Brotherhood of Saints Cyril and Methodius

The Brotherhood of Saints Cyril and Methodius (Ukrainian: Кирило-Мефодіївське братство, Russian: Кирилло-Мефодиевское братство) was a short-lived secret political society that existed in Kyiv, at the time a part of the Russian Empire.

The Books of Genesis of the Ukrainian Nation by Mykola Kostomarov

The organization predated the Spring of Nations in Eastern Europe just by few years. Founded in December, 1845 or in January, 1846, the society sought to revive the ideals of the traditional Ukrainian brotherhoods and envisioned a Ukrainian national rebirth, including national autonomy within a free and equal Slavic federation. It was quickly suppressed by the government in March 1847 with most of the members punished by exile or imprisonment.

The goals of the society were liberalisation of the political and social system of the Imperial Russia in accordance with the members Christian principles and the Slavophile views that gained popularity among the country's liberal intelligents. Created under the initiative of Nikolay Kostomarov (1818-1885), a famous historian of Russia and Ukraine, the society was named after Saints Cyril and Methodius, widely regarded as heroes for the Slavic nations celebrated for spreading Christianity and inventing the alphabet used in several Slavic languages.

The society goals included the abolition of serfdom, broad access to public education, transformation of the empire into a federation of free Slavic people with Russians being one of the equal rather than the dominant nation and, according to Mykhailo Hrushevskyi (1866-1934), the implementation of the liberal democratic principles of freedom of speech, thought and religion.[1]

Members included Panteleimon Kulish (1819-1897), Yurii Andruzky (1827 - after 1864), Vasyl Bilozersky (1825-1899), Mykola Hulak (1821-1899), Opanas Markovych, Oleksander Navrotsky, O. Petrov, Ivan Posiada, Dmytro Pylchykov (1821-1893), and M. Savych. Taras Shevchenko (1814-1861) was arrested because his poems had been found by the secret police among the documents of the participants and the was the champion of the independence of Ukraine, not being the part of federation.

See also

References
  1. Ukraine's Struggle for Self-Government - by Professor Michaelo Hrushevsky, The New York Times Magazine, February 17, 1918 (PDF)


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