Cyril of Alexandria, Saint 207eastern GREECEin 827. Methodios entered the service of
the BYZANTINEemperor and worked faithfully, if without
distinction, for a number of years. Constantine, a brilliant
linguist, studied at the imperial university in CON-
STANTINOPLEbut refused the offer of a governor’s post and
asked instead to be ordained a PRIEST. More intellectually
inclined than Methodios, he was the official librarian of
HAGIASOPHIAin Constantinople. He taught PHILOSOPHY
for a time at the imperial university and was sent by
Patriarch Ignatios (r. 847–853, 867–877) to the CALIPH’s
court as a member of a delegation to debate THEOLOGY
with the Muslims.
In the meantime Methodios left government service
and entered a monastery in Bithynia outside Con-
stantinople. In 856 Constantine also decided to withdraw
from the active life of a scholar-churchman and joined
Methodios in the same monastery. In 860 they were sent
by Patriarch Ignatios to preach Christianity to the KHAZ-
ARS, north of the Black Sea. There, Constantine discov-
ered what he believed to be the bones of an early
martyred pope, Saint Clement of Rome (r. 91–101), and
kept them with him for the rest of his life.
THE SLAVIC HERITAGEFrom the time they were young in Thessaloniki, the
brothers were familiar with Slavic dialects. The Moravian
king, Ratislav (r. 846–870), unhappy with the Latin
Christianity preached in his country by CHARLEMAGNE’s
German missionaries, asked Constantinople for help.
Constantine and Methodios were summoned from their
monastery and were sent by Emperor Michael III (r.
842–867) to Moravia. In 863 the brothers began teaching
and preaching in the vernacular Slavonic language of the
people. They started a school to train young men for the
priesthood. They conducted the liturgical services in
Slavonic and eventually developed Slavonic alphabets,
the GLAGOLITICand CYRILLIC, for the BIBLEand for the
liturgy. While doing this, they inevitably came into con-
flict with German missionaries, who were propagating
the rival Latin form of Christianity.
The two brothers were invited to Rome in 868 by
Pope Nicholas I (r. 858–867) to justify their work.
Impressed by their success, the pope made them bishops
and authorized them to carry on their ministry in the ver-
nacular. Constantine had no further desire for the active
missionary life and entered a monastery in Rome in 869,
taking a new name, Cyril. Some 50 days later he died
between February 14 and 24.
Methodios returned to Moravia and continued prose-
lytizing for 16 more years. An incident in 871 further
extended his influence. Despite his papal ties, Method-
ios’s rivalry with the Latin clergy plagued him, even caus-
ing him to be imprisoned. He was summoned again to
Rome in 878 by Pope John VIII (r. 872–882). The pope
decided that Methodios must first read the MASSin Latin
and then translate it into Slavonic. Methodios gave in.
Latin remained the language of the church. The new
alphabet become the basis for numerous written Slavic
languages. He died in Moravia on April 6, 884/885. Cyril
and Methodios were formally recognized as saints of the
Roman Catholic Church in 1881.
See alsoPHOTIOS THEGREAT.
Further reading: Marvin Kantor and Richard S.
White, eds. and trans., The Vita of Constantine and the
Vita of Methodius(Ann Arbor: Dept. of Slavic Languages
and Literature, University of Michigan, 1976); Matthew
Spinka, A History of Christianity in the Balkans: A Study in
the Spread of Byzantine Culture among the Slavs(1933;
reprint, Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, 1968); Francis
Dvornik, Byzantine Missions among the Slavs: SS. Constan-
tine-Cyril and Methodius(New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers
University Press, 1970); A. P. Vlasto, The Entry of the
Slavs into Christendom(Cambridge: Cambridge Univer-
sity Press, 1970).Cyril of Alexandria, Saint (ca. 376–444)patriarch of
Alexandria, doctor of the church
Nothing certain is known concerning Cyril’s early years
except that he was born in ALEXANDRIAor Mahalla about
376 and was the nephew of Theophilos (ca. 345–412),
his predecessor as bishop of that city. He oppressed
Jews, the remaining pagans, and rivals to his ecclesiastical
authority. He likely employed violence and intrigue to
overcome them. He was in his uncle’s household at the
infamous Synod of the Oak in 403, when Theophilos was
successful in bringing about temporary removal of John
CHRYSOSTOMfrom his post as bishop of CONSTANTINOPLE.
Having become bishop of Alexandria in 412, Cyril seized
the property of the Novatianists, an austere Christian
sect, and began the destruction of the JEWISHcommunity
in Alexandria.
About 430 Cyril began his efforts to bring down
NESTORIUS, the bishop of Constantinople. The bishops
of Alexandria had always resented the rising prestige of
the See of Constantinople. In addition, Nestorius repre-
sented theological ideas, ANTIOCH, rival to Alexandria.
According to Cyril, belief in the Incarnation required
the acknowledgment that GODthe Word, the second
“person” of the Trinity, was himself the one and only
subject, or agent, in every deed and word acted and spo-
ken by Jesus Christ. This meant that MARY, the mother
of Jesus, was to be called theotokosor “she who bore
God.” This was later to become the orthodox position
for both the Eastern and Western Churches.
Nestorius had dissented from this concept, fearing
that it lessened the full humanity of Jesus and detracted
from the dignity of God. The emperor summoned the third
ecumenical council of EPHESUSin 431. Cyril himself con-
vened the council and quickly gained the condemnation of
Nestorius before the bishops friendly to Nestorius’s ideas
had arrived. They deposed Cyril soon after their arrival.