The church honors the Holy Brothers Cyril and Methodius today
The Bulgarian Orthodox Church honors the Holy Brothers Cyril and Methodius today. The day is celebrated with a festive Holy Liturgy served in all dioceses.
May 11 is a professional holiday of librarians, as well as a patron saint of the National Library « St. St. Cyril and Methodius » and of the National High School of Ancient Languages and Cultures « St. Constantine Cyril the Philosopher ».
The secular holiday for St. Cyril and Methodius, which is celebrated today on May 24, dates back to the Renaissance. Then it is related to the school celebrations organized on May 11, when the church has already worshiped the creators of Slavic writing. The first news of the celebration of Cyril and Methodius on May 11 in the Renaissance literature is in the « Hristomaty Slavic Eki » of 1852 of Neophyte Rilski.
In 1857, the Day of the Holy Brothers was honored at the Bulgarian Church of St. Stefan in Constantinople together with a service for St. Ivan Rilski. On the pages of the « Constantinople newspaper » of April 26, 1858, it is reported that in Plovdiv and other cities the Bulgarians began to celebrate St. Cyril and Methodius instead of three saints as a school holiday.
With Tomina Sunday ends the bright week
Since 1863, May 11 has established itself as a church holiday of the Holy Equal Apostles Cyril and Methodius, and after the Liberation he became a general holiday of the Slavic first teachers. Then the idea of the anthem was born.
| In 1892 in Ruse Stoyan Mihailovski, then a teacher at the men’s high school, wrote « Go, People Revived … ». In May 1901, the teacher of the Fifth -Class Hunting School Panayot Pipkov composed the music to the lyrics and the song became a Bulgarian school anthem. |
With the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in 1916, the holiday, celebrated by a state and church, is already celebrated on one day – only on May 24th. After 1969, an artificial secularization was held by separating the church from the secular calendar, so today there are already two holidays – church (May 11) and secular (May 24).
In 1980, Pope John Paul II declared the Slavic first teachers as the co -referrs of Europe.
Name day celebrate: Cyril, Kirilka, Kircho, Kiro, Methodius, Methodius.
