Cyril & Methodius
Cyril and Methodius, brothers born in Thessalonika, are honored as apostles to the southern Slavs and as the founders of the Slavic literary culture. Cyril was a student of philosophy and a deacon, who eventually became a missionary monastic. Methodius was first the governor of a Slavic colony, then turned to the monastic life, and was later elected abbot of a monastery in Constantinople.