The history of the creation of the Slavic alphabet. Slavic alphabet: history of origin The creation of the Slavic alphabet was

Kostin Pavel 3rd grade

May 24 is the Day of Slavic Culture and Literature. Founders Slavic writing Cyril and Methodius are considered. The work of a 3rd grade student, dedicated to the founders of Slavic writing.

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Kostin Pavel, 3rd grade

Cyril and Methodius - the founders of Slavic writing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

purely Slavic" (beginning of 863).

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

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

Constantinople and showed brilliant philological talent. He has mastered perfectly

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"sch" etc. To us, Russian people, and to those for whom Russian is their native language, it seems funny,

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

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

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

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

sounds signs-letters.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

comrades thrown into prison.

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

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

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

Christianity, and to ancient Rus'.

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

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

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

graphics (writing). The last reform of the Cyrillic alphabet took place in 1917-1918. In total there were

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

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

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

languages "alpha" and "vita".

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

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

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

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

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

How did distant ancestors learn to read and write?

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

students. The teaching methods were very imperfect. Folk proverbs

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

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

It was not possible to learn the Old Church Slavonic alphabet simple matter. Not sounds were pronounced, but

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

learn both pronunciation and responsibility for the spoken word.

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

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

haven't remembered yet.

Literature:

Great Encyclopedia of Primary School

Excerpts from historical sources"The Tale of Bygone Years" and "The Life of Konstantin-Kirill"

Send your good work in the knowledge base is simple. Use the form below

Students, graduate students, young scientists who use the knowledge base in their studies and work will be very grateful to you.

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Introduction. Short story letters

1. The origins of Russian writing

1.1 Slavic alphabet and Greek alphabet

1.2 How and where did our alphabet come from and why is it called Cyrillic?

1.3 How Cyril and Methodius created the alphabet

2. “The Tale of Bygone Years” about the beginning of Slavic writing

3. From the lives of Cyril and Methodius

4. Cyrillic letters and their names

5. Composition of the Russian alphabet

Conclusion

Literature

Introduction

A Brief History of Letters

When we try to imagine the beginning of Russian literature, our thought necessarily turns to the history of writing. The importance of writing in the history of the development of civilization can hardly be overestimated. Language, like a mirror, reflects the whole world, our whole life. And reading written or printed texts, it’s as if we are getting into a time machine and can be transported to both recent times and the distant past.

The possibilities of writing are not limited by time or distance. But people did not always master the art of writing. This art has been developing for a long time, over many millennia.

First, picture writing (pictography) appeared: some event was depicted in the form of a drawing, then they began to depict not the event, but individual objects, first maintaining the similarity with what was depicted, and then in the form of conventional signs (ideography, hieroglyphs), and, finally, learned to depict not objects, but to convey their names with signs (sound writing). Initially, only consonant sounds were used in sound writing, and vowels were either not perceived at all, or were indicated by additional symbols (syllabic writing). Syllabic writing was used by many Semitic peoples, including the Phoenicians.

The Greeks created their alphabet based on the Phoenician letter, but significantly improved it by introducing special signs for vowel sounds. The Greek letter formed the basis of the Latin alphabet, and in the 9th century the Slavic letter was created by using letters of the Greek alphabet.

The great work of creating the Slavic alphabet was accomplished by the brothers Constantine (who took the name Cyril at baptism) and Methodius. The main merit in this matter belongs to Kirill. Methodius was his faithful assistant. Compiling the Slavic alphabet, Kirill was able to discern in the sound of the Slavic language he had known since childhood (and this was probably one of the dialects of the ancient Bulgarian language) the basic sounds of this language and find letter designations for each of them. When reading Old Church Slavonic, we pronounce the words as they are written. In the Old Church Slavonic language we will not find such a discrepancy between the sound of words and their pronunciation, as, for example, in English or French.

The Slavic book language (Old Church Slavonic) became widespread as common language for many Slavic peoples. It was used by the Southern Slavs (Bulgarians, Serbs, Croats), Western Slavs (Czechs, Slovaks), Eastern Slavs (Ukrainians, Belarusians, Russians).

In memory of the great feat of Cyril and Methodius, the Day of Slavic Literature is celebrated all over the world on May 24. It is celebrated especially solemnly in Bulgaria. There are festive processions with the Slavic alphabet and icons of the holy brothers. Since 1987, a holiday of Slavic writing and culture began to be held in our country on this day. The Russian people pay tribute to the memory and gratitude of “the teachers of the Slavic countries...”

writing alphabet cyrillic slavic

1. The origins of Russian writing

1.1 SlavsChinese alphabet and Greek alphabet

Do you know how Russian writing originated? If you don't know, we can tell you. But first answer this question: how does the alphabet differ from the alphabet?

The word “alphabet” comes from the names of the first two letters of the Slavic alphabet: A (az) and B (buki):

ABC: AZ + BUKI

and the word “alphabet” comes from the name of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet:

ALPHABET: ALPHA + VITA

The alphabet is much older than the alphabet. In the 9th century there was no alphabet, and the Slavs did not have their own letters. And therefore there was no writing. The Slavs could not write books or even letters to each other in their language.

1.2 How and where did our alphabet come from and why is it called Cyrillic?

In the 9th century in Byzantium, in the city of Thessaloniki (now the city of Thessaloniki in Greece), two brothers lived - Constantine and Methodius. They were wise and very educated people and knew the Slavic language well. The Greek king Michael sent these brothers to the Slavs in response to the request of the Slavic prince Rostislav. (Rostislav asked to send teachers who could tell the Slavs about the holy Christian books, book words unknown to them and their meaning).

And so the brothers Constantine and Methodius came to the Slavs to create the Slavic alphabet, which later became known as the Cyrillic alphabet. (In honor of Constantine, who, having become a monk, received the name Cyril).

1.3 HowCyril and Methodius created the alphabet

Cyril and Methodius took the Greek alphabet and adapted it to the sounds of the Slavic language. So our alphabet is a “daughter” of the Greek alphabet.

Many of our letters are taken from Greek, which is why they look similar to them.

2. "The Tale of Bygone Years" aboutthe beginning of Slavic writing

From our main witness to the initial history of Rus' - “The Tale of Bygone Years” - we learn that one day the Slavic princes Rostislav, Svyatopolk and Kotsel sent ambassadors to the Byzantine Tsar Michael with the following words:

“Our land is baptized, but we have no teacher who would instruct and teach us, and explain the holy books. After all, we don’t know either Greek language, neither Latin; Some teach us this way, and others teach us differently, so we don’t know either the shape of the letters or their meaning. And send us teachers who could tell us about book words and their meaning.”

Then Tsar Michael summoned two learned brothers, Constantine and Methodius, and “The king persuaded them and sent them to the Slavic land to Rostislav, Svyatopolk and Kotsel. When these brothers arrived, they began to compile the Slavic alphabet and translated the Apostle and the Gospel.”

This happened in 863. This is where Slavic writing originates.

However, there were people who began to blaspheme Slavic books and said that “No people should have their own alphabet, except the Jews, Greeks and Latins, as in the inscription of Pilate, who wrote on the cross of the Lord only in these languages.”

To protect Slavic writings, the brothers Constantine and Methodius went to Rome. The Bishop of Rome condemned those who complained about Slavic books, saying: “Let the word of Scripture be fulfilled: “Let all nations praise God!” That is, let every nation pray to God in its own way native language". So he approved the Divine service in the Slavic language.

3. Frombiographies of Cyril and Methodius

Among the oldest monuments of Slavic writing, a special and honorable place is occupied by the biographies of the creators of Slavic literature - Saints Cyril and Methodius, such as “The Life of Constantine the Philosopher”, “The Life of Methodius” and “Eulogy to Cyril and Methodius”.

From these sources we learn that the brothers were from the Macedonian city of Thessaloniki. Now it is the city of Thessaloniki on the shores of the Aegean Sea. Methodius was the eldest of seven brothers, and the youngest was Constantine. He received the name Cyril when he was tonsured a monk just before his death. The father of Methodius and Constantine held the high position of assistant to the city manager. There is an assumption that their mother was Slavic, because from childhood the brothers knew the Slavic language as well as Greek.

The future Slavic educators received an excellent upbringing and education. From infancy, Konstantin discovered extraordinary mental gifts. While studying at the Thessaloniki school and not yet reaching the age of fifteen, he had already read the books of the most thoughtful of the Church Fathers - Gregory the Theologian (IV century). The rumor about Constantine's talent reached Constantinople, and then he was taken to the court, where he studied with the emperor's son from the best teachers in the capital of Byzantium. Constantine studied ancient literature with the famous scientist Photius, the future Patriarch of Constantinople. He also studied philosophy, rhetoric ( oratory), mathematics, astronomy and music. A brilliant career at the imperial court, wealth and marriage to a noble, beautiful girl awaited Constantine. But he preferred to retire to the monastery “to Olympus to his brother Methodius,” says his biography, “he began to live there and constantly pray to God, occupied only with books.”

However, Konstantin was unable to spend long periods of time in solitude. As the best preacher and defender of Orthodoxy, he is often sent to neighboring countries to participate in disputes. These trips were very successful for Konstantin. Once, traveling to the Khazars, he visited Crimea. Having baptized up to two hundred people and taking with him the captive Greeks who had been released, Constantine returned to the capital of Byzantium and began to continue his scientific works there.

Poor health, but imbued with a strong religious feeling and love of science, Konstantin from childhood dreamed of solitary prayer and book studies. His whole life was filled with frequent difficult trips, severe hardships and very hard work. Such a life undermined his strength, and at the age of 42 he became very ill. Anticipating his approaching end, he became a monk, changing his worldly name Konstantin to the name Cyril. After that, he lived another 50 days, read the confessional prayer for the last time, said goodbye to his brother and disciples, and died quietly on February 14, 869. This happened in Rome, when the brothers once again came to seek protection from the Pope for their cause - the spread of Slavic writing.

Immediately after the death of Cyril, his icon was painted. Cyril was buried in Rome in the Church of St. Clement.

4. Cyrillic letters and their names

Figure 1 - "Cyrillic letters and their names"

The Cyrillic alphabet, shown in Figure 1, has undergone gradual improvement as it has been used in the Russian language.

Development of the Russian nation in early XVIII c., the emerging needs for printing civil books necessitated the need to simplify the lettering of the Cyrillic alphabet.

In 1708, a Russian civil font was created, and Peter I himself took an active part in making sketches of letters. In 1710, a sample of a new alphabet font was approved. This was the first reform of Russian graphics. The essence of Peter's reform was to simplify the composition of the Russian alphabet by excluding from it such outdated and unnecessary letters as “psi”, “xi”, “omega”, “izhitsa”, “earth”, “izhe”, “yus small”. However, later, probably under the influence of the clergy, some of these letters were restored to use. The letter E (“E” is reverse) was introduced in order to distinguish it from the yotized letter E, as well as the letter Y instead of the small yotized yus.

In the civil font, uppercase (capital) and lowercase (small) letters are established for the first time.

The letter Y (and a short one) was introduced by the Academy of Sciences in 1735. The letter Y was first used by N.M. Karamzin in 1797 to designate the sound [o] under stress after soft consonants, for example: palate, dark.

In the 18th century in the literary language, the sound denoted by the letter Ъ (yat) coincided with the sound [ uh]. Bush's Kommersant, thus, turned out to be practically unnecessary, but according to tradition, it is still long time remained in the Russian alphabet until 1917-1918.

Spelling reform 1917-1918 two letters that duplicated each other were excluded: “yat”, “fita”, “and decimal”. The letter b (er) was retained only as a dividing sign, b (er) - as a dividing sign and to indicate the softness of the preceding consonant. Regarding Yo, the decree contains a clause on the desirability, but not obligatory nature, of using this letter. Reform 1917-- 1918 simplified Russian letter and thus facilitated learning to read and write.

5. Composition of the Russian alphabet

The Russian alphabet has 33 letters, of which 10 indicate vowels, 21 consonants, and 2 letters do not indicate special sounds, but serve to convey certain sound features. The Russian alphabet, shown in Table 1, has uppercase (capital) and lowercase (small) letters, printed and handwritten letters.

Table 1 - Russian alphabet and letter names

Conclusion

Throughout the history of the Russian alphabet, there was a struggle with “extra” letters, culminating in a partial victory during the reform of graphics by Peter I (1708-1710) and a final victory during the spelling reform of 1917-1918.

In my work, I understood the historical role of Cyril and Methodius in the creation of Slavic writing. Comparing the Cyrillic alphabet and the modern Russian alphabet, I saw different styles of letters and their location, different numbers of letters, discovered doublet letters, observed the history of the loss of individual letters from the alphabet and the appearance of new letters in it.

Literature

1. Vetvitsky V.G. Modern Russian writing. /V.G. Vetvitsky//- M.: Education, 1994. -143 p.

2. Vetvitsky V.G. Modern Russian writing. Optional course. Manual for students / V.G. Vetvitsky//- M.: Education, 1999. -127 p.

3. Gorbachevich K.S. Russian language. Past. The present. The future: a book for extracurricular reading(8-10 grade) /K.S.Gorbachevich// - M.: Education, 1996. - 191s.

4. Dal V.I. Dictionary of the living Great Russian language. In four volumes./V.I. Dahl. - M.: AST-ASTREL, 2009. - 834 p.

5. Kolesov V.V. History of the Russian language in stories / V.V. Kolesov//- M.: “Enlightenment”, 1996-175 p.

6. Lyustrova Z.N., Skvortsov L.I., Deryagin V.Ya. Conversations about the Russian word / Z.N. Lyustrova, L.I. Skvortsov, V.Ya. Deryagin//- M.: “Knowledge”, 1976-144p.

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Cyril and Methodius. The work was completed by a student of grade 4 “a” of the Municipal Educational Institution “ high school No. 11" 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 early military service. 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, C - 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 to them native language. 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 and shout at the top of their voices” (V.I.Dal “ Dictionary living Great Russian language") V.I. Dal In Ancient Rus' there were no textbooks yet; education was based on church books, and it was necessary 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, in the homeland of Cyril and Methodius, the first traditions of glorifying and venerating the creators of Slavic writing began to emerge. 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 mid-XIV century they were officially ranked among the 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!

The emergence Slavic writing turns 1155 years old. In 863, according to the official version, the brothers Cyril (in the world Constantine the Philosopher, born in 826-827) and Methodius (worldly name unknown, presumably Michael, born before 820) created the basis of the modern Cyrillic alphabet.
The acquisition of writing by the Slavic peoples had the same historical and geopolitical significance as the discovery of America.
In the middle of the 1st millennium AD. e. The Slavs settled vast territories in Central, Southern and Eastern Europe. Their neighbors in the south were Greece, Italy, Byzantium - a kind of cultural standards of human civilization.
Young Slavic “barbarians” constantly violated the borders of their southern neighbors. To curb them, Rome and Byzantium began to make attempts to convert the “barbarians” to the Christian faith, subordinating their daughter churches to the main one - the Latin one in Rome, the Greek one in Constantinople. Missionaries began to be sent to the “barbarians.” Among the messengers of the church, no doubt, there were many who sincerely and confidently fulfilled their spiritual duty, and the Slavs themselves, living in close contact with the European medieval world, were increasingly inclined to the need to enter the fold of the Christian church. At the beginning of the 9th century, the Slavs began to actively accept Christianity.
And then a new task arose. How to make accessible to converts a huge layer of world Christian culture - sacred scriptures, prayers, letters of the apostles, works of the church fathers? Slavic language, differing in dialects, for a long time remained united: everyone understood each other perfectly. However, the Slavs did not yet have writing. “Before, the Slavs, when they were pagans, did not have letters,” says the Legend of the Monk Brave “On Letters,” “but they [counted] and told fortunes with the help of features and cuts.” However, during trade transactions, when accounting for the economy, or when it was necessary to accurately convey some message, it is unlikely that “hells and cuts” were enough. There was a need to create Slavic writing.
“When [the Slavs] were baptized,” said the Monk Khrabr, “they tried to write down Slavic speech in Roman [Latin] and Greek letters without order.” These experiments have partially survived to this day: sounding Slavic, but recorded in the 10th century with Latin letters the main prayers common among the Western Slavs. Or another interesting monument - documents in which Bulgarian texts are written in Greek letters, from the times when the Bulgarians still spoke the Turkic language (later the Bulgarians will speak Slavic).
And yet, neither the Latin nor the Greek alphabets corresponded to the sound palette of the Slavic language. Words whose sound cannot be correctly conveyed in Greek or Latin letters were already cited by the Monk Brave: belly, tsrkvi, aspiration, youth, tongue and others. But another side of the problem has also emerged - political. Latin missionaries did not at all strive to make the new faith understandable to believers. In the Roman Church there was a widespread belief that there were “only three languages in which it is proper to glorify God with the help of (special) writing: Hebrew, Greek and Latin.” In addition, Rome firmly adhered to the position that the “secret” of Christian teaching should be known only to the clergy, and that for ordinary Christians, very few specially processed texts were enough - the very beginnings of Christian knowledge.
In Byzantium they looked at all this, apparently, somewhat differently; here they began to think about creating Slavic letters. “My grandfather, and my father, and many others looked for them and did not find them,” Emperor Michael III will say to the future creator of the Slavic alphabet, Constantine the Philosopher. It was Constantine who he called upon when an embassy from Moravia (part of the territory of modern Czech Republic) came to Constantinople in the early 860s. The top of Moravian society adopted Christianity three decades ago, but the German church was active among them. Apparently, trying to gain complete independence, the Moravian prince Rostislav asked “a teacher to explain to us the right faith in our language...”.
“No one can accomplish this, only you,” the Tsar admonished Constantine the Philosopher. This difficult, honorable mission fell simultaneously on the shoulders of his brother, abbot (abbot) of the Orthodox monastery Methodius. “You are Thessalonians, and the Solunians all speak pure Slavic,” was another argument of the emperor.
Cyril and Methodius, two brothers, actually came from the Greek city of Thessaloniki (its modern name is Thessaloniki) in northern Greece. The southern Slavs lived in the neighborhood, and for the inhabitants of Thessalonica, the Slavic language apparently became the second language of communication.
Constantine and Methodius were born in great rich family, where there were seven children. She belonged to a noble Greek family: the head of the family, named Leo, was revered as an important person in the city. Konstantin grew up the youngest. As a seven-year-old child (as his Life tells it), he saw a “prophetic dream”: he had to choose his wife from all the girls in the city. And he pointed to the most beautiful one: “Her name was Sophia, that is, Wisdom.” The boy's phenomenal memory and excellent abilities - he surpassed everyone in learning - amazed those around him.
It is not surprising that, having heard about the special talent of the children of Thessalonica nobleman, the ruler of the Tsar summoned them to Constantinople. Here they received an excellent education. With his knowledge and wisdom, Konstantin earned himself honor, respect and the nickname “Philosopher”. He became famous for his many verbal victories: in discussions with bearers of heresies, at a debate in Khazaria, where he defended the Christian faith, knowledge of many languages and reading ancient inscriptions. In Chersonesus, in a flooded church, Constantine discovered the relics of St. Clement, and through his efforts they were transferred to Rome.
Brother Methodius often accompanied the Philosopher and helped him in business. But the brothers gained world fame and the grateful gratitude of their descendants by creating the Slavic alphabet and translating sacred books into the Slavic language. The work is enormous, which played an epoch-making role in the formation of the Slavic peoples.
However, many researchers rightly believe that work on the creation of a Slavic script in Byzantium began, apparently, long before the arrival of the Moravian embassy. And here’s why: both the creation of an alphabet that accurately reflects the sound composition of the Slavic language, and the translation into the Slavic language of the Gospel - a very complex, multi-layered, internally rhythmic literary work, which requires a careful and adequate selection of words, is a colossal job. To complete it, even Constantine the Philosopher and his brother Methodius “with his henchmen” would have taken more than one year. Therefore, it is natural to assume that it was precisely this work that the brothers performed back in the 50s of the 9th century in a monastery on Olympus (in Asia Minor on the coast of the Sea of Marmara), where, as the Life of Constantine reports, they constantly prayed to God, “doing only books."
And in 864, Constantine the Philosopher and Methodius were already received with great honors in Moravia. They brought here the Slavic alphabet and the Gospel translated into Slavic. But here the work had yet to be continued. Students were assigned to help the brothers and teach them. “And soon (Constantine) translated the entire church rite and taught them matins, and the hours, and mass, and vespers, and compline, and secret prayer.”
The brothers stayed in Moravia for more than three years. The philosopher, already suffering from a serious illness, 50 days before his death, “put on a holy monastic image and... gave himself the name Cyril...”. When he died in 869, he was 42 years old. Kirill died and was buried in Rome.
The eldest of the brothers, Methodius, continued the work they had begun. As the Life of Methodius reports, “...having appointed cursive writers from among his two priests, he quickly and completely translated all the books (biblical), except the Maccabees, from Greek into Slavic.” The time devoted to this work is stated to be incredible - six or eight months. Methodius died in 885.

Monument to St. Equal to the Apostles Cyril and Methodius in Samara
Photo by V. Surkov

Appearance holy books in the Slavic language had a powerful resonance in the world. All known medieval sources that responded to this event report how “certain people began to blaspheme Slavic books,” arguing that “no people should have their own alphabet, except the Jews, Greeks and Latins.” Even the Pope intervened in the dispute, grateful to the brothers who brought the relics of St. Clement to Rome. Although the translation into the uncanonized Slavic language contradicted the principles of the Latin Church, the pope, nevertheless, did not condemn the detractors, allegedly saying, quoting Scripture, this way: “Let all nations praise God.”
Cyril and Methodius, having created the Slavic alphabet, translated almost all the most important church books and prayers into Slavic. But not one Slavic alphabet has survived to this day, but two: Glagolitic and Cyrillic. Both existed in the 9th-10th centuries. In both, special characters were introduced to convey sounds reflecting the features of the Slavic language, rather than combinations of two or three main ones, as was practiced in the alphabets of Western European peoples. Glagolitic and Cyrillic almost have the same letters. The order of the letters is also almost the same.
The merits of Cyril and Methodius in the history of culture are enormous. Firstly, they developed the first ordered Slavic alphabet and this marked the beginning of the widespread development of Slavic writing. Secondly, many books were translated from Greek, which was the beginning of the formation of the Old Church Slavonic literary language and Slavic bookmaking. There is information that Kirill also created original works. Thirdly, Cyril and Methodius for many years 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 Pannonia, Cyril and Methodius also waged an incessant, selfless struggle against the attempts of the German Catholic clergy to ban the Slavic alphabet and books. Fourth: 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.
Finally, evaluating educational activities Thessaloniki brothers, it should be borne in mind that 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, having compiled the alphabet, translated from Greek, taught literacy and introduced the local population to Christian and encyclopedic literature rich in content and form, were precisely the teachers of the Slavic peoples.
Slavic monuments of the 10th-11th centuries that have reached us. indicate that, starting from the era of Cyril and Methodius, for three centuries the Slavs used, in principle, a single bookish literary language with a number of local variants. Slavic language world was quite uniform when compared to modern ones. Thus, Cyril and Methodius created an international, inter-Slavic language.

On May 24, the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of Saints Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius.

The name of these saints is known to everyone from school, and it is to them that all of us, native speakers of the Russian language, owe our language, culture, and writing.

Incredibly, all European science and culture were born within the monastery walls: it was in the monasteries that the first schools were opened, children were taught to read and write, and extensive libraries were collected. It was for the enlightenment of peoples, for the translation of the Gospel, that many written languages were created. This happened with the Slavic language.

The holy brothers Cyril and Methodius came from a noble and pious family who lived in the Greek city of Thessaloniki. Methodius was a warrior and ruled the Bulgarian principality Byzantine Empire. This gave him the opportunity to learn the Slavic language.

Soon, however, he decided to leave the secular lifestyle and became a monk at the monastery on Mount Olympus. Konstantin expressed since childhood amazing abilities and received an excellent education together with the young Emperor Michael 3rd at the royal court

Then he became a monk in one of the monasteries on Mount Olympus in Asia Minor.

His brother Constantine, who took the name Cyril as a monk, was distinguished by great abilities from an early age and perfectly comprehended all the sciences of his time and many languages.

Soon the emperor sent both brothers to the Khazars to preach the gospel. As the legend says, along the way they stopped in Korsun, where Constantine found the Gospel and the Psalter written in “Russian letters,” and a man speaking Russian, and began to learn to read and speak this language.

When the brothers returned to Constantinople, the emperor again sent them on an educational mission - this time to Moravia. The Moravian prince Rostislav was oppressed by the German bishops, and he asked the emperor to send teachers who could preach in the native language of the Slavs.

The first of the Slavic peoples to turn to Christianity were the Bulgarians. The sister of the Bulgarian prince Bogoris (Boris) was held hostage in Constantinople. She was baptized with the name Theodora and was raised in the spirit of the holy faith. Around 860, she returned to Bulgaria and began to persuade her brother to accept Christianity. Boris was baptized, taking the name Mikhail. Saints Cyril and Methodius were in this country and with their preaching they greatly contributed to the establishment of Christianity in it. From Bulgaria, the Christian faith spread to its neighboring Serbia.

To fulfill the new mission, Constantine and Methodius compiled the Slavic alphabet and translated the main liturgical books (Gospel, Apostle, Psalter) into Slavic. This happened in 863.

In Moravia, the brothers were received with great honor 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 filed a complaint to Rome.

Taking with them the relics of Saint Clement (Pope), which they discovered back in Korsun, Constantine and Methodius went to Rome.
Having learned that the brothers were carrying holy relics with them, Pope Adrian greeted them with honor and approved the service in the Slavic language. He ordered the books translated by the brothers to be placed in Roman churches and the liturgy to be performed in the Slavic language.

Saint Methodius fulfilled his brother’s will: returning to Moravia already in the rank of archbishop, he worked here for 15 years. From Moravia, Christianity penetrated into Bohemia during the lifetime of Saint Methodius. The Bohemian prince Borivoj received holy baptism from him. His example was followed by his wife Lyudmila (who later became a martyr) and many others. In the mid-10th century, the Polish prince Mieczyslaw married the Bohemian princess Dabrowka, after which he and his subjects accepted the Christian faith.

Subsequently these Slavic peoples Through the efforts of Latin preachers and German emperors, they were torn away from the Greek Church under the rule of the Pope, with the exception of the Serbs and Bulgarians. But all Slavs, despite the centuries that have passed, still have a living memory of the great Equal-to-the-Apostles enlighteners and the Orthodox faith that they tried to plant among them. The sacred memory of Saints Cyril and Methodius serves as a connecting link for all Slavic peoples.

The material was prepared based on information from open sources

The history of the creation of the Slavic alphabet. Slavic alphabet: history of origin The creation of the Slavic alphabet was

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