"You have received a priceless gift — holy Orthodoxy. Hold it dear. If you grow weak in the Orthodox faith, your enemies will overcome you, and you will become their slaves."
(The Testament of the Holy Equals-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius to the Slavs)
Every year, when we commemorate the holy equals-to-the-apostles, the brothers Methodius and Cyril from Thessaloniki, Slavic peoples everywhere reflect on the dawn of their Christian life and cultural heritage. On these days, words from Holy Scripture strike a special chord in our hearts: "...man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord" (Deuteronomy 8:3). Just as at the world’s creation, so too at the dawn of the Slavs' spiritual awakening: "In the beginning was the Word... In Him was life, and the life was the light of men" (John 1:1, 4). The holy Equal-Apostolic brothers did more than just teach the Slavs literacy and establish the groundwork for Christian culture in their national life; they illuminated them with the Light of Christ’s truth.
How fitting that the very first book written in Slavic script was the Gospel of John — often called "The Gospel of Love" — translated by the younger of the two brothers. Cyril and Methodius began their translation of the New Testament with this Gospel, so that the idea of God's love for His creation and the creative power of His Word would form the bedrock of the Slavic Christian worldview. John’s Gospel records these words of Christ the Saviour: "O righteous Father!... the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them" (John 17:25-26), and "that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me" (John 17:21). This brotherly love in Christ became for some a mystery, and for others, the wellspring of salvation for the Slavic soul.
The Holy Trinity
Scripture says: "...faith without works is dead" (James 2:20). The holy teachers themselves first showed the Slavs examples of blessed and fruitful Christian action. Coming from a family with a military background, the brothers from Thessaloniki were models of service: the elder, Methodius, as an imperial governor, and the younger, Constantine (later Cyril), as a warrior for Christ, living the monastic life. A brilliant philosopher and divinely inspired theologian, Constantine won remarkable victories in debates with non-believers, thus drawing Slavic rulers and princes into the Holy Church’s embrace. And the seasoned Methodius taught newly converted rulers how to govern their lands wisely, following Christ’s teachings.
Saints Cyril and Methodius guide the rulers
Before creating the Slavic alphabet of 38 letters, Constantine prepared himself with forty days of strict fasting and deep prayer. This hard spiritual discipline he maintained throughout his life, particularly while working on translating the books of Holy Scripture into the Slavic tongue. Methodius became a monk soon after his brother’s passing, later becoming a bishop. Like a true shepherd, he would “lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). As the Gospel tells us, we know the righteous by their fruits. The Slavic peoples still enjoy these fruits today — literacy and Christian culture. This places upon all Slavs, upon each one of us who has inherited this treasure from God through these holy brothers, a great duty: we must hold fast to God’s Word, so we do not lose our resolve of mind and heart; we must not pollute this pure spring with pointless desires; we must not break the promise of unity with one another in the Triune God.
The Word of God, the unity of saints
When the paths of nations go astray, there is only one way to set them right. As John the Baptist, the Forerunner of our Lord, proclaimed, people must “bear fruits worthy of repentance, prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight into human hearts” (cf. Matthew 3:8, 3:3). Now, as always, this remains the central work for those who work with literacy, continuing the saints’ great work. If we hold this truth close and live keenly aware of the vast responsibility Christians of all ages and peoples bear for the world's spiritual health, then the Slavs will rightly earn the description given to their heaven-inspired teachers: “But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day” (Proverbs 4:18).
The Slavic peoples are kin by blood, one in faith, and share a common path through the trials of their history. Just as significantly, we share the same teachers and enlighteners, the holy equals-to-the-apostles Methodius and Cyril. They opened the Gospel — the spring of everlasting life — to the Slavs and declared the Lord's truths in the very language that, across more than eleven centuries, is still heard in Orthodox churches everywhere, announcing salvation to the faithful. The Holy Church honours Methodius and Cyril not only as teachers and bringers of light to the Slavs, but as guardians of Europe itself. Those who believe the world will find salvation through the Gospel message of love for God and each other — they are the ones who await the blessings and heavenly help of Saints Cyril and Methodius.
Equals-to-the-Apostles Methodius and Cyril, Teachers of the Slavs
You and I have been blessed by God to live and serve at a time when spiritual hope is blossoming after a period of spiritless gloom. The word of God strengthens hearts and minds, offering answers to life’s big questions — questions we all share as individuals, as a nation, and as part of a global family. Now is the time to build our inner foundations, so that — as James reminds us — we are not people without substance (cf. James 2:18–20).
This matters even more today, as divisions and conflicts again trouble the Slavic world, fulfilling the Gospel warning that: “because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold” (cf. Matthew 24:12). And this love, as the apostle Paul tells us, is God’s gift to us. It “suffers long and is kind; does not envy; does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth... Love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:4–8). This is the Gospel ideal our first teachers sought to instil in us Slavs.
These God-inspired brothers did not just teach the Slavs how to read and write; they established Gospel truths as the bedrock of our shared Christian heritage. And today, they have every right to ask us: have we built upon this unshakeable rock of faith, or turned away to construct our houses on sand? Are we still wandering ‘in a far country,’ or are we moving towards the unity Christ the Saviour urged upon His followers and prayed for: “that they all may be one” (John 17:21)?
As we reflect upon the state of the Slavic and indeed the wider European home, let us remember the life-giving principles preached and upheld in ninth-century Europe by the spiritual guides of the Slavs: Equals-to-the-Apostles Methodius, Archbishop of Moravia, and Cyril the Schemamonk. Christ's words perfectly capture our current spiritual confusion among the Slavs today: “Seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand; Lest they should turn, and their sins be forgiven them” (Mark 4:12). For precisely this reason, we must keep alive the lasting spiritual guidance of our saintly teachers. May all our life’s efforts and every thought in our hearts stand openly before God as a humble confession of our failings.
The right use of words is a gift given to humanity, created in the image and likeness of God. How rightly we use this gift depends on how closely our words reflect the divine Word, in Whom is life and Whose life is the light of all people (cf. John 1:4). This is the teaching handed down to us by the holy brothers Methodius and Cyril, equal to the apostles.
The holy brothers from Thessalonica toiled to bring light and peace to the Slavs. Their labours in building up the Church and establishing Gospel foundations for Slavic societies continue to yield rich harvests even now. For the Slavic tree of life they planted draws its strength from the living waters of Christ's Gospel. We must tend this fertile ground, nurture the roots of our shared Slavic heritage, and protect its fresh growth. Throughout human history, words have shown their mighty power: they can breathe new life into a person — even a whole nation — or snuff it out entirely. Words have the power to heal, but they can also wound fatally. Words can be constructive, yet their destructive force is also great. Lastly, words can divide people, or they can inspire and unite them.
Bringing Light and Peace to the Slavs
The holy equals-to-the-apostles unlocked a part of the Slavic soul that seemed just waiting to blossom. And this flowering began when our ancestors accepted and put into practice the Gospel command of love: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (John 13:34). And so, I appeal to all of us: let us turn our words and thoughts, our intentions and reflections, towards the light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it (John 1:5). By doing this, we will perform a great service for our people, whose Christian soul always reaches for Divine truth.
Metropolitan Philaret (Vakhromeyev)
From addresses given during the International Cyril and Methodius Readings in Minsk between 1998 and 2003
Illustrations by artist V.S. Kovalev
