Pills of Faith February 14 "San Cirillo and the Cyrillic alphabet"

We are very happy to ... commemorate the great saint Cyril, who with his brother Saint Methodius is rightly honored as an apostle of the Slavs and founder of Slavic literature. Cyril was a great apostle who knew how to achieve in an extraordinary way the balance between the demands of unity and the legitimacy of diversity. He leaned on a traditional and unchangeable principle: the Church respects and assumes all the virtuous realities, resources, forms of life of the peoples to whom she proclaims the Gospel of the Lord, purifying them, fortifying them, elevating them. This is how Saints Cyril and Methodius were able to ensure that the revelation of Christ, the liturgical life and the Christian spiritual life found themselves "at home" in the culture and life of the great Slavic peoples.

But how much effort Cyril had to do to be able to complete this work! His penetration of the language and culture of the Slavic peoples were the result of long and persevering studies, of continuous self-sacrifice, combined with an uncommon genius who knew how to provide this language and culture with the first alphabet ... In doing so he has laid the foundations of an immense literary and cultural development that has not ceased to expand and diversify up to the present day ... that St. Cyril, a man of tradition who always remains an example for today's people in the effort to adapt to the changes that take place, [inspire] us in [our] efforts for harmony and peace between peoples of different cultures and traditions.