Methodius of Thessaloniki

Who they were

Cyril (also called Constantine) and his elder brother Methodius, the Apostles of the Slavs, were born at Thessalonica into a senatorial family and left worldly honours to become priests. After a mission to the Khazars, they were sent to the Moravians, who wanted teachers able to preach and hold services in their own Slavonic tongue. Cyril invented an alphabet and with Methodius translated the Gospels and the liturgical books into Slavonic, and in 863 they began their work in Moravia.

Distrusted by the German clergy, they were called to Rome, where Pope Adrian II approved their teaching and the Slavonic liturgy and ordained them bishops. Cyril died in Rome in 869, and Adrian made Methodius Archbishop of Moravia and Pannonia. Imprisoned for three years after a German synod deposed him, he was freed by Pope John VIII, who also upheld the Slavonic liturgy against his accusers. Methodius finished translating the Scriptures into Slavonic and died, worn out by the long struggle, on 6 April 885.

The miracles

There was never a formal cause: he has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.

Why that counted as sanctity

With his brother Cyril, Apostle of the Slavs, who gave them the Scriptures and liturgy in their own tongue.

Connected on this site

• Clement of Ohrid Saint Pupil
• Saint Cyril the Philosopher Saint Brother or sister
• Saint Naum Saint Pupil
• Saints Cyril and Methodius Saint honoured together
• Benedict of Nursia Saint
  “In 1980, the first Slav pope, Pope John Paul II declared them co-patron saints of Europe, together with Benedict of Nursia.” — Wikipedia