Cyril and Methodius Day 2021, round three

OLD CHURCH SLAVONIC WATCH: Thousands commemorate arrival of Saints Cyril and Methodius to Czech lands. bout 15,000 people took part in the annual pilgrimage mass at Velehrad today, marking the arrival of Cyril and Methodius to Moravia in 863 (Czech News Agency via expats.cz).

Saint Cyril (827-869) and Saint Methodius (825-885), known as "the Apostles to the Slavs," were two Greek brothers from Thessalonica. They translated the Holy Scriptures into Old Church Slavonic, and designed a Slavic alphabet called Glagolithic. Its descendant, called Cyrillic, is still used by Slavs in the Orthodox Church.

They came to the Great Moravian empire in 863 AD.

July 5th is the Day of Saints Cyril and Methodius and a national holiday in the Czech Republic.

This celebration took place yesterday, 5 July 2021.

The day is celebrated on 24 May in Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Russia, and on 5 July in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The Roman Catholic Church celebrates their saints' feast day on 14 February. It is celebrated on other days in other churches.

Their work preserved some ancient literature that otherwise would have been lost, including some intriguing Old Testament pseudepigrapha.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on (Old) Church Slavonic, start here and follow the links.

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