Saint · Medieval

Sts. Cyril and Methodius

c. 826–869 and c. 815–885 · Byzantine mission to the Slavs

Saint Byzantine

Apostles of the Slavs; co-patrons of Europe (declared by St. John Paul II, 1980); feast 14 February.

Brothers from Thessalonica: Constantine (Cyril in religion), “the Philosopher,” professor at Constantinople and disputant with Muslims and Khazars, and Methodius, a governor turned monk. Sent to Moravia in 863, they created the Glagolitic alphabet, translated Scripture and the Liturgy into Slavonic, defended the vernacular against the “trilingual” objection, and had their work approved by Pope Hadrian II in Rome, where Cyril died a monk and Methodius was ordained archbishop.

Why he matters: They are the living proof that East and West were one Church: Byzantine monks who placed their mission under the Pope, and the fathers of Slavic Christianity, Catholic and Orthodox alike. Slavorum Apostoli (1985) presents them as the model of inculturation without dilution.

Reading

The Lives of Constantine and Methodius

in Medieval Slavic Lives of Saints and Princes (trans. Marvin Kantor) · The ninth-century Slavonic lives.

Journal
Slavorum Apostoli

St. John Paul II, 1985 · The encyclical on their mission and meaning.

Journal
Byzantine Missions among the Slavs

Francis Dvornik · The classic history.

Journal

Documented positions

Where this thinker stands on each dispute the test covers.

Settled teaching Its center Open question Beyond teaching, not condemned Condemned error

Faith, Reason and Truth · How we know, and whom we trust.

Faith and reason: who has the last word? Between

Rationalism Fideism

Who interprets revelation? Living Tradition and Magisterium

Private judgment Living Tradition and Magisterium

How should Scripture be read? Fundamentalist literalism

Critical reductionism Fundamentalist literalism

What is theology for? A wisdom ordered to loving

A science ordered to knowing A wisdom ordered to loving

Are the world's learning and arts a danger or a gift? A gift to be baptized

A danger: Athens has nothing to do with Jerusalem A gift to be baptized

III

The Human Person · Soul, body, freedom and the Fall.

Marriage, sex and the body's meaning Given by nature and grace

Given by nature and grace Defined by consent and identity

The Moral Life · Law, virtue, conscience and the good.

What is happiness? Beatitude in God

Earthly flourishing Beatitude in God

Grace and Salvation · How God saves, and whom.

What is salvation for? Deification

Pardon and escape Deification

Church and Society · Authority, the state, wealth and the nation.

Church and state Social kingship of Christ

Laicism Social kingship of Christ

The nation and the Church Between

Nation or race first Nation does not matter

VII

Worship, Prayer and the Two Lungs · Liturgy, icons, the Spirit, and the See of Peter.

Liturgical development Receive and develop organically

Reconstruct and innovate Receive and develop organically

Icons and images Veneration of images

Iconoclasm Veneration of images

The way of prayer Stillness and the Jesus Prayer

Stillness and the Jesus Prayer Discursive meditation

The procession of the Holy Spirit From the Father through the Son

From the Father through the Son From the Father and the Son (Filioque)

The office of Peter Universal and immediate primacy

Conciliarism Universal and immediate primacy

When the Pope speaks Every word binds

Resist and judge Every word binds

Should the faith take the forms of each culture it enters? The Gospel in each people's own forms

One form everywhere The Gospel in each people's own forms

What are the Eastern Catholic Churches? Sister Churches with their own rights and theology

Rites of the one Roman Church Sister Churches with their own rights and theology

Contemplation or action? Action: the apostolate and the works of mercy

Action: the apostolate and the works of mercy Contemplation: the one thing needful