SS Cyril and Methodius, Apostles to the Slavs
Vigil. Kept with an All-Night Vigil.
Commemorated today
- Holy Equals-to-the-Apostles Methodius (885) and Cyril (869), first teachers of the SlavsApostle · d. 885 life on this site
The lives we have written
Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril, Teacher of the Slavs
The brilliant scholar once called Constantine the Philosopher placed learning at the service of love, creating a written form for Slavonic so that a people could hear Scripture and worship God in words they understood.
- Era
- 826/827–869
- Region
- Thessalonica, Constantinople, Crimea, Moravia, Pannonia, and Rome
- Category
- Priest, missionary, translator, and Equal-to-the-Apostles
- Feast
- May 11 with St. Methodius; also February 14
Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Methodius, Teacher of the Slavs
Methodius carried his brother’s translation mission through imprisonment, political pressure, and years of patient administration, proving that a holy beginning survives only when someone accepts the burden of sustaining it.
- Era
- c. 815–885
- Region
- Thessalonica, Asia Minor, Moravia, Pannonia, Rome, and Central Europe
- Category
- Monk, archbishop, translator, missionary, and Equal-to-the-Apostles
- Feast
- May 11 with St. Cyril; also April 6
- Holy Hieromartyr Mocius (288? 295?)Hieromartyr — a bishop or priest killed for the faith
What is known
A hieromartyr was a bishop, priest or deacon killed for the faith. The clergy were often taken first in a persecution, because removing them scattered the community that depended on them.
Beyond this, no life of them survives that could be checked — which is true of most of the saints kept on any given day. The commemoration is the record.
- Renewal of Constantinople
What is known
The title places them at Constantinople. Kept in the Greek tradition.
Beyond this, no life of them survives that could be checked — which is true of most of the saints kept on any given day. The commemoration is the record.
- Dioscoros the New MartyrNew Martyr — killed under Ottoman or modern persecution
What is known
A new martyr died in one of the later persecutions rather than the Roman ones — most often under Ottoman rule, or in the twentieth century under Soviet and other modern regimes. The word new distinguishes the era, not the manner.
Kept in the Greek tradition.
Beyond this, no life of them survives that could be checked — which is true of most of the saints kept on any given day. The commemoration is the record.
- Argyrios the New-Martyr of EpanomiNew Martyr — killed under Ottoman or modern persecution
What is known
A new martyr died in one of the later persecutions rather than the Roman ones — most often under Ottoman rule, or in the twentieth century under Soviet and other modern regimes. The word new distinguishes the era, not the manner.
The title places them at Epanomi. Kept in the Greek tradition.
Beyond this, no life of them survives that could be checked — which is true of most of the saints kept on any given day. The commemoration is the record.
Appointed readings
- Composite 2 – Proverbs 10, 3, 8
- Proverbs 10:31–11:12 continues in 11
- Wisdom of Solomon 4:7–15
- John 10:1–9
- Hebrews 7:26–8:2 continues in 8
- Matthew 5:14–19
About this page. This is the Menaion date — the fixed calendar. Parishes on the New Calendar keep it on May 11 by the civil calendar. On the Julian calendar this same commemoration is kept on May 24 by the civil calendar. The movable cycle, which turns on the date of Pascha and changes every year, is on the calendar page. Where a life has been written on this site the name links to it; where it has not, only what the commemoration itself attests is shown, and nothing is added to it.