cenus : — De Pgthonissa contra Origenem, lost : — Com- mentarii in Cantica Canticorum, of which only fragments remain: — Sivuv, lost: etc. Another work, De Reve- latione, sometimes attributed to him, is more likely from a later INIethodius. The De Libera A rbitrio, De Resui- rectione, De A ngelica Virginitute et Castitate, two homi- - lies, and the extracts contained in Photius, were pub- lished by Combefis in Greek and Latin, with notes (Paris, 1614, fol.), together with the works of Amphilochus and Andreas Cretensis. Galland has collected the preserved works supposed to be the production of Methodius, as well as all fragments, and published them in his Biblioth. Putr. vol. iii. See Photius, Cod. p. 234-237 ; jNIai, Script, vet. nov. coll. vii, 1 ; Cave, Jlisfor. Lift. ; Henschen, in the Bollandists, Ada Sanctornut, vol. iv; Nath. Lardner, Credibility of the Gospel IJislory, vol. v ; Oudin, Com- ment, de Scriploribus eccles. vol. i ; Andrea Sixt, Dissert, de Methodio (Altorf, 1787, 4to) ; Fabricius, Bibl. Grrnca (edit, of Harless), vii, 746 et al. ; Donaldson, Hist. Ch. Lit. ; Milman, Hist. Lut. Christianity (see Index) ; Schaff, Ch. Hist, i, 356 sq., 511 ; Neander, Christ. Dogmas, i, 121, 256 ; Meth. Qu. Rev. 1871, January, p. 164.
Methodius of Bohemia, a native of Thessalonica, who flourished daring the 9th century, became distin- guished by his missionary zeal, his learning, and his skill as a painter. He first entered a convent at Con- stantinople, and afterwards spent some time in Rome, where he acquired that remarkable skill as an artist which leads Le Beau {Hist, du Bus Empire, xiv, 362) to speak of him as the most eminent painter of his time — a high compliment, indeed, when we note that among his contemporaries were Jlodalulph, in France, Tutilo, in Germany, and Lazarus, in Constantinople, all of whom are considered artists of great abiUly. After his return to Constantinople, he received an invitation from Bogo- ris, king of Bulgaria, to visit his court, and instruct him and his subjects in the prin<i|ilis of Christianity. This king's heart had been softened inwards the Chris- tian religion by the infiuence of his Mstri-, who had shortly before returned from Constantinople, whither, thirty-eight j'ears before, she had been conveyed as a captive, and where she had been brought up and edu- cated a Christian. A severe pestilence oppressed Bul- garia, and led Bogoris formally to implore the aid of his sister's God. The plague was stayed, and the king ac- knowdedged the might and goodness of the Christian's God in hearing and answering his prayer; but still he shrank from deserting entirely the faith of his fathers, lest his subjects should revolt against him in defence of paganism. At this critical moment he bethought him- self of the strange expedient of using the skilful pencil of Methodius, knowing that his people could be more readily affected by images of terror than by eloquent words of persuasion. By his advice INIethodius painted the last judgment, and so vividly represented the tor- tures of the damned that the heart of the king himself was struck with terror, and he sought to escape this ter- rible destiny by numbering himself among the sons of the Church. He was accordingly baptized in 863 or 864; and, though much opposition was shown, pagan- ism was rapidly compelled to yield to the Christian re- ligion as introduced by Methodius. After working with such success in Bulgaria, Methodius was sent into Greek Moravia, where, in conjimction with his brother Cyril (q. v.), he accomplished a great work, his holy ze'al meeting with grand results. Christianity had already found its way to some parts of the tribe by its connec- tion with the Frankish empire under Charlemagne, but the nation, as a whole, was still devoted to paganism. Its ruler, Radislav or Rastices, had formed an alliance with the Greek empire for political purposes. This af- forded an opportunity for the sending forth of these two missionary brothers. ]\Iethodius rendered valuable as- sistance to his brother Cyril in his task of inventing an alphabet for the Sclavonic language, and in the work of translating the Bible, as well as several Uturgical works, into the language of the people.
METHODIUS
190
METHODOLOGY