ST. CYRIL

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 415.

St. Cyril was born in Thessalonika in 827. He was christened Constantine. Many Slavs lived in that Greek city. The people spoke Greek and Slavonic.

His father was a Greek nobleman¹. He had seven children. Constantine was the youngest in the family.

The young man lived in Constantinople since 843. He attended the imperial school and studied with the young Emperor Michael III. It was the highest school in the country. He spent six years in it.

Constantine studied Homer and Geometry, Dialectics and other philosophies. He also learned Rhetorics, Arithmetics, Astronomy, Music and other Hellenic arts. One of his teachers Leo, Archbishop of Thessalonika, was a great mathematician. The other professor was Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople.

After his studies Constantine became a librarian in the church of Saint Sophia and a secretary to Patriarch Ignatius. It was in 850. Then he gave lectures on pagan and Christian philosophy at the imperial school.

He took part in the delegation to the Kingdom of Khazars in 860. He spent the winter of 860 in the Crimea in the Greek city of Chersonese². He mastered Hebrew³ and Samaritan there. He learned many languages in his travels.

Constantine made an alphabet of thirty eight letters for the Slavs. Then he translated some books into Slavonic: the Gospels, the Acts and Epistles⁴ of the Apostles, the Calendar, the morning Service, the daily Hours, Vespers⁵, the Psalter⁶, etc.

The Emperor sent him as a missionary to the Slavs. St. Cyril founded a school among them. His first fifty pupils learned the language and the national script, the liturgy and theology in Slavonic. They studied the Holy Scripture in Slavonic and Greek. He also lectured in grammar and in music.

Before Christmas 867 St. Cyril came to Rome and lived there for a long time. He died on February 4, 869.

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1. nobleman n – дворянин 4. Epistle n [I'pIsl] – послание

2. Chersonese n ['kq:sqnJz] – Херсонес 5. Vesper n – вечерня

3. Hebrew n ['hJbrH] – древнееврейский язык 6. Psalter n ['sLltq] – Псалтирь