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"Many nations of the world proudly commemorate the moments of their history when God touched them and they let themselves be formed by the Gospel of Jesus. That’s why we are getting ready for celebration of the 1150th anniversary of the event that gave a new direction to the history of our Slovak nation and other Slavic nations". With these words, the bishops of Slovakia turn to the faithful in a pastoral letter on the occasion of the beginning of the Year of Ss. Cyril and Methodius, read on the first Sunday of July in all Catholic parishes of the country. Spiritual genealogy. These "heroes of spirit", affirm the prelates, "gave our predecessors a chance to be touched by the reviving God’s Word in their native language" and this way "the sacred texts of the Holy Scripture could become a constant impulse for deepening of their faith and formation of their knowledge and conscience". Constant presence of these saints in the memory of nations confirms that the event was more that just a matter of the past: "It was a God’s touch which lasts until today and upholds us every day of our existence", reads the pastoral letter, affirming that Ss. Cyril and Methodius were undoubtedly "significant mediators" of this touch in a "spiritual genealogy" of Slovak nation. Its healing power, calling to new life, has an immense actuality and urgency also for a contemporary man. The prelates emphasize the need to open up to this "renewed spiritual life" that can wither up so easily. To renewed moral and family life which – despite constant discreditation of essential values – represents the base of human dignity. "In one word, we need the Gospel and its comprehensible preaching", write the bishops.Example of new evangelization. The letter points to Ss. Cyril and Methodius’s "profound faith, personal sacrifice, education and creativity of communication" that represent "a shining example of new evangelization" and can become "a guide on the way from desert to life" also for today’s people, especially within the forthcoming Year of faith and only months before the beginning of the Synod on New Evangelization summoned up by the Holy Father for October this year. When St. Methodius was dying, he designated St. Gorazd as his successor, saying: "This is a free man of your country, well educated by Latin books, a man of sound faith". Today, we symbolically stand by St. Methodius’s death bed and he’s pointing to us with questions: "Are you really free men and women of your country, free to announce eternal God’s truths according to the will of Jesus Christ? Are you well educated by books, including the Gospel of Christ? Do you know your faith and have courage to announce it to others?" The first manifestation for our gratefulness to Ss. Cyril and Methodius should be made by showing the interest to get to know their life and mission, to protect "the most precious gift that they had given to our predecessors", write the bishops, encouraging the faithful to participate at various cultural, religious and scientific events to celebrate their memory and merits.Invitation to reflect. Whole Slovakia offered prayers to almighty God to ask him for spiritual strength during the Eucharistic celebration on the occasion of the beginning of the Year of Ss. Cyril and Methodius on 5 July in ancient Nitra, the oldest diocese in Eastern Europe (880), emblematic as a withess to the sucessful liturgical experiment of inculturation of the Gospel among the Slavic peoples by Ss. Cyril and Methodius 1150 years ago. The Bishops’ conference invites all faithful to get acquainted with the beginning of our "national and cultural history", and to pray for "faith, hope, love and spiritual strength, to be able to fulfill our human and Christian mission", the way the Thessalonian brothers did in the 9th century.