The Pearl

A Sermon for the Day of Commemoration of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Slavic Enlighteners, Methodius and Cyril

Remember your teachers, who spoke the word of God to you; considering the end of their life, imitate their faith (Hebr 13:7)

Today the entire Orthodox Church, especially the Slavic Church, celebrates the memory of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Methodius and Cyril, who enlightened all the Slavic lands by their teachings and brought them to Christ.

What treasure is more precious than the treasure of the faith of Christ, of the Orthodox faith? Truly, there is no treasure more precious than the treasure of true faith: because true faith gives us the knowledge of the true God, and unites us with God—and in union with God is every good and all blessedness; and that is why the very Author of our faith, the Lord Jesus Christ, calls faith in Him both a treasure hidden in a field and a pearl of priceless worth. And it was this treasure of true faith that the two aforesaid Equal-to-the-Apostles and blood brothers, Sts. Methodius and Cyril, handed down to us in our native tongue. — Our forefathers, like all the Slavs—Moravians, Serbs, Czechs, Poles and others—in ancient times were idolaters; they gave the glory befitting the one living God to soulless idols; thus the Russians worshiped Svarog or Perun, Dazhbog or the sun and fire, and many other imaginary gods and idols; they sacrificed living children to Perun, as the Hebrews once did to Moloch; they knew nothing of the sweetest Savior of mankind, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, or of the eternal life granted to those who believe in Him—and they perished in their polytheistic or godless faith.

But the Lord on high, in Whose right hand are the destinies of the nations, Who foresaw the readiness of the Slavic tribes to receive the light of truth and of the true faith, chose for their conversion from the spiritual delusion of paganism to the life-giving faith of Christ two blood brothers—the Slavs Methodius and Cyril—just as He once called the brothers Peter and Andrew, James and John, from catching fish to catching men; and these new apostles labored much and endured many sorrows in the enlightening of the Slavic tribes with the faith of Christ. The Slavs did not know letters and had no writing: it was necessary to invent a script or an alphabet, and St. Cyril invented an alphabet for them; it was necessary to render the word of God and the liturgical books into the Slavic tongue: and the two brothers accomplished this difficult task, taught the benighted Slavs letters, the faith, prayer, and the commandments of the Lord, built churches for them, gave them priests, and the service of the true God began in a land that until then had been defiled by idolatry and sacrifices to demons. From the Moravian Slavs the Christian faith, the Slavic alphabet, and the sacred and liturgical books passed on to the Russian Slavs, and the Russian land began to serve the true God, to be enlightened and sanctified and warmed by the faith of Christ. First Askold and Dir, then the Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga, a Russian star, and after her her grandson—the Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, the bright sun of the Russian land—led the Russian people to the knowledge of the one Living and true God and of His only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit—the Holy Trinity, consubstantial, life-giving, and indivisible.

So you see, my brothers, that both our Christian Orthodox faith and this everywhere-used, harmonious Orthodox worship in the Slavonic language, our native tongue, so readily intelligible to us—this Russian literacy, this enlightenment shared by all Slavs and all Russia—is an abundant fruit, an abundant harvest whose seeds were sown by St. Methodius and Cyril. And the Savior’s words, spoken by Him to His disciples, apply to us as well: One sows and another reaps; I sent you to reap that on which you did not labor: others labored, and you have entered into their labor.[1]

Make use, then, my brothers, of the priceless treasure of the Orthodox faith: unceasingly glorify with all your heart the true God Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit—glorify Him with heart and lips, and above all with your whole life; devote yourselves with all your soul to fulfilling Christ’s commandments and attain to an eternal inheritance with the saints; and at the same time do not forget to remember our teachers, the holy equal-to-the-apostles Methodius and Cyril, who handed down to us the word of God in our own language and enlightened us with the faith of Christ; diligently read and hear this word of God and fulfill it—and, looking to the end of the lives of our first teachers, imitate their faith. Like high-soaring eagles, they already in their lifetime stood above everything earthly, caring neither for earthly gain nor for earthly glory, and after their death they soared up to heaven, to the Lord Jesus Christ, for whose sake they had labored; so do not be attached to earthly things either, but remember your high calling, and set your minds on the incorruptible heavenly blessings prepared for those who love God, knowing that our citizenship is in heaven.[2] Do not forget, either, that far away in the south and the west there are many Slavic peoples kindred to us in faith, language, and tribe—our brothers: take them up into your prayers; pray for their well-being and their progress in faith and piety, so that with one heart and one mouth we may all glorify the one God in the earthly Church militant, and may be counted worthy to cry out to Him with one voice also in the heavenly Church triumphant: Glory to You, O God, our Enlightener, forever and ever. Amen.