Belgrade, January 12, 2018
Photo: Foma.ru Minister of Culture and Mass Communications Vladan Bukosavlevic says he is certain that Serbia will celebrate the day of Sts. Cyril and Methodius this year as an official state holiday, thereby, he emphasized, “filling the cultural gap” between Serbia and other Slavic nations.
“We are currently the only Slavic country where the day of Sts. Cyril and Methodius isn’t a state holiday. All the other countries celebrate it as a state holiday, and it’s a non-working day,” Bukosavlevic stated at a press conference yesterday.
However, the minister also said that the ministry’s current proposal is for Sts. Cyril and Methodius day to become a state holiday, but to remain a working day.
The reasons for the initiative, according to the minister, is clear enough by itself, given the invaluable significance of Sts. Cyril and Methodius for the entire Slavic world. “We’re talking about our historical and cultural foundation,” he said.
The chief exploit of the holy brothers Sts. Cyril and Methodius began in 862 when they were sent to Moravia to preach Christianity in the Slavic language. By a revelation from God, they compiled a Slavonic alphabet and translated the Gospel, Epistles, the Psalter and many service books into the Slavonic language. They introduced Divine services in Slavonic.
