The Work of the Slav Enlighteners Cyril and Methodius

Chance was on the side of Prince Boris in his struggle against the Byzantine danger. In 855 the brothers Cyril and Methodius evolved the Slav alphabet. They were born in Salonika of a Slav mother. Their father was a high- ranking Byzantine functionary. For some time the elder brother, Methodius, had been an administrator of a dis- crict with a predominantly Slav population. Later he became Father Superior of a big monastery in Asia Minor. Cyril got a brilliant education in one of the best schools at the time – the Magnaura School in Constantinople. After graduation, he started teaching there and in a surprisingly short time became one of the most eminent representatives of the early Mediaeval philosophy and literature. The Byzantine government sent the two brothers more than once as Christian missionaries to the Khazars and the Arabs, but their mission to Great Moravia left indelible traces in the history of the Slav peoples.

Rostislav, Prince of Great Moravia, had the same sort of problems with the systematic and massive attempts at assimilation on the part of the German clergy, as Boris had had with the Byzantine priests. In his desperate struggle against the Germanization of the Slavs in his state, he requested in 862 from the Byzantine Emperor missionaries who would preach Christianity in a language comprehensible to the people and who would train Slav clergymen to replace the German ones. The Emperor’s choice naturally fell on the two brothers, who had already composed the Slav alphabet, which was based on the ver-nacular of the Slavs in the environs of Salonika.

Great Moravia

In Great Moravia, however, Cyril and Methodius revealed themselves not so much as ordinary Byzantine missionaries and agents, as apostles of Slav culture and education, with Slav blood running in their veins. In less than two years they succeeded in setting up a Slav Church, independent from the German bishops, and trained scores of disciples. Their activities acquired the character of a grandiose ideological, popular and political struggle which had wide-ranging international repercussions. In Cyril’s own words the idea of a script in the Living Slav language had been so dangerous and unusual, that it was enough ‘to earn the name of a heretic for anyone who would only give it a thought’. The two brothers dared not only to give it a thought, but also to carry it through, to start a courageous struggle for the equality of the Slav language with all other languages, considered as ‘civilized’ at that time. What is more, in animated disputes with the most experienced polemicists of the Roman Catholic German church they succeeded in breaking the ‘trilingual veto’ of Mediaeval Europe, which prohibited any church service that was conducted in a language otheT than the three‘holy’ languages: Latin, Greek and Hebrew.

The creation of the SLav script was a shield barring all attempts at foreign assimilation, because it contributed to stepping up the self-awareness of the Slav peoples and their joining mankind’s universal culture. The cause of the two brothers from Salonika was of great significance not only to the Slav peoples, but also to human progress in general. It was imbued with ideas which have not lost their topicality to this day: humanism, democracy, equality of all peoples. Cyril and Methodius rank among the brightest minds of their times, for in the darkness of the early Middle Ages they sowed the sparks which several centuries later kindled the fire of the Reformation.

On February 14, 869 Cyril died in Rome, while Methodius remained in Great Moravia as bishop until his death in 886. His death was also the death of almost everything they had created in that Slav country: the Ger-man clergy launched an irresistible attack against it and won a decisive victory. They destroyed mercilessly all Slav church service books, and subjected to ruthless persecution the numerous disciples of Methodius. The cause of the Slav enlighteners, however, did not perish. It was resurrected and bore rich fruit in another Slav country – Bulgaria.

The Churches of Arbanassi

As a Christian settlement, the church was a prime figure in both the development and definition of Arbanassi. From the church came the Greek language, the idea of formal learning and education which, for the time, survived the Moslem invasion, and formed the basis for much of the religious back ground of Eastern Europe today.

Some seven churches survive today as an indication of the strength of the faith of the people of Arbanassi, to not only build, but preserve the structures and traditions of the Christian faith within a Moslem world.

Those churches are …

1- Rodestsvo Hristovo -“The Birth of Christ”

2-” Saint Dimitur”

3- “The Saint of Archangel Michail & Gavril”

4-” Saint Atanasii”

5-” Saint George “

6- “Holy Mother of God “

7- “Saint Nikola “

Much of the large part that the church plays in the history of Arbanassi can traced to the Turnovo region, indeed the initiative and decoration of the churches belongs to the eminent Bishops of Turnovo, such as Gerasim the Second, Nikifor, Atenasii, who pioneered the establishment of Eastern Orthodox themes throughout Eastern Europe.

Arbanassi was an interesting development to Christian leaders of that time, as much of the Christian faith had been persecuted and removed from everyday life under the Ottoman Empire, so a particular focus of their attention was the Church of The Birth of Christ. Over many years there was continuous work on the renovation and decoration of the church to become a Christian shrine in what were considered non-Christian lands.

That church became the focus of religious art, and some of the murals that adorn the walls of this church represent over eighty years continuous work by many artists that literally lived and died in producing these murals. Another highlight is the carved altar and surrounds that are treated with gold leaf, depicting the tree of Christ, a work of stunning size and complexity. The rest of the church is filled with icons and other murals that are not only typical, but the best preserved of such Christian art of the period.

This is not to neglect the other churches in Arbanassi, which while having the same architectural form, contain a wealth of mural and iconography that is  the very best representation of post Byzantine religious art in the Balkans.

These churches also contain art from the masters of Aton, such as the church of “Sveti Atanasie”, whose frescos date from 1667, and show great similarities to monuments and religious architecture from Greece and Crete.

In the church of “Saint Archangel Michail and Gavrail” we see late 16th century artwork sponsored by the wife of Niku Kutukli, Kiriaky, who had undertaken a pilgrimage to the holy city of Jerusalem. Such was her enthusiasm, she enlisted the artists Georgi from Bucharest, and Michhail from Thessalonika to adorn the dome of the church in what is a great example predating other frescos utilizing the same perspective technique in Western Europe.

The frescos in the Church of Saint Dimitur, finished late 1621, are simply the finest achievements of late middle age mural work to be found in Europe, and so are unique in their preservation and condition.

Arbanassi also held an attraction for those who required a retreat from the ways of the world, and the monasteries of “Uspenie Bogorodichno” and “Saint Nikola” which still remain today as places of quiet contemplation.

Monasteries of Arbanasi

Under the territory of Arbanasi there are two monasteries “Uspenie Bogorodichni” and “Sveti Nikola”. It is not clear when the hostel was established, but the chapel is the oldest building within the priory, established 1680.By colours style and type, the frescos are similar to the church “Church of the Birth of Christ”.

The chapel of “Sveti Nikola” was in active use until the raid on Arbanasi in 1798, which leftthe buildings partially destroyed, but renovation took place 1808 to its original form, and by 1833 the monastery complex was well established. In the vestibule, some of the origin frescos are still to be seen, along with a variety of wood carvings. Both monasteries are in active use today.