Given the legacy of these brothers, then, it is no surprise that they are judged by some as equal to the apostles! (Most contemporaneous texts focus on Cyril rather than Methodius, so he will be the focus of these selections.)
Cyril is Sent to the Slavs
Cyril’s biography reveals the way in which missionary work was closely dependent upon the work of education and translation, so that all peoples could worship God in their own languages. This selection also shows the work of the Byzantine emperor in directing and coordinating mission work in the East. (From Life of Constantine)
While Cyril, that true philosopher, was rejoicing, something happened to him that was entirely unexpected, a more challenging task than he had ever carried out before. For Rastislav, a Moravian prince, under God’s inspiration, had spoken to his princes and the rest of the Slavs and sent word to the Byzantine Emperor Michael, saying: “Our people have rejected our former paganism and now observe Christian laws, but we have no teacher who can teach us the true Christian faith in our own language. So, since God’s law emanates from you into all places of the earth, please also send us a teacher.”
So the emperor called together a council and summoned Cyril, saying to him: “I know you are tired, but I need you to do this. No one else can carry out this task as well as you can.” Cyril replied, “Though I am tired and sick, yet I will go, for they need to be able to write in their own language.”
But the emperor warned him: “My grandfather, my father and many others have tried this, but they all failed. How can we now succeed?… May God give you strength, since He gives all things to those who ask with confidence and opens the door to those who knock” (cf. Lk 11:9).
Cyril then departed and, as was his custom, devoted himself to prayers with others who would join him in his work. And suddenly God—who listens to the prayers of his servants—appeared to him, and at that very moment he began writing [in Slavic]. He wrote out the words of the Gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” and so on (Jn 1:1).
The emperor, hearing this, rejoiced and praised God with his counselors. He sent Cyril out with many gifts, writing a letter to Ratislav to this effect:
“God … who desires all men … to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tm 2:4), and attain greater dignity, has seen your faith and efforts. Our goal is to teach you to read and write in your own language, which has never been done before: in this way you may take your place among the great nations who praise God in their own language.
To this end, we are sending a holy and orthodox man to you, a true and wise philosopher, to whom God has given your language. Receive this gift, greater and more precious than all gold, silver, and precious stones, and work with him diligently to bring this business to a good conclusion, to seek God with all your heart.
Do not neglect our common salvation, and let nothing hinder you, but spur all men so that they may turn toward the path of truth. In this way by your own efforts, you will not only help bring them to the knowledge of God, but also make yourself worthy and acceptable, both in this life and in the future life, to all the souls who believe in Christ, our God, from this time until the end. Even further, you will leave behind a legacy for all generations, like that great emperor Constantine.
Challenges to Cyril’s Mission
In Moravia, Cyril’s Greek mission encountered Latin missionaries who disputed whether it was appropriate to translate sacred writings into the Slavic languages, preferring to reserve liturgical prayer only for the more ancient languages. While the Latin clergy claimed that such translations were novel, Cyril argued that it was consistent with the biblical message of evangelizing all nations. (From Life of Constantine)
Arriving at Moravia, Cyril was received with great honor, and Ratislav turned over all his students to him to be instructed. Soon Cyril had established a whole liturgical regimen, having taught them how to recite morning and evening prayer and the rituals of the sacraments. And, once the holy Scriptures began to be recited, those words of the prophet were fulfilled: “the ears of the deaf [shall be] unstopped” (Is 35:5), and “the tongue of the stammerers will speak readily and distinctly” (Is 32:4), to the praise of God and the shame of the devil.
But as divine doctrine was spreading, the devil—the wicked one, the envious one, a liar from the beginning—unable to stop this positive development, instead entered into his servants, inciting them to say, “This is offensive to God: if He had wanted people to read and write prayers in their own languages, He would have made them able to do so from the beginning. But God chose only three languages—Hebrew, Greek, and Latin—in which He may rightly be praised.”
There were many who said these things: the Latin clergy, archdeacons, priests and their disciples. And Cyril began to argue with them, just as David did with the heathen, overcoming them through the words of Scripture. He mockingly named them “three-tongued worshipers” and “Pilatians” (for Pontius Pilate wrote in these three languages above the Lord’s cross)…. For forty months he made headway in Moravia, and then set about the task of having some of his students ordained.
When he was in Venice, the Latin bishops and priests and monks came against him as a raven comes against a falcon, raising again the “three-tongued heresy.” They said, “Tell us why you have developed and taught the Slavic language, which no other man came up with before, neither the apostles, nor the pope of Rome, nor Gregory the Theologian, nor Jerome, nor Augustine. We permit only three languages for praising God: Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.”
Cyril, however, said to them: “Does God not make the rain fall upon all men equally? Does not the sun shine down upon all men equally (see Mt 5:45)? Can we not all equally breathe the air? How, then, are you not ashamed to allow only three languages, declaring that all other peoples and races should remain blind and deaf to God’s Word? Tell me, do you consider God to be so frail, that He is not able to give it to them, or so envious that He does not want to?
“We know, on the contrary, that many nations have come to develop their own written languages, and so to praise God in their own tongue. For example, the Armenians, Persians, Abkhazis, Iberians, Sogdians, Goths, Avars, Tirsians, Khazars, Arabs, Copts, Syrians, and many others. If, however, you do not wish to understand things from these, perhaps you will at least listen to Scripture. For David cries out, ‘O sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth’ (Ps 96:1) … and ‘Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!’ (Ps 150:6)….
“And in speaking to the doctors of law, Jesus says, ‘But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you shut the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither enter yourselves, nor allow those who would enter to go in’ (Mt 23:13). And again, ‘Woe to you lawyers! for you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering’ (Lk 11:52). Truly Paul says to the Corinthians:
[I]f you in a tongue utter speech that is not intelligible, how will any one know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air. There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning; but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I shall be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me. So with yourselves; since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the Church. Therefore, he who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret. (1 Cor 14:9–13).
“And again, let ‘every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father’ (Phil 2:11).”
And with these words and others he confounded them, and he departed, leaving them behind.
The Pope Endorses Cyril’s Mission
Fortunately, the bishop of Rome, undisputed head of the Latin missionaries, saw no problems