From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
TWIN stars this day arise in the heavens of holy Church, illuminating by the radiant beams of their apostolate immense tracts of country. Seeing that they start from Byzantium, one is at first led to suppose that their evolution is going to be performed independently of the laws which Rome has the right to dictate for the movement of the heavens, whereof it is said that they shall declare the glory of God and the works of his hand.[1] But the auspicious influence of St Clement I, through his sacred relics, diverts their course, as we shall see, towards the mistress of the world; and presently they can be descried gravitating with matchless splendour in Peter's orbit, manifesting once more to the whole earth that all true light, in the order of salvation, radiates solely from the Vicar of the Man-God. Then once again is realized that word of the psalmist, that there are no speeches nor languages where the voices of the messengers of light are not heard.[2]
To the sudden and splendid outburst of the good tidings that marked the first centuries of our era had succeeded the labours of the second apostolate, to which the Holy Ghost entrusted the gathering in of those new nations called by divine Wisdom to replace the ancient world. Already under that mysterious influence of the eternal city whereby she assimilated to herself even her conquerors, another Latin race had been formed out of those barbarians whose invasion seemed, like a deluge, to have submerged the whole empire. Scarcely was this marvellous transformation effected by the Baptism of the Franks, the conversion from Arianism of the Goths and of their variously named brethren in arms, than the Anglo-Saxons, the Germans, and lastly the Scandinavians, conducted respectively by the three monks, Augustine, Boniface and Anscharius, came in turn to knock for admission at the gates of holy Church. At the creative voice of these new apostles Europe appeared, issuing from the waters of the sacred font.
Meanwhile, the constant movement of the great migration of nations had, by degrees, brought as far as the banks of the Danube a people whose name began in the ninth century to attract universal attention. Between East and West the Slavs, profiting on the one side by the weakness of Charlemagne's descendants, and by the revolutions of the Byzantine court on the other, were aiming at erecting their various tribes into principalities, independent alike of both empires. This was now the hour chosen by Providence to win over to Christianity and to civilization a race hitherto without a history. The Spirit of Pentecost rested on the heads of the two holy brethren whom we are to-day celebrating. Prepared by the monastic life for every trial and suffering, they brought to this people struggling to issue from the shades of ignorance the first elements of letters, and tidings of the noble destiny to which God, our Saviour, invites men and nations. Thus was the Slavonic race fitted to complete the great European family, so evidently the object of eternal predilection, and God ceded to it a larger territory than he had bestowed upon any other in Europe.
Happy this nation had she but continued ever attached to Rome, that had lent her such valuable assistance in the midst of the early struggles disputing her existence! Nothing, indeed, so strongly seconded her aspirations for independence as the favour of having a peculiar language in the sacred rites, a favour obtained for her, from the See of Peter, by her two apostles. The outcries uttered, at that very time, by those who would fain hold her fast bound under their own laws, showed clearly enough, even then, the political bearing of a concession as unparalleled as it was decisive, in securing the existence, in those regions, of a new people distinct at once both from Germans and Greeks. The future was to prove this better still. If, nowadays, from the Balkan to the Ural Mountains, from the Greek coasts to the frozen shores of the Northern Ocean, the Slavonic race spreads ever strong, ever indomitable to the influence of invasion, maintaining, in the midst of the empires that by force of arms have at last prevailed over it, a dualism which the conquering nation must be resigned to endure through the course of centuries as a living menace within her, a very thorn in her side, such an unparalleled phenomenon is but the product of the powerful demarcation effected a thousand years ago between this race and the rest of the world, by the introduction of its national language into the liturgy. Having by this use become sacred, the primitive Slavonic tongue has undergone none of those variations incident to the idiom of every other nation; whilst giving birth to the various dialects of the different peoples issuing from the common stock, it has itself remained the same, following the most insignificant Slavonic tribes through every phase of their history, and continuing, in the case of the greater number of them, to group them apart from all other nationalities at the foot of their own altars. Beautiful indeed such unity as this, a very glory for holy Church, had but the desire and the hope of the two saints who based it on the immutable rock been able to keep it ever fixed thereon! But woful and terrible would such an arm become in the service of tyranny, if ever Satan should make it fall by schism into the hands of one of hell's accursed agents!
But such considerations as these are leading us too far. It is time for us to turn to the ample narrative of the two illustrious brothers, SS Cyril and Methodius, given us by the Church for this day.
Cyrillus et Methodius fratres germani, Thessalonicæ amplissimo loco nati, Constantinopolim mature concesserunt, ut in ipsa urbe Orientis principe humanitatis artes addiscerent. Uterque plurimum brevi profecerunt; sed maxime Cyrillus, qui tantam scientiarum laudem adeptus est, ut singularis honoris causa philosophus appellaretur. Deinde monachum agere Methodius cœpit; Cyrillus autem dignus est habitus, cui Theodora imperatrix, auctore Ignatio patriarcha, negotium daret erudiendi ad fidem christianam Chazaros trans Chersonesum incolentes; quos præceptis suis edoctos et Dei numine instinctos, multiplici superstitione deleta, ad Jesum Christum adjunxit. Recenti Christianorum communitate optime constituta, Constantinopolim rediit alacer, atque in monasterium Polychronis, quo se jam Methodius receperat, Cyrillus ipse secessit. Interim cum res trans Chersonesum prospere gestas ad Ratislaum Moraviæ principem fama detulisset, is de aliquot operariis evangelicis Constantinopoli arcessendis cum imperatore Michaele tertio egit. Igitur Cyrillus et Methodius illi expeditioni destinati, et in Moraviam celebri lætitia excepti, animos christianis institutionibus tanta vi tamque operosa industria excolendos aggrediuntur, ut non longo intervallo ea gens nomen Jesu Christo libentissime dederit. Ad eam rem non parum scientia valuit dictionis Slavonicæ, quam Cyrillus ante perceperat, multumque potuerunt sacræ utriusque Testamenti Litteræ, quas proprio populi sermone reddiderat: nam Cyrillus et Methodius, principes inveniendi fuerunt ipsas litteras, quibus est sermo ipsorum Slavorum signatus et expressus, eaque de causa ejusdem sermonis auctores non immerito habentur.
Cum rerum gestarum gloriam secundus rumor Romam nuntiasset, sanctus Nicolaus Primus Pontifex Maximus fratres optimos Romam contendere jussit. Illi Romanum iter ingressi, reliquias sancti Clementis Primi Pontificis Maximi, quas Cyrillus Chersonæ repererat, secum advehunt. Quo nuntio Hadrianus Secundus, qui Nicolao demortuo fuerat sufiectus, clero populoque comitante, obviam eis magna cum honoris significatione progreditur. Deinde Cyrillus et Methodius de munere apostolico in quo essent sancte laborioseque versati, ad Pontificem Maximum, assidente clero, referunt; cum autem eo nomine ab invidis accusarentur, quod sermonem Slavonicum in perfunctione munerum sacrorum usurpavissent, causam dixere rationibus tam certis tamque illustribus, ut Pontifex et clerus et laudarint homines et probarint. Tum ambo jurati se in fide beati Petri et Pontificum Romanorum permansuros, episcopi ab Hadriano consecrati sunt. Sed erat provisum divinitus, ut Cyrillus vitæ cursum Romæ conderet, virtute magis quam ætate maturus. Itaque defuncti corpus elatum funere publico, in ipso sepulchro quod sibi Hadrianus exstruxerat compositum fuit; tum ad sancti Clementis deductum, et hujus prope cineres conditum. Cumque veheretur per urbem inter festos psalmorum cantus, non tam funeris quam triumphi pompa, visus est populus Romanus libamenta honorum cœlestium viro sanctissimo detulisse. Methodius vero in Moraviam regressus, ibique factus forma gregis ex animo, re catholicæ inservire majore in dies studio institit. Quin etiam Pannonios, Bulgaros, Dalmatas in fide christiani nominis confirmavit; in Carinthiis autem ad unius veri Dei cultum traducendis plurimum elaboravit.
Apud Joannem Octavum, qui Hadriano successerat, iterum de suspecta fide violatoque more majorum accusatus, ac Romam venire jussus, coram Joanne, et episcopis aliquot cleroque urbano, facile vicit catholicam prorsus fidem et se retinuisse constanter et cæteros diligenter edocuisse: quod vero ad linguam Slavonicam in sacris peragendis usurpatam, se certis de causis ex venia Hadriani Pontificis, nec Sacris Litteris repugnantibus, jure fecisse. Quapropter in re præsenti complexus Methodium Pontifex, potestatem ejus archiepiscopalem, expeditionemque Slavonicam, datis etiam litteris, ratam esse jussit. Quare Methodius in Moraviam reversus, assignatum sibi munus explere vigilantius perseveravit, pro quo et exsilium libenter passus est. Bohemorum principem ejusque uxorem ad fidem perduxit, et in ea gente christianum nomen longe lateque vulgavit. Evangelii lumen in Poloniam invexit, et, ut nonnulli scriptores tradunt, sede episcopali Leopoli fundata, in Moscoviam proprii nominis digressus, thronum pontificalem Kiowensem constituit. Demum in Moraviam reversus est ad suos; jamque sese abripi ad humanum exitum sentiens, ipsemet sibi successorem designavit, clerumque et populum supremis præceptis ad virtutem cohortatus, ea vita, quæ sibi via in cœlum fuit, placidissime defunctus est. Uti Cyrillum Roma, sic Methodium Moravia decedentem summo honore prosecuta est. Illorum vero festum, quod apud Slavoniæ populos jamdiu celebrari consueverat, Leo Decimustertius Pontifex Maximus cum Officio et Missa propria in universa Ecclesia quotannis agi præcepit.
Cyril and Methodius were brothers, born of noble parents in Thessalonica, and when old enough were sent to Constantinople that they might, in the great capital of the East, learn the principles of literature and the arts. Both of them made great progress in a short time; but especially Cyril, who attained such a reputation for learning that as a token of distinction he was called the philosopher. Methodius afterwards became a monk; whilst Cyril was judged worthy by the empress Theodora, at the suggestion of Ignatius the patriarch, to be entrusted with the labour of instructing in the faith of Christ the Chazars, a people dwelling beyond the Chersonesus; which people, being taught by his precepts and incited by the grace of God, abolishing their numerous superstitions, he added unto the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Having excellently organized the new Christian community, he returned, filled with joy, to Constantinople, and betook himself to the same monastery of Polychrone, wherein Methodius had already retired. In the meanwhile, the fame of the success gained in the country beyond the Chersonesus having reached the ears of Ratislas, prince of Moravia, he was earnest with the emperor Michael the Third, in negotiating the grant of some evangelical labourers. Cyril and Methodius being therefore designated for this expedition, were received with great joy in Moravia; and with so much energy, care, and ability did they strive to infuse into the minds of the people the Christ tian doctrine, that it was nolong ere this nation most cordially subscribed its name to Jesus Christ. This success was in no small measure due to the knowledge of the Slavonic tongue which Cyril had previously acquired; and of very great avail, likewise, was the translation which he made of both Testaments of the holy Scriptures, into the language proper to this people: indeed Cyril and Methodius were the first to find alphabetical letters whereby this language of the Slavs is signified and expressed, and, on this account, they are not undeservedly held as the originators of this same language.
When favourable rumour brought as far as Rome the glorious fame of these achievements, the Pope, Saint Nicholas I, ordered these two illustrious brethren to repair to Rome. They set out on their journey to Rome, bearing with them the relics of Saint Clement I which Cyril had discovered in the Chersonesus. At which news, Adrian II, who had succeeded on the death of Nicholas, went forth with a great concourse of the clergy and people, to meet them, in token of veneration. Then Cyril and Methodius related to the Sovereign Pontiff, in the presence of his clergy, the details regarding their apostolic ministry in which they had been holily and laboriously engaged; but as they were accused by the envious of having presumed to use the Slavonic tongue in the performance of the sacred rites, such weighty and clear reasons did they allege for so doing, that the Pope and his clergy both praised and approved these holy men. Then both of them, having sworn that they would persevere in the faith of blessed Peter and of the Roman Pontiffs, were consecrated bishops by Adrian. But it was the divine decree that Cyril, ripened rather in virtue than in age, should end his mortal course at Rome. He, therefore, being dead, his corpse was borne in a public funeral to the very grave that Adrian had prepared for himself; later on, the holy body was taken to St. Clement's that it might lie near the ashes of that saint. And as he was thus borne through the city amidst the festive chanting of psalms, with pomp rather triumphal than funeral, the Roman people seemed to be paying to the holy man the firstfruits of heavenly honours. Methodius, on his part, having returned into Moravia, there applied himself with his whole soul to be an example in his works to his flock; and day by day he strove more and more to further Catholic interests. He likewise confirmed in the faith of the Christian name the Pannonians, Bulgarians, and Dalmatians; moreover he laboured much among the Carinthians to bring them over to the worship of the one true God.
Being once more accused to John VIII, who had succeeded Pope Adrian, of suspected faith and of the violation of the custom of the ancients, he was summoned to Rome, where in presence of John, several bishops, and likewise the clergy of the city, he easily proved that he had ever constantly maintained and carefully taught to others the Catholic faith; but as to his having introduced the Slavonic tongue into the sacred liturgy, he exculpated himself by reason of the permission of Pope Adrian, and of certain motives not contrary to the sacred letters. Wherefore, embracing the cause of Methodius in the matter at issue, the Pope recognized his archiepiscopal power and his Slavonian expedition, giving him likewise letters to that effect. Hence Methodius, returning into Moravia, persevered in fulfilling still more vigilantly the duties of his charge, and for this even gladly suffered exile. He brought over the prince of Bohemia and his wife to the faith, and spread the Christian name throughout the length and breadth of this land. He carried the light of the Gospel into Poland, and, as some writers assert, founded the episcopal See of Lwow; and having gone as far as Muscovy, properly so called, there raised an episcopal throne at Kiev. Afterwards, returning to his own people in Moravia, feeling now that he was drawing near his mortal term, he designated a successor, and having, by his last precepts, exhorted the clergy and people to virtue, he peacefully passed away from this life which he had made to be his path to heaven. Even as Rome had paid homage to Cyril, so did Moravia lavish honours on Methodius after his death. Their feast, which had long been kept among the Slavonic people, Pope Leo XIII ordered to be celebrated yearly throughout the universal Church with a proper Mass and Office.
Whilst inscribing the feast of SS Cyril and Methodius on the calendar of the universal Church, the Sovereign Pontiff Leo XIII was likewise pleased himself to give expression to the homage and prayers of holy Church in the two hymns proper to the day.
Hymn I
Sedibus cœli nitidis receptos
Dicite athletas geminos, fideles;
Slavicæ duplex columen, decusque
Dicite gentis.
Hos amor fratres sociavit unus,
Unaque abduxit pietas eremo,
Ferre quo multis celerent beatæ
Pignora vitæ.
Luce, quæ templis superis renidet,
Bulgaros complent, Moravos, Bohemos;
Mox feras turmas numerosa Petro
Agmina ducunt.
Debitam cincti meritis coronam,
Pergite o flecti lacrymis precantum;
Prisca vos Slavis opus est datores
Dona tueri.
Quæque vos clamat generosa tellus
Servet ætemæ fidei nitorem;
Quæ dedit princeps, dabit ipsa semper
Roma salutem.
Gentis humanæ Sator et Redemptor,
Qui bonus nobis bona cuncta præbes,
Sint tibi grates, tibi sit per omne
Gloria sæclum.
Amen.
Sing, O ye faithful, sing two athletes, brothers,
received unto their brilliant thrones celestial;
sing the twofold strength
and glory of the Slavonic race.
One love these brethren did together bind in union sweet,
and one the tender pity that did them
from their solitude urge forth;
they haste to bear to many the pledge of blessed life.
Bulgarians, Moravians, and Bohemians they fill with light,
that beams resplendent in supernal temples;
to Peter soon these savage hordes they lead,
a numerous throng.
Your brows encircled by the well-earned crown of merits, Oh!
do ye still continue to be ever moved by suppliants’ tears;
needful indeed it is that ye protect your former gifts
bestowed upon the Slavs!
May the generous soil, that crieth unto you,
preserve the pure brightness of eternal faith:
Rome, which first in the beginning gave,
will ever give salvation to that land.
O Creator and Redeemer of the human race,
who in thy goodness givest us all good things,
to thee be thanksgiving,
to thee be glory for ever and ever.
Amen.
Hymn II
Lux o decora patriæ,
Slavisque amica gentibus,
Salvete, fratres: annuo
Vos efferemus cantico;
Quos Roma plaudens excipit,
Complexa mater filios,
Auget corona præsulum,
Novoque firmat robore.
Terras ad usque barbaras
Inferre Christum pergitis:
Quot vanus error luserat,
Almo repletis lumine.
Noxis soluta pectora
Ardor supemus abripit;
Mutatur horror veprium
In sanctitatis fiosculos.
Et nunc serena cœlitum
Locati in aula supplici
Adeste voto: Slavicas
Servate gentes Numini.
Errore mersos unicum
Ovile Christi congreget:
Factis avitis aemula
Fides virescat pulchrior.
Tu nos, beata Trinitas,
Cœlesti amore concita,
Patrumque natos inclyta
Da persequi vestigia.
Amen.
O light all beauteous of the fatherland,
and of the Slavonic race,
benignant ray, brethren, all hail!
To you, our yearly canticle we bring;
Whom Rome, applauding, did receive,
as mother pressing to her heart loved sons,
she upon your brow the bishop's diadem doth place,
and girdeth you with new strength.
Ye penetrate to farthest barbarous lands,
to bring them Christ.
Whom error vain did darkly deceive,
on them ye pour the radiance of fair light.
On hearts unshackled from the grasp of ill,
doth heavenly ardour seize;
thorns’ horrid aspect now is changed
for flowers of holiness.
Then deign, O ye who reign
secure in courts celestial,
to turn unto our suppliant prayer:
preserve unto God the Slavonic people.
May the one fold of Christ
enclose those plunged in error:
emulating the deeds of their forefathers,
may faith revive more beauteous still.
O thou, most blessed Trinity,
spur us on by heavenly love,
and grant that the sons may follow
in the noble footprints of their sires!
Amen.
We presume to join our humble prayer with this august homage: we would fain, together with the supreme Pontiff, sing your praises, and recommend to you that vast portion of Christ’s inheritance wherein, watered by your toilsome sweat, flowers of holiness replaced the thorns. Prepared in solitude for every work good and serviceable to the Lord,[3] you feared not to be the first to set foot in these unknown regions, the terror of the ancient world, these lands of the north, wherein the prophets had pointed out Satan’s throne,[4] the inexhaustible source of evils ravaging the universe![5] The call of the Holy Ghost made you become apostles, and the twelve having received orders to teach all nations,[6] you in your turn went, with all the simplicity of obedience, to those that had not yet been evangelized. Rome would test this obedience—such was her duty—and she found it to be without alloy. Satan too found it so, to his utter defeat; for Scripture says: 'The obedient man shall speak of victory.'[7] Scripture likewise reveals to us another source of strength, and it was yours:' A brother helped by his brother is like a strong city; and their judgements are like the bars of cities.'[8] Driven away by one stronger than he, the strong-armed one beheld, with bitter rage, that dominion now passed on to Christ, which he thought to possess in peace,[9] and his last spoils, the people of the north, become, like those of the south, an ornament to the bride.[10]
O Methodius, O Cyril, in the holy hymns which the Sovereign Pontiff has dedicated to you, there is the ring of an alarm-cry: 'Preserve unto God the Slavonic people! Needful indeed it is, that ye protect your former gifts.' 'Lift up your eyes and see,' may we truly say with the prophet, ' you that come from the north; where is the flock that was given you, your beautiful cattle? What! have ye taught them against you and instructed them against your own head?'[11] Ah! the depths of Satan![12] but too well has he known how to repair his defeat; for your benefits and Peter's condescension have alike become a weapon of death for those people to whom you devoted your life! Be pleased, then, to console those exiled for the faith, and give them heart; sustain the martyrs, preserve the remnant of a nation of heroes. On the other hand, deter the rest from the fatal illusion that would entice them to be beforehand in running into tyranny's way!
O apostles of the Slavs, and citizens likewise of that Rome where your sacred relics lie close to those of St Clement, assist the efforts of the supreme Pontiff, who is seeking how he may replace on the foundation whereon you built it that edifice which was your glory!
[1] Ps. xviii 2.
[2] Ibid. 4.
[3] 2 Tim. ii 21.
[4] Isa. xiv 13.
[5] Jer. i 14; xlvii 2, etc.
[6] St Matt. xxviii 19.
[7] Prov. xxi 28.
[8] Ibid. xviii 19.
[9] St Luke xi 21, 22.
[10] Isa. xlix 12-18.
[11] Jer. xiii 20, 21.
[12] Apoc. ii 24.