The Constantinopolitan Project of the Cyrillo-Methodian Mission According to the Slavonic Lives of the Thessalonican Brothers

The missions of Cyril and Methodius were part of a broader missionary project developed in Constantinople in the second half of the ninth century, particularly by patriarch Photius in an area which includes the space of ekumene from the Middle East to central Europe. This far-reaching missionary effort was based on theological reflection, which is testified by the use of the bible and patristic exegesis in the Cyrillo-Methodian sources. The complex history of Izbornik 1073 can also be placed in this vein. The analysis of VC and VM affords us an open window on the missionary idea in the Byzantine empire, which differs in certain aspects from the missionary concept developed by the Roman apostolic see.