Slovakia, responding to requests from some fellow eurozone countries, has removed the halos from a €2 coin commemorating the 1,150th anniversary of the arrival of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Moravia.
Slovakia, a eurozone member since 2009, will start circulating the coin next year to mark the arrival of Saints Cyril and Methodius to Great Moravia and Panonia, which was part of modern Slovakia.
Eurozone countries are allowed to mint commemorative coins once every year under EU rules. The image on the back of the commemorative coin, however, must be accepted by the remaining eurozone members and the European Commission.
Cyril and Methodius were brothers, born in Thessaloniki at the beginning of the 9th century, who created the Glagolitic and then the Cyrillic alphabets with the aim to have the Bible and other texts translated into Slavic languages [more].
Cyril died in 869 and Methodius in 885. They were soon canonised as saints, with Saints Cyril and Methodius Day being celebrated on 24 May to mark the anniversary of Cyril’s death (see background).
Cyril and Methodius were also declared patrons of Europe in 1980 by Pope John Paul II. In Bulgaria, the only EU country at present to use the Cyrillic alphabet, 24 May is a public holiday, called “Bulgarian Education and Culture, and Slavonic Literature Day”.
And no religion?
Slovakia agreed to remove the halo despite Cyril and Methodius’ undisputed status as saints.
“Under EU rules, when designing the national side of a euro coin, Member States are required to take into account that the coins will circulate throughout the whole eurozone, and in that context, proposed designs are shared in advance with other Member States so that they can provide any comments they deem appropriate,” the Commission said in a statement.
The Commission acknowledged that some members states objected to the coin, adding that Slovakia submitted a slightly amended design, “which has now been approved by the [EU] Council of Ministers.”
If the motivation of the unnamed member states was to remove religious symbols from the design, they did not entirely succeed. Cyril and Methodius hold a Christian double cross, standing on the middle peak of a mountain with three peaks.
The double cross and the three peaks are the main elements of the coat of arms of Slovakia and feature on the regular Slovak euro coins.
The revamped design has been met with unease by the Bulgarian press. During Communism, painters and sculptors were requested by the authorities to portrait Cyril and Methodius without sanctity halos. Source: EurActiv.com
The National bank of Slovakia approved the original design with halos /after criticism from the church and the oposition parties/. Now there is a risk that this design will be refused by other Eurozone countries.
Two Eurozone countries protested against the halos and the crosses: France and Greece.
I’m guessing – France probably protested because of their large muslim community and Greece because they are over protected over anything that has any historical connection with Greece.
Don’t worry too much Losgar. wrong yet again!
The English have to be right even when they are wrong. It’s a great shame that these Anglo Saxon German migrants are unable to assimilate alongside Slovaks anymore than they can alongside the true Britons in the UK. There are many exceptions,but by nature they are an unsophisticated drunken rabble.predisposed to public brawling, bragging and down casting, by language most foul, of all other peoples. The Welsh, Irish and Scots are, in contrast, amicable friendly people who are able to put down roots and live anywhere in the world, including Slovakia.
Yea right Smug, settled down the Irish, Welsh and Scots . Perhaps it is all to do with there love of sheep and the privacy of the forest?
Crichton Miller, a Scottish researcher, has patented the theory that the cross was in fact an ancient mathematical navigation instrument using terrestrial sightings and geometry. In practice a rudimentary sextant , for amongst other things setting down lay lines It is highly unlikely it was an original christian symbol anymore than the swastika was fascist.The Hungarian symbol of crosses is the same as the Slovak and came into common use in the 10 century. Many christian practices have Pagan roots and since the Celts occupied Slovakia a few years before either the Romans or the Slavonic nations, it’s probable the cross did too. Ps keep firing in the compliments George
.
Alec
The problem isn’t the cross it is the halos.
Quite bizzarre really, halos have been used to identify figures of religious/ social importance in just about every religion. The Egyptians, Persians, Greeks, Romans and ancient Chinese often produced artwork with halos above or around images of revered people. The pagan religions of the New World also used halos. Buddists, Hindus, Jews and Muslims have used them for centuries so they are not unique to Christian iconograhy in fact it would appear that the practice was “borrowed” from the other religions. I really don’t understand what the problem is, Saints have always been depicted in this way so why must things now change? Did any of our PC watchdogs asked members of the other religions for their opinion – I doubt it.
The cross was not adopted as a universal Christian symbol until about the 8th Century, prior to this the symbol of a fish was and still is a symbol of faith. The earliest use of the cross has been dated back to the early stone-age and is a common symbol in religions and societies around the world.
Back to the PC wardens – no doubt Nike will have to get a new logo because the use of a pagan symbol will offend, Mac Ds’ giant M will have to go because it offends people with big arses, Brittania will have to stop sitting on a lion because it’s animal cruelty and the mountain on the 1 and 2 cent coin will be banned because when viewed from a certain orientation it looks like someone with a big nose, and we pay for these people!
Can’t see what all the fuss is about when a cross, which is a Pagan symbol, is portrayed on the coins.
The 2-barred cross was originally a symbol of Byzantine Empire. The country from which Cyril and Methodius came /although they had Slavic blood/. The upper bar comes from the sign which was added on the cross above Jesus’ head.
And before it could be a pagan symbol.
And before that probably was a symbol for each fish caught in the river by the Neanderthals.
BTW the Irish and Scotts were officially the first missionaries who brought Christianity to old Slovaks.
Loghead, I think you mean Scot`s not Scotts, which is a Lowland Clan in Scotland. UK.
The Cross~~~And before that probably was a symbol for each fish caught in the river by the Neanderthals. ~~~
No real surprise why Slowvaks adopted the `Cross` as their own then . Banana for you tea is it Loggie ?
Probably that is why Irish and Scots are the only nations capable of drinking with Slovaks.
Losgar
Wrong! yet again – the Byzantine Cross has a third cross bar, set at an angle, below the the other two, representing the footrest on Christs cross. The cross used in the Slovak National Arms is the Patriarchal Cross.
Wrong! yet again – Cyril and Methodius were Byzantine Greeks from Thessaloniki, the capital city of Macedonia which the Slavs attempted to capture on several occaisions during the 6th and 7th century. The Greeks defeated each attempt but a small number of Slavs may have settled close to the city. C and M had to codify the language of the pagan Slavs before they could begin their conversion to Christianity. The only academic who has postulated that their mother, Maria, MAY have been a Slav is Alexander P. Kazhdan but this possibility has been dismissed by others, based on the social practices of the Macedonians. Their father was a military commander in the Byzantine Macedonian army and although he may have taken Slavs as slaves it is unlikely that a Greek of his rank would marry one. It is also considered unlikely that the Macedonians would allow potential enemies to live within the city walls.
😀 😀
OK, you win. I’m just sorry that I made you search the internet for half a day to come out with what you came out.
And you asked me a question about Cyril and Methodius and the Indo-European alphabet 😀 earlier which I fully answered. It’s polite to say thank you, don’t you think?
Are you ever going to explain to Peter the bullshit about the maternity leave you posted yesterday. Or are you still internet searching to prove your “truth”? 😀
Loggie
It may take you the best part of a day to research (sic) your drivel but please don’t apply your shortcomings to others. As part of my assimulation into Slovak society I read numerous books on variuos subjects relating to the country.
Thank you for your earlier response, it was very kind of you.
As for the “bullshit” on maternity leave in the UK, there is no need for further explanation as it corrects the tripe Peter posted.
Any further questions?
Oh, personal attack! Are we going back to calling each other names again?
You are welcome!
Dave I really wanna talk about history but you already have your version.
So Peter was wrong? Why am I not surprised?!
Ahhh Bisto …another huge portion of Dog Stew for Loghead then …all those Vitamins eh Loggie ?
Deeply agree with Dave.C.
Then the European authorities could have asked also to remove the cross from the coin. What are we going to praize? If that mission what they did that time was positive from one point – the common people could finally understand what is being preached in the churches, as latin was used only by that time also on the territory populated by the Slovak ancestors, then to normal nowday man should be obvious we are going to commemorate that deed, what was done by them that time, and to it surely belongs that cross shown on the coin as well as the halo. I wonder, which countries asked this removal, and who from the countries did it, what commission, what people. Normal ordinary common people have much more common sense that those comittees which have done this ridiculous decision. One more fact to ask for more participative form of democracy in governing the countries with the tools of direct democracy and to spread more info on what and how happened in Iceland. Sorry to say it, once I thought positive about the EU goals and practice, not anymore these days. This practice with the coin is just one another example that EU project is based just on the cold economic aim and not on the wishes of its inhabitants, thus condemned to oblivion….
George, since you think the “news and reports” on this site are not fit or enough for your most knowledgeable mind…why have you not started your own “News Repotting Site”? Oh yeah… it would only be you reading it and commenting on the wonderful journalism and editing!
After your so called 14 years of occupancy in Sk, which should end soon, I hope! At least you moved to Austria, now the Slovaks can walk the streets at night without hearing your cries for help!
So goes the sixth personal attack today . I guess there are rules and there are rules for some others and All Slowvak Pigs are more far Equal than all others?….My acknowledgement to George Orwell and his book Animal Farm.
Perhaps you should try reading it Cowpat, as you slice another rasher from the rind for lunch and obviously improve your ever expanding low bar IQ .
Dog stew for dinner for you tonight then ?
Well, I for one sleep better at night knowing that there is such care taken as to what symbols do or don’t appear on pocket change – has Europe gone stark stirring mad, do they have nother better to do? These jobs of being PC wardens for the rest of us are just a waste of money and they create more problems than they resolve. Visit the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey. The Ottomans, devout muslims, did not destroy the old christian symbols and images when the basilica was coverted into a mosque. The average muslim in europe won’t check if the bag full of money you give him contains christian symbols nor would a jew or christian check for muslim symbols – its being PC for the lack of something better to do. These two saints are an important element of European history, our history, and even though I don’t subscribe to any particular faith I don’t agree with this current idea that this or that may offend someone else. Tollerance, be it racial or religious will only come about when we all learn to accept each other as we are, not by trying to create a universal, non descript and false illusion in a vain attempt to please everyone.
Cyril and Methodius didn’t create Cyrillic alphabet. His disciples /Slovaks/ did.
The Cyrillic script /modified/ is at the present used by 252 million people in Europe and Asia, most of them are Russians.
Why, if Cyril and Methodus are so important, does Slovakia use an Indo – European langauge rather than Cyrillic? was it changed during history? Not making any point here, just interested to know.
Indo-European languages are nearly all languages in Europe. We use Latin alphabet.
The Cyrillic was never used in the territory of Slovakia. The old Slovaks – Sloviens used the Latin and then the Glagollic.
Cyrillic was created in Bulgaria by Cyril’s disciples /after they had been expelled from Moravia/, named the alphabet after Cyril. Seven of the disciples were canonized, they call them the seven apostles of Bulgaria, we call them the 7. One of them is saint Gorazd, who succeded Cyril, born near Nitra, probably in the village of Gorazdovo. They made the alphabet-letters based on Bulgarian pronunciation.
The Glagollic was used only for a short time. The Latin alphabet prevailed, also as a result of political victory of the Frankish church.
More misinformation from Petra .
Harry (up two from last year) is followed by Oliver, Jack, Alfie and Charlie and Mo, does not even feature in the top 20 in the last 10 years .
…and what was the most popular name in Slowvakia then ? Perhaps Tealeaf ?
Read and learn George before speaking:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/nov/02/oliver-mohammed-popular-boys-name
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/14/mohammed-retakes-top-spot-in-english-baby-names/
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/10/28/uk.mohammed/index.html
Losgar
The first article supports what George has posted, if you read it!
The other two blogs are from Richard Allen Greene on religious sites. Do a bit of checking on this man before you believe anything he posts. A quick look at his background and other Blogs he has posted give a good insight into his agenda. He is a bible bashing American white supremacist who posts hate filled comments on numerous sites including the Jewish Journal. His second article is a work of fiction.
The true facts are at http://www.ons.govt.uk , if you care to read.
I suggest you stop searching for and believing articles that just happen to support your own twisted beliefs and start dealing with the truth – Read, validate, understand, then speak.
I kindly ask you to send me a list of verified UK newspapers and experts which opinion is valid. Seems like the British internet and every possible web site says the same. Are they all wrong Dave or is there something wrong with the UK press?
I read about this every year on Yahoo. I discussed this with my friends several times, it became a common knowledge.
Anyway I don’t care if it’s the most popular name in the UK or not. Name doesn’t make people bad or good. And if it’s really so popular between special community then probably outnumbers other names easily.
My point was that our genius George /or you/ don’t acknowledge anything that doesn’t fit into your perfect world’s picture.
I have to say this again: Excellent work on the Byzantine cross search!! You made my day/evening 😀
Dave C. – the expert on everything and for every weather.
Grease movie: “Tell me more, tell me more…did you get very far?” 😀
Stop Press Moment . Just heard the radio . A week-old baby boy has tragically died after being bitten by a pet dog. The child died in hospital yesterday morning .
A police spokesman said they have launched an investigation to establish the precise circumstances of the death. It is understood that the dog involved in the incident, thought to be a small family pet, has already been put down, and is ready to eaten for lunch .
Heavens , we must not offend the non Christians then ?..What is this world coming too and being Mr PC . Being multi-cult does not mean we cannot have a few home (EU) myths and symbols …Can anyone imagine the Arab world bowing to this type of EU crap ?
Intro the Borders again ..time we left the EU …oh Sowvakia cannot , it has all its corrupt building and other projects all EU funded …
Great, we have to take away important symbols on 2€ coin which are part of our history. There will be no christmas tree in Brusel for this year and mostfavourite name in UK is Mohammed for last two years. What a wonderfull future…