Today, in the only Saturday match-up of Lent Madness, it's the Slavic Smackdown® as Cyril takes on Methodius. While much of the world is preparing for Valentine's Day (named for a confusing muddle of murky, martyred saints in ancient Rome), the church actually celebrates Cyril and Methodius on February 14, not Saint(s) Valentinus. So go ahead and cast your vote and then show your devotion to your "Valentine" by writing a love poem in Cyrillic or serving up a big bowl of borscht.
Yesterday, Absalom Jones defeated Matthias 82% to 18% (in other words, by A LOT--get it?) in the first genuine blowout of Lent Madness 2016. He'll go on to face the winner of Christina Rossetti vs. Joseph in the next round. Really, it's bad luck for Matthias. He certainly drew the short straw in the match-up calendar.
Tomorrow, enjoy Sunday (we highly encourage church attendance) and then be ready to go bright and early on Monday morning as Lent Madness returns with what should prove to be a hotly contested battle between Julian of Norwich and William Wilberforce.
Cyril
Cyril was born in Thessalonica (located in today’s Macedonia) around 827. Educated in Constantinople, he studied theology, Hebrew, and Arabic and became a priest. He was sent on two missions to the Middle East. Cyril’s most influential mission took him and his brother Methodius to the Slavs of Great Moravia (now the Czech Republic and Slovakia). Although missionaries from Rome had already evangelized Moravia, Prince Rastislav wanted to place his state firmly under the influence of the church in Constantinople.
To translate the Bible and the liturgy into the local language, Cyril and Methodius used a number of mostly Greek characters to create the Glagolitic alphabet. This was the first Slavic alphabet and is closely related to the more recent Cyrillic alphabet—named after Cyril. Using their new alphabet, Cyril and Methodius translated the Bible, the Slavic Civil Code, and possibly a Slavic liturgy. Cyril and Methodius were successful in converting many Slavs to Christianity and establishing the use of their alphabet; because of jurisdictional issues, they could not establish the Slavic liturgy without the pope’s approval.
Cyril and his brother traveled to Rome, where they were well received, in part because they brought with them some of Saint Clement’s relics. Pope Adrian II authorized the new Slavic liturgy, and Slavic priests were ordained and allowed to celebrate the liturgy in their native language. Cyril became a monk and died shortly afterward, in 869.
Along with his brother Methodius, Cyril is known as one of the two apostles to the Slavs. Celebrations in memory of these brothers are held across Eastern Europe every year.
Methodius
Quietly, and without any fanfare, Methodius helped shape Europe and Asia in ways that have often gone largely unnoticed by Western Christianity.
Methodius (Michael) was born to a Christian family in the city of Thessalonica in the early ninth century. Methodius was the eldest of seven brothers, and he either learned the Slavic language from Slav migrants in Macedonia, or possibly from his mother (who may have been a Slav).
After a brief career in the public sphere, Methodius entered a monastery at Mount Olympus (present day Uludağ). Eventually his youngest brother Constantine (later taking the name Cyril) joined Methodius at the monastery. From the monastery, the brothers set out on a series of missionary journeys.
They shared a passion to share the good news in the native language of the people to whom they were ministering, not relying solely on Hebrew, Greek, and Latin translations of the Bible. And so they set about translating portions of scripture into Slavic and to create a Slavic liturgy. To do this, they invented an alphabet unique to the Slavic tongue. The later evolution of this script is known as the Cyrillic Alphabet and is still widely used across Eastern Europe.
While traveling and sharing the gospel, Methodius and Cyril created a code of law that is still in use to this day. The brothers also discovered the remains of Pope Clement I. They returned the earthly remains of Clement to Rome, where Methodius was ordained a priest by Pope Adrian II. Following the death of Cyril in Rome, Methodius continued the work of carrying the gospel to the Slavs.
Collect for Cyril and Methodius
Almighty and everlasting God, by the power of the Holy Spirit you moved your servant Cyril and his brother Methodius to bring the light of the Gospel to a hostile and divided people: Overcome all bitterness and strife among us by the love of Christ, and make us one united family under the banner of the Prince of Peace; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
[poll id="143"]
405 comments on “Cyril vs. Methodius”
Cruel, cruel, SEC, as so many have noted. You have invited us to participate in a kind of Lent Madness fratricide. Maybe it is a good thing that Cain and Abel are not saints.
The older significantly brother, Methodius, apparently hung out in a monastery until his little bro came along and spurred him into action and they set off together. It therefore seems the impetus to go out and make a difference in the world only came about after the youngest brother, who was well educated, put some fire under the elder brother's quiet life. I am curious why the eldest brother was not similarly educated, as it would have been more likely to educate the eldest son. Due to Cyril's formal education, it seems likely the alphabet was named after him because he took the lead in developing and translating.
Here's a thought for the SEC. Regardless of who "wins," how 'bout moving BOTH brothers to the next round, as a team. Chances are, any kitsch for one brother would probably include the other, and the celebrity bloggers could tag-team the write-ups. In the event they win the Golden Halo, the brother with the most votes in this round would have bragging rights in the great company of saints.
I couldn't decide. So I chose Cyril because everyone else was voting for Methodius
Cyril only took that name at the very end of his life; yet he gets an alphabet named after himself. (Should have been Constantinic.) Methodius, on the other hand, survived his kid brother and led a distinguished life in church leadership in his missionary field, but with little recognition today. My vote goes to Methodius.
But we celebrate both of them on their feast day of February 14, while the heathens among us celebrate some different saint.
Since I am Orthodox and belong to a Greek Church I have to vote for Methodiou...our bishop is Metropolitan Methodios. And he's accomplished quite a few things in his tenure as bishop.
While in Macedonia a few years ago, people in Ohrid claim that it was followers of Cyril and Methodius, Clement and Naum who actually created the alphabet. One can hope maybe they'll make Lent Madness next year. BTW Thessalonica is the second largest city in modern Greece. It was in ancient Macedonia!
Setting one brother against the other seemed cruel and unusual madness to me But this is Lent Madness... Being an oldest sibling, I know how that goes, so in solidarity, I voted for Methodius...
If it were possible to vote for both I would. There is no sense in separating the two. Clearly they were working as a team in their ministry. I am disappointed in the SEC. Cyril is the recognizable name for me, but I cannot see that he did any more or less than his brother. No vote this round from me. It would be arbitrary.
As the eldest of six, I must support the elder brother.
As an oldest child, I know that I always do the heavy lifting and my little sibs are always on my coattails. lol So I had to go with Methodius.
I voted for Cyril because of his missionary trip to the Islamic world. He is a badly-needed model for productive theological dialogue with our Muslim brothers and sisters.
Really? Two brothers who are much the same- lack of imagination. I will not vote!
Oh this is true Lenten Madness! Pitting two brothers who performed the same mission against each other is just madness. I can hear the giggling of the SEC when they did this match-up. The write-ups make it sound like Cyril coming to the monastery is what prompted Methodius to action and missionary work over monastic life. For this reason, I voted for Cyril. I do love David's line though.
A tough matchup - or should I say break-up? Though I have swayed between the two as I've read comments, in the end I am voting for Cyril both because he was willing to work equally with his little brother, and because I love Captain Hook as portrayed by Cyril Richard in the old televised version of Peter Pan.
I love the Peter Pan rationale!
The brothers are noteworthy but seriously I wonder why they are considered Saints? Don't Saints have to have healed people, done miraculous things, talked to Jesus? I would love to hear more of their lives and agree w/ the comment that 'twin saints' would have been a good idea, and fun.
Dear SEC, I am having Internet problems today. I tried to vote, it did not appear to go anywhere, waited about 30 minutes, tried again, and vote went through. If, by chance, you got two votes from me, please don't throw me out. I'm not stuffing the ballot box, just trying to exercise my Holy Lenten obligation.
So much for the Brotherly Smack-down. Cyril Richard was the absolute best light-in-your-loafers Captain Hook (which I adored), I've been to the Czech Republic (great country), and I was raised a Methodi-us. Gotta go with the baby brother.
OOPS..... older brother.
Cyril! I have to side with my fellow youngest child here.
I too disapprove of brother being pitted against brother in this first round. In honor of both my younger sisters who far outshine me, I'm voting for Cyril.
SEC - this was cruel. A matchup of this caliber belongs in the Elate 8 or better.
When there is so little else to go by in making a decision between two brothers, one grasps at even the quirkiest little detail. Hugo Olaiz gave us the name "Glagolitic" for the language the brothers invented, which reminded me of this wonderful composition by Leos Janacek: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU2IPkoQjXI
So Cyril gets my vote.
Didn't want to flip a coin, so I checked the list of Patriarchs of Constantinople and found 7 Cyrils and 3 Methodii...therefore my vote went to Cyril. I agree with all the comments that these two brothers should have been considered as a tag team. Could have taken on any other "holy" duo...maybe next year we could have a family feud bracket.
Oo, clever method 🙂
Cyril so virile
From Methodius' shadow
Laurels not halo
After three years of studying Russian, and three years of Greek... I finally have my chance to express my *lack* of appreciation for Cyril's choice of alphabets. Yes, petty... yes, I will be praying for forgiveness tomorrow... no, I will not feel guilt for being on Team Methodius. "... to my madness..." snicker...
Vote for Methodius.
His name is Melodious.
Vote at your peril,
If you vote for Cyril.
.Come on guys, you seriously can't expect us to choose between two brothers who are nearly identical in their life stories. I nearly didn't vote but when I did I apparently didn't go with the popular choice. Now I'm having to rethink this whole Lenten Madness thing.
I vote for Cyril because he was the younger brother. I was the 5th of six, almost seven, children. My four older siblings never let me win at anything.
"Quietly and without any fanfare"-and for continuing the work among the Slavs after Cyril died seems to me like an act of brotherly love. Methodius in my Madness!-(Great line Davis). I am also eagerly awaiting the Cyrillic alphabet soup!
General comment - I was recently brought to this amazing Saint Smackdown by a good friend. I'm late to the game but glad to join in the fun.
As an English major, I love alliteration. Instead of "Lent Madness", why not "Lent Lunacy"? An additional nice touch: "Lunacy" is derived from "Lunar", Easter Day is derived from the lunar calendar (the first Sunday after the first full moon to fall on or after the Spring equinox, with the Spring equinox ecclesiastically set as 21 March - or something like that), and, of course, Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent are derived from Easter Day.
How about it? "Lent Lunacy" as the alliterative equivalent to "March Madness"?