Heathen prince Boris I of Bulgaria (r. 852–889) commissioned St Methodius to paint an impressive scene for his palace walls.
St Methodius (815-885) and his younger brother St Cyril (826-869) were Slavs from Thessalonica who brought the Christian gospel to Eastern Europe. In 864, Boris I, King of the Bulgarians (r. 852-889), abandoned his heathen beliefs and was baptised, and according to 11th-century Byzantine chronicler John Skylitzes, Methodius was behind Boris’s change of heart.