Today we celebrate the memorial of Saints Cyril and Methodius, Patron Saints of Archdiocese of Ljubljana.

Methodius and Constantine, now known as Cyril, were born in Thessalonica to a prominent Christian family. People had assumed that because many Slavs had settled in Thessalonica, both brothers could understand, if not speak, the Slavic tongue. Methodius became a civil official, so he would have needed to understand Slavonic. He would later grow tired of his job and retire to a monastery, while Constantine became a scholar and a teacher with the title “The Philosopher” in Constantinople.

They were dedicated to the ideal of expression in the form of using one’s native language. Constantine had made a script written in Slavonic, which is known as Glagolitic. He also translated the liturgy into Slavonic. As was common in the East to translate the liturgy into one’s native language unlike the West that uses Greek and then later Latin.

Methodius and Constantine had gone to Rome to ordain the Slavic candidates for the priesthood, which the Germans had criticized. After speaking with the pope, they had succeeded in their task of having their pupils ordained and being able to use the Slavonic language in services.

Constantine, after assuming the monastic robes and the name Cyril, died in Rome in 869. On his deathbed, he asked Methodius to continue their work.

Methodius was opposed by the German bishops at every turn, accusing him of violating their authority, and they then confined him to a monastery. This confinement lasted until Germany’s defeat in Moravia. At that point, the pope stepped in, forcing the Germans to acknowledge Moravian independence as Methodius triumphantly returned to his diocese on the condition that he could not celebrate the liturgy using vernacular.

Methodius was summoned to Rome in 879 to answer German accusations that he had disobeyed his prohibition. He then explained how important it was to celebrate the liturgy in a language that the people might understand. After listening to Methodius, the pope gave him permission to use Slavonic in Mass, in Scripture reading, and in office.

Methodius had translated the works of the Fathers of the Church and almost all of the Bible into Slavonic before he died in 884.