(The Specifics of Mission of the Thessalonian Brothers and the Potential for their Actualization)

Abstract: Missionary activity is a part of the process of reproduction and growth of most religions. Well established religions, religious communities or new religious movements, they each use different methods of missionary activity and they are based on different and often divergent theological principles. They respect the political conditions but also the cultural realities of the given mission territories. Byzantine mission often had a form of political mission. But Cyril and Methodius did not use the method of binding the faith with social status and political benefits. Spiritual mission does not want to get a large number of believers, but it wants to bring a living faith, which is connected with the culture and language of the mission territories. The pursuit of such ‘living faith’ mission remains in the present European context until now. This phenomenon is reflected primarily
in an effort to leave formalism that is connected to the state church, but also in the movement of new evangelization and re-evangelization. All these activities can be seen as a process of actualization of the missionary legacy of Cyril and Methodius, which in turn may be (and should be) considered an authentic way of preserving the foundational values of European culture.

Authors: Kondrla, Peter – Králik, Roman

DOI: 10.17846/CL.2016.9.2.90-97

Publication order reference: doc. PhDr. PaedDr. Peter Kondrla, PhD.; Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Faculty of Arts, Central European Research Institute of Søren Kierkegaard, Hodžova 1, 949 74 Nitra, Slovakia, email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

prof. PaedDr. THDr. Roman Králik, Th. D.; Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Faculty of Arts, Central European Research Institute of Søren Kierkegaard, Hodžova 1, 949 74 Nitra, Slovakia, email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Source: Konštatínove listy, 2016, vol. 9, number: 2, pages: 90-97 (PDF file)

Key words: CYRIL, METHODIUS, SPIRITUAL MISSION, RELIGIOUS FORMALISM, NEW EVANGELIZATION

Language: SLOVAK