Relikwie św. św. Cyryla i Metodego jako świadectwo dynamiki życia religijnego

The relatively rich complex of hagiologic works and documents attesting the CyrilloMethodian tradition contains various kind of information on the death, grave and remains of the Holy brothers, especially those of St. Cyril. All texts, including the emerging in our time, are a living testimony of their cult, revealing the diversity of its’ functions appointed. The authors trace out and systemize various text – liturgical, hagiographic, historiographic and documentary, concerning the issue of the relics of the two Slavic saints. Besides the Long Life of St. Constantine-Cyril, the Greek Vitae of SS Clemens and Nahum of Ochrid, the Eulogy on Cyril and Methodius and the so-called Legenda Italica, hagiographic works of West Slavic origin are considered under the aspect of their essential importance for the saints’ relics veneration. They are interpreted as a phenomenon of realizing King Charles’ IV national doctrine on the base of their appearance in the inventories of the S. Vaclav chapel treasury in the metropolitan church of Prague as well as in the correspondence of Czech kings and Czech and Polish prelates. The issue of the burial place of the Brothers from Salonika and the location of their remains is presented in the article as an element of the hot interfaith dispute in the 1stRzeczpospolita. The 16th c. common awareness that the relics of SS Cyril and Methodius are kept at San Clemente in Rome was treated by the Catholics as a clear proof of divine approval for the Western church (and especially its head) and synergistic cooperation in the intention of the saint (Cyril wants to stay in Rome forever). Orthodox party defended “the good name” with the argument that even in Rome the orthodoxy and its missionaries were paid special attention. А modern attitude to the issue is displayed by the modern service dedicated to the rediscovery of S. Cyril’s relicts and their replacement in “San Clemente” on 17th November 1963. It was introduced in the liturgical praxis of the Bulgarian Catholics in 1980. The text of the service is designed in the prospects of the new vision on the role of SS Cyril and Methodius and their veneration in the contemporary world – as expressed by the Pope’s encyclical epistle “Antiquae nobilitatis” from 2nd February and the speech of Pope Paul VI in San Pietro on 14th February. Contemporary evidences of the political instrumentalization of the cult of St. Cyril’s remains are demonstrated as well. Without being exhaustive, the article presents a wide panorama of the cult of relics of St. Constantine-Cyril the Philosopher as a phenomenon of Slavonic and European cultural identity.