VATICAN CITY

VATICAN CITY / CIVITATIS VATICANÆ - CITTÀ DEL VATICANO.

1100th anniversary of the apostolate of the Saints Cyril and Methodius, 863-1963.
Relief map of the Great Moravia.
Second stamp in a set of 3, issued on 22.11.1963.
Face value: 70 Italian lire.
Printed by I.P.S. (Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato), Officina Carte Valori, Roma.
Printing: Photogravure.
Print: 1,326,000 copies.
Size: 30 x 40 mm.

Catalogs
- Bolaffi No. 373.
- Michel No. 437.
- Sassone No. 370.
- Scott No. 370.
- StampWorld No. 436.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 417.
- Unificato No. 370.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 388.

Cyril (826-869) and Methodius (815-885) were two brothers and Byzantine Christian theologians and missionaries. For their work evangelizing the Slavs, they are known as the "Apostles to the Slavs". They are credited with devising the Glagolitic script, the first alphabet used to transcribe Old Church Slavonic. Both are venerated in the Orthodox Church as saints. In 1880, Pope Leo XIII introduced their feast into the calendar of the Roman Catholic Church, and in 1980, Pope John Paul II declared them co-patron saints of Europe, together with Benedict of Nursia. The exact ethnic origins of the brothers are unknown, there is controversy as to whetherwere of Slavic or Byzantine Greek origin, or both. In 862, the brothers began the work which would give them their historical importance: that year Prince Rastislav of Great Moravia requested that Emperor Michael III and the Patriarch Photius send missionaries to evangelize his Slavic subjects. His motives in doing so were probably more political than religious.

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Thanks to Vairo Gregori for his contribution (https://ternifil.org/).