The Tomb and
Relics of Saint Cyril the Apostle to the Slavs
A chapel on
the right side of the nave of the Basilica of San Clemente in Rome is dedicated
to Saints Cyril and Methodios. In this chapel rests the only surviving relics
of Saint Cyril. The original tomb of the Saint is also in the basilica, with
offerings there dedicated by all the Slavic nations, as well as other nations
of the world.
At the
request of the King of Moravia, the Roman Emperor Michael III in 863 sent the
two brothers Cyril and Methodios from Thessaloniki to teach and preach Orthodox
Christianity.
Saint Cyril,
a brilliant linguist, devised an alphabet, thus becoming the founder of the
Slavonic language. He also adopted Slavonic for the celebration of the Divine
Liturgy, and circulated a Slavonic translation of the Holy Scriptures.
According to
Saint Cyril’s own report, in 861 he recovered the body of Saint Clement in the
Crimea, together with the anchor he was attached to. Invited to Rome in 867 by
the Pope, Saints Cyril and Methodios took these remains with them, arriving in
868. The body of Saint Clement was solemnly escorted to and interred in the Basilica
of San Clemente. A year later on 14 February Saint Cyril died in Rome. Saint
Methodios asked for permission to take the body back to Greece. When the Pope
and people of Rome would not allow this, Saint Methodios requested that the
burial be in San Clemente itself.
During the
French Revolution the relics of Saint Cyril were placed in safekeeping and
eventually were lost. In the 1960s the Irish Dominican Fathers discovered a
small fragment of the relics. This fragment was then placed in the Basilica of San
Clemente.
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου