May 24 - day Slavic writing and culture. It is also the day of veneration of the holy enlighteners Cyril and Methodius, who gave the Slavs that script, that alphabet that we still use.

Thessalonica Brothers

Leo and Mary, who lived in the Greek city of Thessaloniki (now called Thessaloniki), had seven children. The eldest of them is Mikhail, the youngest is Konstantin. It was they who later became known as the enlighteners Methodius and Cyril, the inventors of the Slavic alphabet. Thessaloniki, or as the Slavs called Thessalonica, was a port city, and therefore the brothers grew up surrounded by many languages. Moreover, some researchers believe that Mikhail and Konstantin were bilingual, because their father, a local military leader, was Slavic by origin, and their mother was Greek.

Michael Thessalonica

Both Methodius and Cyril did not immediately become enlighteners. The eldest of the Thessalonica brothers followed in his father's footsteps and chose military career. At the age of twenty, he was appointed manager of Slavinia, one of the Slavic-Bulgarian regions that were subordinate to Byzantium. But ten years later, he decided to radically change his life. Mikhail left both the military-administrative career and the world in order to go to Olympus and take the veil there as a monk. When he was tonsured, he took the name Methodius.

Constantine of Thessalonica

The youngest of the Thessalonica brothers, Constantine, was twelve years younger than Michael. When the elder long time served in Slavinia, Constantine, as a capable young man, was accepted into an elite school at the court of the Byzantine emperor Michael III. There, the future enlightener studied philosophy, grammar, rhetoric, all the "Hellenic arts", as well as Slavic, Jewish, Khazar, Arabic, Samaritan, Syriac (Sura) languages.

Library instead of wife

Obviously, Konstantin was one of the best students in the court school, and brilliant career he was provided. In any case, this opinion was shared by one of the highest officials in the state and its actual ruler, the logothete Theoktist. Therefore, he proposed to the young Konstantin, who had just completed his studies, to marry his, Feoktist, goddaughter. But Konstantin refused, and first got a job in a library, then retired to a monastery and, in the end, became a teacher of philosophy in Constantinople. For this he was nicknamed Constantine the Philosopher.

The Miracle of Finding Relics

In 860, Constantine and Methodius were sent on an educational mission to the Khazar Khaganate. Along the way, they stopped in Chersonese, where they replenished their knowledge of the Hebrew language (Konstantin studied the Samaritan script), got acquainted with the mysterious "Russian" writings, which the researchers consider to be Sura, that is, Syrian. Here Constantine performed a miracle. Having learned that for half a century the parishioners could not worship the relics of St. Clement (the patron saint of Rome, the bishop of Rome, exiled to the Inkerman quarries and drowned in the Black Sea), Konstantin invited the local priest to hold a service for the acquisition of incorruptible relics. The service was completed, and Constantine, having brought the Chersonesites to the shore, pointed out a place in shallow water, where, indeed, the remains were found with an anchor chain around their necks. Since Clement was drowned with an anchor tied to his neck, no one had any doubts about the authenticity of the remains found. Subsequently, the relics of St. Clement served the brothers well.

Gospel for the Slavs

Apparently, the invention of the alphabet was not an end in itself for the illuminators. For some reason (maybe because they themselves were half, and according to some versions, exclusively Slavs), Constantine and Methodius sought to spread Slavic as the language of worship. Therefore, by the year 863, when Patriarch Photius of Constantinople sent the Thessalonica brothers on a mission to Moravia, they not only managed to come up with what later became known as the Cyrillic alphabet, but also translated a number of biblical texts into Slavonic, in particular, the Gospel. In Velehrad, the capital of Moravia, worship in the Slavic language quickly became popular. It is noteworthy that the brothers translated the Bible into a dialect common in Thessalonica, that is, into a language that was very familiar to them. But the Moravians understood the southern dialect with difficulty and therefore began to treat it as a bookish, sacred language. Soon a group of opponents of the actions of Constantine and Methodius, the so-called tri-pagans, arose. These people believed that the biblical texts should be read exclusively in the canonical languages, Hebrew, Greek and Latin. For support, the inventors of Slavic writing went to Rome.

Bishop Methodius of Moravia

In Rome, the Enlighteners were received cordially, perhaps largely due to the relics of St. Clement, part of which they took with them when they left Chersonesus, and now brought to the eternal City. The youngest of the brothers died here after a long illness, having taken the monastic vows under the name Cyril before his death. And the elder was ordained a priest, then appointed bishop of both Moravia and Pannonia. Returning to the Slavic lands, he continued the work of popularizing the Slavic language, but great success, despite the efforts expended, he could not achieve: the political situation in the principalities changed, the ruler Roslav, who supported the brothers, was overthrown, and the new authorities looked at the Slavic-language services without enthusiasm. After holding the bishop for two years in prison, they finally allowed him to preach in Slavic.

(military and civil governor) of Thessaloniki. The family had seven sons, with Michael (Methodius) being the eldest, and Konstantin (Cyril) being the youngest of them.

According to the most common version in science, Cyril and Methodius were of Greek origin. In the 19th century, some Slavic scientists (M. P. Pogodin, G. Irechek) proved their Slavic origin, based on their excellent command of the Slavic language - a circumstance that modern scientists consider insufficient for judging ethnicity. The Bulgarian tradition calls the brothers Bulgarians (to which the Macedonian Slavs were included until the 20th century), relying in particular on the prolific life of Cyril (in a later edition), where it is said that he was “born from the sun of the city”; this idea is readily supported by modern Bulgarian scientists.

Thessalonica, where the brothers were born, was a bilingual city. In addition to the Greek language, they sounded the Slavic Thessalonica dialect, which was spoken by the tribes surrounding Thessaloniki: Draguvites, Sagudites, Vayunits, Smolensk and which, according to the research of modern linguists, formed the basis of the language of translations of Cyril and Methodius, and with them the entire Church Slavonic language . An analysis of the language of the translations of Cyril and Methodius shows that they spoke Slavonic as their native language. The latter, however, does not yet speak in favor of their Slavic origin and apparently did not distinguish them from other residents of Thessalonica, since the life of Methodius ascribes to Emperor Michael such words addressed to the saints:

Khazar mission

Bulgarian mission

The role of Constantine and Methodius in the spread of Christianity in the Bulgarian kingdom has not yet been fully elucidated. Skeptics believe that the brothers during the baptism of Khan Boris carried out the Moravian mission and could not participate in this event. At the same time, a number of Bulgarian researchers are of the opinion that is outlined below.

In Constantinople, the sister of the Bulgarian Khan Boris was held as a hostage. She was baptized with the name Theodora and was brought up in the spirit of the Holy Faith. Around 860, she returned to Bulgaria and began to persuade her brother to accept Christianity. Boris was baptized, taking the name Michael, in honor of the son of the Byzantine Empress Theodora, Emperor Michael III, during whose reign the Bulgarians converted to Christianity. Constantine and Methodius were in this country, and with their preaching, they greatly contributed to the establishment of Christianity in it. From Bulgaria, the Christian faith spread to neighboring Serbia. In 863, with the help of his brother Methodius and his students, Constantine compiled the Old Slavonic alphabet and translated it into Bulgarian language from Greek the main liturgical books. The time of the invention of the Slavic alphabet is evidenced by the legend of the Bulgarian monk Chernorizets the Brave, a contemporary of Tsar Simeon, “On Writings”. He's writing :

Thus, the creation of the Slavic alphabet can be attributed to the year 863 after the birth of Christ, according to the Alexandrian chronology, used at that time by the Bulgarian chroniclers.

Experts have not yet come to a consensus on which of the two Slavic alphabets - Glagolitic or Cyrillic - is Konstantin (see below).

Moravian mission

The alleged tomb of St. Cyril in the church of St. Clement

Before his death, he said to Methodius: “We are with you, like two oxen; from a heavy burden, one fell, the other must continue on his way. The Pope ordained him Archbishop of Moravia and Pannonia. Methodius with his disciples, who received the priesthood, returned to Pannonia, and later to Moravia.

By this time the situation in Moravia had changed dramatically. After Rostislav was defeated by Louis the German and died in a Bavarian prison in 870, his nephew Svyatopolk, who submitted to German political influence, became the Moravian prince. The activity of Methodius and his disciples proceeded in very difficult conditions. The Latin-German clergy in every way prevented the spread of the Slavic language as the language of the church. They even managed to imprison him for three years in one of the Swabian monasteries - Reichenau.

Upon learning of this, Pope John VIII forbade the German bishops to celebrate the liturgy until Methodius was released. True, he also banned worship in the Slavic language, allowing only sermons.

Being restored in the rights of an archbishop in 874, Methodius, despite the prohibition, continued to worship in the Slavic language, baptized the Czech prince Borivoi and his wife Lyudmila.

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

In 881, Methodius, at the invitation of Emperor Basil I the Macedonian, arrived in Constantinople. There he spent three years, after which he returned to Moravia with his students. With the help of three students, he translated into Slavonic Old Testament and patristic books.

In 885, Methodius fell seriously ill. Before his death, he appointed his disciple Gorazd as his successor. April 19, at Palm Sunday he asked to be taken to the temple, where he read a sermon. On the same day he died. The funeral of Methodius took place in three languages ​​- Slavic, Greek and Latin.

After death

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

Pope Adrian II wrote to Prince Rostislav in Prague that if anyone becomes contemptuous of books written in Slavic, then let him be excommunicated and brought to trial by the Church, for such people are “wolves”. And Pope John VIII in 880 writes to Prince Svyatopolk, ordering that sermons be delivered in Slavonic.

Disciples of Saints Cyril and Methodius

Cyril and Methodius with students. Fresco of the monastery "St. Naum", now in the Republic of Macedonia.

Heritage

Cyril and Methodius developed a special alphabet for writing texts in the Slavic language - Glagolitic. At present, the point of view of V. A. Istrin prevails among historians, but is not generally recognized, according to which the Cyrillic alphabet was created on the basis of the Greek alphabet by the disciple of the holy brothers Clement of Ohrid (which is also mentioned in his Life). Using the created alphabet, the brothers translated the Holy Scriptures and a number of liturgical books from the Greek language.

At the same time, it should be noted that even if the Cyrillic letter styles were developed by Clement, he relied on the work on isolating the sounds of the Slavic language, done by Cyril and Methodius, and this work is the main part of any work on the creation of a new script. Modern scholars note high level this work, which gave designations for almost all scientifically distinguished Slavic sounds, which we owe, apparently, to the outstanding linguistic abilities of Konstantin-Cyril, noted in the sources.

Sometimes it is argued that there was a Slavic script before Cyril and Methodius, based on a passage from the life of Cyril, which refers to books written in "Russian letters":

"And found the Philosopher here<в Корсуни>The Gospel and the Psalter, written in Russian letters, and found a man, talking toy speech. And he talked with him and understood the meaning of the language, correlating the differences between vowels and consonants with his own language. And offering up a prayer to God, he soon began to read and speak. And many were amazed at this, glorifying God.” .

However, it does not follow from the passage that the "Russian language" mentioned there is Slavonic; on the contrary, the fact that Konstantin-Kirill's mastery of it is perceived as a miracle directly indicates that it was a non-Slavic language. It should be remembered, at the same time, that in the time of Cyril and Methodius and much later, the Slavs easily understood each other and believed that they spoke a single Slavic language, which some modern linguists agree with, who believe that one can speak of the unity of the Proto-Slavic language until XII century. Most researchers believe that the fragment refers either to the Gospel in the Gothic language (an idea first expressed by Shafarik), or the manuscript contains an error and instead of "Russian" should be considered "Sur", that is, "Syrian" . It is significant that in general the entire fragment is given in the context of the story about Constantine's study of the Hebrew language and Samaritan writing, which he took up in Korsun, preparing for a dispute in Khazaria. Metropolitan Macarius (Bulgakov) also points out that in the same life it is emphasized more than once that Constantine was the creator of Slavic letters and there were no Slavic letters before him - that is, the author of the life does not consider the described “Russian” letters to be Slavic.

veneration

They are revered as saints both in the East and in the West.

The feast 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 bears the name, in Macedonia - the Day of Saints Cyril and Methodius. In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the holiday is celebrated on July 5th.

In Bulgaria there is the Order of Cyril and Methodius. Also in Bulgaria, back in the communist period, a public holiday was established - the Day of Slavic Writing and Culture (coinciding with the day of church commemoration of Cyril and Methodius), which is widely celebrated today.

In mid-July 1869, in the century-old forest across the Tsemes River, Czech settlers who arrived in Novorossiysk founded the village of Mefodievka, which was named after St. Methodius.

see also

  • Day of Slavic Culture and Writing (Day of Cyril and Methodius)

Notes

  1. THE LIFE OF KONSTANTIN-KIRILL
  2. Cyril and Methodius Equal to the Apostles, Slovenian teachers
  3. Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-05, s.v. "Cyril and Methodius, Saints"; Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica Incorporated, Warren E. Preece - 1972, p.846
  4. // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
  5. Cyril and Methodius// New encyclopedic Dictionary. Volume 21. 1914
  6. EM VERESHCHAGIN From the history of the emergence of the first literary language of the Slavs. Translation technique of Cyril and Methodius)
  7. Cyrillo-Methodius Encyclopedia., Sofia., BAN edition (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences), 1985
  8. S. B. Bernshtein. Slavic languages
  9. History of Byzantium. Volume I, chapter 15.
  10. Encyclopedia od Indo-European Culture, J.P. Mallory and D.Q. Adams, page 301.
  11. Educational activities of Constantine (Cyril) and Methodius
  12. Florya B.N. Legends about the beginning of Slavic writing. M.. 1981, pp. 115-117
  13. Alexey Gippius. Russian scripts The author is a specialist in the Old Russian language, an employee of the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences
  14. S. A. Pletneva. Khazars
  15. Alexander Schmemann, Protopresbyter. The historical path of Orthodoxy. Chapter 5. Byzantium, part 6
  16. First step
  17. Spelling and punctuation partially adapted to modern. Translation: “If you ask the Slavic scribes ... saying:“ who created your writings or translated books? ”, then everyone knows and in response they will say: St. Constantine the Philosopher, called Cyril, created those writings and Methodius, his brother did not translate. Because those who saw them are still alive. And if you ask: “what time?”, then they know and say that in the time of Michael, the king of Greece, and Boris, the prince of Bulgaria, and Rastits, the prince of Moravia, and Kotsel, the prince of Blaten, in the year from the creation of the whole world 6363 ( 863)…”

Not all people know what May 24 is famous for, but it is even impossible to imagine what would have become of us if this day in 863 had turned out to be completely different and the creators of writing had abandoned their work.

Who created Slavic writing in the 9th century? These were Cyril and Methodius, and this event happened just on May 24, 863, which led to the celebration of one of the most important events in the history of mankind. Now the Slavic peoples could use their own script, and not borrow the languages ​​of other peoples.

The creators of Slavic writing - Cyril and Methodius?

The history of the development of Slavic writing is not as "transparent" as it might seem at first glance, there are different opinions about its creators. There is interesting fact that Cyril, even before he began working on the creation of the Slavic alphabet, was in Chersonese (today it is Crimea), from where he could take scriptures The Gospels or the Psalter, which already at that moment turned out to be written precisely with the letters of the Slavic alphabet. This fact makes one wonder: who created the Slavic script, did Cyril and Methodius really write the alphabet or did they take the finished work?

However, besides the fact that Cyril brought the finished alphabet from Chersonesos, there is other evidence that the creators of Slavic writing were other people, and they lived long before Cyril and Methodius.

Arabic sources historical events they say that 23 years before Cyril and Methodius created the Slavic alphabet, namely in the 40s of the 9th century, there were baptized people who had books written specifically in the Slavic language in their hands. There is also another serious fact proving that the creation of Slavic writing took place even earlier than the stated date. The bottom line is that Pope Leo IV had a diploma issued before 863, which consisted of the letters of the Slavic alphabet, and this figure was on the throne in the interval from 847 to 855 of the IX century.

Another, but also important fact of the proof is more ancient origin Slavic writing lies in the approval of Catherine II, who during her reign wrote that the Slavs were more ancient people than it is commonly believed, and they have had writing since the time preceding the birth of Christ.

Evidence of antiquity among other peoples

The creation of Slavic writing before 863 can be proved by other facts that are present in the documents of other peoples who lived in ancient times and used other types of writing in their time. There are quite a few such sources, and they are found in the Persian historian named Ibn Fodlan, in El Massoudi, as well as in slightly later creators in fairly well-known works, which say that Slavic writing was formed before the Slavs had books.

The historian, who lived on the border of the 9th and 10th centuries, argued that the Slavic people are more ancient and more developed than the Romans, and as proof, he cited some monuments that allow us to determine the antiquity of the origin of the Slavic people and their writing.

And last fact, which can seriously affect the way people think in search of an answer to the question of who created the Slavic script, are coins that have various letters Russian alphabet, dated earlier than 863, and located in the territories of such European countries like England, Scandinavia, Denmark and others.

Refutation of the ancient origin of Slavic writing

The alleged creators of the Slavic script "missed" a little with one thing: they did not leave any books and documents written in it. However, for many scientists it is enough that the Slavic script is present on various stones, rocks, weapons and household items that were used by the ancient inhabitants in their Everyday life.

Many scientists worked on the study of historical achievements in the writing of the Slavs, but the elder Researcher by the name of Grinevich, he was able to reach almost to the very source, and his work made it possible to decipher any text written in Old Slavonic.

Grinevich's work in the study of Slavic writing

In order to understand the writing of the ancient Slavs, Grinevich had to do a lot of work, during which he discovered that it was not based on letters, but had a more complex system that worked through syllables. The scientist himself absolutely seriously believed that the formation of the Slavic alphabet began 7,000 years ago.

The signs of the Slavic alphabet had a different basis, and after grouping all the symbols, Grinevich singled out four categories: linear, separating symbols, pictorial and restrictive signs.

For research, Grinevich used about 150 different inscriptions that were present on all kinds of objects, and all his achievements were based on the decoding of these symbols.

Grinevich, in the course of his research, found out that the history of Slavic writing is older, and the ancient Slavs used 74 signs. However, there are too many signs for the alphabet, and if we talk about whole words, then there cannot be only 74 of them in the language. These reflections led the researcher to the idea that the Slavs used syllables instead of letters in the alphabet.

Example: "horse" - syllable "lo"

His approach made it possible to decipher the inscriptions that many scientists fought over and could not understand what they meant. And it turned out that everything is quite simple:

  1. The pot, which was found near Ryazan, had an inscription - instructions, which said that it must be put in the oven and closed.
  2. The sinker, which was found near the Trinity city, had a simple inscription: "Weighs 2 ounces."

All the above evidence fully refutes the fact that the creators of Slavic writing are Cyril and Methodius, and prove the antiquity of our language.

Slavic runes in the creation of Slavic writing

The one who created Slavic writing was a rather smart and courageous person, because such an idea at that time could destroy the creator due to the ignorance of all other people. But besides the letter, other options for disseminating information to people were invented - Slavic runes.

In total, 18 runes have been found in the world, which are present on a large number of different ceramics, stone statues and other artifacts. An example is ceramic products from the village of Lepesovka, located in southern Volhynia, as well as an earthen vessel in the village of Voyskovo. In addition to evidence located on the territory of Russia, there are monuments that are located in Poland and were discovered back in 1771. They also have Slavic runes. We should not forget the temple of Radegast, located in Retra, where the walls are decorated with Slavic symbols. The last place that scientists learned about from Titmar of Merseburg is a fortress-temple and is located on an island called Rügen. There is present a large number of idols whose names are written using runes of Slavic origin.

Slavic writing. Cyril and Methodius as creators

The creation of writing is attributed to Cyril and Methodius, and in support of this, historical data are given for the corresponding period of their lives, which is described in some detail. They affect the meaning of their activities, as well as the reasons for working on the creation of new symbols.

Cyril and Methodius led to the creation of the alphabet by the conclusion that other languages ​​\u200b\u200bcannot fully reflect Slavic speech. This stiffness is proved by the works of the Chernorist Khrabr, in which it is noted that before the adoption of the Slavic alphabet for general use, baptism was carried out either in Greek or in Latin, and already at that time it became clear that they could not reflect all the sounds that filled our speech. .

Political influence on the Slavic alphabet

Politics began its influence on society from the very beginning of the birth of countries and religions, and it also had a hand in, as well as in other aspects of people's lives.

As described above, Slavic baptismal services were held either in Greek or Latin, which allowed other churches to influence the minds and strengthen the idea of ​​their leading role in the heads of the Slavs.

Those countries where the liturgies were held not in Greek, but in Latin, received an increase in the influence of German priests on the faith of people, and for the Byzantine church this was unacceptable, and she took a retaliatory step, instructing Cyril and Methodius to create a written language on which the service and sacred texts would be written.

The Byzantine church reasoned correctly at that moment, and its intentions were such that the one who created the Slavic script based on the Greek alphabet would help weaken the influence of the German church on all Slavic countries at the same time and at the same time help bring the people closer to Byzantium. These actions can also be seen as dictated by self-interest.

Who created the Slavic alphabet based on the Greek alphabet? Created by Cyril and Methodius, and for this work they were chosen by the Byzantine Church not by chance. Kirill grew up in the city of Thessalonica, which, although it was Greek, about half of its inhabitants spoke the Slavic language fluently, and Kirill himself was well versed in it, and also had an excellent memory.

Byzantium and its role

As for when work began on the creation of Slavic writing, there are quite serious disputes, because May 24 is the official date, but there is a large gap in history in history that creates a discrepancy.

After Byzantium gave this difficult task, Cyril and Methodius began the development of Slavic writing and in 864 arrived in Moravia with a ready-made Slavic alphabet and a fully translated Gospel, where they recruited students for the school.

After receiving an assignment from the Byzantine Church, Cyril and Methodius head to Morvia. During their journey, they are engaged in writing the alphabet and translating the texts of the Gospel into Slavonic, and already upon arrival in the city, they have finished works in their hands. However, the road to Moravia does not take so much time. Perhaps this time period allows you to create an alphabet, but it is simply impossible to translate the gospel letters in such a short time, which indicates advance work on the Slavic language and translation of texts.

Cyril's illness and his departure

After three years of work in his own school of Slavic writing, Kirill abandons this business and leaves for Rome. This turn of events was caused by the disease. Cyril left everything for a quiet death in Rome. Methodius, finding himself alone, continues to pursue his goal and does not step back, although now it has become more difficult for him, because Catholic Church began to understand the scale of the work done and not delighted with it. The Roman Church imposes bans on translations into the Slavic language and openly demonstrates its discontent, but Methodius now has followers who help and continue his work.

Cyrillic and Glagolitic - what marked the beginning of modern writing?

There are no confirmed facts that can prove which of the scripts originated earlier, and there is no exact information about who created the Slavic and which of the two possible Cyril had a hand in. Only one thing is known, but the most important thing is that it was the Cyrillic alphabet that became the founder of today's Russian alphabet, and only thanks to it can we write the way we write now.

The Cyrillic alphabet has 43 letters in its composition, and the fact that its creator, Kirill, proves the presence of 24 in it. And the remaining 19, the creator of the Cyrillic alphabet based on the Greek alphabet, included it solely to reflect complex sounds that were present only among the peoples who used the Slavic language for communication.

Over time, the Cyrillic alphabet was transformed, almost constantly it was influenced in order to simplify and improve. However, there were moments that at first made it difficult to write, for example, the letter "e", which is an analogue of "e", the letter "y" is an analogue of "and". Such letters at first made spelling difficult, but reflected the sounds corresponding to them.

The Glagolitic, in fact, was an analogue of the Cyrillic alphabet and used 40 letters, 39 of which were taken from the Cyrillic alphabet. The main difference between Glagolitic is that it has a more rounded writing style and does not have the angularity that Cyrillic does.

The disappeared alphabet (Glagolitic), although it did not take root, was intensively used by the Slavs living in the southern and western latitudes, and, depending on the location of the inhabitants, it had its own writing styles. Slavs living in Bulgaria used Glagolitic with a more rounded style for writing, while Croatians gravitated towards angular writing.

Despite the number of hypotheses and even the absurdity of some of them, each is worthy of attention, and it is impossible to answer exactly who the creators of Slavic writing are. The answers will be vague, with many flaws and shortcomings. And although there are many facts that refute the creation of writing by Cyril and Methodius, they were honored for their work, which allowed the alphabet to spread and transform to its current form.

Can you imagine life without electricity? Of course it's difficult! But it is known that earlier people read and wrote by candlelight and splinter. Imagine life without writing. Some of you will now think to yourself, well, well, that would be great: you don’t have to write dictations and essays. But then there will be no libraries, books, posters, letters, and even Email and "mess". Language, like a mirror, reflects the whole world, our whole life. And when reading written or printed texts, we seem to sit in a time machine and can be transported both to recent times and to the distant past.

But people have not always mastered the art of writing. This art has been developing for a long time, over many millennia. And do you know to whom we should be grateful for our written word, on which our favorite books are written? For our diploma, which we study at school? For our great Russian literature, which you get acquainted with and will continue to study in high school.

Cyril and Methodius lived in the world,

Two Byzantine monks and suddenly

(No, not a legend, not a myth, not a parody)

Some of them thought: “Friend!

How many Slavs without Christ are speechless!

It is necessary to create an alphabet for the Slavs ...

It was thanks to the work of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles brothers Cyril and Methodius that the Slavic alphabet was created.

The brothers were born in the Byzantine city of Thessalonica in the family of a military leader. Methodius was the eldest son, and, having chosen the path of a military man, he went to serve in one of the Slavic regions. His brother, Cyril, was born 7-10 years later than Methodius, and already in childhood, having passionately fallen in love with science, amazed teachers with his brilliant abilities. At the age of 14, his parents sent him to Constantinople, where in a short time he studied grammar and geometry, arithmetic, astronomy and medicine, ancient art, mastered the Slavic, Greek, Hebrew, Latin and Arabic languages ​​well. Rejecting the high administrative position offered to him, Cyril took the modest position of a librarian in the Patriarchal Library and at the same time taught philosophy at the university, for which he received the nickname "philosopher". His older brother Methodius entered the military early. For 10 years he was the ruler of one of the regions inhabited by Slavs. Being an honest and straightforward man, intolerant of injustice, he left with military service and retired to a monastery.

In 863, ambassadors from Moravia arrived in Constantinople to ask them to send preachers to their country and tell the population about Christianity. The emperor decided to send Cyril and Methodius to Moravia. Kirill, before setting off on his journey, asked if the Moravians had an alphabet for their language - “for the enlightenment of the people without the writings of their language is like trying to write on water,” Kirill explained. To which he received a negative answer. The Moravians did not have the alphabet, so the brothers began work. At their disposal were not years, but months. They worked from early morning, barely blossoming, and until late evening, when their eyes were already rippling from fatigue. In a short time, an alphabet for the Moravians was created. It was named after one of its creators - Cyril - Cyrillic.

With the help of the Slavic alphabet, Cyril and Methodius very quickly translated the main liturgical books from Greek into Slavonic. The first book written in Cyrillic was the “Ostromir Gospel”, the first words written using the Slavic alphabet were the phrase “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” And now, for more than a thousand years, the Church Slavonic language has been used in Russian Orthodox Church during worship.

The Slavic alphabet existed in Rus' unchanged for more than seven centuries. Its creators tried to make each letter of the first Russian alphabet simple and clear, easy to write. They remembered that the letters should also be beautiful, so that a person who barely saw them would immediately want to master the letter.

Each letter had its own name - "az" - A; "beeches" - B; "lead" - B; "verb" - G; "good" D.

From here and catchphrases"Az and beeches - that's all the sciences", "" Who knows "Az" and "Beeches" books in his hands. In addition, letters could also denote numbers. In total, there were 43 letters in the Cyrillic alphabet.

The Cyrillic alphabet existed in the Russian language without changes until Peter I, who removed the obsolete letters without which it was quite possible to do - “yus big”, “yus small”, “omega”, “uk”. In 1918, 5 more letters left the Russian alphabet - “yat”, “fita”, “izhitsa”, “er”, “er”. For a thousand years, many letters have disappeared from our alphabet, and only two have appeared - “y” and “ё”. They were invented in the 17th century by the Russian writer and historian Karamzin. And finally, 33 letters remained in the modern alphabet.

And what do you think, where did the word "AZBUKA" come from - by the name of the first letters of the alphabet, "az" and "beeches"; in Rus', there were several more names for the alphabet - "abevega" and "letter letter".

Why is the alphabet called alphabet? The history of this word is interesting. Alphabet. It was born in ancient greece and consists of the names of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet: "alpha" and "beta". carriers Western languages so they call it: "alphabeta". We pronounce it like the alphabet.

The Slavs were very happy: other peoples of Europe (Germans, Franks, Britons) did not have their own written language. The Slavs now had their own alphabet, and everyone could learn to read a book! “It was a wonderful moment!.. The deaf began to hear, and the dumb began to speak, for until that time the Slavs were like deaf and dumb,” is written in the annals of those times.

Not only children, but also adults began to learn. They wrote with sharp sticks on wooden boards coated with wax. The children fell in love with their teachers Cyril and Methodius. Little Slavs went to classes with joy, because the journey along the roads of Truth was so interesting!

With the advent of the Slavic alphabet written culture began to develop rapidly. Books appeared in Bulgaria, Serbia, and Rus'. And how they were designed! The first letter - the initial letter - began each new chapter. The initial letter is unusually beautiful: in the form of a beautiful bird or flower, it was painted with bright, often red flowers. That is why the term “red line” exists today. A Slavic handwritten book could be created within six or seven years and was very expensive. In a precious salary, with illustrations, today it is a real monument of art.

A long time ago, when the history of the great Russian state was just beginning, "she" was expensive. Her one could be exchanged for a herd of horses or a herd of cows, for sable fur coats. And the point here is not in the decorations in which the beautiful and clever girl was dressed up. And she walked only in expensive embossed leather, in pearls and precious stones! Gold and silver clasps adorned her outfit! Admiring her, people said: “Light, you are ours!” They worked on its creation for a long time, but its fate could have been very sad. During the invasion of enemies, she was taken prisoner along with people. She could have died in a fire or a flood. She was greatly valued: she inspired hope, returned strength of mind. What kind of curiosity is this. Yes, folks, this is Her Majesty the Book. She has preserved to us the Word of God and the traditions of distant years. The first books were handwritten. It took months and sometimes years to rewrite one book. The centers of book learning in Rus' have always been monasteries. There, in fasting and prayer, industrious monks copied and decorated books. A collection of books in 500-1000 manuscripts was considered a rarity.

Life goes on, and in the middle of the XVI century book printing appeared in Rus'. The printing house in Moscow appeared under Ivan the Terrible. It was led by Ivan Fedorov, who is called the first book printer. Being a deacon and serving in the temple, he tried to realize his dream - to rewrite sacred books without scribes. And so, in 1563, he set about typesetting the first page of the first printed book, The Apostle. In total, he published 12 books in his life, among them was the complete Slavic Bible.

The Slavic alphabet is amazing and is still considered one of the most convenient writing systems. And the names of Cyril and Methodius, "the first teachers of Slovenia", became a symbol of spiritual achievement. And every person who studies the Russian language should know and keep in his memory the holy names of the first Slavic enlighteners - the brothers Cyril and Methodius.

Across wide Rus' - our mother

The bell ringing is spreading.

Now brothers Saints Cyril and Methodius

They are glorified for their work.

“Learning is light, and ignorance is darkness,” says a Russian proverb. Cyril and Methodius, brothers from Thessalonica, are Slovenian enlighteners, creators of the Slavic alphabet, preachers of Christianity. They are called holy teachers. Enlighteners are those who bring light and illuminate everyone with it. Without the alphabet, there is no writing, and without it there is no book that enlightens people, and therefore moves life forward. Monuments to the great enlighteners around the world remind us of the spiritual feat of Cyril and Methodius, who gave the world the Slavic alphabet.

In memory of the great feat of Cyril and Methodius, on May 24, the Day of Slavic Literature is celebrated all over the world. In the year of the millennium from the date of the creation of the Slavic letter in Russia, the Holy Synod adopted a resolution that established "every year, starting from this year 1863, on May 11 (24), the church celebration of St. Cyril and Methodius." Until 1917, Russia celebrated religious holiday Day of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Brothers Cyril and Methodius. With the advent of Soviet power, this great holiday. In 1986 it was revived. This holiday began to be called the Day of Slavic Literature and Culture.

Quiz

1. Who created the Slavic alphabet? (Cyril and Methodius)

2. What year is considered the year of the emergence of Slavic writing and book business? (863)

3. Why are Cyril and Methodius called "Thessalonica brothers"? (Birthplace of the brothers-enlighteners the city of Thessalonica in Macedonia)

4. Who was the elder brother: Cyril or Methodius? (Methodius)

5. What was the name of the first book written in Cyrillic? (Ostromir Gospel)

6. Which of the brothers was a librarian, and who was a warrior? (Cyril is a librarian, Methodius is a military leader,)

7. What was Cyril called for his mind and diligence? (Philosopher)

8. In whose reign the Slavic alphabet was changed - simplified. (Peter 1)

9. How many letters were there in Cyrillic before Peter the Great? (43 letters)

10. How many letters have become in the modern alphabet? (33 letters)

11. Who was the first printer in Rus'? (Ivan Fedorov)

12. What was the name of the first printed book? ("Apostle")

13. What words were first written in the Slavic language? (In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God)

And flowers, and trees, and animals, and people are God's creations. But people differ from all living beings in that they can speak. Everything in the world has a name: a cloud, a river, a carnation, a birch, wind and lightning. All signs of objects and phenomena: red, fast, warm, cold - everything is named. In a conversation, we just say: "Grandma, I missed you." But it's good to say when grandma is around. And if she is in a village, in another city? You have to somehow tell her that you miss her, you are waiting for her to visit. You can call? What if Grandma's phone broke? Write! Write a letter. A letter is more valuable than any call, a letter can be re-read, shown to neighbors: "Look, my granddaughter is writing to me, calling me to visit."

To write a letter, you need to know the words. And words are made up of letters. The letters are connected by alphabet. Our alphabet is now almost in the form in which it was brought to Rus' by the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles brothers Cyril and Methodius. They translated many books, mostly religious, from Greek into Slavonic, introduced services in the Slavic language. They suffered a lot of persecution from the Roman Catholics for this: they did not want the Slavs to have their own script. To this the brothers answered: "Does not the sun shine for all, does not the sun shine for all it's raining, shall not the Word of God's truth come to all, and in the language that man speaks?"

On the basis of the Slavic alphabet there was an alphabetic prayer. "Az buki lead" in translation: I know (know) the letters. "Verb, good, eat, live" in translation: it's good to live kindly. "Kako, people, think" - this does not need to be translated. As well as "rtsy, the word, firmly," that is: speak the word confidently, firmly.

Of course, it is immediately noticeable that the initial letters of words just make up our "abevegedeshka", the alphabet. They used to learn the alphabet out loud, all together. There was even such a proverb: "The ABC is taught, they shout in the whole hut."

The day of the holy Thessalonica brothers Cyril and Methodius is celebrated just on the day when our schools hear last call, 24 May. This day is a holiday of Slavic writing and culture.

Based on the book by V. Krupin "Children's church calendar". M., 2002.