Saints Cyril and Methodius

Saints Cyril and Methodius
"Saints Cyril and Methodius holding the Cyrillic alphabet," a mural by Bulgarian iconographer Z. Zograf, 1848, Troyan Monastery
Bishops and Confessors; Equals to the Apostles; Patrons of Europe; Apostles to the Slavs
Born	826 or 827 and 815 Thessalonica, Byzantine Empire (present-day Greece)
Died	14 February 869(869-02-14) and 6 April 885(885-04-06) Rome and Velehrad, Moravia
Venerated in	Orthodox Church Roman Catholic Church Anglican Communion Lutheran Church
Feast	11 and 24 May (Orthodox Church) 14 February (present Roman Catholic calendar); 5 July (Roman Catholic calendar 1880–1886); 7 July (Roman Catholic calendar 1887–1969) 5 July (Roman Catholic Czech Republic and Slovakia)
Attributes	brothers depicted together; Eastern bishops holding up a church; Eastern bishops holding an icon of the Last Judgment. Often, Cyril is depicted wearing a monastic habit and Methodius vested as a bishop with omophorion.
Patronage	Unity between Orthodox and Roman Catholics Bulgaria, Republic of Macedonia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Transnistria, Archdiocese of Ljubljana, Europe,Slovak Eparchy of Toronto, Eparchy of Košice

Saints Cyril and Methodius (826-869, 815-885; Greek: Κύριλλος καὶ Μεθόδιος; Old Church Slavonic: Кѷриллъ и Меѳодїи) were two brothers who were Byzantine Christian theologians and Christian missionaries. Through their work they influenced the cultural development of all Slavs, for which they received the title "Apostles to the Slavs". They are credited with devising the Glagolitic alphabet, the first alphabet used to transcribe Old Church Slavonic. After their deaths, their pupils continued their missionary work among other Slavs. Both brothers are venerated in the Orthodox Church as saints with the title of "equal-to-apostles". In 1880, Pope Leo XIII introduced their feast into the calendar of the Roman Catholic Church. In 1980, Pope John Paul II declared them co-patron saints of Europe, together with Benedict of Nursia.