Cyriland Methodius

Cyril and Methodius, SS., apostles of the Slavonians in the ninth century, were born of a noble family at Thessalonica. The elder, Constantine, studied languages and gained the title of "the Philosopher," and became a priest; the younger was first soldier, then monk. The Emperor Michael III. sent Constantine on a preaching mission in 860; and later both Cyril and Methodius went on a mission to the Moravians and Bulgarians. Methodius converted the king of the latter by a painting of the Last Judgment. Adrian II. made them both bishops, and the elder now took the name of Cyril. He still kept up his literary studies, and his Slavonic alphabets are the foundation of those now in use in Russia and Servia and still keep his name. Cyril died in 868, and Methodius, after becoming archbishop of Moravia and Pannonia and obtaining from Pope John VIII. the recognition of the Slavonic liturgy, died in 881. Their feast-day is the 9th of March.