There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification." says St. Paul in his First Epistle to the Corinthians. St. Cyril and St. Methodios took in serious consideration those words of the Apostle of the Nations and managed to become the Apostles of the Slavs. In 863 with their arrival in Moravia they marked the beginning of a difficult effort for the christianization of the Slavs which was achieved through the invention of the Cyrillic alphabet and which greatly influenced the position of Slavs in World History.
After the middle of the 7th century, the Central-European State of Great Moravia started playing an important role in European Politics. By that time Christian influences had already entered the state most probably from the ecclesiastical centers of Bavaria such as Salzburg and Passau. A number of almost twenty Christian temples of Western origin have been found in the area. When Mojmir, the Moravian king who had accepted Western Christianity died, Louis the German grasped the opportunity to interfere. So he decided to appoint as his subject prince of Moravia, Rastislav, Mojmir's nephew with the expectation to fully control him. But Rastislav was not eager to fulfill the expectations of Louis. In 862 he sent an embassy to Constantinople.
According to the life of Methodios Rastislav's message said "Many Christian missionaries have come to us from the Latins, the Greeks and the Germans, teaching us different things." and the life of Cyril adds: "we do not have a teacher who can teach us this same faith in our own language." (Tachiaos 92) Whether these were the words of Rastislav or not, it is certain that Rastislav needed close relations with Byzantium because he felt threatened by the Franco-Bulgarian alliance that had been recently concluded. Indeed Byzantium would be able to press the Bulgarian from the South. Moreover Rastislav was clever to asked Christianity in the Slavic language. In that way he hoped to obtain for his country cultural autonomy against Frankish imperialism and at the same time he was certain that the distant Byzantine empire would not be able to propose any imposition on Moravia.
The answer of the Byzantine emperor Michael III was positive. For centuries the Slavs had been treated as a situation of common "barbarians." But since Slavic State units were organized, diplomatic movements had to be made. They would have to get under the political and cultural influence of the Byzantine Empire. The emperor and the patriarch hoped that by evangelizing the Slavs they would tie them with loyal bonds to Byzantine State and Church, at a time when Francs with the approval of papacy were contacting Bulgaria. So in the answer to Rastislav, Michael III says according to life of Constantine (Cyril) : "Accept a gift greater and more precious than gold or silver or precious stones or transient riches… so that you also may be numbered among the great nations which render glory to God in their own language." (Obolenski 201) One cannot deny that beyond the diplomatic aspect the mission for the evangelization of Slavs would be religious. At least it had a strong religious importance for the two men who were appointed to accomplish this mission, the brothers Constantine (Cyril) and Methodios.
The selection of Constantine and Methodios for the difficult task of evangelizing the Slavs was not accidental. The two brothers from Thessaloniki belonged to a noble family very well known to the emperor. Their father Leon was a drungarios, a high rank military official. The fact that the two brothers spoke fluently the Slavic language can be explained. The numerous Slavs that lived in the suburbs of Thessaloniki had developed trade and economic relations with the Greeks of Thessaloniki. It is assumed that since they had no education they could not communicate in Greek and for that matter the Greeks had to learn their language. Moreover, Methodios had been charged with the administration of a Slavic district and therefore learnt their language and tried to be informed and understand their traditions and customs. Furthermore, the two brothers had already fulfilled a mission to the Khazars in the Caucasus. Moreover, the two brothers had acquired important education first in Thessaloniki and later on in Constantinople near the best philosophers of the time, like Photius. So with such qualifications they were mostly suitable for the task of creating a Slavic alphabet. Naturally the first task that had to be accomplished by the two brothers before leaving for the expedition was the invention of the alphabet. Many medieval writers state that Constantine invented the alphabet just after the invitation of Rastislav for the purpose of that specific mission. But in reality Constantine must have been working on a Slavic alphabet since he was in the monastery of Mount Olympus in Asia Minor for a purpose of a mission to the Slavs which the Byzantine State and Church had been planning before the request of Rastislav. The new alphabet consisted of the Greek letters plus new letters that Constantine devised so as to fit to the special sounds of the Slavic language. The first text Constantine translated before leaving for Moravia was from the Gospel of St. John: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God." (Obolenski 188) This was meant to symbolize the mission for the evangelization of the Slavs into their language.
In the autumn of 863 Constantine and Methodios arrived in Moravia where Rastislav welcomed them warmly. From then on, they would have to start hard work so as to achieve two main tasks. The first one was religious and cultural. They would have to translate the scriptures and the liturgies and train local priests, forming in that way the basis of a Slav vernacular Church. The second was diplomatic and political and had to do with their effort to come in terms with the Latin clergy and the Roman Church.
In their ecclesiastical and cultural work they faced no problems. On the contrary their success was great. Constantine's translations proved to be of great scholarly status whereas at the same time could be easily assimilated by the Slavic populations. The two brothers managed to mix Byzantine and Slav elements, respecting at the same time the Slavic language and tradition. This is why their work became immediately effective since the Moravians had the previous experience of the latin liturgies, which could not be understood.
But in the diplomatic and political field, the two brothers found obstacles. The Latin clergy that had been there for half a century felt that the Byzantine missionaries entered their field of jurisdiction. So, there was great reaction on two main points. The first was a disagreement on some old fashioned cosmographical and anthropological theories taught by the Latin priests and which were against Constantine and Methodios' beliefs. The second was the "three languages heresy" as Constantine called the persistence of the Western clerics on the opinion that the Christian Mass should only be celebrated in Hebrew, Greek and Latin.
There was little that Prince Rastislav could do in order to support the Byzantine missionaries and it was clear that the only power able to help them was the Roman Church, since Constantinople was distant and could not actually claim any rights over Moravia against the Latins. In 867 Pope Nicholas I, who felt threatened by their policy, invited them to Rome. At that time they were in Venice where they had gone for the ordination of some students of theirs. At the same time, in Venice Constantine had to face the Latins who accused him of using for the liturgies the Slavic language. Constantine according to his biographer answered: "How aren't you ashamed to recognize only three languages to decide for all the other nations and tribes to be blind and deaf? Tell me, do you make God incapable as if he cannot give that (the written language) or so mean not to want to?" (Obolenski 190-191)
In Rome, nevertheless, Constantine would not have to respond to accusations. On the contrary their visit there could be described as triumphant. The Pope Hadrian II, successor of Nicholas I who had in the mean time died, took the Slavic books Constantine and Methodios carried and had them consecrated on the Holy Table. Moreover, the Holy Mass was celebrated into Slavonic in the Church of St. Peter. One should not think that there was no reaction in Rome. The recognition by the Pope was a calculated movement that was the result of conferences. The Slavic world would feel favored by Rome as compared to Bavaria and that would bring Slavs closer. This recognition, however, raised in the eyes of the Slavs, above all, the two brothers who had worked for them. Constantine did not live long enough to enjoy this recognition. He died in Rome on February 14, 869 after obtaining the name Cyril and after exhorting his brother not to abandon their mission in Moravia.
Methodios returned to Moravia after his brother's wish but things proved to very difficult for him. He had to face not only the Latin clergy but also the Moravian government and the papacy. In 870 the nephew of Rastislav, Svatopluk, took over in Moravia, after imprisoning his uncle and recognizing the supremacy of Louis the German. Consequently the Latin priests gained more power and Methodios found himself among their power and their efforts to undermine his authority. At the same time the papacy was changing its position fearing a conflict with the Latin church. After having faced a lot of problems, after having even been imprisoned for some time and after having experienced the different attitudes of the Pope towards his work he decided to inform emperor Basil I and patriarch Photius and ask for their support. Although he had been for the last years a papal legate and although Moravia was under papal jurisdiction, Methodios recognized that the motherland of the mission was Constantinople and the creation of the Slavic alphabet and Church was a Byzantine accomplishment. Methodios was welcomed warmly in Constantinople. In the meantime the relations between Photius and Pope John VIII had become very good while on the contrary the relations between Rome and Frankish Kingdom had become bad. So, Methodios returned to Moravia and remained undisturbed and able to complete his translations. In 885 Methodios died leaving behind his disciples to continue his work. Both Methodius and Cyril were canonized by the Greek Orthodox Church.
The results of the Cyrillo-Methodian mission have been of great importance for the Slavs. First of all they entered the community of the "civilized" countries of the world since they now had a written language with which they could write literature and history. Moreover they were placed among the nations that could honor God in their own language. This was based on the belief that "a language which serves as a medium for the Christian liturgy becomes thereby a sacred language," that "it is through man's most intimate possession, his mother tongue that He can come into closest contact with the human soul." (Obolenski 131) Consequently the Slavic world, including countries such as Bulgaria and Russia which next received the Cyrillo-Methodian tradition, experienced a rebirth based on the rise of their self-confidence. Their acceptance of the Byzantine influences was not pathetic but was based on their conscious selection of those elements that suited their culture, tradition and way of life.
"Lord, hear my prayer and take care of Your loyal flock which you trusted on me." (Tachiaos 138) These are according to the biographer of Cyril the words of his last prayer. Whether Cyril actually said these words or not is not so important as far as he and his brother proved with their lives and with the results of their mission that they did their best for the people they were appointed to christianize, beyond any political and diplomatic interest.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
OBOLENSKI, DIMITRI. The Byzantine Commonwealth, Eastern Europe, 500-1453. New York: SVS Press
TACHIAOS, ANTONIOS-AEMILIOS. Kyrillos kai Methodios. Thessaloniki: Kyriakides Publishing, 1992.
VLASTO A.P. The Entry of the Slavs into Christendom. Cambridge: University Press 1970.
02-12-2007, 01:30 PM
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