Letter to Svatopluk
A letter in the name of Pope Stephen V to the Moravian ruler Svatopluk, written after the death of Methodius. It forbids the liturgy in Slavonic under anathema and allows only the explanation of the readings in that language.
The letter praises Svatopluk’s loyalty to Rome, sets out the Roman teaching on the Trinity and on fasting, and then turns on Methodius, who had died in April 885: the mass and offices that he “presumed” to celebrate in Slavonic are forbidden, though the Gospel and Epistle may be explained to the people in their own tongue.
Its authenticity has been disputed since the nineteenth century. The editor of the edition cited here judged that a genuine letter of Stephen was partly falsified or interpolated in the interest of Methodius’s rival, Bishop Wiching, and printed the suspect passages in angle brackets. It should be read beside Letters (Register), which permit what this letter forbids.
Cited in
- AD 863 to AD 885, estimated date