What is Saints Cyril and Methodius Day?
Saints Cyril and Methodius were brothers from Thessaloniki in the Byzantine Empire who became missionaries to the Slavs in the ninth century. Cyril is credited with creating the Glagolitic alphabet, the oldest known Slavic script, and the brothers translated the liturgy and parts of the Bible into Old Church Slavonic, which laid the foundation of Slavic literature. The Cyrillic script was developed later, traditionally by their disciples in Bulgaria. Both are venerated in the Catholic and Orthodox churches.
In 863 they went to Great Moravia, a state covering parts of today's Czech Republic and Slovakia, at the request of its ruler Rastislav. They are honoured as the apostles of the Slavs, and in 1980 Pope John Paul II named them co-patrons of Europe alongside Saint Benedict. The day is a public holiday in the Czech Republic and Slovakia and, on 24 May, in North Macedonia and Bulgaria, where it also celebrates the Slavic alphabet, education and culture. Festivals, folk music and church services mark the day, particularly at Velehrad in Moravia, a main place of the brothers' memory.
Why it is observed
Pope Leo XIII extended the veneration of the two saints to the whole church in his 1880 encyclical Grande munus and fixed their feast on 7 July. After the Second Vatican Council the feast was moved in 1969 to 14 February, the day Cyril died in Rome in 869. Methodius died in 885. In Czech and Slovak lands the brothers are traditionally honoured on 5 July. The Orthodox calendar remembers them on 11 May on the Julian calendar, which is 24 May in the civil calendar, the date used in Bulgaria and North Macedonia. The date reflects the old devotion to the two saints among Slavic peoples.
How the date is set
The day is fixed, but the date differs by country. In the Czech Republic and Slovakia it is 5 July, and in North Macedonia and Bulgaria it is 24 May. In the Catholic Church the liturgical memorial of the two saints has been 14 February since 1969.
How it is observed
The holiday is a public holiday in the Czech Republic and Slovakia on 5 July, with banks, offices and many shops closed. In North Macedonia and Bulgaria 24 May is a public holiday celebrating the Slavic alphabet and the work of the brothers. In the Czech Republic the holiday is followed the next day, 6 July, by Jan Hus Day, forming a short run of days off. In 2027 5 July is a Monday and 24 May is also a Monday. Pay and time off depend on national law and the contract.
Sources
Czechia
North Macedonia
Slovakia