious initiative is the route called Transhumance, consisting of a four-month journey that a number of shepherds will be doing along the Carpathians mountains , with a flock of three hundred sheep – to find the common roots that bind the Czechs to the Slovaks, Poles, Ukrainians and Romanians.
The multitude of meetings and initiatives taking place, go to show that even centuries later, the two apostles still deserve credit for their influence on the religious and cultural development of all Slavs, to such an extent as to be considered the “cornerstone of European unity”.
by Sabrina Salomoni