The Puzzle of the Cyrillo-Methodian Mission
The Puzzle of the Cyrillo-Methodian Mission

Summary/Abstract: In the present article the author points out the fact that no mention of the Cyrillo-Methodian mission to Moravia, generally considered one of the most important Byzantine ecclesiastical missions ever sent abroad, appears in the known Byzantine sources. He explains this omission from the perspective of political interests of Byzantium from which this mission was a failure. Another reason may have been the introduction of the Slavonic vernacular into liturgy, which was not an application of the allegedly common Byzantine missionary practice but a novel initiative of Constantine-Cyril. The author also focuses on the paradox that this revolutionary innovation, which became a target of fi erce attacks of Frankish missionaries and provoked a strong opposition from the Latin clergy in Italy was, though temporarily, approved by two Roman popes. The latest paradox of the Cyrillo-Methodian mission was that its cultural legacy, while ignored and even disregarded in Byzantium and later abandoned in the country to which the Thessalonian brothers had been sent, proved one of the most eff ective means of spreading the Byzantine civilization and spirituality among the south and east Slavonic nations.

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