Great Moravia , 1885 In 862, the brothers began the work which would give them their historical importance. That year Prince
Rastislav of
Great Moravia requested that Emperor Michael III and Patriarch Photius send missionaries to evangelize his Slavic subjects. His motives in doing so were probably more political than religious. Rastislav became King with the support of the
Frankish ruler
Louis the German, though he subsequently sought to assert his independence from the Franks. That Cyril and Methodius might have been the first to bring Christianity to
Moravia is a common misconception; Rastislav's letter to Michael III stated clearly that his people "had already rejected paganism and adhere to the Christian law." Rastislav is said to have expelled missionaries of the
Roman Church and instead turned to Constantinople for ecclesiastical assistance and, presumably, political support. The Emperor quickly chose to send Cyril, accompanied by his brother Methodius. The request provided a convenient opportunity to expand Byzantine influence. Their first work seems to have been the training of assistants. In 863 they began translating the
Gospels and essential
liturgical books into what is now known as
Old Church Slavonic, This endeavour was amply rewarded. However, they came into conflict with German clerics, who opposed their efforts to create a specifically Slavic liturgy. For the purpose of this mission, they devised the
Glagolitic script, the first alphabet to be used for Slavonic manuscripts. The Glagolitic alphabet was suited to match the specific features of the Slavonic language. Many languages continue to use its descendant script, Cyrillic. The new
Pope Adrian II (867-72) gave Papal support to their mission in Moravia and formally authorized use of the new Slavic liturgy of the brothers. Subsequently, the Pope himself ordained Methodius as priest, and five Slavic disciples were ordained:
Saint Gorazd,
Saint Clement of Ohrid, and
Saint Naum as priests and
Saint Angelar and
Saint Sava as deacons by the prominent bishops
Formosus and Gauderic. Since the 10th century Cyril and Methodius and these five disciples have been venerated together by the
Bulgarian Orthodox Church as the "
Seven Saints". The new priests officiated in their own language at the altars of some of the principal churches. Sensing his death approaching, Cyril, theretofore known as
Constantine, became a
Basilian monk and was given the new name
Cyril. He died in Rome 50 days later on 14 February 869. There is some question whether he had been ordained as a bishop, as is asserted in the
Translatio (IX). Upon the death of Cyril, Methodius was given the title of Archbishop of
Sirmium (modern
Sremska Mitrovica, in
Serbia) with jurisdiction of all of Moravia and Pannonia, and authority to celebrate the Slavonic Liturgy. The statement of the
"Vita" that Methodius was ordained as a bishop in 870 and not elevated to the dignity of archbishop until 873 is contradicted by the brief of
Pope John VIII of June 879, according to which Pope Adrian consecrated him archbishop; John included in his jurisdiction Serbia in addition to Great Moravia and Pannonia.
Second Mission of Methodius File:Methodios' signature (CH-001864-5 Ms. Rh. hist. 27 f. 40r).svg|thumb|right|Methodius' signature in the confraternity book (CH-001864-5 Ms. Rh. hist. 27 f. 40r) Methodius continued the mission among the Slavs alone; not at first in
Great Moravia, but in
Pannonia, specifically in the
Balaton Principality. Political circumstances in Great Moravia were insecure. Rastislav had been taken captive by his nephew,
Svatopluk in 870, then delivered to
Carloman of Bavaria, and condemned in a
diet in
Regensburg in late 870. Meanwhile, the East Frankish rulers and their bishops tried to depose Methodius. The archiepiscopal authority of Methodius was considered so threatening to the jurisdiction of Salzburg that he was captured and forced to answer to the East Frankish bishops Adalwin of Salzburg, Ermanrich of Passau, and Anno of Freising. After heated discussion, they declared Methodius deposed and ordered him to be sent to a monastery in modern Germany, where he was imprisoned for two and one half years. The location of Methodius' imprisonment was not recorded in the
Vita Methodii, but relatively recent scholarship identified a set of signatures in the that lends credence to the proposal that it was at
Reichenau Abbey. First comes Methodius' own signature, writing with such pressure that he broke the
nib. The same hand then wrote the following names below it, presumably his entourage: , , , , and . None of these names were recorded in surviving sources, but the last one is Slavic. Notwithstanding strong representations of the
Conversio Bagoariorum et Carantanorum of 871, written to persuade the Pope though not conceding this purpose, Rome declared emphatically for Methodius. The Pope sent Paul,
Bishop of Ancona to reinstate him and punish his enemies, after which both parties were ordered to appear in Rome with the legate. Thus, in 873 new
Pope John VIII (872-82) secured the release of Methodius, but ordered him to cease celebrating the new Slavonic Liturgy.
Final Years of Methodius Cyril and Methodius by
Stanislav Dospevski, Bulgarian painter The Papal will prevailed, and Methodius secured his freedom and his archiepiscopal jurisdiction of
Great Moravia and
Pannonia, albeit without permission to celebrate the new Slavonic Liturgy. His authority in Pannonia was restricted after the death of Koceľ, when German nobles administered the principality. However,
Svatopluk then practically independently ruled Greater Moravia, and he expelled the German clergy. This seemingly secured an unimpeded field of operation for Methodius, and the
Vita (X) described the next few years (873–9) as being fruitful for his mission. Methodius seemingly disregarded, wholly or partly, the prohibition on celebrating the Slavonic Liturgy. When
Frankish clerics again ventured into his territory, revealing a permissive Svatopluk at odds with his punctilious archbishop, this became a cause of complaint against Methodius in Rome, coupled with accusation regarding the
Filioque. In 878 Methodius was summoned to Rome on accusations of heresy and celebrating the Slavonic Liturgy. This time Pope John was convinced by the arguments that Methodius made in his defence and sent him back acquitted of all charges, and with permission to celebrate the Slavonic Liturgy. The Carolingian bishop who succeeded him,
Wiching, a
Swabian, suppressed the Slavonic Liturgy and compelled the disciples of Methodius into exile. Many found refuge with Knyaz
Boris the Baptizer in
Bulgaria, under whom they organized a Slavic-speaking church. Meanwhile, the successors of Pope John instituted a rule to celebrate only in Latin, which endured for centuries. Methodius vindicated his orthodoxy and promised to obey the rule regarding celebration of the Liturgy. He could the more easily defend his omission of
Filioque from the
Nicene Creed as this also pertained in Rome at the time. Though
Filioque could, by the 6th century, be heard in some
Roman Rite churches in the west, it was not until 1014 that Rome followed suit (see
Nicene Creed). Critics of Methodius were mollified by Methodius accepting the appointment of Wiching as his coadjutor. When relations between the two factions again became strained, Pope John VIII steadfastly supported Methodius. After his death in December 882, it was the archbishop himself whose position seemed insecure. His need for political support, visiting the Eastern Emperor, inclined Goetz to accept the account in the
Vita (XIII). Methodius died on 6 April 885 and his body was buried in the main cathedral church of Great Moravia. It still remains an open question which city was the capital of Great Moravia. As a result the location of his body remains uncertain. Upon the death of Methodius an animosity erupted into conflict. Among the disciples of Cyril and Methodius,
Clement of Ohrid headed the struggle against the German clergy in Great Moravia along with
Gorazd. Gorazd, whom Methodius had designated as his successor, was not recognised by
Pope Stephen V, who also forbade celebration of the Slavonic Liturgy and appointed as successor to Methodius the infamous who promptly sent disciples of Cyril and Methodius into exile from Great Moravia. After spending time in prison, Clement was expelled from Great Moravia, and in 885 or 6 reached the borders of the
First Bulgarian Empire together with
Saint Naum,
Saint Angelar, and possibly also Gorazd (other sources suggest Gorazd had already died). Angelar soon died after arrival, but Clement and Naum were afterwards sent to the Bulgarian capital of Pliska, where they were commissioned by
Boris I to instruct the future clergy of the polity in the Slavonic language. Eventually they were commissioned to establish two theological schools: the
Ohrid Literary School in
Ohrid and the
Preslav Literary School in
Preslav. The Preslav Literary School originally had been established in
Pliska, but was moved to Preslav in 893. ==Invention of the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets==