BYZANTINE MISSIONS AMONG THE SLAVS SS. Constantine-Cyril and Methodius FRANCIS

520 Pages·2017·27.39 MB·English

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BYZANTINE MISSIONS
AMONG THE SLAVS
SS. Constantine-Cyril and Methodius
FRANCIS DVORNIK
Foreword by Peter Charanis
Rutgers Byzantine Series
524 pages, 19 Illustrations, 2 Plates of
Plans, 2 Maps, 3 Appendices, Notes, Bib­
liography, Index
''Byzantium,” Francis Dvornik writes,
"molded the undisciplined tribes of Serbs,
Bulgars, Russians, and Croats, and made
nations out of them; it gave to them its
religion and institutions, taught their
princes how to govern, transmitted to them
the very principles of civilization — writ­
ing and literature.”
In Byzantine Missions Among the Slavs,
Dr. Dvornik re-examines Byzantium’s
missionary role in Christianizing the Slavic
nations, especially in the light of archaeo­
logical discoveries made in Moravia,
Croatia, and Montenegro in the last two
decades. He analyzes the architectural dis­
coveries, including a large number of
Moravian stone churches closely related to
prototypes in the Adriatic Latin regions,
and the accompanying rich grave finds in
silver and gold, produced in ninth-century
Moravia and based on Byzantine and other
foreign designs. His conclusion is that
Christianization of the Croats began in the
seventh century and was achieved, not by
the Franks, as is generally believed, but
by the priests living in the Latin cities on
the Adriatic, part of Byzantine Dalmatia.
The same conclusions may be drawn con­
cerning the Christianization of the Serbs.
Moravia was Christianized both by Frank­
ish priests and by missionaries from Tstria
and Byzantine Dalmatia.
The major portion of Dr. Dvornik's
study is devoted to the Byzantine mission
to Moravia of SS. Constantine-Cyril and
Methodius eleven hundred years ago. The
principal goal of the mission was to in­
struct the native clergy in a new alphabet,
invented by Constantine-Cyril, and in the
(continued on back flap)

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K UTGERS BYZANTINE SERIES
PETER CHARANIS
General Editor

BYZANTINE MISSIONS
AMONG THE SLAVS
SS. Constantine-Cyril and Methodius
FRANCIS DVORNIK
K II I Ci li K S U N I V E R S I T Y P R E S S
te Hnunte'n / New Jersey
Copyright © 1970
Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number 78-75676
Manufactured in the United States o( America
By Quinn & Boden Company, Inc ., Railway, N. )
sun: HI 35 061 ł I
To John Seymour Thacher