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| Basilica of Saint Cyrillus and Methodius in Velehrad village in The Czech republic |
Saint Cyril and Saint
Methodius were ninth Century Byzantine missionaries in communion with Rome and
Constantinople who brought the Gospel to the Slavic people of the time. They translated the Bible and the Liturgy
into Slavonic. Pope Adrian II approved
their use of the vernacular liturgy which more or less survives to the present
day. They understood that the people of
God should be able to worship God in a language understood by the people. Their witness showed that the Eucharist
could be celebrated faithfully in languages other than Greek, Latin or Hebrew
while preserving the same faith.
