DAYS OF THE PEOPLE OF GOODWILL 2019
Days of the People of Goodwill at Velehrad are surely the biggest celebrations connected with a national holiday of the Czech Republic. They have been taking place for 16 years already, on the occasion of the Day of the Slavonic Missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius.
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CYRIL AND METHODIUS IN FILM
The five-part docudrama will map the lives and work of the Slavonic missionaries Cyril and Methodius, primarily in an educational format.
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SCHOOL OF CYRIL AND METHODIUS
On the occasion of the “Cyrillo-Methodian jubilee”, educational workshops for children and youth will emerge, the main aim of which will be to familiarize children with the Cyrillo-Methodian legacy in an amusing and practical way.
CHILDREN WALK THE WAY OF THE TWO BROTHERS
‘The Way of the Two Brothers’ is the title of an art competition for children 3 to 11 years of age. It is regularly announced within the July Days of the People of Goodwill at Velehrad. The aim of the project is to explain roots of our culture to children, impairing a positive model for life in the present.
VELEHRAD
It is an important spiritual center, a destination of frequent ecclesiastic pilgrimages, gatherings and Cyrillo-Methodian celebrations.
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Cyril and Methodius. Lord, Preserve the Legacy of our Fathers and Mothers for us!

Cyril and Methodius. Lord, Preserve the Legacy of our Fathers and Mothers for us!

20. 1. 2013

In 2013, we commemorate the 1150th anniversary of their arrival to Great Moravia. By means of historical facts the authors familiarize viewers, in detail, with the course of the lives of both the missionaries and explicate the main purpose and method of their mission among the Slavs. They do not forget even the legacy, the impact and spreading of the Cyrillo-Methodian tradition after the deaths of both brothers. In 1980, John Paul II proclaimed Saints Cyril and Methodius co-patrons of Europe and thus he created a bridge between the western and the eastern liturgy.

The authors, Otakáro Maria Schmidt and Jana Kristina Studničková, in the intentions of their previous films, combine documentary passages and passages commented in words with staged sequences. In the film, Cyril and Methodius are represented by two real priests, Miroslav Herold and Marek Orko Vácha, who are well-known from Schmidt's previous ducuments already. They comment the journey in the footsteps of the missionaries through contemporary Europe in a qualified way. At the same time, this interconnection of history with our present time proves that the values from the beginning of the development of the western civilization are the foundation and roots of contemporary European society.

Cyril and Methodius and their disciples are our spiritual fathers who gave a spiritual birth to our nation. Thanks to their script Slavs from Russia to the borders with Greece can, in principle, make themselves understood in one language and thus they create one all-Slavic family. The success of their mission opened a way to evangelization of Slavic nations. Thus, to the Biblical languages - Latin, Greek and Hebrew – the Old Church Slavonic was added as well, after many centuries.

Basic division of the film in accordance with chronology:

1st part - Byzantium until the births of Cyril and Methodius
2nd part - Byzantium from the births of Cyril and Methodius until their departure to Moravia
3rd part - Moravia and Western Europe until the arrival of Cyril and Methodius to Moravia
4th part - Moravia, Europe, Byzantium from the arrival of C+M to Moravia to their deaths
5th part - Legacy after their deaths

About the film:

Creative producer, CT: Patrick Diviš
Authors: Otakáro Maria Schmidt and Jana Kristina Studničková
Idea and script: Otakáro Maria Schmidt
Direction: Otakáro Maria Schmidt and Jana Kristina Studničková
Editing, sound, costumes: Jana Kristina Studničková
Dramaturgy CT: Jana Hádková
Guides and performers of Cyril and Methodius: Miroslav Herold, Marek Orko Vácha
Guests: L. Galuška, D. Duka, J. Graubner, S. Gordun, T. Kondrusevič, P. Koutný, C. Vasil
Producers: Pavlína Hobzová (CT), Ondřej Beránek (Punk film)
Production: Luboš Vála and Jana Vokrouhlíková
Music and sound mix: Vojtěch Komárek
Camera: Jiří Strnad a Otakáro Maria Schmidt
Commentary read by: Martin Dejdar and O. M. Schmidt

News

29. 6. 2013

1150th anniversary of Cyril and Methodius

Here are our roots.

(Blessed John Paul II, 22nd April 1990, Velehrad)

They wanted to become part of those nations and to share their destiny in everything. Here, in this place, at Velehrad, in Moravia, we can feel the historical legacy of the kingdom in a peculiar way – we can feel even those who became its keepers and guardians.

(Blessed John Paul II)
For us, people of the present age, their apostolate contains even the elocution of the ecumenical appeal, i.e. to build unity again, in a peaceful reconciliation, which later after their deaths was heavily damaged, and in the first place the unity between the East and the West.

(Blessed John Paul II)
Their work is also a very important contribution to the growth of the common Christian roots of Europe, which by their firmness and viability create one of the main contact points, which must be respected by every serious attempt at reunification of our continent in a new and topical way.

(Blessed John Paul II)
The story of both brothers, Cyril and Methodius, is a distinct example of unity.

Saints Cyril and Methodius contributed, to a great extent, to the building of Europe, not only regarding its Christian religious community but also concerning its civil and cultural unity.

(Blessed John Paul II)