Happy C&M day!

Hi there! I'm Methodius!

Um...and I'm his brother Cyril.

And today is-

Also known as Cyril the lesser.

Um...what? I never heard of that title...

Oh, yeah. They call me that all the time. Also "Cyril the Shorter," or "Cyril the Sicklier", or "Cyril the one who died first-"

Speaking of which, today, February 14, is the date of my brother Cyril's death, and thus, our feast day!

It should have been your death day. You're more important.

Um...well...the Church thinks we're both important. You see, my brother and I lived in the 9th century. Back then, most of Eastern Europe was still barbarian; they didn't even have a written language! So that's why me and Cyril invented...Cyril? Where you going? 

Just need to visit the little monks room.

What? We're dead! We don't have bodies! And why are you acting like this? Making up nasty titles for yourself, pulling your hood over your face, trying to sneak off-

Argh! Because of what you're about to mention!

What? The Cyrillic Alphabet?

Exactly! Cyrillic! CYRIL! I'm tired of being in the spotlight! It's not fair to you!

Dude! I don't care!

Well I do! Why is it always "Cyril and Methodius?" Why did they name the alphabet after me? Why did- 

Cyril!

 ........

Calm down. They probably named it after you because you got a cooler name. But if it really bothers you, I'll do most of the talking. But you got to stop acting weird. Okay? 

Okay. Sorry.

Anyway, you're freaking out for no reason. I bet that most people reading this don't know what the Cyrillic alphabet is.

What? That's terrible! I mean...not that I care for my sake.

I know you don't brother. Listen up kids. You ever see something written in Russian, or in Polish? Like this:

Or this:

Ever wonder where those weird letters came from? Well, you can thank Cyril and me. Here's what happened: Cyril and I were asked by the Pope to go and preach the Gospel to the Slavs - the people in Eastern Europe. The Slavs were not only pagan - they were poor and downtrodden - in fact, the word "slav" comes from the german word for "slave" - because other people enslaved them so much. The Slavs didn't even have a written language, which was kind of important for our mission, since preaching the Gospel means reading the Gospel, and the rest of the Bible.

That's right! That's the only method we knew.

Er...yes. So Cyril and I decided to sit down and make an alphabet that the Slavs could use. And this is what we came up with:

And here's the crazy part: our little alphabet is still used today in all of Russia, and Poland, and Slovakia...

...and Bulgaria and Croatia and Macedonia...

Yep. So a pretty big deal. So Cyril, you want to tell the kids how we invented the Cyr- Um..I mean, our alphabet?

Hmm. Well, it wasn't easy. We had to be very careful. Very methodical.

Er...yes.

Sometimes we even had to use math.

....well, not really...

And even though it was hard, we just trusted in God and kept plugging along. We didn't resort to any chemical stimulants. Like Caffeine, or coke, or Chrystal Meth.

What's Chrystal Meth?

I'll tell you later. Also, we often eased the tension by cracking jokes. Sometimes Methane-related.

What?

Because let me tell you, it's a good thing Methodius here doesn't have a body anymore, 'cause he would rip some mighty-

Well, that's all the time we have for today! Praise God in all things, and wish your Polish and Russian friends a happy Cyril and Methodius day!

A happy Methodius and Cyril day!

Whatever. See ya!

(Click here to learn more about Cyril and Methodius!)