Slovakia celebrates July 5 as a religious and public holiday to commemorate the medieval saints Cyril and Methodius, who are said to have brought Christianity to Slovakia. Brothers Cyril and Methodius are remembered for their contribution to the education of ancestors of the Slovaks and the Christianization of the Great Moravian Empire, the territory of which also includes present-day Slovakia.
Cyril and Methodius were born in the northern Greek town of Slun; Methodius around 815 and Cyril in 827. Both received a good education and held respectable positions.
In 863 they were sent to Great Moravia, where they spread Christianity and translated Biblical and liturgical texts into the region’s local language.
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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