Equal-to-the-Apostles Methodius of Thessalonica

IMPORTANT CORRECTION: the category has been corrected from "righteous" to "equal-to-the-apostles." The image file shared with the martyrs_i_of_constantinople entry (a generic June menology icon) has been excluded from this entry as contextually mismatched: Methodius of Thessalonica's own feast falls in April, not June — the file appears to have been mistakenly duplicated between the two "Methodius" entries.

Equal-to-the-Apostles Methodius, a Byzantine monk-missionary, was the elder brother of Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril (Constantine the Philosopher). Together with his brother he created the Glagolitic (precursor to Cyrillic) alphabet and translated Scripture and liturgical texts into Old Church Slavonic for the Moravian mission at the invitation of Prince Rostislav.

After Cyril's death in Rome (869), Methodius was consecrated Archbishop of Pannonia/Moravia and continued the Slavic liturgical mission despite fierce opposition and persecution from Frankish Latin clergy (including imprisonment 870-873). Before his death he completed the translation of nearly the entire Bible and the Nomocanon into Slavonic.

He died on April 6, 885, in Velehrad, Great Moravia. His feast is kept on April 6/19 (repose) and May 11/24 (Synaxis of the Equal-to-the-Apostles Teachers of the Slavs, together with his brother Cyril — in Russia this day is also marked as the Day of Slavic Writing and Culture).