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 intelligentsia.

Created under the initiative of Mykola Kostomarov (1818-1885), an 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 Cyrillic alphabet used by multiple Slavic languages.

According to Mykhailo Hrushevsky (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), and Dmytro Pylchykov (1821-1893).

Taras Shevchenko (1814-1861) was arrested because his poems had been found by the secret police among the documents of the participants and he was the champion of the independence of Ukraine, not being the part of federation.