This chapter of the Gospel is dedicated to all the Saints, who are true lights of the Church and carriers of uncreated light of God. They carried that light in their hearts and they enlightened the world, before all, with their own example and deeds, and after with words.

This is what Sts. Methodius and Cyril were like – Slavonic enlighteners and teachers. They were Macedonians of good family from Thessaloniki – mother named Maria and father Lav. Their father Lav was a highly ranked civil servant in the Byzantine Empire.

They were seven brothers, of which Constantine – St. Cyril was the youngest. He had very clear mind. When he was 7 he had a dream where many girls were shown to him and he should choose one for wife, and he chose the most beautiful, named Sofia – Gods’ great wisdom.

One day he was flying his much-loved hawk with the hawks of other youngsters, his hawk took wing to the sky, when a strong wind blew, and the hawk was blown away and never came back. This is what young Constantine was mourning and lamenting for. And what is amazing for such a child, he came out of this with a very shrewd and serious conclusion: Is this life is like this, being filled with sadness instead of with delight? From now on I will go along a different path, better than this one. I don’t want to waste my days in the disorder of this life!

Then he realised that he shouldn’t be attached to anything worldly, and that he should live only for the Heavenly Kingdom – for God. And he really started to live a pious life; he explored the Holy Scripture, the deeds of the Holy Fathers, and especially the deeds of St. Gregory the Dialogist. He was struggling to keep his heart free from passions and that’s why he got the gift of a pure heart and light inside him while he was still young: ‘neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house’. He was very young when he was ordained to the priesthood, and he was placed as librarian in the Patriarchal library. Later on he was called to be professor of the Philosophical department of the university in the Magnuar School which was the most famous at that time. Here St. Photius of Constantinople was the academic dean, and he was considered as the most educated man of the period. Saint Cyril was chosen as the best professor of all the professors. He was philosophy teacher for Dogmatics and that’s why he is known as Constantine – Cyril the Philosopher. And in mean time, since he was young, he was sent on a few missions to go among the pagans and to preach the Gods’ word and to defend the holy Orthodox faith. He spent part of his life in the monastery and very often he visited his older brother Methodius who was a monk at that time.

His brother Methodius at the beginning chose the marriage and the worldly life, and because of his goodness, braveness and wisdom he was advancing very quickly in worldly appellations and ranks. He was designated for archon – army head of Slavonic kingdom which covers the territory from Thessaloniki to the flow of the river Bregalnica. It is thought that his capital was Strumica – Vodocha, where at that time he wrote the first Slavonic composition “O pismenih” which was written in Slavonic language with Greek letters. He was a worldly ruler, but his laws were based on Church foundations, before all, on good deeds life, moral and Eucharistic life.

Spending a few years in this fashion, where together with his brother Constantine, they were fulfilling their mission of Bregalnica, but after the tragic loss of his young family, he began to perceive the disorder of this world, he renounced everything that is worldly and temporary and he directed his view to the high and heavenly things and the eternal, because he didn’t want to tie his soul to anything from this world which is passing away. He renounced of all honors and everything that he had and he entered a monastery on mount Olympus there devoting himself with humble obedience and service of everybody, to bodily purity and the struggle of purifying his heart from passions and unceasing prayer of heart.

He was putting all his efforts into that struggle so he was advancing very rapidly too – he passed all of the three levels of the spiritual life: of purifying of the heart from passions, illumination and sanctification. In his heart received that uncreated light which enlightens everybody and he confirmed the words of the Gospel: A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. He was chosen for abbot of a monastery in Polichron where the brotherhood was 70 monks, and later on, with his brother Cyril he was called for the great mission among the Slavonic people. They finished their mission successfully. They translated the Holy Scriptures beginning with: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Liturgy. The two essential and most important things in life – Holy Scripture and Holy Eucharist were enlightening the people who were living in deadly shade.

And as you can see today, their deeds, their way, and their fruit still exist. And if we see who are today’s Orthodox we’ll come to the conclusion that the Orthodox are, before all, the Churches of Saint Methodius and Cyril, which means that they put their root, their plough so deep that we can say with assurance that they are among the most important Saints in the Orthodox Church.

From all this we can come to two conclusions. The first one is that many of the people say that monks are uneducated people while the Saints Methodius and Cyril shows the opposite. Before all, they were monks and the most educated people at that time and they enlightened many people. The second conclusion is that if a person does not love Christ with all his heart, with all his soul and all his mind, indeed, if he doesn’t abandon all that is worldly, even his own soul, and doesn’t take up his cross, whatever he does, anyway will be of the earth and that person will be like an eagle who digs his claw into the ground and hangs on, it doesn’t matter how big and strong he is, he can’t get into the sky.

We are called to follow the life of the saints. There are three types of people. Firstly there are the stupid ones who immediately and without thinking negate God. Next there are those who read the biographies of the saints and are impressed, and the third ones, who are the cleverest – actually fulfill the commandments.