Cyril and Methodius: why is the alphabet named after the youngest of the brothers? Cyril and Methodius - the founders of Slavic writing Cyril and Methodius when they created the alphabet.
Eleven centuries of existence of the Cyrillic alphabet did not reveal all the secrets of its origin. It is now known that this alphabet was not created by the holy Cyril Equal to the Apostles, that the new writing replaced the ancient Slavic signs-runes that have not yet been studied, and that it was not only and not so much an instrument of education, but a means of political struggle.
Why did the Slavs need writing
The brothers Cyril and Methodius, as you know, brought writing to the territory of the Slavic states, this marked the beginning of the spread of Christianity in Rus'. The alphabet, whose age is already more than a millennium, is called the Cyrillic alphabet - however, it was not created by Cyril at all, and Cyril himself lived all his life under the name Constantine, nicknamed the Philosopher, accepting the schema only before his death.
Whether there was a written language among the Slavs before the Greek missionaries is a debatable issue related both to the ambiguity of many historical facts and the peculiarities of the political situation that determined the events of those times and how they were displayed. Because in the 9th century a serious struggle for spheres of influence in European and Asian lands was unfolding - a struggle in which Rome and Constantinople were primarily involved.
The story goes that the prince of Moravia, Rostislav, turned to the Emperor of Byzantium, Michael III, with a request to help organize church administration and arrange the main liturgical books in the Slavic language. Great Moravia was a large and powerful Slavic state that united the territory of many modern European states - Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, part of Poland and Ukraine. The integrity of the country in the 9th century was under threat from the Frankish and Bulgarian peoples, and this was dictated by the desire to create an independent church.
It is interesting that all the Slavs of that time - both southern, and eastern, and western - communicated in the Old Slavonic language understandable to every people. They were perfectly owned by Constantine and Methodius (in the world - Michael), brothers from the Byzantine city of Thessalonica (Thessaloniki), and the emperor instructed them to go to Moravia as missionaries. The fact that Konstantin was a pupil of a great official under the emperor, Feoktist, also played a role, and besides, he was a very capable and versatile person who already in his youth received the position of a church reader and keeper of the library. Methodius, who chose the monastic path for himself, was 12 years older than his brother.
Glagolitic and Cyrillic
The creation of the Slavic alphabet dates back to 863 - this was the result of work on the isolation of the sounds of the Slavic language and their creation of a system of written characters, the basis of the structure of which was the Greek alphabet. Attempts to write Slavic words in Greek letters were made earlier, but did not lead to any result due to differences in the sounds used by the Greeks and Slavs. An integrated fundamental approach was required, and it was with its help that the brothers achieved results.
Cyril-Konstantin is considered the author of the first Slavic alphabet - but, according to most modern scientists, he created not the Cyrillic alphabet, but the Glagolitic alphabet. The letters of this alphabet may have been created under the influence of ancient Slavic runes, the existence of which has not been proven, but even now it gives rise to many romantic theories about the pre-Christian culture of the peoples of Rus'. These "features and cuts" are endowed, among other things, with a magical meaning, like the runes of the Germanic peoples, the very name of which comes from the word "mystery".
The alphabet created in the 9th century was used to translate the main church books - the Gospel, the Psalter, the Apostle. If there was no suitable word in the Slavic language, the missionary brothers used the Greek one - hence the large number of words borrowed from this language. Since the creation of the alphabet and the appearance of church literature, Moravian priests began to hold services in their own language. Despite the fact that the rules forbade the use of the “barbarian” language in the church - only Greek, Latin and Hebrew were allowed, the Pope made such an exception. Apparently, various factors influenced the decision of Rome, including the fact that in 868 the brothers Constantine and Methodius handed over to the Vatican the relics of St. Clement, found in Chersonese during their other mission - to the Khazar Khaganate.
One way or another, but a few years later, after the death of Emperor Michael, Slavic writing in Moravia was banned. From there it was adopted by the Bulgarians and Croats. In 869, Constantine fell seriously ill and died some time later, having taken monastic vows before his death. Methodius returned to Moravia in 870, spent several years in prison and was released by direct order of the new pope, John VIII.
The Moravian mission also included a student of Constantine - Clement from the city of Ohrid. He continued to work on the spread of Slavic writing, at the invitation of the Bulgarian Tsar Boris I organized education in schools. In the process of work, Clement optimized the alphabet created earlier - unlike the Glagolitic alphabet, the letters in the new alphabet had a simpler and clearer outline. 24 letters of the Greek alphabet and 19 letters for recording specific sounds of the Slavic language made up the “Clementine”, as the Cyrillic alphabet was originally called. Perhaps the creation of the Cyrillic alphabet was dictated by dissatisfaction with the alphabet that Konstantin invented - namely, the complexity of writing characters.
Gaps in the history of the Cyrillic alphabet
Unfortunately, the works of Cyril and Methodius have not survived to the present, and information about their works is often contained in the works of one author, which casts doubt on the objectivity and reliability of the data. In particular, the fact that the Glagolitic alphabet was created by Cyril is directly mentioned by the only source of the authorship of the priest Ghoul Dashing. True, there are also indirect confirmations that the Glagolitic alphabet appeared earlier: on numerous parchment-palimpsests found, the Cyrillic texts are written over the scraped words of the Glagolitic spelling.
On the territory of Rus', the Glagolitic alphabet was almost never used - only a few samples of the text have survived (Novgorod St. Sophia Cathedral is one of the few ancient Russian monuments where you can see the Glagolitic inscription). As for the Cyrillic alphabet, with the adoption of Christianity in 988, it became widespread and acquired the status of the Church Slavonic language.
Before the reform of Peter I, all letters were capital letters, after the reform they began to write lowercase letters, other changes were introduced - a number of letters were abolished, others were legalized, for others they changed the style. And in the thirties of the XX century, a number of peoples of the USSR, who did not have a written language or used other types of writing - in particular Arabic, received Cyrillic as the official alphabet.
Due to the lack of a sufficient number of sources, there are serious disputes on many issues related to writing in Rus'. There is a theory that the word "Cyrillic" originates from the Old Slavonic term for writing, and "Cyril" in this case simply means "clerk". According to one version, the creation of the Cyrillic alphabet preceded the appearance of the Glagolitic alphabet, which was created as a secret script to replace the forbidden Cyrillic alphabet. However, one can dive into the secrets of the past of Rus' indefinitely, both finding connections with the already mentioned Scandinavian runes, and pointing to falsified monuments, such as the famous Veles book.
There is no doubt that Greek writing arose on the basis of a rich and developed Slavic culture, the originality of which, probably, suffered some damage, taking into account innovations. The phonetics of words has irreversibly changed, Slavic terms were replaced by Greek counterparts. On the other hand, it was the emergence of writing in Rus' that made it possible to preserve its history for centuries, reflecting it in chronicles, letters and everyday documents - and in becoming a symbol of continuity between the world of Ancient Rus' and modern children's drawings.
The alphabet of the Old Slavonic alphabet, like any other alphabet, was a system of certain signs, to which a certain sound was assigned. The Slavic alphabet was formed on the territory of the peoples of Ancient Rus' many centuries ago.
Events of the historical past
The year 862 went down in history as the year when the first official steps were taken in Rus' to adopt Christianity. Prince Vsevolod sent envoys to the Byzantine emperor Michael, who were supposed to convey his request that the emperor send preachers of the Christian faith to Great Moravia. The need for preachers arose due to the fact that people themselves could not penetrate the essence of Christian teaching, because the Holy Scriptures were only in Latin.
In response to this request, two brothers were sent to the Russian lands: Cyril and Methodius. The first of them received the name Cyril a little later, when he took monastic vows. This choice has been carefully considered. The brothers were born in Thessalonica in the family of a military leader. The Greek version is Thessaloniki. The level of education for that time they had a very high. Konstantin (Cyril) was trained and brought up at the court of Emperor Michael the Third. He could speak several languages:
- Greek
- Arabic,
- Slavic
- Jewish.
For his ability to initiate others into the secrets of philosophy, he received the nickname Constantine the Philosopher.
Methodius began his career with military service, he tried himself as the ruler of one of the regions, which was inhabited by the Slavs. In 860 they made a trip to the Khazars, their goal was to spread the Christian faith and reach some agreements with these people.
History of written characters
Konstantin had to create written signs with the active help of his brother. After all, Holy Scripture was only in Latin. To convey this knowledge to a large number of people, the written version of the Holy Books in the language of the Slavs was simply necessary. As a result of their painstaking work, the Slavic alphabet appeared in 863.
Two variants of the alphabet: Glagolitic and Cyrillic are ambiguous. Researchers argue about which of these two options belongs directly to Cyril, and which one appeared later.
After the creation of the written system, the brothers were engaged in translating the Bible into the language of the Slavs. The meaning of this alphabet is enormous. The people could not only speak their own language. But also to write, and to form the literary basis of the language. Some of the words of that time have come down to our time and function in Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian languages.
Word symbols
The letters of the ancient alphabet had names that coincided with the words. The very word "alphabet" comes from the first letters of the alphabet: "az" and "beeches". They were the modern letters "A" and "B".
The first written symbols in the Slavic lands were scratched on the walls of the churches of Pereslavl in the form of pictures. It was in the 9th century. In the 11th century, this alphabet appeared in Kyiv, in St. Sophia Cathedral, where signs were interpreted, written translations were made.
A new stage in the formation of the alphabet is associated with the advent of printing. 1574 brought the first alphabet to the Russian lands, which was printed. It was called "Old Slavonic alphabet". The name of the person who released it entered the centuries - Ivan Fedorov.
The connection between the emergence of writing and the spread of Christianity
The Old Slavonic alphabet was more than a simple set of characters. Its appearance made it possible for a large number of people to get acquainted with the Christian faith, to penetrate into its essence, to give it their heart. All scholars agree that without the appearance of writing, Christianity in the Russian lands would not have appeared so quickly. Between the creation of letters and the adoption of Christianity - 125 years, during which there was a huge leap in the self-consciousness of the people. From dense beliefs and customs, people came to faith in the One God. It was the Holy Books, which were distributed throughout the territory of Rus', and the ability to read them, that became the basis for the spread of Christian knowledge.
863 is the year of the creation of the alphabet, 988 is the date of the adoption of Christianity in Rus'. This year, Prince Vladimir announced that a new faith was being introduced in the principality and a struggle began against all manifestations of polytheism.
The mystery of written symbols
Some scholars believe that the symbols of the Slavic alphabet are secret signs in which religious and philosophical knowledge is encrypted. Together they represent a complex system based on clear logic and mathematical relationships. There is an opinion that all the letters in this alphabet are an integral, inseparable system, which is why the alphabet was created as a system, and not as separate elements and signs.
The first such signs were something between numbers and letters. The Old Slavonic alphabet was based on the Greek uncial writing system. The Slavic Cyrillic alphabet consisted of 43 letters. The brothers took 24 letters from the Greek unique, and the remaining 19 were invented by themselves. The need to invent new sounds arose due to the fact that the Slavic language contained sounds that were not characteristic of Greek pronunciation. Accordingly, there were no such letters. Constantine either took these symbols from other systems or invented them himself.
"higher" and "lower" part
The whole system can be divided into two distinct parts. Conventionally, they received the names "higher" and "lower". The first part includes letters from "a" to "f" ("az" - "fet"). Each letter is a symbol-word. Such a name was completely focused on people, because these words were clear to everyone. The lower part went from "sha" to the letter "Izhitsa". These symbols were left without digital correspondence, were filled with negative connotations. “In order to penetrate the essence of the cryptography of these symbols, they need to be carefully studied, analyzed all the nuances. After all, in each of them lives the meaning laid down by the creator.
Researchers also find the meaning of the triad in these symbols. A person, comprehending this knowledge, must reach a higher level of spiritual perfection. Thus, the alphabet is the creation of Cyril and Methodius, leading to the self-improvement of people.
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 e-mail and text messages. 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 he quickly 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 retired from 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 the 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.
This is where the catchphrases "Az and beeches - that's all the sciences", "" Who knows "Az" and "Beeches" book in hand." 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". Native speakers of Western languages call it “alphabete”. 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, a church holiday was celebrated in Russia, the Day of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Brothers Cyril and Methodius. With the advent of Soviet power, this great holiday was forgotten. 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)
In the 10th century, Bulgaria became the center for the dissemination of Slavic writing and books. It is from here that the Slavic letter and the Slavic book come to the Russian land. The oldest Slavic written monuments that have survived to this day are written not by one, but by two varieties of Slavic writing. These are two alphabets that existed at the same time: CYRILLIC(by the name of Cyril) and VERB(from the word "verb", i.e. "to speak").
The question of what kind of alphabet Cyril and Methodius created has occupied scientists for a very long time, but they did not come to a consensus. There are two main hypotheses. According to the first, Cyril and Methodius created the Cyrillic alphabet, and the Glagolitic alphabet arose in Moravia after the death of Methodius during the period of persecution. The disciples of Methodius came up with a new alphabet, which became the Glagolitic alphabet. It was created on the basis of the Cyrillic alphabet by changing the spelling of letters in order to continue the work of spreading the Slavic script.
Adherents of the second hypothesis believe that Cyril and Methodius were the authors of the Glagolitic alphabet, and the Cyrillic alphabet appeared already in Bulgaria as a result of the activities of their students.
The question of the ratio of the alphabets is also complicated by the fact that not a single source that tells about the activities of the Solun brothers contains examples of the writing system that they developed. The first inscriptions in Cyrillic and Glagolitic that have come down to us date back to the same time - the turn of the 9th-10th centuries.
An analysis of the language of the oldest Slavic written monuments showed that the first Slavic alphabet was created for the Old Church Slavonic language. Old Church Slavonic is not the spoken language of the Slavs of the 9th century, but a language specially created for translating Christian literature and creating their own Slavic religious works. It differed from the living spoken language of that time, but was understandable to everyone who spoke the Slavic languages.
The Old Church Slavonic language was created on the basis of the dialects of the southern group of Slavic languages, then it began to spread to the territory of the Western Slavs, and by the end of the 10th century, the Old Church Slavonic language also fell into the East Slavic territory. The language spoken by the Eastern Slavs at that time is usually called Old Russian. After the baptism of Rus', two languages already “live” on its territory: the living spoken language of the Eastern Slavs - Old Russian and the literary written language - Old Slavonic.
What were the first Slavic alphabets? Cyrillic and Glagolitic are very similar: they have almost the same number of letters - 43 in Cyrillic and 40 in Glagolitic, which are named the same and arranged in the same alphabet. But the style (image) of the letters is different.
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Glagolitic letters are characterized by many curls, loops and other complex elements. Only those letters that were specially created to convey the special sounds of the Slavic language are close in form to the Cyrillic alphabet. The Glagolitic alphabet was used among the Slavs in parallel with the Cyrillic alphabet, and in Croatia and Dalmatia it existed until the 17th century. But the simpler Cyrillic replaced the Glagolitic in the east and south, and in the west it was replaced by the Latin alphabet.
Cyrillic letters are based on several sources. First, the Greek alphabet (Greek was the official language of the Byzantine Empire). Greek writing in Byzantium had two forms: the strict and geometrically correct uncial and the faster cursive. It was the uncial that formed the basis of the Cyrillic alphabet, 26 letters were borrowed from it. Oh, and this alphabet was complicated, if we compare it with our modern alphabet!
The letter "H" (ours) was written as "N", and the letter "I" (like) as "H". And several identical sounds were designated by two different letters. So the sound "Z" was transmitted by the letters "Earth" and "Zelo", the sound "I" - the letters "Izhe" "I", the sound "O" - "He" "Omega", two letters "Firt" and "Fita" gave "F" sound. There were letters to designate two sounds at once: the letters "Xi" and "Psi" meant a combination of the sounds "KS" and "PS". And another letter could give different sounds: for example, "Izhitsa" meant in some cases "B", in some it conveyed the sound "I". Four letters for the Cyrillic alphabet were created from the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. These letters denoted hissing sounds that did not exist in Greek. These are the letters "Worm", "Tsy", "Sha" and "Scha" for the sounds "Ch, C, Sh, Shch". Finally, several letters were created individually - "Buki", "Live", "Er", "Ery", "Yer", "Yat", "Yus small" and "Yus big". The table shows that each Cyrillic letter had its own name, some of them formed interesting semantic rows. The students memorized the alphabet like this: Az Buki Vedi - I know the letters, i.e. I know the Verb Good Is; Kako People Think, etc.
Many modern Slavic alphabets were created on the basis of the Cyrillic alphabet, while the Glagolitic alphabet was gradually replaced and became a “dead” alphabet, from which none of the modern writing systems “grew”.
KIRILL(until he became a monk at the beginning of 869 - Constantine) (c. 827-14.02.869) and METHODIUS(ca. 815-06.04.885) - Enlighteners, creators of the Slavic alphabet, who translated the Holy Books into Slavic, preachers of Christianity, founders of the Slavic Church independent of the German episcopate, Orthodox saints.
The brothers came from a noble Greek family that lived in Thessalonica. Methodius was the eldest of seven brothers, Constantine was the youngest. Having a military rank, Methodius was the ruler in one of the Slavic principalities subordinate to the Byzantine Empire and studied the Slavic language. After staying there for about 10 years, Methodius became a monk in one of the monasteries on Mount Olympus in Asia Minor. Constantine studied together with the future Byzantine Emperor Michael with the best teachers in Constantinople, including the future Patriarch Photius. For his mind and outstanding knowledge, he received the title of Philosopher. At the end of his studies, he took the rank of priest and was appointed curator of the patriarchal library at the church of St. Sophia in Constantinople. Then he became a teacher of philosophy at the higher school of Constantinople. In 851, Constantine was included in the Byzantine embassy to the Arab countries. After that, Constantine retired to his brother Methodius in a monastery on Mount Olympus.
In 860, the emperor and patriarch sent Constantine and Methodius on a mission to Khazaria to convince the kagan to accept Christianity. On the way to Khazaria, during a short stay in Korsun (Crimea), they found the relics of St. Clement, Pope of Rome. Here Konstantin found the Gospel and the Psalter, written in "Russian letters". Upon his return, Constantine remained in Constantinople, and Methodius received hegumenship at the Polychron monastery.
In 862, at the request of the Moravian prince Rostislav and the order of Emperor Michael, Constantine began work on translating the texts of Holy Scripture into Slavonic. In 863, with the help of brother Methodius and the disciples of Gorazd, Clement, Savva, Naum and Angelyar, he compiled the Slavic alphabet - Cyrillic and translated into Slavic the "service" books: the Gospel, the Apostle, the Psalter. In the same year, the brothers Constantine and Methodius set out to preach Christianity in Moravia. For preaching Holy Scripture in the Slavic language, and not in Hebrew, Greek or Latin, they were accused by the German bishops of trilingual heresy and summoned to Rome. Pope Adrian approved worship in the Slavic language, and ordered the translated books to be placed in Roman churches. While in Rome, Constantine fell ill, took tonsure with the name Cyril, and died 50 days later. He was buried in the church of St. Clement.
After the death of Cyril, Methodius, ordained archbishop of Moravia and Pannonia, was sent to Pannonia. There, together with his students, he continued to spread Christianity, writing and books in the Slavic language. The German bishops who preached in these lands achieved the arrest, trial, exile and imprisonment of Methodius. By order of Pope John VIII, he was released and restored to the rights of an archbishop. Methodius baptized the Czech prince Borivoi and his wife Lyudmila. For rejecting the teaching of the Roman Church about the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and from the Son, Methodius was summoned to Rome, where he managed to defend his views. Methodius spent the last years of his life in the capital of Moravia, Velehrad. With the help of two students, he translated the Old Testament (except for the Maccabean books), the Nomocanon (Regulations of the Holy Fathers) and the patristic books (Paterik) into Slavic, and also wrote the Life of Constantine (Cyril) the Philosopher. Methodius was buried in the cathedral church of Velegrad.
Cyril and Methodius laid the foundation for a special trend in Christianity - the Cyril and Methodius tradition, which combines the features of various Christian teachings.
The brothers were called "Slovenian teachers". Memorial Day of Saints Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius: May 24 (11). On the same day, many Slavic countries celebrate the Holiday of Slavic Literature and Culture.
