Cyril and Methodius

Cyril and Methodius were two brothers who lived in the 9th century and became the missionaries of Christianity among the Slavic peoples. They are believed to have devised and spread the Glagolitic alphabet used for Slavonic manuscripts before the development of the Cyrillic, an alphabet derived from Glagolitic, that with small modifications is still used in a number of Slavic languages. They also translated the Christian texts for Slavs into the language that is now called Old Church Slavonic. The language derived from it, Church Slavonic, is still used in liturgy by several Eastern Orthodox churches. Both brothers are canonized in Eastern Orthodoxy as "equal-to-apostles" and were celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church in 1880.

SS. Cyril and Methodius Day on May 24, also known as 'Day of Culture and Literacy' (local name: Den na azbukata, kulturata i prosveshtenieto), is a national holiday in Bulgaria celebrating Bulgarian culture and the invention of the cyrilic alphabet by the brothers Saints Cyril and Methodius.

For the separate articles on the two brothers, see:

• Saint Cyril
• Saint Methodius

See also

• Brotherhood of Saints Cyril and Methodius;
• SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary.

External references

• "Cyril and Methodius, Saints" article in Encyclopædia Britannica.
• "Equal to Apostles SS. Cyril and Methodius Teachers of Slavs", by Prof. Nicolai D. Talberg