Who were the creators of the Slavic alphabet? The world's first alphabet appeared in Russia

More than a hundred years before the baptism of Rus, almost at the same time as the founding of the Russian state, a great deed was accomplished in the history of the Christian church - for the first time the word of God was heard in churches in the Slavic language.

In the city of Soluni (now - Thessaloniki), in Macedonia, inhabited for the most part by Slavs, there lived a noble Greek dignitary named Leo. Of his seven sons, two of him, Methodius and Constantine (in the monastic life of Cyril), had to accomplish a great feat for the benefit of the Slavs. The youngest of the brothers, Constantine, amazed everyone from childhood with his brilliant abilities and passion for learning. He received a good education at home, and then finished his education in Byzantium under the guidance of the best teachers. Here a passion for science developed in him with full force, and he assimilated all the bookish wisdom available to him ... Glory, honors, riches - all worldly blessings awaited the gifted young man, but he did not succumb to any temptations - he preferred the modest title of priest and the position of librarian to all the temptations of the world. Hagia Sophia Church, where he could continue his favorite activities - to study the holy books, to delve into their spirit. His deep knowledge and the ability gave him high academic title philosopher.

Holy Brothers Equal to the Apostles Cyril and Methodius. Ancient fresco in St. Sofia, Ohrid (Bulgaria). OK. 1045 BC

His elder brother, Methodius, first took a different path - he entered military service and for several years was the ruler of the region inhabited by the Slavs; but worldly life did not satisfy him, and he took monastic vows at the monastery on Mount Olympus. The brothers, however, did not have to calm down, one in peaceful book studies, and the other in a quiet monastic cell. Constantine more than once had to take part in disputes over issues of faith, to defend it with the power of his mind and knowledge; then he had to go with his brother at the request of the king to the land khazar, preach the faith of Christ and defend it against Jews and Muslims. Upon his return from there, Methodius baptized Bulgarian prince Boris and Bulgarians.

Probably, even earlier than this, the brothers decided to translate sacred and liturgical books for the Macedonian Slavs into their language, with which they could quite get used to from childhood, in their hometown.

For this, Constantine compiled the Slavic alphabet (alphabet) - he took all 24 Greek letters, and since there are more sounds in the Slavic language than in Greek, he added the missing letters from the Armenian, Hebrew and other alphabets; some he invented himself. All the letters in the first Slavic alphabet were 38. More important than the invention of the alphabet was the translation of the most important sacred and liturgical books: translating from such a language as rich in words and phrases as Greek into the language of completely uneducated Macedonian Slavs was a very difficult matter. I had to come up with suitable phrases, create new words in order to convey new concepts for the Slavs ... All this required not only a thorough knowledge of the language, but also great talent.

The work of translation was not yet finished when, at the request of the Moravian prince Rostislav Constantine and Methodius were to go to Moravia. There and in neighboring Pannonia, Latin (Catholic) preachers from southern Germany had already begun to spread the Christian doctrine earlier, but things went very slowly, since the divine service was performed in Latin, completely incomprehensible to the people. Western clergy, subordinate to the pope, there was a strange prejudice: as if worship could only be performed in Hebrew, Greek and Latin, because the inscription on the Cross of the Lord was in these three languages; the eastern clergy allowed the word of God in all languages. That is why the Moravian prince, taking care of the true enlightenment of his people with the teaching of Christ, turned to the Byzantine emperor Michael with a request to send knowledgeable people to Moravia who would teach the people the faith in an understandable language.

The Tale of Bygone Years. Issue 6. Enlightenment of the Slavs. Cyril and Methodius. Video

The emperor entrusted this important matter to Constantine and Methodius. They arrived in Moravia and zealously set to work: they built churches, began to perform divine services in the Slavic language, started and taught seeking. Christianity, not only in appearance, but in spirit, began to spread rapidly among the people. This aroused strong enmity in the Latin clergy: slander, denunciations, complaints - everything went into effect, just to ruin the cause of the Slavic apostles. They were even forced to go to Rome - to make excuses to the Pope himself. The Pope carefully examined the case, fully justified them and blessed their labors. Constantine, exhausted by work and struggle, did not go to Moravia, he took monastic vows under the name of Cyril; he died soon (February 14, 868) and was buried in Rome.

All thoughts, all the cares of Saint Cyril before his death were about his great work.

“We, brother,” he said to Methodius, “pulled one furrow with you, and here I am falling, ending my days. You love our native Olympus (monastery) too much, but for the sake of it, look, do not leave our ministry - you can soon be saved to them.

The Pope elevated Methodius to the rank of bishop of Moravia; but there, at that time, heavy troubles and strife began. Prince Rostislav was expelled by his nephew Svyatopolk.

The Latin clergy strained all their forces against Methodius; but in spite of everything - slander, insults and persecution - he continued his holy work, enlightened the Slavs with the Christ faith in the language and alphabet they understood, with book teaching.

Around 871 he baptized Borivoj, the prince of Bohemia, and here he approved the Slavic worship.

After his death, the Latin clergy managed to oust the Slavic services from Bohemia and Moravia. The disciples of Saints Cyril and Methodius were expelled from here, fled to Bulgaria and then continued the holy feat of the first teachers of the Slavs - they translated church and instructive books, the works of the “church fathers” from Greek ...

Creators Slavic alphabet Cyril and Methodius. Bulgarian icon 1848

Church Slavonic writing flourished especially in Bulgaria under the tsar Simeone, at the beginning of the 10th century: many books were translated, not only necessary for worship, but also the works of various church writers and preachers.

First, ready-made church books came to us from Bulgaria, and then, when literate people appeared among the Russians, the books began to be copied with us, and then translated. Thus, literacy also appeared in Russia with Christianity.

The creators of the 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, unknown and incomprehensible to the people).

Emperor Michael sent the Greeks to Moravia - the scientist Constantine the Philosopher (the name Cyril Constantine received when he accepted monasticism in 869, and with this name went down in history) and his older brother Methodius.

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

In 860, the brothers 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, the alphabet capable of transmitting Slavic speech did not exist at that time.

Constantine began to create the Slavic alphabet. In his work, Methodius helped him, who also knew the Slavic language well, since a lot of Slavs lived in Soluni (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 the verb - "speech" and the Cyrillic alphabet; until now, scientists have no consensus about 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 had not only 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 mystery of the Slavic alphabet
The Old Slavonic alphabet got its name from the combination of two letters "az" and "beeches", which designated the first letters of the alphabet A and B. An interesting fact is that the ancient Slavic alphabet was a graffiti, i.e. graffiti 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 Kiev. 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, there was major event, which contributed to a new round of development Slavic writing... The first printed "ABC" appeared in Lvov, which was seen by Ivan Fedorov, the person who printed it.

The structure of the alphabet
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, then you will understand that in fact the way of establishing Christianity in our land is directly related to the creation of the Slavic alphabet. Indeed, 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 raises no 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 Slavonic alphabet, many scientists come to the conclusion that in fact the first "ABC" is a cryptographic script, which has a deep religious and philosophical meaning, and most importantly, that it is built in such a way that it is a complex logical and mathematical organism. In addition, comparing many finds, the researchers came to the conclusion that the first Slavic alphabet was created as a holistic invention, and not as a creation that was created piece by piece by adding new letter forms. It is also interesting that most of the letters of the Old Church Slavonic alphabet are letters-numbers. 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, the first half of the alphabet we will conventionally call the "higher" part, and the second "lower". The upper part includes letters from A to F, i.e. from "az" to "ferth" and is a list of letters-words that carry a meaning clear to the 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 meaning, unlike the letters of the upper part, and carry a negative connotation.

In order to understand the secret writing of the Slavic alphabet, it is necessary not only to skim through it, but to read into every 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- this is the initial letter of the Slavic alphabet, which denotes the pronoun I. However, its root meaning is the word “initially”, “to begin” or “beginning”, although in everyday life the Slavs most often used Az in the context of the pronoun. Nevertheless, in some Old Slavonic writings one can find Az, which meant "one", for example, "I will go az to Vladimir." Or “to start from scratch” meant “to start from the beginning”. Thus, the Slavs designated with the beginning of the alphabet the entire philosophical meaning of life, 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 order 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, a part located at the beginning and a part that is at the end. In addition, do not forget that Az has numerical value, which is expressed by the number 1. Among the ancient Slavs, the number 1 was the beginning of all that was beautiful. Today, studying Slavic numerology, we can say that the Slavs, like other peoples, divided all numbers into even and odd. At the same time, odd numbers were the embodiment of everything positive, kind and light. In turn, even numbers represented darkness and evil. At the same time, the unit was considered the beginning of all beginnings and was very revered by the Slavic tribes. From the point of view of erotic numerology, it is believed that 1 is a phallic symbol from which the continuation of the race begins. This number has several synonyms: 1 is one, 1 is one, 1 is times.

Beeches(Buki) is the second letter-word in the alphabet. It has no digital meaning, but it has no less profound philosophical meaning than Az. Buki - means "to be", "will" was most often used for turnovers in the future form. For example, "bowdy" means "let it be," and "bowie", as you probably already guessed, means "future, coming." In this word, our ancestors expressed the future as an inevitability, which could be either good and rosy or dark and terrible. It is still not known for certain why Bukam Constantine did not give a numerical value, but many scientists assume that this is due to the duality of this letter. Indeed, by and large, it denotes the future, which each person imagines for himself in a rosy light, but on the other hand, this word also denotes the inevitability of punishment for committed low deeds.

Lead- 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 Vedi, he meant secret knowledge, knowledge - as the highest divine gift. If you add Az, Buki and Vedi in one phrase, you get a phrase that means "I will know!"... Thus, Constantine showed that a person who opened the alphabet he created would subsequently have some kind of knowledge. The numerical load of this letter is no less important. After all, 2 - two, two, a pair were not just numbers among the Slavs, they took Active participation in magic rituals and in general they 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, two was a symbol of the confrontation between the 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 number series negative numbers that bring death to a person. That is why the birth of twins in old Slavic families was considered a bad sign, which carried a kind of illness and misfortune. In addition, among the Slavs, it was considered a bad sign to rock the cradle together, for two people to wipe themselves with one towel and generally to perform any action together. Despite such a negative attitude towards the number 2, the Slavs recognized its magical power. So, for example, many rituals of exorcism were carried out using two identical objects or with the participation of twins.

Having examined the higher part of the alphabet, one can state the fact that it is Constantine's secret message to descendants. "Where can you see it?" - you ask. Now try to read all the letters, knowing their true meaning. If we take several subsequent letters, then edifying phrases are formed:
Lead + The verb means "know the teaching";
Rtsy + Word + Firmly can be understood as the phrase "utter the true word";
Firmly + Ouk can be interpreted as "strengthen the law."
If you look closely at other letters, you can also find the secret writing that was left behind by Constantine the Philosopher.
Have you ever wondered why the letters in the alphabet are in this order, and not some other? The order of the "upper" part of the Cyrillic letters can be viewed from two positions.
Firstly, the fact that each letter-word is folded into a meaningful phrase with the next one may mean a non-random pattern that was invented for the speedy memorization of the alphabet.
Secondly, the Old Church Slavonic alphabet can be considered in terms of numbering numbers. That is, each letter also represents a number. Moreover, all letters-numbers are arranged in ascending order. So, the letter A - "az" corresponds to one, B - 2, G - 3, D - 4, E - 5 and so on up to ten. Dozens 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 fit perfectly with cursive writing, and the person did not experience any difficulty in depicting these letters. And many philosophers see in the numerical arrangement of the alphabet the principle of the triad and spiritual harmony, which 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, opening the alphabet, you will know that the creation, which was born thanks to the efforts of Constantine the Philosopher, is not just a list of letters that begin with words that express our fear and indignation, love and tenderness, respect and delight.

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 are reproduced in sufficient detail on the basis of various documentary and chronicle sources.

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

Cyril and Methodius are brothers. They were born in the city of Thessaloniki (Thessaloniki) in Macedonia (now the territory of Greece). Since childhood, they have mastered the Old Slavonic language well - Old Bulgarian. From the words of Emperor Michael III "Solunians" - all speak the Slavic language purely.

Both brothers lived mainly a spiritual life, striving for the embodiment of their beliefs and ideas, not attaching importance to either sensual joys, or wealth, or career, or fame. The brothers never had wives or children, wandered all their lives, never creating a home or a permanent refuge 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 made in the life of the people, and the vague stories of lives, traditions, and legends, remained.

The brothers were born into the family of Leo-Drungarius, a middle-ranking Byzantine military leader from the city of Thessalonica. The family had seven sons, with Methodius the eldest and Cyril the youngest of them.

According to one version, they came from a pious Slavic family who lived in the Byzantine city of Soluni. Out of a large number historical sources, mainly from the "Brief 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 also 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 is an alphabet that is more similar to the Old Bulgarian than to the Slavic.

Little is known about the first years of Methodius' life. Probably, in the life of Methodius there was nothing outstanding until she crossed with the life of his younger brother. Methodius entered military service early and was soon appointed ruler 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 that was alien to him and retired to a monastery. In the 860s, having renounced the rank of archbishop, he became abbot of the Polykhron monastery on the Asian coast of the Sea of Marmara, near the city of Cyzicus. Here, in a quiet shelter on Mount Olympus, Constantine moved for several years, in the interval between travels to the Saracens and the Khazars. The elder brother, Methodius, walked a clear, straight path through life. Only twice did he change her direction: the first time - by leaving for a monastery, and the second - by returning again under the influence of his younger brother to vigorous activity and fight.

Cyril was the youngest of the brothers, from infancy he showed extraordinary mental abilities, but did not differ in health. The eldest, Mikhail, even in childhood games, defended the youngest, weak one 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 cathedral in Venice, and before the papal throne. And then he will continue the fraternal work in written wisdom. And holding hands, they will go down in the history of world culture.

Cyril was educated in Constantinople at the Magnavr School, the best educational institution Byzantium. The education of Cyril was taken care of by the State Secretary Theoktist himself. Before reaching the age of 15, Cyril had already read the works of the most thoughtful father of the church, Gregory the Theologian. A capable boy was taken to the court of Emperor Michael III, as a teaching companion to 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 of Cyril and Photius largely predetermined further destiny Cyril. In 850 Cyril became a professor at the Magnavr School. Having abandoned a profitable marriage and a brilliant career, Cyril was ordained a priest, and after secretly leaving for a monastery, he began to teach philosophy (hence the nickname Constantine - "Philosopher"). The closeness with Photius was reflected in the struggle of Cyril with the iconoclasts. He wins a brilliant victory over the experienced and ardent leader of the Iconoclasts, which undoubtedly brings Constantine wide fame. The wisdom and power of faith of a still very young Constantine were so great that he managed to defeat the leader of the heretics-iconoclasts Annius in the debate. After this victory, Constantine was sent by the emperor to a dispute to debate the Holy Trinity with the Saracens (Muslims) and also won. Returning, Saint Constantine withdrew 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. Having abandoned a lucrative marriage, as well as an administrative career offered by the emperor, Cyril became the patriarchal librarian at 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 higher 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 break out of noisy Byzantium somewhere in solitude. I read for a long time, pondered. And then, having accumulated another supply of energy and thoughts, he wasted it generously in travels, disputes, disputes, in scientific and literary creativity. Cyril's education was highly valued in the highest circles of Constantinople, he was often attracted to various diplomatic missions.

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

Gorazd Ohridsky - a disciple of Methodius, the first archbishop of the Slavs - he was the archbishop of Mikulčica, the capital of Great Moravia. Honored by the Orthodox Church in the face of saints, commemorated July 27 (according to the Julian calendar) in the Cathedral of the Bulgarian Enlighteners. In 885-886, during the reign of Prince Svyatopolk I, a crisis arose in the Moravian Church, Archbishop Gorazd entered into a dispute with the Latin clergy, headed by Vihtig, bishop of Nitrava, on whom at one time St. Methodius imposed an anathema. With the approval of the Pope, Vihtig expelled Gorazd from the diocese and 200 priests with him, and he himself took his place as archbishop. At the same time, Kliment Ohridsky also 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 ransomed 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 move across Russia.

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 Clement Ohridski, is one of the founders of Bulgarian religious literature. Bulgarian Orthodox Church includes Saint Nahum among the Seven Numbers. In 886-893. he lived in Preslav, becoming the organizer of a local literary school. Then 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 stored there.

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

In 858, Constantine, on 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 accepted Judaism. On the way, during a stop in Chersonesos (Korsun), Constantine discovered the remains of Clement, Pope of Rome (I-II centuries), who died, as they thought, here in exile, and took some of them to Byzantium. The journey into the interior of Khazaria was filled with theological disputes with the Mohammedans and Jews. The whole course of the dispute Konstantin later outlined on Greek to report to the patriarch; later this report, according to legends, was translated into Slavic by Methodius, but, unfortunately, this work did not reach 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, unknown and incomprehensible to the people). The emperor summoned Saint Constantine and said to him: "You must go there, for no one can 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 scholars, during this trip, he begins his work on the creation of the Slavic alphabet. Constantine and Methodius arrived in Great Moravia using the southern Slavic dialect of Soluni (now Thessaloniki), 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 to read and write and were involved in translation activities, and not only in rewriting books, persons who, undoubtedly, spoke some north-western Slavic dialects. This is directly evidenced by the lexical, derivational, phonetic and other linguistic discrepancies in the oldest Slavic books that have come down to us (in the Gospel, Apostle, Psalter, Menaea of the 10th - 11th centuries). An indirect evidence is the later practice of the Grand Duke Vladimir I of Svyatoslavich, described in the Old Russian Chronicle, when he introduced Christianity in Russia as a state religion in 988. It was the children of his “deliberate child” (that is, the children of his courtiers and the feudal elite) that Vladimir attracted for “teaching books”, sometimes even forcibly, since the Chronicle reports that mothers cried about them as if they were dead.

After the translation was completed, 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 celebrated Divine services in Latin in the Moravian churches, and they rebelled against the holy brothers, claiming that Divine services can be performed only in one of three languages: Hebrew, Greek or Latin. Saint Constantine answered them: “You recognize only three languages worthy to glorify God with them. But David cries out: Sing to the Lord, all the earth, praise the Lord, all the nations, let every breath praise the Lord! And the Holy Gospel says: Come teach all languages ... ”The German bishops were put to shame, but they became even more embittered and filed a complaint with Rome. The holy brothers were called to Rome to resolve this issue.

To be able to preach Christianity in the Slavic language, it was necessary to translate the Holy Scriptures into the Slavic language; however, the alphabet capable of transmitting Slavic speech did not exist at that time.

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

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 have no consensus about 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 had not only 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-written language of the Slavs - the Old Slavonic language, which in turn was a kind of catalyst for the creation of the Old Russian literary language, the Old Bulgarian and literary languages of other Slavic peoples.

The younger brother wrote, the older one translated his works. The younger created the Slavic alphabet, Slavic writing and book business; the elder practically developed what the younger had created. The younger was a talented scientist, philosopher, brilliant dialectician and subtle philologist; the elder is a capable organizer and practitioner.

Constantine, in the quiet of his refuge, was probably busy completing the work that stood in connection with his not new plans for the conversion of the pagan Slavs. He compiled a special alphabet for the Slavic language, the so-called "verb", and began translating the Holy Scriptures into Old Bulgarian. The brothers decided to return to their homeland and to consolidate their work in Moravia - to take with them some of the disciples, the Moravians, for enlightenment in hierarchical ranks. On the way to Venice, which lay through Bulgaria, the brothers stayed for several months in the Pannonian principality of Kocela, where, despite its ecclesiastical and political dependence, they did the same as in Moravia. Upon arrival in Venice, Constantine had a violent clash with the local clergy. Here, in Venice, unexpectedly for the local clergy, they are presented with a kind message from Pope Nicholas with an invitation to Rome. Having received the papal invitation, the brothers continued on their journey with almost complete confidence of 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 Holy Scripture, but also the Slavic divine service, 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 went to the brothers, of course, not easily. A skilled dialectician and experienced diplomat, Constantine, skillfully used for this the struggle of Rome with Byzantium, and the vacillations of the Bulgarian prince Boris between the eastern and western churches, and Pope Nicholas' hatred of Photius, and Hadrian'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 and only goal of Constantine was to consolidate the Slavic writing, Slavic book business and culture that he created.

For almost two years, surrounded by sugary flattery and praise, combined with the hidden intrigues of the temporarily subdued opponents of the Slavic worship, Constantine and Methodius live in Rome. One of the reasons for their long delay was the ever worsening health of Constantine.

Despite weakness and illness, Constantine composes two new literary works: "Discovery of the relics of St. Clement" and a poetic hymn in honor of the same Clement.

A long and difficult journey to Rome, an intense struggle with the implacable enemies of the Slavic writing, undermined the already weak health of Constantine. At the beginning of February 869 he took to bed, took the schema and a new monastic name Cyril, and on February 14 he died. Departing to God, Saint Cyril commanded his brother Saint Methodius to continue their common work - the enlightenment of the Slavic peoples with the light of true faith.

Before his death, Cyril said to his brother: “You and I, like two oxen, led the same furrow. I was exhausted, but do not think to leave the labors of teaching and retire to your mountain again. " Methodius outlived his brother by 16 years. Enduring hardships and vilification, he continued the great work - the translation of sacred books into the Slavic language, the preaching of the Orthodox faith, the baptism of the Slavic people. Saint Methodius begged the Pope to allow him to take away his brother's body 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 Saint Cyril, the Pope, following the request of the Slavic prince Kotsel, sent Saint Methodius to Pannonia, ordaining him to the rank of Archbishop of Moravia and Pannonia, to the ancient throne of Saint Apostle Andronicus. After the death of Cyril (869) Methodius continued educational activities among the Slavs in Pannonia, where the Slavic books also included features of local dialects. Later, the Old Slavonic literary language was developed by the students of the Solunsk brothers in the Ohrid Lake region, then in Bulgaria proper.

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

True, on the threshold of this path, Methodius comparatively easily achieves a 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 Kotsel, and at the end of 869, when Methodius returned to Rome, elevated him to the rank of Archbishop of Pannonia, allowing worship in the Slavic language. Inspired by this new success, Methodius returns to Kocel. With the constant help of the prince, he develops, together with his students, a large and tireless work on the dissemination of Slavic worship, writing and books in the Principality of Blatene and in neighboring Moravia.

In 870 Methodius was sentenced to imprisonment on charges of violating the hierarchical rights to Pannonia.

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

He continues the business church structure Moravia. Contrary to the Pope's prohibition, Methodius continues to worship in the Slavic language in Moravia. This time Methodius also involved other Slavic peoples neighboring with 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, of violating the canons catholic church and in disobedience to the pope. Methodius manages not only to justify himself, but even to persuade Pope John to his side. Pope John allows Methodius to worship in the Slavic language, but appoints him as bishop of Viching, one of Methodius's most ardent opponents. Wiching began to spread rumors about the condemnation of Methodius by the Pope, but was exposed.

Tired to the limit 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 the middle of 884 he returns to Moravia. Returning to Moravia, Methodius in 883. started translating the full text into Slavic canon books Holy Scripture (except Maccabean books). Having finished his hard work, Methodius weakened even more. V last years During his life, Methodius' activities in Moravia proceeded under very difficult conditions. The Latin-German clergy in every possible 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 into the Slavic language the entire Old Testament, except the Maccabean books, as well as the Nomokanon (Rules of the Holy Fathers) and the patristic books (Paterikon).

Foreseeing the approach of death, Saint Methodius pointed to one of his disciples, Gorazd, as a worthy successor to himself. 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 approached destruction. With the arrival of Vihing in Moravia, the persecution of the disciples of Constantine and Methodius began, the destruction of their Slavic church. Up to 200 clergy disciples of Methodius were expelled from Moravia. The Moravian people gave them no support. Thus, the case of Constantine and Methodius perished not only in Moravia, but also among the Western Slavs in general. But it got further life and flourishing in South Slavs, partly among the Croats, more - among the Serbs, especially among the Bulgarians and, through the Bulgarians - among the Russians, Eastern Slavs who united their destinies with Byzantium. This happened thanks to the disciples of Cyril and Methodius, who were expelled from Moravia.

From the period of activity of Constantine, his brother Methodius and their closest disciples, no written monuments have survived to us, except for the relatively recently discovered inscriptions on the ruins of the Church of Tsar 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 of Cyril, adopted by Constantine when he was tonsured a monk); the other got the name "Glagolitic" (from the Old Church Slavonic "verb", which means "word").

Cyrillic and Glagolitic were almost the same in their alphanumeric composition. Cyrillic, according to the surviving manuscripts of the XI century. had 43 letters, and the Glagolitic alphabet had 40 letters. Out of 40 glagolic letters, 39 served to convey almost the same sounds as the letters of the Cyrillic alphabet. Like letters Greek alphabet, the glagolic and Cyril letters had, in addition to the sound, also a digital meaning, i.e. were used to denote not only the sounds of speech, but also numbers. At the same time, nine letters were used to designate units, nine - for tens and nine - for hundreds. In the Glagolitic alphabet, moreover, one of the letters denoted a thousand; in the Cyrillic alphabet a special sign was used to denote thousands. In order to indicate that the letter denotes a number, and not a sound, the letter was usually highlighted on both sides with dots and a special horizontal line was put above it.

In the Cyrillic alphabet, as a rule, only letters borrowed from the Greek alphabet had numerical values: at the same time, the same numerical value was assigned to each of these 24 letters that this letter had in the Greek numeric 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 the Greek ones or served to convey special sounds of Slavic speech. Therefore, the numerical meaning of most of the verbal letters was different from both the Greek and Cyril letters.

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

Cyrillic and Glagolitic were very different in the form 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 built more or less independently, but in compliance with the uniform style of the Cyril alphabet. The shape of the Glagolitic letters, on the contrary, was extremely complex and intricate, with many curls, loops, etc. But the glagolic letters were graphically more original than the Cyril letters, 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 Cyril alphabet had all the letters necessary for the correct transmission of this language. The Cyrillic alphabet was also suitable for accurate transmission of the Russian language, in the 9th-10th centuries. the Russian language already differed somewhat phonetically from the Old Church Slavonic. The correspondence of the Cyril alphabet to the Russian language is confirmed by the fact that for more than a thousand years only two new letters had to be introduced into this alphabet; multi-letter combinations and superscripts are not needed and almost never used in Russian. This is what determines the originality of the Cyril alphabet.

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

The presence of two graphic varieties of Slavic writing still causes great controversy among scientists. Indeed, according to the unanimous testimony of all chronicle and documentary sources, Constantine developed some one Slavic alphabet. Which of these alphabet was created by Constantine? Where and when did the second alphabet come from? Closely related to these questions are others, perhaps even more important. Did the Slavs not have some kind of writing 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 have been devoted to the 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 oldest monuments of Slavic writing, the question of the existence of writing among the Slavs can hardly be doubted. This is evidenced by many of the most ancient literary sources: Slavic, Western European, Arab. This is confirmed by the indications 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 for solving the question of what the most ancient Slavic writing was and how it arose. The pre-Cyril Slavic writing, apparently, could be of only three types. So, in the light of the development of the general laws of the 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 "features and cuts" mentioned by Brave. The emergence of the Slavic writing of the "devil and cut" type should probably be attributed to the first half of the 1st millennium AD. e. True, the most ancient Slavic writing could only be a very primitive letter, which included a small, unstable and different assortment of the simplest pictorial and conventional symbols for different tribes. This writing could not turn into any developed and ordered logographic system.

The use of the original Slavic writing was also limited. These were, apparently, the simplest counting signs in the form of dashes and notches, generic and personal signs, property signs, signs for fortune telling, maybe primitive route charts, calendar signs that served to date the dates of the beginning of various agricultural work, pagan holidays, etc. P. In addition to considerations of a sociological and linguistic order, the existence of such a letter among the Slavs is confirmed by quite numerous literary sources of the 9th-10th centuries. and archaeological finds. Having arisen in the first half of the 1st millennium AD, this letter was probably survivally preserved among the Slavs even after Cyril created an ordered Slavic alphabet.

The second, even more undoubted type of pre-Christian writing of the Eastern and Southern Slavs was the letter, which can be conventionally called the "proto-Cyril" letter. A letter of the type "devil and cut", suitable for designating 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 their adoption of Christianity and before the introduction of the alphabet created by Cyril, undoubtedly used Greek letters in the east and south, and Greek and Latin letters in the west.

Greek writing, used by the Slavs for two or three centuries before their official adoption of Christianity, had to gradually adapt to the transmission of the peculiar 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 made great strides in adapting Greek writing to a more accurate transmission of their speech. For 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 formed. The assumption about such a gradual formation of the Slavic "proto-Cyril" letter is also confirmed by the fact that the Cyril alphabet in its later version, which has come down to us, was so well adapted for accurate transmission of Slavic speech that this could be achieved only as a result of its long development. These are the two undoubted varieties of pre-Christian Slavic writing.

The third, however, not undoubted, but only a possible version of it can be called "protoglagolic" writing.

The process of the formation of the alleged protoglagolic writing could occur in two ways. Firstly, this process could proceed 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 an alphabetic and sound meaning, partially retaining their original form. Secondly, and some Greek letters could be graphically changed by the Slavs in relation to the usual forms of "lines and cuts". Like the Cyrillic alphabet, the formation of protoglagolic writing could also begin among the Slavs no earlier than the 8th century. Since this letter was formed on the primitive basis of the ancient Slavic "features and cuts", so far as by the middle of the IX century. it had to remain even less precise and orderly than the proto-Cyril letter. In contrast to the proto-Cyrillic alphabet, the formation of which took place in almost the entire Slavic territory, which was under the influence of Byzantine culture, the proto-glagolic writing, if it existed, was first formed, apparently, among the Eastern Slavs. In conditions of insufficient development in the second half of the 1st millennium A.D. political and cultural ties between the Slavic tribes, the formation of each of the three alleged types of pre-Christian Slavic writing should have occurred in different tribes in different ways. Therefore, we can assume the coexistence of not only these three types of writing among the Slavs, but also their local varieties. In the history of writing, cases of such coexistence were very frequent.

At present, the writing systems of all the peoples of Russia have been built on the basis of Cyril. Writing systems built on the same basis are also used in Bulgaria, partly in Yugoslavia and Mongolia. The letter, built on the Cyril basis, is now used by peoples who speak more than 60 languages. The greatest vitality, apparently, is possessed by the Latin and Cyril groups of writing systems. This is confirmed by the fact that all new peoples are gradually switching over to the Latin and Cyril basis of writing.

Thus, the foundations laid by Contantin and Methodius more than 1100 years ago continue to be continuously improved and successfully developed up to the present time. V currently most researchers believe that Cyril and Methodius created the verb, and the Cyrillic alphabet was created by their students based on the Greek alphabet.

From the turn of the X - XI centuries. major centers Slavic writing are Kiev, Novgorod, the centers of other ancient Russian principalities... The oldest Slavic-language handwritten books that have come down to us, having the date of their writing, were created in Russia. These are the Ostromir Gospel of 1056-1057, Izbornik Svyatoslav 1073, Izbornik 1076, Arkhangelsk Gospel of 1092, Novgorod Menaion dated 90s. The largest and most valuable collection of ancient manuscript books dating back to the Cyril and Methodius written heritage, as named, is located in the ancient depositories of our country.

The unyielding faith of two people in Christ and in their ascetic mission for the good of the Slavic peoples - this is what happened driving force the penetration, after all, of writing into Ancient Russia. The exceptional intelligence of one and the stoic courage of the other - the qualities of two people who lived very long before us, turned into the fact that we now write them in writing, 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 it was created by Saints Cyril and Methodius. Only with the establishment of writing begins true story the people, the history of its culture, the history of the development of its worldview, scientific knowledge, literature and art.

Cyril and Methodius never, in their life conflicts and wanderings, fell into the lands Ancient Rus... They lived more than a hundred years before they were officially baptized here and accepted their letters. It would seem that Cyril and Methodius belong to the history of other peoples. But it was they who radically turned the life of the Russian people upside down. They gave him the Cyrillic alphabet, which became the flesh and blood of his culture. And this is the greatest gift to people of a man-ascetic.

In addition to inventing the Slavic alphabet, during 40 months of their stay in Moravia, Constantine and Methodius managed to solve two problems: some of the liturgical books were translated into Church Slavonic (Old Slavic literary) language, and people who were able to serve on these books were trained. However, this was not enough for the spread of Slavic worship. Neither Constantine nor Methodius were bishops and could not ordain their disciples to priests. Cyril was a monk, Methodius was a simple priest, and the local bishop was opposed to Slavic worship. To give their activities an official status, the brothers and several of their disciples went to Rome. In Venice, Constantine entered into a discussion with opponents of worship at national languages... The popular idea in Latin spiritual literature was 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, who, according to legend, was a disciple of the Apostle Peter. Clement's relics 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 authorized the worship in the Slavic language: reason and true faith, so that he enlightens you, as you yourself asked, explaining to you in your language Holy Scripture, the entire liturgical order and holy mass, that is, services, including baptism, as the philosopher Constantine began to do with God's grace and through the prayers of St. Clement. "

After the death of the brothers, their activities were continued by their disciples, expelled from Moravia in 886, in the South Slavic countries. (In the West, the Slavic alphabet and Slavic literacy did not resist; the Western Slavs - Poles, Czechs ... - still use the Latin alphabet). The Slavic literacy firmly established itself in Bulgaria, from where it spread to the countries of the southern and eastern Slavs (IX century). Writing came to Russia in the X century (988 - the baptism of Russia). 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. Cyril developed the first ordered Slavic alphabet and thus initiated the widespread development of Slavic writing. Cyril and Methodius translated many books from Greek, which was the beginning of the formation of the Old Slavonic literary language and Slavic book business. Cyril and Methodius for many years carried out great educational work among the Western and South Slavs and greatly contributed to the spread of literacy among these peoples. There is information that Cyril also created original works. Cyril and Methodius for many years carried out great educational work among the Western and South Slavs and greatly contributed to the spread of literacy among these peoples. In the course of all their activities in Moravia and Panionia, Cyril and Methodius fought, in addition, an unceasing selfless struggle against the attempts of the German Catholic clergy to prohibit the Slavic alphabet and books.

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

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

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

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

The choice was not random. The brothers Constantine and Methodius were born in Thessaloniki (Greek Thessaloniki) in 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, Arabic languages well, taught philosophy, for which he received the nickname Philosopher. Methodius was in military service, then for several years he ruled over one of the regions inhabited by the Slavs; subsequently retired to a monastery.

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

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

in the South Slavic countries. (In the West, the Slavic alphabet and Slavic literacy did not resist; the Western Slavs - Poles, Czechs ... - still use the Latin alphabet). The Slavic literacy firmly established itself in Bulgaria, from where it spread to the countries of the southern and eastern Slavs (IX century). Writing came to Russia in the X century (988 - the baptism of Russia).

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.

The main characters of which are the Slavic teachers of the Equal-to-the-Apostles brothers Cyril and Methodius. Today everyone knows about them. And if you ask “Why do we remember them in eleven and a half centuries?”, You will most likely hear: “They invented our alphabet”. True, of course, but the alphabet is an infinitely small part of what the brothers have accomplished.

The first huge work of Cyril and Methodius consisted in the fact that they passed through their ears, perfected by their knowledge of many languages and many scripts (Greek, Latin, Hebrew, maybe Arabic ...), the sound matter of the Slavic language in order to determine what sounds can be designated by letters of the Greek alphabet, and for which special signs must be invented. Their own language experience helped them accomplish this work: Slavic speech was not unfamiliar to them: in their hometown of Soluni, it sounded on a par with Greek. But it was an exclusively oral element, the Slavs did not know letters. And it was impossible to simply take the Greek letter with its huge tradition: in the Greek language, for example, there were no sibilants, so the letters C, CH, W, Zh, Sh had to be invented.

The result of this work was the Slavic alphabet, which we call the Cyrillic alphabet and which is now written in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Bulgaria, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro.

Do not forget that not only the Slavs write in the Cyrillic alphabet: scripts based on the Cyrillic alphabet were created already in the 20th century for all peoples Soviet Union- Moldovans, Tatars, Kirghiz, Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Azerbaijanis ... True, after the collapse of the Union, some abandoned the Cyrillic alphabet - Moldova, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan. And now Kazakhstan is thinking about it.

The second incredibly important and extremely difficult work that Cyril and Methodius took upon themselves was the translation of Holy Scripture and other church texts from Greek into Slavic. They are the first Slavic translators to record the fruits of their labors in writing. It is simply impossible to imagine the enormity of this work now. In the book by Yuri Loshchits "Cyril and Methodius", which was published in the series "The Life of Remarkable People" in 2013, when we celebrated 1150 years of the feat of the Solunsk brothers, you can read about the translations of Cyril and Methodius.

When the brothers worked together, they managed to translate the Psalter, the Gospel with the Apostle, the Rules of the Law and the Fatherly Books. And it took almost six years - from 863 to 869, when Cyril dies. Methodius finds himself in dungeons. Released in 873, he can only return to translation work in 882. This is how it is described in his life, created by his students: "From your pupils, plant two priests of the cursive writer very much, put all the books together"... Translated into modern Russian it might look like this: “Having chosen two priests from among his students who learned to write very quickly, he soon translated all the books” (they are listed below). That is, the picture before us appears as follows: Methodius holds a Greek book in his hands, reads it and pronounces a Slavic text, which his students record simultaneously in two copies. Today translators for Slavic languages and from the Slavic, of course, they work in a completely different way, but they are all followers of Cyril and Methodius.

Cyril and Methodius not only translated, but also created the first written texts in the Slavic language. They composed prayers such as canon in memory of Dmitry Solunsky, on whose life they grew up in childhood. Methodius compiled life his brother, and his disciples made up the life of Methodius. This was the beginning of the Slavic hagiographic literature, which for many centuries was the basis of reading an educated person.

But in order to translate and create new texts of completely new content for the Slavs, it was necessary to have the appropriate vocabulary - and Cyril and Methodius became the creators of the Slavic sacred vocabulary... When it was created, the task was to select everything possible from the Slavic language (and then the Slavic languages were still so close that one can speak of them as one language), so that the texts of a completely new content could be understood by the parishioners of the first Slavic temples. And at the same time there was a need to introduce some Greek words, to bring them closer to Slavic grammar.

Let's take just two examples - two realities of church life - censer and stole(part of the priest's vestments, a ribbon around the neck). In the first case, a Slavic word was taken, a verbal noun from a verb to incense- how soap from wash, a awl from sew... In the second case, a Greek word, the inner form of which is rather transparent: epi means - "around", trachil- "neck" (remember medical terms trachea, trachyitis). If you translate this word in parts (such a translation is called tracing paper), you get something like an o-neck: o - around, neck - neck, nick - object. It is difficult to say whether the Slavs had a collar as a dog's accessory, but you must admit that the word sounds somehow not sacred. Therefore, probably, the Greek word was chosen.

Thus, sifting through the mass of words - Slavic and Greek, Cyril and Methodius created the vocabulary of Slavic translations of liturgical books. They took some ready-made - the word holiness the Slavs already had it, it was only necessary to rethink it. Others had to be taken from Greek as a word angel, which means "messenger" - who will now believe that this is not Russian word? The third words had to "produce" - Annunciation(this is a tracing paper of the word gospel, thanksgiving, good deed).

Today this dictionary has been studied to the smallest detail. It contains 10,000 words, half of which is not associated with Slavic speech, then alive; these are Greekisms or what was done by Cyril and Methodius.

Finally, it must be said that Cyril and Methodius were the first Slavic teachers of literature. Their disciples were not only able to absorb the Greek scholarship instilled in the Slavic mind, but also to preserve the tradition of writing in a very difficult, tragic situation, when the mission of the Slavic teachers in the Great Moravian principality was defeated, and they were sold into slavery as disciples.

So, Byzantine scholars and theologians presented to the Slavs the most valuable fruits of their labors, which later came to be called philological. This means that we can say that they are the first Slavic philologists, and at the same time take a look at the philological field of activity, without which no culture is possible. Of course, their studies are not theoretical philology, but applied philology - the one that provides verbal communication in society, creating texts and organizing their circulation. Applied philology is primary - it is aimed at creating texts and organizing their circulation; theoretical philology studies texts and the patterns of their circulation. If we use the modern terminology of philological disciplines, then we can say that Cyril and Methodius are phoneticists, graphic artists and even type designers, translators, lexicologists and grammarians, writers and creators of genres new to the Slavs. In general, all this means that they are the creators the first Slavic literary language, which for the twelfth century has been heard under the arches of Orthodox churches, penetrating the consciousness of the Slavs of many generations and shaping the Orthodox perception of the world and the Slavic word. Of course, this literary language that we call Old Church Slavonic, could not help changing in time and space, its national varieties were formed - Russian, Serbian, but they are based on the language created by the genius of the Slavic first teachers Cyril and Methodius.

The upcoming May days are dedicated to their memory - we call them the Days of Slavic Written Language and Culture. Everyone can choose how to celebrate these days. And I invite everyone to the Regional Library (in the Kremlin) to write an open dictation - that is, to celebrate the holiday of Slavic writing - with a letter, with my own hand, in the society of Novgorod scholars. The dictation will be dedicated to the homeland of Cyril and Methodius - the city of Solun, and we will write it on Sunday 28 May.