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 a large number of 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 a monastery, and the second time 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.

Cyril was educated in Constantinople at the Magnavra School, the best educational institution in 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 thoughtful 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 Clement of Ohrid, is one of the founders of Bulgarian religious literature. The 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 died, as they thought then, 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 rewriting 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.

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 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.

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 book publishing; 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 that was 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 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 skilled dialectician and an 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 composed two new literary works in Rome: “The Discovery 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 holy books into Slavic, preaching the Orthodox faith, and baptizing 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 the Thessaloniki brothers in the area of ​​Lake Ohrid, then in Bulgaria proper.

With the death of a talented brother, for the modest, but selfless and honest Methodius, a painful, truly path of the cross begins, 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, when Methodius returned 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 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 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, to be his 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, and 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 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 numerical meaning of the letters of the Cyrillic and Glagolitic alphabet, 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 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 superscript symbols 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 come a long way towards 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 “lines 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 the true history of a people begin, 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’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 peoples. 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. 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 allowed the services 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.

Cyril and Methodius are saints, equal to the apostles, Slavic educators, creators of the Slavic alphabet, preachers of Christianity, the first translators of liturgical books from Greek into Slavic. Cyril was born around 827, died on February 14, 869. Before taking monasticism at the beginning of 869, he bore the name Constantine. His elder brother Methodius was born around 820 and died on April 6, 885. Both brothers were originally from Thessalonica (Thessaloniki), their father was a military leader. In 863, Cyril and Methodius were sent by the Byzantine emperor to Moravia in order to preach Christianity in the Slavic language and assist the Moravian prince Rostislav in the fight against the German princes. Before leaving, Cyril created the Slavic alphabet and, with the help of Methodius, translated several liturgical books from Greek into Slavic: selected readings from the Gospel, apostolic epistles. Psalms, etc. There is no consensus in science on the question of which alphabet Cyril created - Glagolitic or Cyrillic, but the first assumption is more likely. In 866 or 867, Cyril and Methodius, at the call of Pope Nicholas I, headed to Rome, and on the way they visited the Principality of Blaten in Pannonia, where they also distributed Slavic literacy and introduced worship in the Slavic language. After arriving in Rome, Kirill became seriously ill and died. Methodius was ordained archbishop of Moravia and Pannonia and in 870 returned from Rome to Pannonia. In mid-884, Methodius returned to Moravia and worked on translating the Bible into Slavic. With their activities, Cyril and Methodius laid the foundation for Slavic writing and literature. This activity was continued in the South Slavic countries by their students who were expelled from Moravia in 886 and moved to Bulgaria.

CYRILL AND MEFODIUS - EDUCATIONALISTS OF THE SLAVIC PEOPLES

In 863, ambassadors from Great Moravia from Prince Rostislav arrived in Byzantium to Emperor Michael III with a request to send them a bishop and a person who could explain the Christian faith in the Slavic language. The Moravian prince Rostislav strove for the independence of the Slavic church and had already made a similar request to Rome, but was refused. Michael III and Photius, just as in Rome, reacted to Rostislav’s request formally and, having sent missionaries to Moravia, did not ordain any of them as bishops. Thus, Constantine, Methodius and their associates could only conduct educational activities, but did not have the right to ordain their students to the priesthood and deaconship. This mission could not have been crowned with success and had great significance if Constantine had not brought the Moravians a perfectly developed alphabet that was convenient for transmitting Slavic speech, as well as a translation into Slavic of the main liturgical books. Of course, the language of the translations brought by the brothers was phonetically and morphologically different from the living spoken language spoken by the Moravians, but the language of the liturgical books was initially perceived as a written, bookish, sacred, model language. It was much more understandable than Latin, and a certain dissimilarity to the language used in everyday life gave it greatness.

Constantine and Methodius read the Gospel in Slavic at services, and the people reached out to their brothers and to Christianity. Constantine and Methodius diligently taught their students the Slavic alphabet, divine services, and continued their translation activities. Churches where services were conducted in Latin were emptying, and the Roman Catholic priesthood was losing influence and income in Moravia. Since Constantine was a simple priest, and Methodius a monk, they themselves did not have the right to appoint their students to church positions. To solve the problem, the brothers had to go to Byzantium or Rome.

In Rome, Constantine handed over the relics of St. Clement to the newly ordained Pope Adrian II, so he received Constantine and Methodius very solemnly, with honor, took under his care the divine service in the Slavic language, ordered to put Slavic books in one of the Roman churches and perform a divine service over them. The Pope ordained Methodius as a priest, and his disciples as presbyters and deacons, and in a letter to princes Rostislav and Kotsel he legitimized the Slavic translation of the Holy Scriptures and the celebration of worship in the Slavic language.

The brothers spent almost two years in Rome. One of the reasons for this is Konstantin’s increasingly deteriorating health. At the beginning of 869, he accepted the schema and the new monastic name Cyril, and died on February 14. By order of Pope Adrian II, Cyril was buried in Rome, in the Church of St. Clement.

After the death of Cyril, Pope Adrian ordained Methodius as Archbishop of Moravia and Pannonia. Returning to Pannonia, Methodius began vigorous activity to spread Slavic worship and writing. However, after the removal of Rostislav, Methodius did not have strong political support left. In 871, German authorities arrested Methodius and put him on trial, accusing the archbishop of invading the domain of the Bavarian clergy. Methodius was imprisoned in a monastery in Swabia (Germany), where he spent two and a half years. Only thanks to the direct intervention of Pope John VIII, who replaced the deceased Adrian II, in 873 Methodius was released and restored to all rights, but Slavic worship became not the main one, but only an additional one: the service was conducted in Latin, and sermons could be delivered in Slavic.

After the death of Methodius, opponents of Slavic worship in Moravia became more active, and the worship itself, based on the authority of Methodius, was first oppressed and then completely extinguished. Some of the students fled to the south, some were sold into slavery in Venice, and some were killed. The closest disciples of Methodius Gorazd, Clement, Naum, Angellarius and Lawrence were imprisoned in iron, kept in prison, and then expelled from the country. The works and translations of Constantine and Methodius were destroyed. This is precisely why their works have not survived to this day, although there is quite a lot of information about their work. In 890, Pope Stephen VI anathematized Slavic books and Slavic worship, finally banning it.

The work begun by Constantine and Methodius was nevertheless continued by his disciples. Clement, Naum and Angellari settled in Bulgaria and were the founders of Bulgarian literature. Orthodox prince Boris-Mikhail, a friend of Methodius, supported his students. A new center of Slavic writing emerges in Ohrid (the territory of modern Macedonia). However, Bulgaria is under strong cultural influence from Byzantium, and one of Constantine's students (most likely Clement) creates a writing system similar to Greek writing. This happens at the end of the 9th - beginning of the 10th century, during the reign of Tsar Simeon. It is this system that receives the name Cyrillic in memory of the person who first attempted to create an alphabet suitable for recording Slavic speech.

QUESTION ABOUT THE INDEPENDENCE OF SLAVIC ABCs

The question of the independence of the Slavic alphabets is caused by the very nature of the outlines of the letters of the Cyrillic and Glagolitic alphabet and their sources. What were the Slavic alphabet - a new writing system or just a variation of the Greek-Byzantine letter? When deciding this issue, the following factors must be taken into account:

In the history of writing, there has not been a single letter-sound system that arose completely independently, without the influence of previous writing systems. Thus, Phoenician writing arose on the basis of ancient Egyptian (although the principle of writing was changed), ancient Greek - on the basis of Phoenician, Latin, Slavic - on the basis of Greek, French, German - on the basis of Latin, etc.

Consequently, we can only talk about the degree of independence of the writing system. In this case, it is much more important how accurately the modified and adapted original writing corresponds to the sound system of the language that it intends to serve. It was in this regard that the creators of Slavic writing showed great philological flair, a deep understanding of the phonetics of the Old Church Slavonic language, as well as great graphic taste.

THE ONLY STATE-CHURCH HOLIDAY

PRESIDIUM OF THE SUPREME COUNCIL OF THE RSFSR

RESOLUTION

ABOUT THE DAY OF SLAVIC WRITING AND CULTURE

Attaching great importance to the cultural and historical revival of the peoples of Russia and taking into account the international practice of celebrating the day of the Slavic educators Cyril and Methodius, the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR decides:

Chairman

Supreme Council of the RSFSR

In 863, 1150 years ago, the Equal-to-the-Apostles brothers Cyril and Methodius began their Moravian mission to create our written language. It is spoken about in the main Russian chronicle “The Tale of Bygone Years”: “And the Slavs were glad that they heard about the greatness of God in their language.”

And the second anniversary. In 1863, 150 years ago, the Russian Holy Synod determined: in connection with the celebration of the millennium of the Moravian mission of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Brothers, an annual celebration in honor of the Venerable Methodius and Cyril should be established on May 11 (24 AD).

In 1986, on the initiative of writers, especially the late Vitaly Maslov, the first Writing Festival was held in Murmansk, and the next year it was widely celebrated in Vologda. Finally, on January 30, 1991, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR adopted a resolution on the annual holding of Days of Slavic Culture and Literature. Readers do not need to be reminded that May 24 is also the name day of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus'.

Logically, it seems that the only state-church holiday in Russia has every reason to acquire not only a national significance, as in Bulgaria, but also pan-Slavic significance.

Koloskova Kristina

The presentation was created on the topic: “Creators of the Slavic alphabet: Cyril and Methodius” Goal: to attract students to independently search for information, develop students’ creative abilities.

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Cyril and Methodius. The work was completed by a student of grade 4 “a” of the Municipal Educational Institution “Secondary School No. 11” in the city of Kimry, Tver Region, Kristina Koloskova

"And the native Rus' of the Holy Apostles of the Slavs will glorify"

Page I “In the beginning was the word...” Cyril and Methodius Cyril and Methodius, Slavic educators, creators of the Slavic alphabet, preachers of Christianity, the first translators of liturgical books from Greek into Slavic. Cyril (before taking monasticism in 869 - Constantine) (827 - 02/14/869) and his older brother Methodius (815 - 04/06/885) were born in the city of Thessaloniki in the family of a military leader. The boys' mother was Greek, and their father was Bulgarian, so from childhood they had two native languages ​​- Greek and Slavic. The brothers' characters were very similar. Both read a lot and loved to study.

Holy brothers Cyril and Methodius, educators of the Slavs. In 863-866, the brothers were sent to Great Moravia to present Christian teachings in a language understandable to the Slavs. Great teachers translated the books of the Holy Scriptures, using Eastern Bulgarian dialects as the basis, and created a special alphabet - the Glagolitic alphabet - for their texts. The activities of Cyril and Methodius had a pan-Slavic significance and influenced the formation of many Slavic literary languages.

Saint Equal to the Apostles Cyril (827 - 869), nicknamed the Philosopher, Slovenian teacher. When Konstantin was 7 years old, he had a prophetic dream: “My father gathered all the beautiful girls of Thessaloniki and ordered one of them to be chosen as his wife. Having examined everyone, Konstantin chose the most beautiful; her name was Sophia (Greek for wisdom).” So, even in childhood, he became engaged to wisdom: for him, knowledge and books became the meaning of his whole life. Constantine received an excellent education at the imperial court in the capital of Byzantium - Constantinople. He quickly studied grammar, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music, and knew 22 languages. Interest in science, perseverance in learning, hard work - all this made him one of the most educated people of Byzantium. It is no coincidence that he was nicknamed the Philosopher for his great wisdom. Saint Equal to the Apostles Cyril

Methodius of Moravia Saint Methodius Equal to the Apostles Methodius entered military service early. For 10 years he was the manager of one of the regions inhabited by the Slavs. Around 852, he took monastic vows, renouncing the rank of archbishop, and became abbot of the monastery. Polychron on the Asian shore of the Sea of ​​Marmara. In Moravia he was imprisoned for two and a half years and dragged through the snow in the bitter cold. The Enlightener did not renounce his service to the Slavs, but in 874 he was released by John VIII and restored to his episcopate rights. Pope John VIII forbade Methodius to perform the Liturgy in the Slavic language, but Methodius, visiting Rome in 880, achieved the lifting of the ban. In 882-884 he lived in Byzantium. In mid-884, Methodius returned to Moravia and worked on translating the Bible into Slavic.

Glagolitic is one of the first (along with Cyrillic) Slavic alphabets. It is assumed that it was the Glagolitic alphabet that was created by the Slavic enlightener St. Konstantin (Kirill) Philosopher for recording church texts in the Slavic language. Glagolitic

The Old Church Slavonic alphabet was compiled by the scientist Cyril and his brother Methodius at the request of the Moravian princes. That's what it's called - Cyrillic. This is the Slavic alphabet, it has 43 letters (19 vowels). Each has its own name, similar to ordinary words: A - az, B - beeches, V - lead, G - verb, D - good, F - live, Z - earth and so on. ABC - the name itself is derived from the names of the first two letters. In Rus', the Cyrillic alphabet became widespread after the adoption of Christianity (988). The Slavic alphabet turned out to be perfectly adapted to accurately convey the sounds of the Old Russian language. This alphabet is the basis of our alphabet. Cyrillic

In 863, the word of God began to sound in Moravian cities and villages in their native Slavic language, writings and secular books were created. Slavic chronicles began. The Soloun brothers devoted their entire lives to teaching, knowledge, and service to the Slavs. They did not attach much importance to wealth, honors, fame, or career. The younger, Constantine, read a lot, reflected, wrote sermons, and the eldest, Methodius, was more of an organizer. Constantine translated from Greek and Latin into Slavic, wrote, creating the alphabet, in Slavic, Methodius “published” books, led a school of students. Konstantin was not destined to return to his homeland. When they arrived in Rome, he became seriously ill, took monastic vows, received the name Cyril, and died a few hours later. He remained to live with this name in the blessed memory of his descendants. Buried in Rome. The beginning of Slavic chronicles.

The spread of writing in Rus' In Ancient Rus', literacy and books were revered. Historians and archaeologists believe that the total number of handwritten books before the 14th century was approximately 100 thousand copies. After the adoption of Christianity in Rus' - in 988 - writing began to spread faster. The liturgical books were translated into Old Church Slavonic. Russian scribes rewrote these books, adding features of their native language to them. This is how the Old Russian literary language was gradually created, works of Old Russian authors appeared (unfortunately, often nameless) - “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”, “The Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh”, “The Life of Alexander Nevsky” and many others.

Yaroslav the Wise Grand Duke Yaroslav “loved books, read them often both night and day. And he gathered many scribes and they translated from Greek into the Slavic language and they wrote many books” (chronicle of 1037) Among these books were chronicles written by monks, old and young, secular people, these were “lives”, historical songs, “teachings” , "messages". Yaroslav the Wise

“They teach the alphabet to the entire hut and shout” (V.I. Dal “Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language”) V.I. Dal In Ancient Rus' there were no textbooks yet, education was based on church books, you had to memorize huge texts-psalms - instructive chants. The names of the letters were learned by heart. When learning to read, the letters of the first syllable were first named, then this syllable was pronounced; then the letters of the second syllable were named, and the second syllable was pronounced, and so on, and only after that the syllables were formed into a whole word, for example BOOK: kako, ours, izhe - KNI, verb, az - GA. That's how difficult it was to learn to read and write.

IV page “Revival of the Slavic holiday” Macedonia Ohrid Monument to Cyril and Methodius Already in the 9th – 10th centuries, the first traditions of glorifying and venerating the creators of Slavic writing began to emerge in the homeland of Cyril and Methodius. But soon the Roman Church began to oppose the Slavic language, calling it barbaric. Despite this, the names of Cyril and Methodius continued to live among the Slavic people, and in the middle of the 14th century they were officially canonized as saints. In Russia it was different. The memory of the Slavic enlighteners was celebrated already in the 11th century; here they were never considered heretics, that is, atheists. But still, only scientists were more interested in this. Wide celebrations of the Slavic word began in Russia in the early 60s of the last century.

On the holiday of Slavic writing on May 24, 1992, the grand opening of the monument to Saints Cyril and Methodius by sculptor Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Klykov took place on Slavyanskaya Square in Moscow. Moscow. Slavyanskaya Square

Kyiv Odessa

Thessaloniki Mukachevo

Chelyabinsk Saratov Monument to Cyril and Methodius was opened on May 23, 2009. Sculptor Alexander Rozhnikov

On the territory of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, near the Far Caves, a monument was erected to the creators of the Slavic alphabet, Cyril and Methodius.

Monument to Saints 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 on 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.

Thank you for your attention!

It is not human nature to appreciate what he has long and habitually used. Only with the advent of old age or premature illnesses does the price of health become known. The homeland is especially dearly loved for a person living far away. Air, bread, loved ones reveal their true value only with loss or at least the threat of loss. It is difficult for us, who have been able to read and write since childhood, to understand the magnitude of this gift. Therefore, let’s use our will and strain our imagination - imagine ourselves as illiterate.

Our princes cannot communicate their will to distant cities, they cannot send them a decree or a letter. Therefore, our people are so small that the voice of the leader is heard both by those standing closest and by those farthest away. The surrounding peoples are completely alien to us. We don’t know their history, we don’t communicate with them. They are for us - "Germans", i.e. mute, because we do not understand their language. Our knowledge of the world around us, our memory of our history is so small that it is retained by collective memory. Everything that exceeds its volume is necessarily forgotten, is not immortalized and is carried away by the river of time. We have no poetry except folk poetry, and no science except witchcraft and priestly knowledge. We, of course, do not write love letters or promissory notes. Unique and original in our denseness, we do not need anyone and are not interesting to anyone.

Only if a strong and numerous enemy, an enemy at a higher level of development, becomes interested in our open spaces and riches, do we risk emerging from the historical shadow. But then we risk becoming the object of military expansion and someone else’s cultural mission. We risk dissolving like a trickle in a strange and aggressive sea.

Often the alphabet comes along with faith and a new way of life. All the peoples to whom the sword was brought Islam, began to write in Arabic script. Where you set your foot Catholic missionary, people eventually began to write in Latin letters. But with us everything was different. In the spirit of evangelical love, the Greek Church sought to evangelize, but did not strive at any cost to turn newly converted peoples into Greeks. For the sake of us, the Slavs, and for our salvation, the Church accomplished an intellectual feat and composed a new alphabet for us. If we knew the name of the one who first tamed a horse or invented a potter's wheel, then the name of this person would be worthy of greater glory than the names of mythical heroes. How much more glory do the creators of the Slavic alphabet - the brothers Cyril and Methodius - deserve?

Any alphabet is similar to periodic table. This is not a set of symbolic signs, but a harmonious unity that reflects the worldview of the people, their deep thoughts about this world and the future. Through the image of the alphabet, Scripture reveals to us the idea of ​​the infinite perfection of the Creator, of God as the fullness of being. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last (Rev. 22:13).

Life Kirill And Methodius described many times and in detail. Let's say a few words about their creation - about Slavic alphabet.

At first there were two of them - Cyrillic And Glagolitic. Moreover, scientists believe that the Glagolitic alphabet existed earlier. It did not catch on and is known today only to philologists. But the Cyrillic alphabet took root and grew into such a branchy tree that a lifetime would not be enough to list its leaves. "War and Peace" And "The Brothers Karamazov" blossomed on Cyrillic branches. Is it just them?

The alphabet bears the name of his younger brother - Kirill (before monasticism - Konstantin). Even in his early youth he earned the nickname Philosopher for his keen mind and extensive knowledge. Not getting enough of the usual teaching, he early began to memorize the works of Gregory the Theologian and pray to him. Pure and high-flying spirit "singer of the Holy Trinity" I also reported to Konstantin. Only thanks to his theological giftedness and prayerful depth was Constantine able to accomplish the work entrusted by God.

So in any sacred work, first of all it was necessary to humble yourself and humble yourself. It was necessary to fall in love and learn the Slavic language, to literally dissolve in it, without forgetting the native Greek. To convey Slavic speech in writing the language of the Hellenes was taken as a basis. But in it 24 letters, and many Slavic sounds are missing from it. No sound "b", there is no corresponding letter, without which you cannot write the most important word “God”. No hissing, no sound "h". In a word, what was needed was not a tracing paper, not a copy, but creativity and the creation of something new that had never existed before. Some letters were taken from Jewish. So, "shin" And "tsade" turned into "sh" And "ts", preserving the style almost unchanged.

As a result of labors impossible without help from above, an alphabet appeared, consisting of 38 letters. Since then, a lot has changed in the phonetics of Slavic languages. Stopped sounding "er" And "Fuck it." They have not left the spelling, but they used to be pronounced, and now they have turned into solid And soft signs and modestly indicate the softness and hardness of consonants. Started to sound different "yat". Where the Russian reads in the Old Church Slavonic text “forest”, “demon”, “to you”, Ukrainian pronounces “lis”, “bis”, “tobi”. Much else has changed in the Slavic languages ​​and dialects, but the structure of the Slavic alphabet has been preserved. The skeleton is hard, and the proverb is true: “If there were bones, the meat would grow.”

It is interesting that Slavic writing was first in demand where it is used today Latin alphabet. Baptized in 830 Great Moravian Duchy wished to have the Holy Scriptures in her native language. Prince Rostislav turned his gaze to Byzantium, which, unlike Rome, knew how to listen to those who received Baptism from it. Emperor Michael I didn’t think long and sent Constantine (Kirill), with whom I was brought up together and whose talents I knew firsthand, to the Slavs.

It's not the residents' fault Moravia, Pannonia and other Slavic lands, that the cause of the Thessalonica brothers was suppressed by the aggressive mission of the German bishops. In history it often happens that what is done by some is understood and used in its entirety by others. It was the same with our alphabet. On the territory of modern Czech Republic for the first time the Easter chant written in Slavic letters was heard: From time immemorial beashe the word (John 1:1). Since then, this intelligent, written word has spread further than the creators of the alphabet dreamed of.

Praise to Cyril and Methodius is not only an annual prayer memorial or singing an akathist. This is, firstly, the desire to realize in life the great ideal of the Slavic Orthodox brotherhood, the brotherhood of those who read the Gospel written in Cyrillic.

This, of course, is a thoughtful and loving attitude towards the Slavic alphabet. Today, we, who know so much, we, whose speech is densely peppered with vocabulary borrowed from a variety of cultures, need the Church Slavonic language like a cool shower in the middle of a sultry summer. In this language, each letter has a name. If you pronounce them one after another, then often three adjacent letters form a sentence. Where in the Russian alphabet we mechanically pronounce: "ka", "el", "um", - in Slavic we say: “what”, “people”, “thinking”. That is, we ask ourselves the question: “People, what (how) are you thinking?”

Where in Russian they usually list: “er”, “es”, “te”,- Slavic commands: “rtsy”, “word”, “firmly”. That is: let your word be firm. And how many more such theological and philological discoveries await a book lover interested in the Slavic alphabet? This is not just absorbing information indifferent to faith and morality. This is always good edification.

This language must be taught not only in Sunday schools and in the course of Slavic philology. It is worth getting acquainted with it in a regular school during history lessons, or the native language, or the foundations of Orthodox culture.

Every time we look lovingly at pages numbered with letters rather than numbers; on pages with Greek "izhitsa" or ornate "xi" And "psi", we will travel back in time. This will be a journey to those distant times when the Thessaloniki brothers forged a golden key for the Slavs to open the door to the spiritual treasury. I think that travel will be gratitude at the same time.

The question that still torments modern philological researchers is this: what alphabet did the brothers invent - Glagolitic or Cyrillic?

Both the Glagolitic alphabet and the Cyrillic alphabet are two alphabets in which the monuments of the Slavic language that have reached us were written.

Both Glagolitic and Cyrillic are two alphabets of the Slavic language

Nowadays we don’t use the Glagolitic alphabet at all: in the eyes of modern people, it is a set of letters that are incomprehensible in design. Cyrillic is much more familiar to us: this alphabet is the basis of modern Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Serbian and Bulgarian languages. There is an opinion that it originated on the territory of the first Bulgarian state as a kind of compromise between the Bulgarian clergy and nobility, who insisted on conducting services in the language of the local flock, and the dogmatic Greek clergy, who asserted the monopoly position of the Greek language.

However, let us return to the question that haunts modern philology.

The logic and consonance of the words will incline you to the opinion that the Cyrillic alphabet is, without a doubt, the alphabet that was invented by Kirill. However, the Old Church Slavonic sources that have reached us do not provide unambiguous information: they date back to the tenth century, in which both the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabet already existed. Accordingly, it is impossible to establish which alphabet appeared first and which of them was invented by the younger brother of Thessaloniki (both Cyril and Methodius were natives of Thessaloniki). Therefore, this question still remains open.

A little history...

Cyril and Methodius traveled to Great Moravia from the Byzantine capital after the Moravian prince Rostislav came to Constantinople with an unusual request. The Christian principality under his control on the Middle Danube was subordinate to a bishop in the German town of Passau, but Rostislav wanted to have his own bishop and people preaching not in Latin, but in a language understandable to local residents. In order to avoid possible conflicts with the Germans, the emperor and patriarch of Byzantium sent not a new bishop to Moravia, but the already well-known educators Cyril and Methodius with the words: “You are Thessalonians, and all Thessalonians speak pure Slavic.”

Both brothers had unique strengths: Methodius, for example, before being tonsured was the governor of one of the Byzantine provinces, which developed in him the talent of an organizer and a person versed in the laws. Cyril, in turn, was an experienced polemicist on religious issues: he took part in Byzantine embassies to the Arab Caliphate, and went to the Lower Volga to the Khazars.

Also, the younger Thessalonian was distinguished by his exceptional ability for languages: he knew Arabic, Hebrew and Syriac, and was interested in comparative grammar. It was Kirill who said about the need to create a new alphabet: “Who can write a conversation on water and not be branded a heretic?” - I mean that the inhabitants of Moravia did not have their own alphabet.

Before becoming a monk, Methodius was the governor of one of the Byzantine provinces

During the three and a half years of their stay in Moravia, the brothers translated all the texts for worship from Greek, and also taught several dozen people new literacy. Their work was not without difficulties: the Latin clergy, represented by the Germans, strongly opposed any translations, insisting that texts could only be studied in one of the three “sacred” languages ​​- Hebrew/Latin/Greek, while in the languages ​​of the local flock they can only be subject to explanation. Cyril and Methodius, accused of heresy, were summoned by Pope Nicholas I, but he died before their arrival. His successor, Andrian II, greeted the “Slavic apostles” cordially: he allowed services in the Slavic language in some Roman churches, and the disciples of Cyril and Methodius with his consent were able to become priests.

Together, Cyril and Methodius translated almost the entire Bible and translated the Nomocanon, a collection of teachings for the main holidays of the church. They also compiled the first legal monument in the Slavic language - “The Law of Judgment for People.”

On his deathbed, February 14, 869, Cyril said to his brother Methodius: “You and I, like two oxen, plowed the same furrow. I am exhausted, but don’t think about leaving the work of teaching and retiring to your mountain again.” Methodius heeded his instructions and continued to educate his students, engage in literary work and translations along with the post of archbishop, to which he was soon appointed.

“Life is given to man so that it serves him, and not he serves it,” one of the brothers once said. But they really succeeded.