Mission of Cyril and Methodius to Great Moravia, 863–885

Mission of Cyril and Methodius to Great Moravia

At the request of Prince Rastislav, Byzantium sent the brothers Constantine (Cyril) and Methodius to Moravia, where they introduced the Slavonic liturgy and the Glagolitic alphabet, laying the foundations of Slavic written culture.

Date

863 – 6 April 885start: year known; end: exact date · duration: ≈ 22 years

Place

Great Moravia (Mikulčice)approximate locationtoday: South Moravia, Czech Republic · Western and Central Europe

Participants

Cyril and Methodius, Rastislav of Moravia, Great Moravia, Byzantine Empire

Threads

Early medieval Europe (500–1000)

Also known as

Moravian mission; Моравская миссия; Glagolitic alphabet; Глаголица; Old Church Slavonic; Старославянский язык

In 862 Rastislav, seeking independence from the East Frankish clergy, asked Emperor Michael III for a teacher who could instruct his people in their own tongue. The emperor chose Constantine, a scholar from Thessalonica, and his elder brother Methodius, who knew the Slavonic speech of Macedonia. For the mission Constantine created the Glagolitic alphabet and began translating the Gospels and liturgical books; the brothers arrived in Moravia in 863 and trained local disciples, facing hostility from the Frankish clergy.

In 867 they went to Rome, where Pope Adrian II approved the Slavonic liturgy; Constantine became a monk under the name Cyril and died there on 14 February 869. Methodius, made archbishop of Sirmium with jurisdiction over Moravia and Pannonia, was imprisoned by the Bavarian bishops (870–873) and later continued his work in Moravia until his death on 6 April 885. His disciples, expelled from Moravia, found refuge in Bulgaria, from where Slavonic letters — soon in the Cyrillic script — spread to the Serbs and to Rus’.

Connections

Related events

First Christianization of the Rus’between 860 and 867 · Eastern Europethe missions of Photius’ patriarchate to the Slavs and the Rus’ in the 860s

Christianization of Bulgaria864 · Balkans and AnatoliaBoth missions of the 860s were part of the rivalry of Rome and Constantinople for the Slavs

Golden Age of Bulgaria under Simeon I893 – 27 May 927 · Balkans and AnatoliaThe disciples of Methodius expelled from Moravia founded the schools of Preslav and Ohrid

Baptism of Rus’988 · Eastern EuropeThe Slavonic liturgy and letters created for Moravia reached Rus’ through Bulgaria

Same participants

Adjacent events in the thread

Great Heathen Army in England865–878 · Western and Central Europe

Battle of EdingtonMay 878 · Western and Central Europe

Sources