Top state officials and thousands of pilgrims gathered in Nitra on Friday to celebrate
the 1,150th anniversary of the arrival of Saints Cyril and Methodius on the territory of present-day Slovakia. The ceremony was led by special legate of Pope Francis, Slovenian cardinal Franc Rode who brought a letter from the pope. In his letter, the pope pointed to the significance of the mission of the 'Apostles to the Slavs' in Great Moravia in 863.
"They came to the territory of present-day Slovakia with the Gospel message and began bestowing the Lord's salvatory graces upon people. Apart from sacred nourishment with the holy liturgy, they also brought education and culture. The two brothers realised the antiquity and rightness of these sacred traditions, and without any fear they used the Slavic language for liturgical rituals. It rightly behaves us to commemorate and praise this event, therefore," wrote the pope. The two missioners, however, did not only help to spread religion. According to historian Emília Hrabovec, they deserve respect also from non-believers as they helped ancestors of current Slovaks to become part of the medieval European Christian civilisation. The inclusion into the-then European Christian civilisation was a huge civilisation step for our ancestors, the old Slovaks," "They were included into everything what the-then civilisation was about - in cultural, spiritual, political and economic terms," stated Hrabovec.
