Saints Cyril and Methodius were 9th-century Greek brothers born in Thessalonica in Macedonia, in the Byzantine Empire. They dedicated their lives to the evangelism of the Russian peoples, and they are known as the Apostles to the Slavs. Saint Cyril is commemorated on May 11, and Saint Methodius on April 6.

In the icon, Cyril is depicted as a schemamonk, and he holds a scroll with the Cyrillic alphabet, which he developed himself and the Slavic nations still use today. Mathodius is clothed as a bishop, as he served as Archbishop of Moravia.