Orthodox · 9th century
Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Rostislav, prince of Greater Moravia
Commemorated: May 24 (May 11, Old Style)
Life
Rostislav ruled Great Moravia, in today's Czech Republic and Slovakia, from 846. Around 862 he asked the Byzantine emperor Michael III for teachers who could explain the Christian faith to his people in their own language. The emperor sent the brothers Constantine (Cyril) and Methodius, and Rostislav gathered young men to learn the new Slavonic alphabet and books from them and began building churches.
In 870 his nephew Svatopluk seized him and handed him over to the Franks. At Regensburg he was condemned for treason; King Louis the German commuted the death sentence to blinding, and Rostislav died in prison, probably in 870. The Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia canonized him in 1994.
Places
- Place of death: Regensburg
Retold briefly in our own words from: the Lives of the Saints by St Dimitry of Rostov (1902–1916); Wikipedia (to check the facts).
The commemorations of the day: Ponomar (ponomar.net), CC BY-SA 3.0.
Places and years: Wikidata (CC0), each saint matched by hand.