Home > Landscape > They were the creators of the first Slavic writing. The creation of the Slavic alphabet is the history of the emergence of writing in Rus'. About the long wanderings of Methodius

They were the creators of the first Slavic writing. The creation of the Slavic alphabet is the history of the emergence of writing in Rus'. About the long wanderings of Methodius

Creators Slavic alphabet Methodius and Cyril.

At the end of 862, the prince of Great Moravia (the state of the Western Slavs) Rostislav turned to the Byzantine Emperor Michael with a request to send preachers to Moravia who could spread Christianity in the Slavic language (sermons in those parts were read in Latin, unfamiliar and incomprehensible to the people).

Emperor Michael sent the Greeks to Moravia - the scientist Constantine the Philosopher (he received the name Cyril Constantine when he became a monk in 869, and with this name he went down in history) and his older brother Methodius.
The choice was not random. Brothers Constantine and Methodius were born in Soluni (Thessaloniki in Greek) in the family of a military leader, received good education. Cyril studied in Constantinople at the court of the Byzantine Emperor Michael III, knew Greek, Slavic, Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic well, taught philosophy, for which he received the nickname Philosopher. Methodius was in military service, then for several years he ruled one of the regions inhabited by the Slavs; subsequently retired to a monastery.

In 860, the brothers had already made a trip to the Khazars for missionary and diplomatic purposes.
To be able to preach Christianity in the Slavic language, it was necessary to translate the Holy Scriptures into the Slavic language; however, there was no alphabet capable of conveying Slavic speech at that moment.

Constantine set about creating the Slavic alphabet. Methodius, who also knew the Slavic language well, helped him in his work, since a lot of Slavs lived in Thessaloniki (the city was considered half-Greek, half-Slavic). In 863, the Slavic alphabet was created (the Slavic alphabet existed in two versions: Glagolitic - from verb - “speech” and Cyrillic; scientists still have no consensus, which of these two options was created by Kirill). With the help of Methodius, a number of liturgical books were translated from Greek into Slavic. The Slavs were given the opportunity to read and write in their own language. The Slavs not only acquired their own Slavic alphabet, but also the first Slavic literary language was born, many words of which still live in Bulgarian, Russian, Ukrainian and other Slavic languages.

The secret of the Slavic alphabet
The Old Church Slavonic alphabet got its name from the combination of two letters “az” and “buki”, which designated the first letters of the alphabet A and B. The most interesting fact is that the ancient Slavic alphabet was graffiti, i.e. messages scrawled on the walls. The first Old Slavonic letters appeared on the walls of churches in Pereslavl around the 9th century. And by the 11th century, ancient graffiti appeared in the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv. It was on these walls that the letters of the alphabet were indicated in several styles, and below was the interpretation of the letter-word.
In 1574, a most important event occurred that contributed to a new round of development of Slavic writing. The first printed “ABC” appeared in Lvov, which was seen by Ivan Fedorov, the man who printed it.

ABC structure
If you look back, you will see that Cyril and Methodius created not just an alphabet, they revealed to the Slavic people new way, leading to the perfection of man on earth and the triumph of a new faith. If you look at historical events, the difference between which is only 125 years, you will understand that in fact the path to establishing Christianity on our land is directly related to the creation of the Slavic alphabet. After all, literally in one century, the Slavic people eradicated archaic cults and adopted a new faith. The connection between the creation of the Cyrillic alphabet and the adoption of Christianity today does not raise any doubts. The Cyrillic alphabet was created in 863, and already in 988, Prince Vladimir officially announced the introduction of Christianity and the overthrow of primitive cults.

Studying the Old Church Slavonic alphabet, many scientists come to the conclusion that in fact the first “ABC” is a secret writing that has a deep religious and philosophical meaning, and most importantly, that it is constructed in such a way that it represents a complex logical-mathematical organism. In addition, by comparing many finds, the researchers came to the conclusion that the first Slavic alphabet was created as a complete invention, and not as a creation that was created in parts by adding new letter forms. It is also interesting that most of the letters of the Old Church Slavonic alphabet are number letters. Moreover, if you look at the entire alphabet, you will see that it can be conditionally divided into two parts, which are fundamentally different from each other. In this case, we will conditionally call the first half of the alphabet the “higher” part, and the second “lower”. The highest part includes the letters from A to F, i.e. from “az” to “fert” and is a list of letter-words that carry a meaning understandable to a Slav. The lower part of the alphabet begins with the letter “sha” and ends with “izhitsa”. The letters of the lower part of the Old Church Slavonic alphabet do not have a numerical value, unlike the letters of the higher part, and carry a negative connotation.

In order to understand the secret writing of the Slavic alphabet, it is necessary not just to skim through it, but to read carefully into each letter-word. After all, each letter-word contains a semantic core that Konstantin put into it.

Literal truth, the highest part of the alphabet
Az is the initial letter of the Slavic alphabet, which denotes the pronoun Ya. However, its root meaning is the word “initially”, “begin” or “beginning”, although in everyday life the Slavs most often used Az in the context of a pronoun. Nevertheless, in some Old Slavonic letters one can find Az, which meant “one”, for example, “I will go to Vladimir”. Or “starting from scratch” meant “starting from the beginning.” Thus, the Slavs denoted with the beginning of the alphabet the entire philosophical meaning of existence, where without beginning there is no end, without darkness there is no light, and without good there is no evil. At the same time, the main emphasis in this is placed on the duality of the structure of the world. Actually, the alphabet itself is built on the principle of duality, where it is conventionally divided into two parts: higher and lower, positive and negative, the part located at the beginning and the part that is at the end. In addition, do not forget that Az has numeric value, which is expressed by the number 1. Among the ancient Slavs, the number 1 was the beginning of everything beautiful. Today, studying Slavic numerology, we can say that the Slavs, like other peoples, divided all numbers into even and odd. Moreover, odd numbers were the embodiment of everything positive, good and bright. Even numbers, in turn, represented darkness and evil. Moreover, the unit was considered the beginning of all beginnings and was highly revered by the Slavic tribes. From the point of view of erotic numerology, it is believed that 1 represents the phallic symbol from which procreation begins. This number has several synonyms: 1 is one, 1 is one, 1 is times.

Beeches(Beech) is the second letter-word in the alphabet. It has no numerical meaning, but has no less deep philosophical meaning than Az. Buki means “to be”, “will be” was most often used when using phrases in the future form. For example, “boudi” means “let it be,” and “boudous,” as you probably already guessed, means “future, upcoming.” In this word, our ancestors expressed the future as an inevitability, which could be either good and rosy or gloomy and terrible. It is still not known for certain why Constantine did not give a numerical value to Bukam, however, many scientists suggest that this is due to the duality of this letter. After all, by and large, it means the future, which every person imagines for himself in a rosy light, but on the other hand, this word also means the inevitability of punishment for committed low deeds.

Lead is an interesting letter of the Old Church Slavonic alphabet, which has a numerical value of 2. This letter has several meanings: to know, to know and to own. When Constantine put this meaning into the Vedi, he meant secret knowledge, knowledge as the highest divine gift. If you put Az, Buki and Vedi into one phrase, you will get a phrase that means “I will know!”. Thus, Constantine showed that a person who discovered the alphabet he created would subsequently possess some kind of knowledge. The numerical load of this letter is no less important. After all, 2 - deuce, two, pair were not just numbers among the Slavs, they took an active part in magical rituals and in general were symbols of the duality of everything earthly and heavenly. The number 2 among the Slavs meant the unity of heaven and earth, the duality of human nature, good and evil, etc. In a word, the deuce was a symbol of the confrontation between two sides, heavenly and earthly balance. Moreover, it is worth noting that the Slavs considered two to be a devilish number and attributed a lot of negative properties to it, believing that it was the two that opened the numerical series of negative numbers that bring death to a person. That is why the birth of twins in Old Slavonic families was considered a bad sign, which brought illness and misfortune to the family. In addition, the Slavs considered it a bad sign for two people to rock a cradle, for two people to dry themselves with the same towel, and generally to perform any action together. Despite such a negative attitude towards the number 2, the Slavs recognized its magical power. For example, many exorcism rituals were performed using two identical objects or with the participation of twins.

Having examined the highest part of the alphabet, we can state the fact that it is Constantine’s secret message to his descendants. “Where is this visible?” - you ask. Now try to read all the letters, knowing their true meaning. If you take several subsequent letters, then edifying phrases are formed:
Vedi + Verb means “know the teaching”;
Rtsy + Word + Firmly can be understood as the phrase “speak the true word”;
Firmly + Oak can be interpreted as “strengthen the law.”
If you look closely at other letters, you can also find the secret writing that Constantine the Philosopher left behind.
Have you ever wondered why the letters in the alphabet are in this particular order and not in any other? The order of the “highest” part of the Cyrillic letters can be considered from two positions.
Firstly, the fact that each letter-word forms a meaningful phrase with the next one may mean a non-random pattern that was invented to quickly memorize the alphabet.
Secondly, the Old Church Slavonic alphabet can be considered from the point of view of numbering. That is, each letter also represents a number. Moreover, all letter-numbers are arranged in ascending order. So, the letter A - “az” corresponds to one, B - 2, D - 3, D - 4, E - 5, and so on up to ten. Tens begin with the letter K, which are listed here similarly to units: 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 70, 80 and 100.

In addition, many scientists have noticed that the outlines of the letters of the “higher” part of the alphabet are graphically simple, beautiful and convenient. They were perfect for cursive writing, and a person did not experience any difficulties in depicting these letters. And many philosophers see in the numerical arrangement of the alphabet the principle of the triad and spiritual harmony that a person achieves, striving for good, light and truth.
Having studied the alphabet from the very beginning, we can come to the conclusion that Constantine left his descendants the main value - a creation that encourages us to strive for self-improvement, learning, wisdom and love, remembering the dark paths of anger, envy and enmity.

Now, revealing the alphabet, you will know that the creation that was born thanks to the efforts of Constantine the Philosopher is not just a list of letters with which words begin that express our fear and indignation, love and tenderness, respect and delight.

The year 863 is considered the year of birth of the Slavic alphabet.

The creators of the Slavic alphabet were the brothers Cyril and Methodius.

The choice was not random. Brothers Constantine and Methodius were born in Thessaloniki (Thessaloniki in Greek) into the family of a military leader and received a good education. Cyril studied in Constantinople at the court of the Byzantine Emperor Michael III, knew Greek, Slavic, Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic well, taught philosophy, for which he received the nickname Philosopher. Methodius was in military service, then for several years he ruled one of the regions inhabited by the Slavs; subsequently retired to a monastery.

In 860, the brothers had already made a trip to the Khazars for missionary and diplomatic purposes.

To be able to preach Christianity in the Slavic language, it was necessary to translate the Holy Scriptures into the Slavic language; however, there was no alphabet capable of conveying Slavic speech at that moment.

Constantine set about creating the Slavic alphabet. Methodius, who also knew the Slavic language well, helped him in his work, since a lot of Slavs lived in Thessaloniki (the city was considered half-Greek, half-Slavic). In 863, the Slavic alphabet was created (the Slavic alphabet existed in two versions: the Glagolitic alphabet - from verb - “speech” and the Cyrillic alphabet; until now, scientists do not have a consensus which of these two options was created by Cyril). With the help of Methodius, a number of liturgical books were translated from Greek into Slavic. The Slavs were given the opportunity to read and write in their own language. The Slavs not only acquired their own Slavic alphabet, but also the first Slavic literary language was born, many words of which still live in Bulgarian, Russian, Ukrainian and other Slavic languages.

After the death of the brothers, their activities were continued by their students, expelled from Moravia in 886,

in South Slavic countries. (In the West, the Slavic alphabet and Slavic literacy did not survive; Western Slavs - Poles, Czechs ... - still use the Latin alphabet). Slavic literacy was firmly established in Bulgaria, from where it spread to the countries of southern and Eastern Slavs(IX century). Writing came to Rus' in the 10th century (988 – the baptism of Rus').

The creation of the Slavic alphabet was and still is of great importance for the development of Slavic writing, Slavic peoples, and Slavic culture.

The Bulgarian Church established the day of remembrance of Cyril and Methodius - May 11 according to the old style (May 24 according to the new style). The Order of Cyril and Methodius was also established in Bulgaria.

May 24 in many Slavic countries, including Russia, is a holiday of Slavic writing and culture.

Equal to the Apostles CYRILL (†869) and MEFODIUS (†885), Slovenian teachers

Kirill(in the world Constantine, nicknamed the Philosopher, 827-869, Rome) and Methodius(in the world Michael; 815-885, Velehrad, Moravia) - brothers from the Greek city of Thessaloniki (Thessaloniki) in Macedonia, creators of the Slavic alphabet, creators of the Church Slavonic language and preachers of Christianity.

Origin

Cyril and Methodius came from the Byzantine city of Thessaloniki (Thessaloniki, Slavic "Thessaloniki"). Their father, named Leo, held a high military position under the governor of Thessalonica. There were seven sons in the family, with Mikhail (Methodius) being the eldest and Konstantin (Kirill) the youngest of them.

Thessalonica, where the brothers were born, was a bilingual city. In addition to the Greek language, they sounded the Slavic Thessalonica dialect, which was spoken by the tribes surrounding Thessalonica: Draguvites, Sagudites, Vayunits, Smolyans and which, according to the research of modern linguists, formed the basis of the translation language of Cyril and Methodius, and with them the entire Church Slavonic language .

Before becoming a monk, Methodius made a good military-administrative career, culminating in the post of strategist (commander-in-chief of the army) Slavinia, a Byzantine province located in Macedonia.

Konstantin was a very educated person for his time. Even before the trip to Moravia (historical region of the Czech Republic) he compiled the Slavic alphabet and began to translate the Gospel into the Slavic language.

Monasticism

Constantine studied philosophy, dialectics, geometry, arithmetic, rhetoric, astronomy, and many languages with the best teachers in Constantinople. At the end of his studies, refusing to enter into a very advantageous marriage with the logothete’s goddaughter (Head of the Gospodar's Chancellery and Keeper of the State Seal), Constantine accepted the rank of priest and entered the service of Chartophylax (literally “library keeper”; in reality this was equal to the modern title of academician) at the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. But, neglecting the benefits of his position, he retired to one of the monasteries on the Black Sea coast. For some time he lived in solitude. Then he was almost forcibly returned to Constantinople and assigned to teach philosophy at the same Manaurian University, where he himself had recently studied (since then the nickname has stuck with him Konstantin the Philosopher). At one of the theological debates, Cyril won a brilliant victory over the highly experienced leader of the iconoclasts, the former Patriarch Annius, which brought him wide fame in Constantinople.

Around 850, Emperor Michael III and Patriarch Photius sent Constantine to Bulgaria, where he converted many Bulgarians to Christianity on the Bregalnitsa River.

On next year Cyril, together with George, Metropolitan of Nicomedia, goes to the court of the Emir of Militia to introduce him to the basics of Christianity.

In 856, the logothete Theoktistus, who was the patron of Constantine, was killed. Constantine, together with his disciples Clement, Naum and Angelarius, came to the monastery, where his brother Methodius was abbot. In this monastery, a group of like-minded people formed around Constantine and Methodius and the idea of creating a Slavic alphabet was born.

Khazar mission

In 860, Constantine was sent for missionary purposes to the court of the Khazar Khagan. According to the life, the embassy was sent in response to a request from the Kagan, who promised, if he was convinced, to convert to Christianity.

Khazar Khaganate (Khazaria) - a medieval state created by a nomadic Turkic people- Khazars. He controlled the territory of the Ciscaucasia, the Lower and Middle Volga regions, modern northwestern Kazakhstan, the Azov region, the eastern part of Crimea, as well as the steppes and forest-steppes of Eastern Europe up to the Dnieper. The center of the state was initially located in the coastal part of modern Dagestan, and later moved to the lower reaches of the Volga. Part of the ruling elite converted to Judaism. Part of the East Slavic tribal unions were politically dependent on the Khazars. The fall of the Kaganate is associated with the military campaigns of the Old Russian state.

Khazar Khaganate

During his stay in Korsun, Konstantin, in preparation for polemics, studied the Hebrew language, Samaritan script, and along with them some kind of “Russian” script and language (it is believed that there is a typo in the life and instead of “Russian” letters one should read “Sursky”, that is, Syrian - Aramaic; in any case, this is not the Old Russian language, which in those days was not distinguished from Common Slavic). Constantine's dispute with a Muslim imam and a Jewish rabbi, which took place in the presence of the Kagan, ended in the victory of Constantine, but the Kagan did not change his faith.

Bulgarian mission

The sister of the Bulgarian Khan Boris was held hostage in Constantinople. She was baptized with the name Theodora and was raised in the spirit of the Holy Faith. Around 860, she returned to Bulgaria and began to persuade her brother to accept Christianity. Boris was baptized, taking the name Michael, in honor of the son of the Byzantine Empress Theodora - Emperor Michael III, during whose reign the Bulgarians converted to Christianity. Constantine and Methodius were in this country and with their preaching they greatly contributed to the establishment of Christianity in it. From Bulgaria, the Christian faith spread to its neighboring Serbia.

In 863, with the help of his brother Saint Methodius and the disciples Gorazd, Clement, Sava, Naum and Angelar, Constantine compiled the Slavic alphabet and translated the main liturgical books from Greek into Slavic: the Gospel, the Psalter and selected services. Some chroniclers report that the first words written in the Slavic language were the words of the Apostle Evangelist John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was to God, and God was the Word”.

Moravian Mission

In 862, ambassadors from the Moravian prince Rostislav came to Constantinople with the following request: “Our people profess the Christian faith, but we have no teachers who could explain the faith to us in our native language. Send us such teachers.” The Byzantine Emperor Michael III and the patriarch were delighted and, calling the Thessalonica brothers, invited them to go to the Moravians.

Great Moravia - is considered the first Slavic state, which existed in 822-907 on the Middle Danube. The capital of the state was the city of Velegrad. The first Slavic writing was created here and the Church Slavonic language arose. During the period of greatest power, it included the territories of modern Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, as well as Lesser Poland, part of Ukraine and historical region Silesia. Now part of the Czech Republic.

Constantine and Methodius stayed in Moravia for more than 3 years and continued to translate church books from Greek into Slavic. The brothers taught the Slavs to read, write and conduct worship in the Slavic language. This aroused the anger of the German bishops, who performed divine services in Latin in the Moravian churches, and they rebelled against the holy brothers and filed a complaint to Rome. Among some theologians of the Western Church, a point of view has developed that praise to God can only be given in the three languages in which the inscription on the Cross of the Lord was made: Hebrew, Greek and Latin. Therefore, Constantine and Methodius, who preached Christianity in Moravia, were perceived as heretics and summoned to court to resolve this issue in Rome before Pope Nicholas I.

Taking with them the relics of St. Clement, the Pope of Rome, found by Constantine on his Chersonesos journey, the brothers set off for Rome. On the way to Rome they visited another Slavic country - Pannonia (territory of modern western Hungary, eastern Austria and parts of Slovenia and Serbia), where the Blaten Principality was located. Here, in Blatnograd, on behalf of Prince Kotsel, the brothers taught the Slavs books and worship in the Slavic language.

When they arrived in Rome, Nicholas I was no longer alive; his successor Adrian II, having learned that they were carrying with them the relics of St. Clement, met them solemnly outside the city. After this, Pope Adrian II approved worship in the Slavic language, and ordered the books translated by the brothers to be placed in Roman churches. At the behest of Hadrian II, Formosus (Bishop of Porto) and Gauderic (Bishop of Velletri) ordained three brothers who had traveled with Constantine and Methodius as priests, and the latter was ordained to the episcopate.

Last years of life

In Rome, Constantine fell seriously ill, at the beginning of February 869 he finally fell ill, accepted the schema and new monastic name Kirill . 50 days after accepting the schema, February 14, 869, Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril died at the age of 42 . He was buried in Rome in the Church of St. Clement.

The chapel (side altar) of the Basilica of St. Clement is dedicated to the memory of Sts. Equal-to-the-Apostles brothers Cyril and Methodius

Before his death, he told Methodius: “You and I are like two oxen; One fell from a heavy burden, the other must continue on his way.”. The Pope ordained him to the rank of Archbishop of Moravia and Pannonia. Methodius and his disciples, who were ordained priests, returned to Pannonia, and later to Moravia.

By this time the situation in Moravia had changed dramatically. After Rostislav was defeated by Louis the German and died in a Bavarian prison in 870, his nephew Svatopluk became the Moravian prince, who submitted to German political influence. The activities of Methodius and his disciples took place in very difficult conditions. The Latin-German clergy in every way prevented the spread of the Slavic language as the language of the church. They even managed to imprison Methodius for 3 years in one of the Swabian monasteries - Reichenau. Having learned about this, Pope John VIII released him in 874 and restored him to the rights of archbishop. Coming out of captivity, Methodius continued his evangelical preaching among the Slavs and worship in the Slavic language (despite the prohibition), baptized the Czech prince Borivoj and his wife Lyudmila, as well as one of the Polish princes.

In 879, the German bishops organized a new trial against Methodius. However, Methodius brilliantly justified himself in Rome and even received a papal bull allowing worship in the Slavic language.

In 881, Methodius, at the invitation of Emperor Basil I of Macedon, came to Constantinople. There he spent 3 years, after which he and his students returned to Moravia.

Methodius of Moravia

In the last years of his life, Saint Methodius, with the help of two disciple-priests, translated the entire Old Testament (except for the Maccabean books) and patristic books into Slavic.

In 885, Methodius became seriously ill. Before his death, he appointed his student Gorazd as his successor. 6/19 April 885 , on Palm Sunday, he asked to be taken to church, where he read a sermon on the same day passed away(at about 60 years of age). The funeral service for Methodius took place in three languages - Slavic, Greek and Latin. He was buried in the cathedral church of Velehrad, the capital of Moravia.

After death

After the death of Methodius, his opponents managed to achieve the prohibition of Slavic writing in Moravia. Many students were executed, some moved to Bulgaria and Croatia.

In Bulgaria and subsequently in Croatia, Serbia and Old Russian state The Slavic alphabet created by the brothers became widespread. In some regions of Croatia, until the mid-20th century, the liturgy of the Latin rite was served in the Slavic language. Since liturgical books were written in the Glagolitic alphabet, this ritual was called Glagolitic.

Pope Adrian II wrote to Prince Rostislav in Prague that if anyone begins to treat books written in Slavic with contempt, then let him be excommunicated and brought before the court of the Church, for such people are “wolves.” And Pope John VIII in 880 wrote to Prince Svyatopolk, ordering that sermons be delivered in Slavic.

Heritage

Cyril and Methodius developed a special alphabet for writing texts in the Slavic language - Glagolitic .

Glagolitic- one of the first Slavic alphabet. It is assumed that it was the Glagolitic alphabet that was created by the Bulgarian enlightener St. Konstantin (Kirill) Philosopher for recording church texts in Old Church Slavonic. In Old Church Slavonic it is called “Kirillovitsa”. A number of facts indicate that the Glagolitic alphabet was created before the Cyrillic alphabet, which in turn was created on the basis of the Glagolitic alphabet and the Greek alphabet. The Roman Catholic Church, in its fight against services in the Slavic language among the Croats, called the Glagolitic alphabet "Gothic scripts."

There are usually two types of Glagolitic alphabet: the older “round” one, also known as Bulgarian, and the later “angular” one, Croatian (so called because until the mid-20th century it was used by Croatian Catholics when performing services according to the Glagolitic rite). The latter's alphabet was gradually reduced from 41 to 30 characters.

In Ancient Rus', the Glagolitic alphabet was practically not used; there are only isolated inclusions of Glagolitic letters in texts written in Cyrillic. The Glagolitic alphabet was the alphabet for transmitting primarily church texts; the surviving ancient Russian monuments of everyday writing before the baptism of Rus' use the Cyrillic alphabet. The Glagolitic alphabet is also used as a cryptographic script.

Cyrillic- Old Church Slavonic alphabet (Old Bulgarian alphabet): the same as the Cyrillic (or Cyrillic) alphabet: one of two (along with Glagolitic) ancient alphabets for the Old Church Slavonic language.

The Cyrillic alphabet goes back to the Greek statutory script, with the addition of letters to convey sounds that were absent in Greek. Since its creation, the Cyrillic alphabet has adapted to linguistic changes, and as a result of numerous reforms in each language, it has acquired its own differences. Different versions of the Cyrillic alphabet are used in Eastern Europe and Central and Northern Asia. As an official letter, it was first adopted in the First Bulgarian Kingdom.

In Church Slavonic it is called "Klimentovitsa", in honor of Kliment Ohridski.

Cyrillic-based alphabets include the following alphabets Slavic languages:

Belarusian language (Belarusian alphabet)
Bulgarian language (Bulgarian alphabet)
Macedonian language (Macedonian alphabet)
Rusyn language/dialect (Rusyn alphabet)
Russian language (Russian alphabet)
Serbian language (Vukovica)
Ukrainian language(Ukrainian alphabet)
Montenegrin language (Montenegrin alphabet)

Currently, the point of view of V. A. Istrin prevails among historians, but is not generally recognized, according to which the Cyrillic alphabet was created on the basis of the Greek alphabet by the disciple of the holy brothers Clement of Ohrid (which is also mentioned in his Life). Using the created alphabet, the brothers translated the Holy Scriptures and a number of liturgical books from Greek. It should be noted that even if the Cyrillic letterforms were developed by Clement, he relied on the work of isolating the sounds of the Slavic language done by Cyril and Methodius, and it is this work that is the main part of any work on creating a new written language. Modern scientists note the high level of this work, which gave designations for almost all scientifically identified Slavic sounds, which we apparently owe to the outstanding linguistic abilities of Konstantin-Kirill noted in the sources.

Sometimes it is claimed that Slavic writing existed before Cyril and Methodius. However, it was a non-Slavic language. It should be remembered, however, that during the time of Cyril and Methodius and much later, the Slavs easily understood each other and believed that they spoke a single Slavic language, which is also agreed by some modern linguists who believe that the unity of the Proto-Slavic language can be spoken of until the 12th century. century. Metropolitan Macarius (Bulgakov) also points out that Constantine was the creator of Slavic letters and there were no Slavic letters before him.

Reverence

Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius were canonized in ancient times. In the Russian Orthodox Church, the memory of the Equal-to-the-Apostles enlighteners of the Slavs has been honored since the 11th century. The oldest services to saints that have survived to our time date back to the 13th century.

In 1863, the Russian Church established a solemn celebration of the memory of the holy high priests, Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius.

The holiday in honor of Cyril and Methodius is a public holiday in Russia (since 1991), Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the Republic of Macedonia. In Russia, Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia the holiday is celebrated May 24; in Russia and Bulgaria it is called the Day of Slavic Culture and Literature, in Macedonia - the Day of Saints Cyril and Methodius. In the Czech Republic and Slovakia the holiday is celebrated on July 5th.

Troparion, tone 4
As the Apostle of uniformity and the Slovenian countries, teacher, Cyril and Methodius of God-wisdom, pray to the Lord of all, establish all Slovenian languages in Orthodoxy and unanimity, pacify the world and save our souls.

Kontakion, tone 3
We honor the sacred duo of our enlighteners, who, by translating the Divine Scriptures, have poured out the source of knowledge of God for us, from which even to this day we endlessly draw joy upon you, Cyril and Methodius, who stand before the Throne of the Most High and warmly pray for our souls.

Greatness
We magnify you, Saints Cyril and Methodius, who enlightened the entire Slovenian country with your teachings and brought them to Christ.

Cyril and Methodius are Slavic first teachers, great preachers of Christianity, canonized not only by the Orthodox, but also by the Catholic Church.

The life and work of Cyril (Constantine) and Methodius is reproduced in sufficient detail on the basis of various documentary and chronicle sources.

Cyril (826-869) received this name when he was tonsured into the schema 50 days before his death in Rome; he lived his whole life with the name Constantine (Constantine the Philosopher). Methodius (814-885) - the monastic name of the saint, his secular name is unknown, presumably his name was Michael.

Cyril and Methodius are siblings. They were born in the city of Thessaloniki (Thessaloniki) in Macedonia (now a territory of Greece). Since childhood, they have mastered the Old Church Slavonic language - Old Bulgarian. From the words of Emperor Michael III, “Thessalonians” - everyone speaks purely Slavic.

Both brothers lived a mainly spiritual life, striving to embody their beliefs and ideas, attaching no importance to sensual joys, wealth, career, or fame. The brothers never had wives or children, they wandered all their lives, never creating a home or permanent shelter for themselves, and even died in a foreign land.

Both brothers went through life, actively changing it in accordance with their views and beliefs. But as traces of their deeds, only the fruitful changes they introduced into people’s life, and vague stories of lives, traditions, and legends remained.

The brothers were born into the family of Leo the Drungaria, a mid-ranking Byzantine military commander from the city of Thessalonica. There were seven sons in the family, with Methodius the eldest and Cyril the youngest.

According to one version, they came from a pious Slavic family who lived in the Byzantine city of Thessaloniki. From large number historical sources, mainly from the “Short Life of Clement of Ohrid”, it is known that Cyril and Methodius were Bulgarians. Since in the 9th century the First Bulgarian Kingdom was a multinational state, it is not entirely possible to determine exactly whether they were Slavs or Proto-Bulgarians or even had other roots. The Bulgarian kingdom consisted mainly of the ancient Bulgarians (Turks) and Slavs, who were already forming a new ethnos - the Slavic Bulgarians, who retained the old name of the ethnos, but were already a Slavic-Turkic people. According to another version, Cyril and Methodius were of Greek origin. There is an alternative theory of the ethnic origin of Cyril and Methodius, according to which they were not Slavs, but Bulgars (proto-Bulgarians). This theory also refers to the assumptions of historians that the brothers created the so-called. Glagolitic - an alphabet more similar to ancient Bulgarian than to Slavic.

Little is known about the first years of Methodius' life. There was probably nothing outstanding in the life of Methodius until it crossed with the life of his younger brother. Methodius entered military service early and was soon appointed governor of one of the Slavic-Bulgarian regions subject to Byzantium. Methodius spent about ten years in this position. Then he left the military-administrative service, which was alien to him, and retired to a monastery. In the 860s, having renounced the rank of archbishop, he became abbot of the Polychron monastery on the Asian shore of the Sea of Marmara, near the city of Cyzicus. Constantine also moved here, to a quiet shelter on Mount Olympus, for several years, in the interval between his travels to the Saracens and Khazars. The elder brother, Methodius, walked through life on a straight, clear path. Only twice did he change its direction: the first time - by going to the monastery, and the second - by returning again under the influence of his younger brother to active work and struggle.

Kirill was the youngest of the brothers; from infancy he showed extraordinary mental abilities, but was not distinguished by health. The eldest, Mikhail, even in childhood games defended the youngest, weak with a disproportionately large head, with small and short arms. He will continue to protect his younger brother until his death - both in Moravia, and at the Council in Venice, and before the papal throne. And then he will continue his brotherly work in written wisdom. And, holding hands, they will go down in the history of world culture.

Kirill was educated in Constantinople at the Magnavra School, the best educational institution Byzantium. Secretary of State Teoktist himself took care of Cyril’s education. Before reaching the age of 15, Kirill had already read the works of the most profound father of the church, Gregory the Theologian. The capable boy was taken to the court of Emperor Michael III, as a fellow student of his son. Under the guidance of the best mentors - including Photius, the future famous Patriarch of Constantinople - Cyril studied ancient literature, rhetoric, grammar, dialectics, astronomy, music and other “Hellenic arts”. The friendship between Cyril and Photius largely predetermined the future fate of Cyril. In 850, Cyril became a professor at the Magnavra school. Having abandoned a profitable marriage and a brilliant career, Kirill accepted the priesthood, and after secretly entering a monastery, he began teaching philosophy (hence the nickname Konstantin - “Philosopher”). The closeness with Photius affected Cyril’s struggle with the iconoclasts. He wins a brilliant victory over the experienced and ardent leader of the iconoclasts, which undoubtedly gives Constantine wide fame. The wisdom and strength of faith of the still very young Constantine were so great that he managed to defeat the leader of the iconoclast heretics, Annius, in a debate. After this victory, Constantine was sent by the emperor to debate about the Holy Trinity with the Saracens (Muslims) and also won. Having returned, Saint Constantine retired to his brother Saint Methodius on Olympus, spending time in unceasing prayer and reading the works of the holy fathers.

The “Life” of the saint testifies that he knew Hebrew, Slavic, Greek, Latin and Arabic well. Refusing a profitable marriage, as well as an administrative career offered by the emperor, Kirill became the patriarchal librarian at the Hagia Sophia. Soon he secretly retired to a monastery for six months, and upon his return he taught philosophy (external - Hellenic and internal - Christian) at the court school - the highest educational institution of Byzantium. Then he received the nickname “Philosopher”, which remained with him forever. It was not for nothing that Constantine was nicknamed the Philosopher. Every now and then he would escape from noisy Byzantium somewhere into solitude. I read and thought for a long time. And then, having accumulated another supply of energy and thoughts, he generously squandered it in travel, disputes, disputes, in scientific and literary creativity. Cyril's education was highly valued in the highest circles of Constantinople, and he was often involved in various diplomatic missions.

Cyril and Methodius had many students who became their true followers. Among them I would especially like to mention Gorazd Ohrid and Saint Naum.

Gorazd Ohridski - a disciple of Methodius, the first Slavic archbishop - he was the archbishop of Mikulčica, the capital of Great Moravia. Revered by the Orthodox Church in the ranks of saints, commemorated on July 27 (according to the Julian calendar) in the Cathedral of Bulgarian Enlighteners. In 885-886, under Prince Svatopluk I, a crisis arose in the Moravian Church; Archbishop Gorazd entered into a dispute with the Latin clergy, headed by Wichtig, Bishop of Nitrava, against whom St. Methodius imposed an anathema. Wichtig, with the approval of the pope, expelled Gorazd from the diocese and 200 priests with him, and he himself took his place as archbishop. At the same time, Kliment of Ohrid fled to Bulgaria. They took with them the works created in Moravia and settled in Bulgaria. Those who did not obey - according to the testimony of the Life of St. Clement of Ohrid - were sold into slavery to Jewish merchants, from which they were redeemed by the ambassadors of Emperor Basil I in Venice and transported to Bulgaria. In Bulgaria, students created world-famous literary schools in Pliska, Ohrid and Preslavl, from where their works began to travel throughout Rus'.

Naum is a Bulgarian saint, especially revered in modern Macedonia and Bulgaria. Saint Naum, together with Cyril and Methodius, as well as with his ascetic Kliment of Ohrid, is one of the founders of Bulgarian religious literature. Bulgarian Orthodox Church includes Saint Naum among the Seven. In 886-893 he lived in Preslav, becoming the organizer of a local literary school. Afterwards he created a school in Ohrid. In 905 he founded a monastery on the shores of Lake Ohrid, today named after him. His relics are also kept there.

Mount St. Naum on the island of Smolensk (Livingston) is also named after him.

In 858, Constantine, at the initiative of Photius, became the head of the mission to the Khazars. During the mission, Constantine replenishes his knowledge of the Hebrew language, which was used by the educated elite of the Khazars after they adopted Judaism. On the way, during a stop in Chersonese (Korsun), Constantine discovered the remains of Clement, Pope of Rome (1st-2nd centuries), who, as they thought then, died here in exile, and took part of them to Byzantium. The journey deep into Khazaria was filled with theological disputes with the Mohammedans and Jews. Constantine subsequently outlined the entire course of the dispute in Greek for reporting to the patriarch; Later, this report, according to legend, was translated by Methodius into the Slavic language, but, unfortunately, this work has not reached us. At the end of 862, the prince of Great Moravia (the state of the Western Slavs) Rostislav turned to the Byzantine Emperor Michael with a request to send preachers to Moravia who could spread Christianity in the Slavic language (sermons in those parts were read in Latin, unfamiliar and incomprehensible to the people). The emperor called Saint Constantine and told him: “You need to go there, because no one will do this better than you.” Saint Constantine, with fasting and prayer, began a new feat. Constantine goes to Bulgaria, converts many Bulgarians to Christianity; according to some scientists, during this trip he begins his work on the creation of the Slavic alphabet. Constantine and Methodius arrived in Great Moravia speaking the southern Slavic dialect of Soluni (now Thessalonica), i.e. the center of that part of Macedonia, which from time immemorial and up to our time belonged to Northern Greece. In Moravia, the brothers taught literacy and involved in translation activities, and not just copying books, people who undoubtedly spoke some kind of northwestern Slavic dialects. This is directly evidenced by lexical, word-formation, phonetic and other linguistic discrepancies in the oldest Slavic books that have come down to us (in the Gospel, Apostle, Psalter, Menaion of the 10th-11th centuries). Indirect evidence is the later practice of Grand Duke Vladimir I Svyatoslavich, described in the Old Russian Chronicle, when he introduced Christianity in Rus' as the state religion in 988. It was the children of his “deliberate children” (i.e., the children of his courtiers and the feudal elite) that Vladimir attracted for “book training,” sometimes even doing this by force, since the Chronicle reports that their mothers cried over them as if they were dead.

After completing the translation, the holy brothers were received with great honor in Moravia, and began to teach Divine services in the Slavic language. This aroused the anger of the German bishops, who performed divine services in Latin in the Moravian churches, and they rebelled against the holy brothers, arguing that divine services could only be performed in one of three languages: Hebrew, Greek or Latin. Saint Constantine answered them: “You recognize only three languages worthy of glorifying God in them. But David cries: Sing to the Lord, all the earth, praise the Lord, all nations, let every breath praise the Lord! And in the Holy Gospel it is said: Go and learn all languages...” The German bishops were disgraced, but became even more embittered and filed a complaint to Rome. The holy brothers were called to Rome to resolve this issue.

Constantine began to create the Slavic alphabet. With the help of his brother Saint Methodius and the disciples Gorazd, Clement, Savva, Naum and Angelar, he compiled the Slavic alphabet and translated into Slavic the books without which the Divine service could not be performed: the Gospel, the Apostle, the Psalter and selected services. All these events date back to 863.

The year 863 is considered the year of birth of the Slavic alphabet

In 863, the Slavic alphabet was created (the Slavic alphabet existed in two versions: the Glagolitic alphabet - from the verb - “speech” and the Cyrillic alphabet; until now, scientists do not have a consensus which of these two options was created by Cyril). With the help of Methodius, a number of liturgical books were translated from Greek into Slavic. The Slavs were given the opportunity to read and write in their own language. The Slavs not only acquired their own Slavic alphabet, but also the first Slavic literary language was born, many words of which still live in Bulgarian, Russian, Ukrainian and other Slavic languages.

Cyril and Methodius were the founders of the literary and written language of the Slavs - the Old Church Slavonic language, which in turn was a kind of catalyst for the creation of the Old Russian literary language, Old Bulgarian and the literary languages of other Slavic peoples.

The younger brother wrote, the older brother translated his works. The younger created the Slavic alphabet, Slavic writing and bookmaking; the older one practically developed what the younger one created. The younger was a talented scientist, philosopher, brilliant dialectician and subtle philologist; the eldest is a capable organizer and practical activist.

Constantine, in the quiet of his refuge, was probably busy completing the work related to his not new plans for the conversion of the pagan Slavs. He compiled a special alphabet for the Slavic language, the so-called Glagolitic alphabet, and began translating the Holy Scriptures into Old Bulgarian. The brothers decided to return to their homeland and, in order to consolidate their business in Moravia, take with them some of the students, the Moravians, for education in the hierarchical ranks. On the way to Venice, which lay through Bulgaria, the brothers stayed for several months in the Pannonian principality of Kotsela, where, despite its ecclesiastical and political dependence, they did the same as in Moravia. Upon his arrival in Venice, Constantine had a violent clash with the local clergy. Here, in Venice, unexpectedly for the local clergy, they are given a kind message from Pope Nicholas with an invitation to Rome. Having received the papal invitation, the brothers continued their journey with almost complete confidence in success. This was further facilitated by the sudden death of Nicholas and the accession to the papal throne of Adrian II.

Rome solemnly greeted the brothers and the shrine they brought, part of the remains of Pope Clement. Adrian II approved not only the Slavic translation of the Holy Scriptures, but also the Slavic worship, consecrating the Slavic books brought by the brothers, allowing the Slavs to perform services in a number of Roman churches, and ordaining Methodius and his three disciples as priests. The influential prelates of Rome also reacted favorably to the brothers and their cause.

All these successes did not come easily to the brothers, of course. A skillful dialectician and experienced diplomat, Constantine skillfully used for this purpose the struggle of Rome with Byzantium, and the vacillations of the Bulgarian prince Boris between the Eastern and Western churches, and the hatred of Pope Nicholas for Photius, and Adrian’s desire to strengthen his shaky authority by acquiring the remains of Clement. At the same time, Byzantium and Photius were still much closer to Constantine than Rome and the popes. But during the three and a half years of his life and struggle in Moravia, the main, only goal of Constantine was to strengthen the Slavic writing, Slavic bookmaking and culture that he created.

For almost two years, surrounded by sugary flattery and praise, combined with hidden intrigues of temporarily quiet opponents of Slavic worship, Constantine and Methodius lived in Rome. One of the reasons for their long delay was Constantine’s increasingly deteriorating health.

Despite weakness and illness, Constantine makes two new literary works: “The Finding of the Relics of St. Clement” and a poetic hymn in honor of the same Clement.

The long and difficult journey to Rome, the intense struggle with the irreconcilable enemies of Slavic writing, undermined Constantine’s already weak health. At the beginning of February 869, he went to bed, took the schema and the new monastic name Cyril, and died on February 14. Going to God, Saint Cyril commanded his brother Saint Methodius to continue their common cause - the enlightenment of the Slavic peoples with the light of the true faith.

Before his death, Kirill told his brother: “You and I, like two oxen, drove the same furrow. I am exhausted, but don’t think about leaving the work of teaching and retiring to your mountain again.” Methodius outlived his brother by 16 years. Enduring hardships and reproaches, he continued his great work - translating sacred books into Slavic, preaching Orthodox faith, baptism of the Slavic people. Saint Methodius begged the Pope to allow his brother’s body to be taken away for burial in his native land, but the Pope ordered the relics of Saint Cyril to be placed in the Church of Saint Clement, where miracles began to be performed from them.

After the death of St. Cyril, the pope, following the request of the Slavic prince Kocel, sent St. Methodius to Pannonia, ordaining him to the rank of Archbishop of Moravia and Pannonia, to the ancient throne of St. Apostle Andronikos. After the death of Cyril (869), Methodius continued his educational activities among the Slavs in Pannonia, where the Slavic books also included features of local dialects. Subsequently, the Old Church Slavonic literary language was developed by the students of Thessaloniki brothers in the area of Lake Ohrid, then in Bulgaria proper.

With the death of his talented brother, for the modest, but selfless and honest Methodius, a painful, truly way of the cross, strewn with seemingly insurmountable obstacles, dangers and failures. But lonely Methodius stubbornly, in no way inferior to his enemies, follows this path to the very end.

True, on the threshold of this path, Methodius relatively easily achieves new great success. But this success gives rise to an even greater storm of anger and resistance in the camp of the enemies of Slavic writing and culture.

In the middle of 869, Adrian II, at the request of the Slavic princes, sent Methodius to Rostislav, his nephew Svyatopolk and Kocel, and at the end of 869, upon Methodius’ return to Rome, he elevated him to the rank of Archbishop of Pannonia, allowing worship in the Slavic language. Inspired by this new success, Methodius returns to Kotsel. With the constant help of the prince, he, together with his students, began a large and vigorous work to spread Slavic worship, writing and books in the Principality of Blaten and in neighboring Moravia.

In 870, Methodius was sentenced to prison, having been accused of violating hierarchical rights in Pannonia.

He remained in prison, under the most difficult conditions, until 873, when new dad John VIII forced the Bavarian episcopate to release Methodius and return him to Moravia. Methodius is prohibited from Slavic worship.

He continues the work of the church structure of Moravia. Contrary to the pope's prohibition, Methodius continues to worship in the Slavic language in Moravia. Methodius this time also involved other Slavic peoples neighboring Moravia in the circle of his activities.

All this prompted the German clergy to take new actions against Methodius. German priests turn Svyatopolk against Methodius. Svyatopolk writes a denunciation to Rome against his archbishop, accusing him of heresy, violating the canons of the Catholic Church and disobeying the pope. Methodius manages not only to justify himself, but even to win over Pope John to his side. Pope John allows Methodius to worship in the Slavic language, but appoints Viching, one of Methodius’s most ardent opponents, as bishop. Viching began to spread rumors about the condemnation of Methodius by Pope, but was exposed.

Extremely tired and exhausted by all these endless intrigues, forgeries and denunciations, feeling that his health was constantly weakening, Methodius went to rest in Byzantium. Methodius spent almost three years in his homeland. In mid-884 He returns to Moravia. Returning to Moravia, Methodius in 883. began translating the full text of the canonical books of Holy Scripture into Slavic (except for the Maccabees). Having finished his hard work, Methodius weakened even more. In the last years of his life, Methodius’s activities in Moravia took place under very difficult conditions. The Latin-German clergy in every way prevented the spread of the Slavic language as the language of the church. In the last years of his life, Saint Methodius, with the help of two disciple-priests, translated the entire Old Testament into Slavic, except for the Maccabean books, as well as the Nomocanon (Rules of the Holy Fathers) and the patristic books (Paterikon).

Anticipating the approach of his death, Saint Methodius pointed to one of his disciples, Gorazd, as a worthy successor. The saint predicted the day of his death and died on April 6, 885 at the age of about 60 years. The funeral service for the saint was performed in three languages - Slavic, Greek and Latin. He was buried in the cathedral church of Velehrad.

With the death of Methodius, his work in Moravia came close to destruction. With the arrival of Viching in Moravia, the persecution of the disciples of Constantine and Methodius began, their destruction Slavic Church. Up to 200 clergy disciples of Methodius were expelled from Moravia. The Moravian people gave them no support. Thus, the cause of Constantine and Methodius died not only in Moravia, but also among the Western Slavs in general. But it received further life and flourishing among the Southern Slavs, partly among the Croats, more so among the Serbs, especially among the Bulgarians and, through the Bulgarians, among the Russians and Eastern Slavs, who united their destinies with Byzantium. This happened thanks to the disciples of Cyril and Methodius, expelled from Moravia.

From the period of activity of Constantine, his brother Methodius and their closest disciples, no written monuments have reached us, except for the relatively recently discovered inscriptions on the ruins of the church of King Simeon in Preslav (Bulgaria). It turned out that these ancient inscriptions were made not with one, but with two graphic varieties of Old Church Slavonic writing. One of them received the conventional name “Cyrillic” (from the name Cyril, adopted by Constantine when he was tonsured a monk); the other received the name “glagolitic” (from the Old Slavonic “verb”, which means “word”).

In their alphabetic composition, the Cyrillic and Glagolitic alphabets were almost identical. Cyrillic, according to the manuscripts of the 11th century that have reached us. had 43 letters, and the Glagolitic alphabet had 40 letters. Of the 40 Glagolitic letters, 39 served to convey almost the same sounds as the letters of the Cyrillic alphabet. Like the letters of the Greek alphabet, Glagolitic and Cyrillic letters had, in addition to sound, also a digital meaning, i.e. were used to designate not only speech sounds, but also numbers. At the same time, nine letters served to designate units, nine - for tens and nine - for hundreds. In Glagolitic, in addition, one of the letters denoted a thousand; in Cyrillic, a special sign was used to designate thousands. In order to indicate that a letter stands for a number and not a sound, the letter was usually highlighted on both sides with dots and a special horizontal line was placed above it.

In the Cyrillic alphabet, as a rule, only letters borrowed from the Greek alphabet had digital values: each of 24 such letters was assigned the same digital value that this letter had in the Greek digital system. The only exceptions were the numbers “6”, “90” and “900”.

Unlike the Cyrillic alphabet, in the Glagolitic alphabet the first 28 letters in a row received a numerical value, regardless of whether these letters corresponded to Greek or served to convey special sounds of Slavic speech. Therefore, the numerical value of most Glagolitic letters was different from both Greek and Cyrillic letters.

The names of the letters in the Cyrillic and Glagolitic alphabet were exactly the same; However, the time of origin of these names is unclear. The order of letters in the Cyrillic and Glagolitic alphabets was almost the same. This order is established Firstly, based on the digital meaning of the letters of the Cyrillic and Glagolitic alphabet, secondly, based on the acrostics of the 12th-13th centuries that have come down to us, thirdly, based on the order of letters in the Greek alphabet.

Cyrillic and Glagolitic were very different in the shape of their letters. In the Cyrillic alphabet, the shape of the letters was geometrically simple, clear and easy to write. Of the 43 letters of the Cyrillic alphabet, 24 were borrowed from the Byzantine charter, and the remaining 19 were constructed more or less independently, but in compliance with the uniform style of the Cyrillic alphabet. The shape of the Glagolitic letters, on the contrary, was extremely complex and intricate, with many curls, loops, etc. But the Glagolitic letters were graphically more original than the Kirillov ones, and were much less like the Greek ones.

The Cyrillic alphabet is a very skillful, complex and creative reworking of the Greek (Byzantine) alphabet. As a result of careful consideration of the phonetic composition of the Old Church Slavonic language, the Cyrillic alphabet had all the letters necessary for the correct transmission of this language. The Cyrillic alphabet was also suitable for accurately transmitting the Russian language in the 9th-10th centuries. The Russian language was already somewhat different phonetically from Old Church Slavonic. The correspondence of the Cyrillic alphabet to the Russian language is confirmed by the fact that for more than a thousand years it was necessary to introduce only two new letters into this alphabet; Multi-letter combinations and superscripts are not needed and are almost never used in Russian writing. This is precisely what determines the originality of the Cyrillic alphabet.

Thus, despite the fact that many letters of the Cyrillic alphabet coincide in form with Greek letters, the Cyrillic alphabet (as well as the Glagolitic alphabet) should be recognized as one of the most independent, creatively and innovatively constructed letter-sound systems.

The presence of two graphic varieties of Slavic writing still causes great controversy among scientists. After all, according to the unanimous testimony of all chronicles and documentary sources, Constantine developed one Slavic alphabet. Which of these alphabets was created by Constantine? Where and when did the second alphabet appear? These questions are closely related to others, perhaps even more important. Didn’t the Slavs have some kind of written language before the introduction of the alphabet developed by Constantine? And if it existed, what was it?

A number of works by Russian and Bulgarian scientists were devoted to evidence of the existence of writing in the pre-Cyrillic period among the Slavs, in particular among the eastern and southern ones. As a result of these works, as well as in connection with the discovery of the most ancient monuments of Slavic writing, the question of the existence of writing among the Slavs can hardly raise doubts. This is evidenced by many ancient literary sources: Slavic, Western European, Arabic. This is confirmed by the instructions contained in the treaties of the Eastern and Southern Slavs with Byzantium, some archaeological data, as well as linguistic, historical and general socialist considerations.

Fewer materials are available to resolve the question of what the ancient Slavic letter was and how it arose. Pre-Cyrillic Slavic writing, apparently, could only be of three types. Thus, in the light of the development of general patterns of development of writing, it seems almost certain that long before the formation of ties between the Slavs and Byzantium, they had various local varieties of the original primitive pictographic writing, such as the “traits and cuts” mentioned by Brave. The emergence of Slavic writing of the “devils and cuts” type should probably be attributed to the first half of the 1st millennium AD. e. True, the oldest Slavic letter could only have been a very primitive letter, which included a small, unstable and different assortment of simple figurative and conventional signs among different tribes. There was no way this writing could turn into any developed and ordered logographic system.

The use of the original Slavic script was also limited. These were, apparently, the simplest counting signs in the form of dashes and notches, family and personal signs, signs of ownership, signs for fortune telling, perhaps primitive route diagrams, calendar signs that served to date the start of various agricultural works, pagan holidays, etc. p. In addition to sociological and linguistic considerations, the existence of such writing among the Slavs is confirmed by quite numerous literary sources of the 9th-10th centuries. and archaeological finds. Having originated in the first half of the 1st millennium AD, this letter was probably preserved by the Slavs even after Cyril created an orderly Slavic alphabet.

The second, even more undoubted type of pre-Christian writing of the Eastern and Southern Slavs was a letter that can be conditionally called the “Proto-Cyril” letter. A letter of the “devils and cuts” type, suitable for indicating calendar dates, for fortune telling, counting, etc., was unsuitable for recording military and trade agreements, liturgical texts, historical chronicles and other complex documents. And the need for such records should have appeared among the Slavs simultaneously with the emergence of the first Slavic states. For all these purposes, the Slavs, even before they adopted Christianity and before the introduction of the alphabet created by Cyril, undoubtedly used Greek in the east and south, and Greek and Latin letters in the west.

The Greek script, used by the Slavs for two or three centuries before their official adoption of Christianity, had to gradually adapt to the transmission of the unique phonetics of the Slavic language and, in particular, be replenished with new letters. This was necessary for the accurate recording of Slavic names in churches, in military lists, for recording Slavic geographical names etc. The Slavs have advanced far along the path of adapting Greek writing to more accurately convey their speech. To do this, ligatures were formed from the corresponding Greek letters, the Greek letters were supplemented with letters borrowed from other alphabets, in particular from the Hebrew, which was known to the Slavs through the Khazars. This is how the Slavic “Proto-Cyril” letter was probably formed. The assumption about such a gradual formation of the Slavic “proto-Cyril” letter is also confirmed by the fact that the Cyrillic alphabet in its later version that has come down to us was so well adapted for the accurate transmission of Slavic speech that this could only be achieved as a result of its long development. These are two undoubted varieties of pre-Christian Slavic writing.

The third, although not undoubted, but only a possible variety, can be called “proto-glagolic” writing.

The process of formation of the supposed proto-glagolic letter could occur in two ways. Firstly, this process could have taken place under the complex influence of Greek, Jewish-Khazar, and possibly also Georgian, Armenian and even runic Turkic writing. Under the influence of these writing systems, Slavic “features and cuts” could gradually also acquire a letter-sound meaning, while partially retaining their original form. Secondly, some Greek letters could have been graphically modified by the Slavs in relation to the usual forms of “features and cuts”. Like the Cyrillic alphabet, the formation of proto-glagolic writing could also have begun among the Slavs no earlier than the 8th century. Since this letter was formed on the primitive basis of the ancient Slavic “traits and cuts”, by the middle of the 9th century. it was supposed to remain even less precise and orderly than the Proto-Cyril letter. Unlike the Proto-Cyrillic alphabet, the formation of which took place throughout almost the entire Slavic territory, which was under the influence of Byzantine culture, the Proto-Glagolitic letter, if it existed, was apparently first formed among the Eastern Slavs. In conditions of insufficient development in the second half of the 1st millennium AD. political and cultural connections between the Slavic tribes, the formation of each of the three supposed types of pre-Christian Slavic writing would have occurred in different tribes in different ways. Therefore, we can assume the coexistence among the Slavs not only of these three types of writing, but also of their local varieties. In the history of writing, cases of such coexistence were very frequent.

Currently, the writing systems of all the peoples of Russia are built on the Cyrillic basis. Writing systems built on the same basis are also used in Bulgaria, partly in Yugoslavia and Mongolia. A script built on the Cyrillic basis is now used by peoples who speak more than 60 languages. The Latin and Cyrillic groups of writing systems seem to have the greatest vitality. This is confirmed by the fact that more and more new peoples are gradually switching to the Latin and Cyrillic basis of writing.

Thus, the foundations laid by Constantine and Methodius more than 1100 years ago continue to be continuously improved and successfully developed up to the present day. At the moment, most researchers believe that Cyril and Methodius created the Glagolitic alphabet, and the Cyrillic alphabet was created on the basis of the Greek alphabet by their students.

From the turn of the X-XI centuries. Kyiv, Novgorod, and the centers of other ancient Russian principalities became the largest centers of Slavic writing. The oldest Slavic-language handwritten books that have come down to us, having the date of their writing, were created in Rus'. These are the Ostromir Gospel of 1056-1057, the Izbornik of Svyatoslav of 1073, the Izbornik of 1076, the Archangel Gospel of 1092, the Novgorod Menaions dated to the 90s. The largest and most valuable fund of ancient handwritten books dating back to the written heritage of Cyril and Methodius, like those named, is located in the ancient repositories of our country.

The unbending faith of two people in Christ and in their ascetic mission for the benefit of the Slavic peoples was what was the driving force behind the penetration, in the end, of writing into Ancient Rus'. The exceptional intellect of one and the stoic courage of the other - the qualities of two people who lived very long before us, turned out to be the fact that we now write them in letters, and put together our picture of the world according to their grammar and rules.

It is impossible to overestimate the introduction of writing into Slavic society. This is the greatest Byzantine contribution to the culture of the Slavic peoples. And he was created by Saints Cyril and Methodius. Only with the establishment of writing does it begin true story people, the history of their culture, the history of the development of their worldview, scientific knowledge, literature and art.

Cyril and Methodius never, in their life's collisions and wanderings, found themselves in the lands of Ancient Rus'. They lived more than a hundred years before they were officially baptized here and their letters were accepted. It would seem that Cyril and Methodius belong to the history of other nations. But it was they who radically changed the existence of the Russian people. They gave him the Cyrillic alphabet, which became the blood and flesh of his culture. And this is the greatest gift to people from an ascetic man.

In addition to the invention of the Slavic alphabet, during the 40 months of their stay in Moravia, Constantine and Methodius managed to solve two problems: some liturgical books were translated into Church Slavonic (ancient Slavic literary) language and people were trained who could serve using these books. However, this was not enough to spread Slavic worship. Neither Constantine nor Methodius were bishops and could not ordain their disciples as priests. Cyril was a monk, Methodius was a simple priest, and the local bishop was an opponent of Slavic worship. To give their activities official status, the brothers and several of their students went to Rome. In Venice, Constantine entered into a debate with opponents of worship in national languages. In Latin spiritual literature, the idea was popular that worship could only be performed in Latin, Greek and Hebrew. The brothers' stay in Rome was triumphant. Constantine and Methodius brought with them the relics of St. Clement, Pope of Rome, who, according to legend, was a disciple of the Apostle Peter. The relics of Clement were a precious gift, and Constantine's Slavic translations were blessed.

The disciples of Cyril and Methodius were ordained priests, while the Pope sent a message to the Moravian rulers, in which he officially allowed worship to be performed in the Slavic language: “After reflection, we decided to send to your countries our son Methodius, ordained by us, with his disciples, a perfect man reason and true faith, so that he enlightens you, as you yourself asked, explaining to you in your language the Holy Scripture, the entire liturgical rite and the Holy Mass, that is, services, including baptism, as the philosopher Constantine began to do with God's grace and by prayers of Saint Clement."

After the death of the brothers, their activities were continued by their students, expelled from Moravia in 886, in the South Slavic countries. (In the West, the Slavic alphabet and Slavic literacy did not survive; Western Slavs - Poles, Czechs ... - still use the Latin alphabet). Slavic literacy was firmly established in Bulgaria, from where it spread to the countries of the southern and eastern Slavs (9th century). Writing came to Rus' in the 10th century (988 - the baptism of Rus'). The creation of the Slavic alphabet was and still is of great importance for the development of Slavic writing, Slavic peoples, and Slavic culture.

The merits of Cyril and Methodius in the history of culture are enormous. Kirill developed the first ordered Slavic alphabet and thus marked the beginning of the widespread development of Slavic writing. Cyril and Methodius translated many books from Greek, which was the beginning of the formation of the Old Church Slavonic literary language and Slavic bookmaking. For many years, Cyril and Methodius carried out great educational work among the Western and Southern Slavs and greatly contributed to the spread of literacy among these peoples. There is information that Kirill also created original works. For many years, Cyril and Methodius carried out great educational work among the Western and Southern Slavs and greatly contributed to the spread of literacy among these peoples. Throughout all their activities in Moravia and Panionia, Cyril and Methodius also waged a constant, selfless struggle against the attempts of the German Catholic clergy to ban the Slavic alphabet and books.

Cyril and Methodius were the founders of the first literary and written language of the Slavs - the Old Church Slavonic language, which in turn was a kind of catalyst for the creation of the Old Russian literary language, Old Bulgarian and the literary languages of other Slavic peoples. The Old Church Slavonic language was able to fulfill this role primarily due to the fact that it was not initially something rigid and stagnant: it itself was formed from several Slavic languages or dialects.

Finally, when assessing the educational activities of the Thessaloniki brothers, it should be borne in mind that they were not missionaries in the generally accepted sense of the word: they were not involved in the Christianization of the population as such (although they contributed to it), for Moravia by the time of their arrival was already a Christian state.

Kostin Pavel 3rd grade

May 24th is celebrated Slavic culture and writing. Cyril and Methodius are considered the founders of Slavic writing. The work of a 3rd grade student, dedicated to the founders of Slavic writing.

Download:

Preview:

Kostin Pavel, 3rd grade

Cyril and Methodius - the founders of Slavic writing

Celebrates Slavic writing and culture. Year of birth (creation) of the Slavic

brothers Cyril (before becoming a monk, Constantine) and Methodius.

Cyril (circa 827-869) and his older brother Methodius (circa 825-885)

were born in the Greek city of Thessaloniki (now Thessaloniki). Father named Leo was

famous Greek official. One of the later sources says about the mother,

that she is a Slav by birth named Maria. And although, presumably, the family spoke

The brothers listened to Greek, Slavic words, and music of the language in the house since childhood. Yes and no

only in the house. There were many Slavic merchants in the trading districts of Thessaloniki. Many

The Slavs settled in Greece several centuries before the birth of the brothers. No wonder many years

later, sending the brothers to Moravia at the request of the Slavic prince to send teachers,

who will teach church reading, singing and writing in their native Slavic language,

Emperor Michael said: “No one can do this better than you. Go

together with Abbot Methodius, since you are Solunians, and Solunians all speak

purely Slavic" (beginning of 863).

Having received an education in hometown, Methodius served for ten years as a military commander in

one of the Slavic provinces of Byzantium. Constantine studied in the capital of the empire

Constantinople and showed brilliant philological talent. He has mastered perfectly

several languages, including Latin, Syriac and Hebrew. When Konstantin

graduated from college, he was offered a very honorable position as a librarian at

patriarchal repository of books. At the same time, he became the patriarch's secretary. Working

in the library (the best library in the world), he constantly expanded his knowledge by comparing

one language with another, wrote Yuri Loschits in one of the magazines in the article “Prophetic Rumor”.

Only if you have an ear for music and develop it, you can hear in an unfamiliar

Greek of someone else's speech individual sounds and sound combinations. Konstantin was not ashamed that

It's called looking into the speaker's mouth to figure out exactly what position

lips, teeth and tongue of the interlocutor, a sound escapes from his mouth, outlandish for

Greek hearing. The sounds “z”, “z”, and “z” seemed so strange and unusual to the Greeks."sh",

"sch" etc. We, Russian people, and those for whom Russian is their native language, find it funny,

when these and other sounds are difficult for foreigners to pronounce. Sounds in Slavic speech

turned out to be significantly more than in Greek (later the brothers had to

create 14 more letters than in the Greek alphabet). Kirill managed to hear

sounds of Slavic speech, isolate them from a smooth, coherent flow and create under these

sounds signs-letters.

When we talk about the creation of the Slavic alphabet by the brothers Cyril and Mefoliy, then

We call the youngest one first. This was the case during both of their lives. Methodius himself said:

“He served, like a slave, his younger brother, obeying him.” The younger brother was a genius

a philologist, as we would say now, a brilliant polyglot. He had to many times

engage in scientific disputes, and not only scientific ones. The new business of creating writing

numerous Slavic people found many enemies (in Moravia and Pannonia -

on the lands of modern Hungary, former Yugoslavia, Austria). After the brothers' death

about 200 of their students were sold into slavery, and their closest and most capable

comrades thrown into prison.

The tragic personal fates of the disciples Cyril and Methodius did not stop

the spread of Slavic writing from one Slavic people to another. From

Moravia and Pannonia it passed to Bulgaria, and in the 10th century, after the adoption

Christianity, and to ancient Rus'.

What was the Slavic alphabet? We need to talk about this in more detail,

since this writing was used in Rus' until the 18th century. Under Peter I and

then several more times in the 18th century. the alphabetical composition changed, i.e. number of letters and their

graphics (writing). The last reform of the Cyrillic alphabet took place in 1917-1918. There was a total

12 letters were excluded, and two new ones were introduced - “i” and “e”. If you look at the names of the letters

Cyrillic alphabet, the origin of the word “alphabet” itself will become clear: a - az, b - beeches. Like

the name of the alphabet, the name “alphabet” comes from the first two letters of the Greek

languages "alpha" and "vita".

All Slavs from the Baltic spoke, wrote, and created literature in the “Slovenian language”

to the Aegean Sea, from the Alps to the Volga. Six long centuries, up to the 15th century,

only three ancient languages (Slavic, Greek, Latin) were accepted in the world

as the main languages of interethnic communication. And now it’s a matter of honor for millions of people

Speakers of Slavic languages - to protect, preserve and develop it.

How did distant ancestors learn to read and write?

Education at school was individual, and each teacher had no more than 6-8

students. The teaching methods were very imperfect. Folk proverbs

retained the memory of the difficulty of learning the alphabet: “Az, beeches, lead them to fear how

bears", "They teach the alphabet, they shout at the whole hut."

Learning the Old Church Slavonic alphabet was not an easy task. Not sounds were pronounced, but

the names of the letters are complex in themselves. Having memorized the alphabet, they began to study syllables, or

warehouses, first from two letters: “buki”, “az” - the student named the names of the letters, and

then pronounced the syllable “ba”; for the syllable “vo” it was necessary to name “vedi”, “on”. Then

they taught syllables of three letters: “buki”, “rtsy”, “az” - “bra”, etc.

The complex names of the letters were not taken, as they say, out of thin air. Each title

carried great meaning and moral content. He who mastered literacy absorbed

moral concepts of enormous depth, developed for himself a line of behavior in

life, received concepts of goodness and morality. I can’t even believe it: well, letters and letters.

But no. When a person learning to read and write repeated after the teacher “az, beeches, lead,” he

He said the whole phrase: “I know letters.” Next came g, d, f - “The verb is good

is." In the listing of these letters in a row there is a commandment for man not to waste

I didn’t throw around words, I didn’t mince words, because “The word is good.”

Let's see what letters like r meant. s, t. They were called “Rtsy the word is firm”, i.e.

e. “Speak the word clearly”, “be responsible for your words.” It would be good for many of us

learn both pronunciation and responsibility for the spoken word.

After memorizing the syllables, reading began. The second proverb reminds us of order

work: the teacher pronounced the letters, and the students repeated them in chorus until

haven't remembered yet.

Literature:

Great Encyclopedia of Primary School

Excerpts from historical sources “The Tale of Bygone Years” and “The Life of Constantine-Cyril”

Articles By topic:

Treatment of stalking mania: symptoms and signs Can stalking mania go away over time? Persecutory mania is a mental dysfunction that can also be called persecutory delusion. Psychiatrists consider this disorder to be the fundamental signs of mental insanity. By mania, psychiatry understands a disorder of mental activity,	Why did you dream about champagne? Whatever we see in our dreams, everything, without exception, is symbols. All objects and phenomena in dreams carry symbolic meanings - from simple and familiar to bright and fantastic. But sometimes just ordinary, familiar things have a more important meaning than
How to remove chin irritation in women and men Skin irritation on the chin Red spots that appear on the chin can occur for various reasons. As a rule, their appearance does not indicate a serious health threat, and if they disappear over time on their own, then there is no cause for concern. Red spots on the chin appear	Valentina Matvienko: biography, personal life, husband, children (photo) Term of office*: September 2024 Born in April 1949. In 1972 she graduated from the Leningrad Chemical and Pharmaceutical Institute. From 1984 to 1986 worked as first secretary of the Krasnogvardeisky district committee of the CPSU of Leningrad. In 1985

Popular

2024-08-15 02:06:40	Piero della Francesca (Piero di Benedetto or Piero dal Borgo)
2024-08-15 02:06:40	Doctor Komarovsky’s opinion on DPT vaccination
2024-08-14 02:07:05	What does a forest animal look like - a stone marten?
2024-08-12 02:06:06	The effect of physical activity on health The effect of physical activity on the body
2024-08-11 02:07:06	The effect of the bath on the body The effect of the Russian bath on the body
2024-08-03 02:14:07	Victims of Nazism: the tragedy of burned villages - Zamoshye
2024-07-25 02:06:28	Curd shortbread cookies: recipe with photo
2024-07-16 02:05:06	What does it mean to play sports in a dream: interpretation according to different dream books
2024-07-15 02:07:06	Lipase in the blood: norm and causes of deviations Lipase where it is produced under what conditions
2024-05-31 02:21:07	How and how long to bake beef

New

2024-05-23 02:16:29	Why do the testicles itch and what can you do to get rid of the discomfort?
2024-05-10 02:22:08	Minced meat for beef and pork cutlets: recipe with photo
2024-05-02 02:14:23	Schemes for launching spacecraft Orbits of artificial Earth satellites
2024-04-21 02:23:23	Grilled fish is the most delicious and aromatic dish
2024-04-14 02:26:43	Yu. Andreev - Live Journal! Andreev Yu.A. Yuri Andreev: biography
2024-04-13 02:40:32	Master class for teachers on the topic “Creating electronic tests”; methodological development on technology on the topic
2024-08-23 02:06:21	Treatment of stalking mania: symptoms and signs Can stalking mania go away over time?
2024-08-20 02:06:20	Why did you dream about champagne?
2024-08-19 02:06:19	How to remove chin irritation in women and men Skin irritation on the chin
2024-08-18 02:06:06	Valentina Matvienko: biography, personal life, husband, children (photo)
2024-08-15 02:06:40	Piero della Francesca (Piero di Benedetto or Piero dal Borgo)
2024-08-15 02:06:40	Doctor Komarovsky’s opinion on DPT vaccination