Hadrian II
Pope who received Constantine and Methodius at Rome and, according to the Slavonic Lives, approved the liturgy in Slavonic. His legates presided at the council of Constantinople that condemned Photius.
The Life of Constantine says that Hadrian came out of Rome with the citizens to meet the brothers, who brought relics of St Clement, that he laid the Slavonic books in the church of St Mary and had the liturgy sung over them, and that he ordered Constantine buried with the honours due to a pope (Life of Constantine 17–18). The Life of Methodius gives, in Slavonic, a letter in his name allowing the Slavonic liturgy; it is not preserved in Latin and has been judged spurious by some editors (Life of Methodius 8). His successor John VIII confirms that it was Hadrian who ordained Methodius and sent him to the Slavs (John VIII, Letters, 200 (879)).
His legates led the council of 869–870, which upheld the sentences of Nicholas I and his own against Photius (Council of Constantinople (869–870), definition; canon 2). See Cyril and Methodius among the Slavs and the Photian Schism.
In the timeline
- AD 863 to AD 885, estimated dateCyril and Methodius among the Slavs
Two brothers from Thessalonica, sent from Constantinople to Moravia, give the Slavs an alphabet, the Scriptures and the liturgy in their own language. Rome’s attitude to the Slavonic liturgy shifts from approval to prohibition and back, and ends in a ban.
Primary sources
Life of Methodius
- Life of Methodius 8archive.org