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Cyril and Methodius were two Byzantine Greek brothers born in Thessaloniki in the 9th century, who became missionaries of Christianity in Khazaria and Great Moravia. They are credited with devising and spreading the Glagolitic alphabet, which was used for Slavonic manuscripts before the development of the Cyrillic, the alphabet derived from Glagolitic, that, with small modifications, is still used in a number of Slavic languages. After their death their pupils became missionaries among other Slavic peoples. Both brothers were glorified in Eastern Orthodoxy as "equal-to-apostles" and were canonized by the Roman Catholic Church. They became the patron saints of Europe in 1980.[1]