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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The Czech Television: Moravian Theater to Celebrate the Arrival of the Missionaries

The Czech Television: Moravian Theater to Celebrate the Arrival of the Missionaries

31. 3. 2013

Josef Hrdlička drew inspiration from the drama by the French poet and dramatist, Paul Claudel, The Annunciation to the Virgin Mary. "I wanted to expound the work to contemporary viewers because it contains neglected, yet fundamental values like the sacrifice of one's life, struggle for love, subjection of both life and death to Him who will utter the last word over man," specifies Josef Hrdlička. Jiří Přibyl, Lea Vítková, Zdeňka Mollíková, Barbora Polášková, Petr Martínek and David Szendiuch will play main roles.

Originally, the play "Night Full of Light" was supposed to stay outside subscription. However, due to topical changes in the dramaturgical plan, it will be included to the premiere subscription, instead of the ballet version of Jesus Christ Superstar. The theater had to postpone its premiere at this moment because it did not get a licence for the ballet version of this famous musical.

Cyril and Methodius

Apostles of the Slavs – Constantine (Cyril) and Methodius – came to Moravia on Prince Rostislav's invitation in 863. Both of them were born in Greece but because they came from Solun, a city with a strong Slavic background, they were raised in a bilingual environment and they knew the language of the Slavs as their other mother tongue. They brought the Gospel, Psalms and the Acts of Apostles translated from Latin to the Slavic language – Old Church Slavonic. Constantine also invented a new script for it – the Glagolitic alphabet.

Immediately upon their arrival to Moravia both brothers began to teach students gathered by Rostislav and to translate other necessary texts. After 40 months of their mission in Moravia they, together with their disciples, set out on a journey to Venice which was a seat of the Aquilean patriarch at that time, to whose church authority Moravia belonged. They asked him to approve of the Slavic liturgy. However, they were rejected. Thus, they turned to the pontifical curia. They left for Rome and there they were, supported by pontifical bibliothec Anastasio, welcomed cordially and Pope Adrian II approved the Slavic church books, despite protests of a part of Roman high priests, and he ordained the disciples to the priesthood.

Source: CPA

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)