Cyril and Methodius are the creators of Slavic writing. Cyril and Methodius: why is the alphabet named after the youngest of the brothers? In what year was the first Slavic alphabet created?

The emergence Slavic writing turns 1155 years old. In 863, according to 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 church's envoys, 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. 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 a huge layer of world Christian culture accessible to converts - scriptures, prayers, letters of the apostles, works of the church fathers? The Slavic language, differing in dialects, remained united for a long time: 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: the main prayers, sounding in Slavic, but written in Latin letters in the 10th century, were 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 matched the sound palette 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 "secret" Christian teaching should be known only to the clergy, and for ordinary Christians, very few specially processed texts are 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 into a large rich family with 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 Sea of ​​Marmara), where, as the Life of Constantine reports, they incessantly prayed to God, “occupied only with 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

The appearance of sacred 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 literary languages other Slavic peoples.
Finally, when assessing the educational activities of the 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.

The holy Slovenian teachers strove for solitude and prayer, but in life they constantly found themselves in the forefront - both when they defended Christian truths before Muslims, and when they took on great educational work. Their success sometimes looked like defeat, but as a result, it is to them that we owe the acquisition of “the gift of the most valuable and greater than all silver, and gold, and precious stones, and all transitory wealth.” This gift is .

Brothers from Thessalonica

The Russian language was baptized back in the days when our ancestors did not consider themselves Christians - in the ninth century. In the west of Europe, the heirs of Charlemagne divided the Frankish empire, in the East the Muslim states strengthened, squeezing Byzantium, and in the young Slavic principalities, Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius, the true founders of our culture, preached and worked.

The history of the activities of the holy brothers has been studied with all possible care: the surviving written sources have been commented on many times, and pundits argue about the details of the biographies and acceptable interpretations of the received information. And how could it be otherwise when we are talking about the creators of the Slavic alphabet? And yet, to this day, the images of Cyril and Methodius are lost behind the abundance of ideological constructions and simple inventions. The Khazar Dictionary by Milorad Pavic, in which the enlighteners of the Slavs are embedded in a multifaceted theosophical mystification, is not the worst option.

Kirill, the youngest in both age and hierarchical rank, was simply a layman until the end of his life and received monastic tonsure with the name Kirill only on his deathbed. While Methodius, the elder brother, held large positions, was the ruler of a separate region Byzantine Empire, abbot of the monastery and ended his life as archbishop. And yet, traditionally, Kirill takes honorable first place, and the alphabet - the Cyrillic alphabet - is named after him. All his life he bore another name - Constantine, and also a respectful nickname - Philosopher.

Konstantin was an extremely gifted man. “The speed of his abilities was not inferior to his diligence,” the life, compiled shortly after his death, repeatedly emphasizes the depth and breadth of his knowledge. Translating into language modern realities, Constantine the Philosopher was a professor at the capital's University of Constantinople, very young and promising. At the age of 24 (!), he received his first important government assignment - to defend the truth of Christianity in the face of Muslims of other faiths.

Missionary politician

This medieval inseparability of spiritual, religious tasks and state affairs looks bizarre these days. But even for it one can find some analogy in the modern world order. And today, superpowers, the newest empires, base their influence not only on military and economic power. There is always an ideological component, an ideology that is “exported” to other countries. For Soviet Union it was communism. For the United States, it is a liberal democracy. Some people accept exported ideas peacefully, while others have to resort to bombing.

For Byzantium, Christianity was the doctrine. The strengthening and spread of Orthodoxy was perceived by the imperial authorities as a primary state task. Therefore, as a modern researcher of the Cyril and Methodius heritage writes A.-E. Tahiaos, “a diplomat who entered into negotiations with enemies or “barbarians,” was always accompanied by a missionary.” Constantine was such a missionary. That is why it is so difficult to separate his actual educational activities from his political ones. Only just before his death did he symbolically lay down public service, having accepted monasticism.

“I am no longer a servant of the king or anyone else on earth; Only God Almighty was and will be forever,” Kirill will now write.

His life tells about his Arab and Khazar mission, about tricky questions and witty and deep answers. Muslims asked him about the Trinity, how Christians could worship “many gods,” and why, instead of resisting evil, they strengthened the army. Khazar Jews disputed the Incarnation and blamed Christians for non-compliance with Old Testament regulations. Konstantin's answers - bright, figurative and brief - if they did not convince all opponents, then, in any case, they delivered a polemical victory, leading those listening to admiration.

"Nobody else"

The Khazar mission was preceded by events that greatly changed the internal structure of the Solun brothers. At the end of the 50s of the 9th century, both Constantine, a successful scientist and polemicist, and Methodius, shortly before appointed archon (head) of the province, retired from the world and led a solitary ascetic lifestyle for several years. Methodius even takes monastic vows. The brothers are already with early years they were distinguished by their piety, and the thought of monasticism was not alien to them; however, there were probably external reasons for such a drastic change: a change in the political situation or personal sympathies of those in power. However, the lives are silent about this.

But the bustle of the world receded for a while. Already in 860, the Khazar Kagan decided to organize an “interreligious” dispute, in which Christians had to defend the truth of their faith before Jews and Muslims. According to the life, the Khazars were ready to accept Christianity if the Byzantine polemicists “won the upper hand in disputes with the Jews and Saracens.” They found Constantine again, and the emperor personally admonished him with the words: “Go, Philosopher, to these people and talk about the Holy Trinity with Her help. No one else can take on this with dignity.” On the trip, Konstantin took his older brother as his assistant.

The negotiations ended generally successfully, although the Khazar state did not become Christian, the Kagan allowed those who wished to be baptized. There were also political successes. We should pay attention to an important incidental event. On the way, the Byzantine delegation stopped in Crimea, where near modern Sevastopol (ancient Chersonesos) Constantine found the relics of the ancient saint Pope Clement. Subsequently, the brothers will transfer the relics of St. Clement to Rome, which will further win over Pope Adrian. It is with Cyril and Methodius that the Slavs begin their special veneration of Saint Clement - let us remember the majestic church in his honor in Moscow not far from the Tretyakov Gallery.

Sculpture of the Holy Apostles Cyril and Methodius in the Czech Republic. Photo: pragagid.ru

Birth of writing

862 We've reached historical milestone. This year, the Moravian prince Rostislav sends a letter to the Byzantine emperor with a request to send preachers capable of instructing his subjects in Christianity in the Slavic language. Great Moravia, which at that time included certain areas of the modern Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Romania and Poland, was already Christian. But the German clergy enlightened her, and all the services, holy books and theology were Latin, incomprehensible to the Slavs.

And again at court they remember Constantine the Philosopher. If not he, then who else will be able to complete the task, the complexity of which both the emperor and the patriarch, Saint Photius, were aware of?

The Slavs did not have a written language. But it was not even the fact of the absence of letters that represented main problem. They did not have abstract concepts and the wealth of terminology that usually develops in “book culture.”

High Christian theology, Scripture and liturgical texts had to be translated into a language that did not have any means to do so.

And the Philosopher coped with the task. Of course, one should not imagine that he worked alone. Konstantin again called on his brother for help, and other employees were also involved. It was a kind of scientific institute. The first alphabet - the Glagolitic alphabet - was compiled on the basis of Greek cryptography. The letters correspond to the letters of the Greek alphabet, but look different - so much so that the Glagolitic alphabet was often confused with eastern languages. In addition, for sounds specific to the Slavic dialect, Hebrew letters were taken (for example, “sh”).

Then they translated the Gospel, checked expressions and terms, and translated liturgical books. The volume of translations carried out by the holy brothers and their direct disciples was very significant - by the time of the baptism of Rus', a whole library of Slavic books already existed.

The price of success

However, the activities of educators could not be limited only to scientific and translation research. It was necessary to teach the Slavs new letters, a new book language, a new worship. The transition to a new liturgical language was especially painful. It is not surprising that the Moravian clergy, who had previously followed German practice, reacted with hostility to the new trends. Even dogmatic arguments were put forward against the Slavic translation of services, the so-called trilingual heresy, as if one can only speak to God in “sacred” languages: Greek, Hebrew and Latin.

Dogmatics intertwined with politics, canon law with diplomacy and power ambitions - and Cyril and Methodius found themselves in the center of this tangle. The territory of Moravia was under the jurisdiction of the pope, and although the Western Church was not yet separated from the Eastern, the initiative of the Byzantine emperor and the Patriarch of Constantinople (namely, this was the status of the mission) was still viewed with suspicion. The German clergy, closely associated with the secular authorities of Bavaria, saw in the brothers’ undertakings the implementation of Slavic separatism. And indeed, the Slavic princes, in addition to spiritual interests, also pursued state interests - their liturgical language and church independence would have significantly strengthened their position. Finally, the pope was in tense relations with Bavaria, and support for the revitalization of church life in Moravia against the “trilinguals” fit well into the general direction of his policy.

Political controversies cost the missionaries dearly. Due to the constant intrigues of the German clergy, Constantine and Methodius twice had to justify themselves to the Roman high priest. In 869, unable to withstand the overstrain, St. Cyril died (he was only 42 years old), and his work was continued by Methodius, who was ordained to the rank of bishop in Rome soon after. Methodius died in 885, having survived exile, insults and imprisonment that lasted several years.

The most valuable gift

Methodius was succeeded by Gorazd, and already under him the work of the holy brothers in Moravia practically died out: liturgical translations were prohibited, followers were killed or sold into slavery; many fled to neighboring countries themselves. But this was not the end. This was only the beginning of Slavic culture, and therefore Russian culture too. The center of Slavic book literature moved to Bulgaria, then to Russia. Books began to use the Cyrillic alphabet, named after the creator of the first alphabet. Writing grew and became stronger. And today, proposals to abolish Slavic letters and switch to Latin ones, which were actively promoted by People’s Commissar Lunacharsky in the 1920s, sound, thank God, unrealistic.

So the next time, dotting the “e” or agonizing over the Russification of a new version of Photoshop, think about what wealth we have.

Artist Jan Matejko

Very few nations have the honor of having their own alphabet. This was understood already in the distant ninth century.

“God has created even now in our years - having declared the letters for your language - something that was not given to anyone after the first times, so that you too would be numbered among the great nations who glorify God in their own language... Accept the gift, most valuable and greater than any silver, and gold, and precious stones, and all transitory wealth,” wrote Emperor Michael to Prince Rostislav.

And after this we are trying to separate Russian culture from Orthodox culture? Russian letters were invented by Orthodox monks for church books; at the very basis of Slavic book literature lies not just influence and borrowing, but a “transplantation” of Byzantine church book literature. The book language, cultural context, terminology of high thought were created directly together with the library of books by the Slavic apostles Saints Cyril and Methodius.

In the 10th century, Bulgaria became the center of the spread of Slavic writing and books. It is from here that Slavic literacy and Slavic books come to the Russian land. The oldest Slavic written monuments that have survived to this day were written in not one, but two varieties of Slavic writing. These are two alphabets that existed simultaneously: CYRILLIC(named Kirill) and GLAGOLITIC(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 have 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. Methodius's disciples 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 the letters in order to continue the work of spreading the Slavic letter.

Proponents of the second hypothesis believe that Cyril and Methodius were the authors of the Glagolitic alphabet, and the Cyrillic alphabet appeared in Bulgaria as a result of the activities of their students.

The question of the relationship between alphabets is complicated by the fact that not a single source telling about the activities of the Thessaloniki brothers contains examples of the writing system that they developed. The first inscriptions in Cyrillic and Glagolitic that have reached 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 colloquial Slavs of the 9th century, but a language specifically created for translations of Christian literature and the creation of their own Slavic religious works. It was different from the living spoken language of the time, but was understandable to everyone who spoke 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 Old Slavonic language also falls into 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: a living spoken language Eastern Slavs- Old Russian and literary written language- Old Church Slavonic.

What were the first Slavic alphabet? 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 are located in the same alphabet. But the style (image) of the letters is different.

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 writing form to the Cyrillic alphabet. The Glagolitic alphabet was used by the Slavs in parallel with the Cyrillic alphabet, and in Croatia and Dalmatia it existed until the 17th century. But the simpler Cyrillic alphabet replaced the Glagolitic alphabet in the east and south, and in the west it was replaced by the Latin alphabet.

The Cyrillic letters are based on several sources. First, the Greek alphabet (Greek was official language Byzantine Empire). Greek writing in Byzantium had two forms: the strict and geometrically correct uncial and the faster cursive. The Cyrillic alphabet was based on the uncial, from which 26 letters were borrowed. Oh, how complicated this alphabet was, if you compare it with our modern alphabet!

The letter “N” (our) was written as “N”, and the letter “I” (like) as “N”. And several identical sounds were denoted by two different letters. So the sound “Z” was conveyed by the letters “Earth” and “Zelo”, the sound “I” - the letters “Izhe” “I”, the sound “O” - “He” “Omega”, the two letters “Fert” and “Fita” gave sound "F". There were letters to indicate 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 others it conveyed the sound “I”. The four letters for the Cyrillic alphabet were created from the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. These letters denoted hissing sounds, which in Greek didn't exist. These are the letters “Worm”, “Tsy”, “Sha” and “Sha” for the sounds “Ch, Ts, Sh, Shch”. Finally, several letters were created individually - “Buki”, “Zhivete”, “Er”, “Ery”, “Er”, “Yat”, “Yus small” and “Yus big”. The table shows that each Cyrillic letter had its own name, some of them formed interesting semantic series. The students memorized the alphabet like this: Az Buki Vedi - I know the letters, i.e. I know the Verb Good Is; How People Think, etc.

Many modern Slavic alphabets were created on the basis of the Cyrillic alphabet, but the Glagolitic alphabet was gradually supplanted and became a “dead” alphabet, from which none of them “grew” modern systems letters.

The emergence of Slavic writing originates in IXcentury ad. In the 50s or early 60s of this century, the Moravian prince Rostislav decided that an alphabet developed specifically for the Slavs would facilitate more convenient conduct of Christian ceremonies. In Moravia (the eastern part of the Czech Republic), Christianity was new at that time, and therefore it had to be spread quickly, before small pockets of the Christian faith went out under the onslaught of paganism.
With this thought, the prince Rostislav asked the emperor Byzantium Michael III equip someone to compile such an alphabet, and then translate some church books into this new language.
Michael III agreed. If the Slavs had their own written language, the spread of Christianity among the Slavic peoples would have happened faster. Thus, not only Moravia would have joined the Christian camp, but also the rest of the Slavs (at this time the languages ​​of the Slavs were still quite similar). At the same time, the Slavs would have adopted the Eastern, Orthodox form of this religion, which would only strengthen the position of Byzantium, which was the center of Eastern Christianity until the 15th century. That’s why he agreed to fulfill Rostislav’s request.
The emperor received the task of creating such writing to two monks from Greece - brothers Cyril and Methodius. IN 863 brothers formed the Slavic alphabet based on the Greek alphabet. The Cyrillic alphabet familiar to us and still used today appeared a little later. The first version of the Old Church Slavonic language was called Glagolitic. It differed from the Cyrillic alphabet in the way its letters were written (they were often very different from their Greek counterparts).
The Greeks tried to instill the Glagolitic alphabet among the Moravian Slavs in their missions, but there was no success there. This happened due to Catholic protest. It is known that Catholicism strictly obliges parishioners to conduct services in Latin. Therefore, in Catholic Germany, which was close to Moravia, the practice of holding services in the local language was immediately condemned. The King of Germany invaded Moravia and began to radically impose Catholic rites. The Catholic tradition is still strong in the Czech Republic thanks to this pivotal event.
But the cause of Cyril and Methodius did not die. Immediately after the creation of the Cyrillic alphabet Tsar Boris I of Bulgaria decided to found the world's first Slavic book school - Book school in Preslav. This institution was engaged in translating Christian writings from Greek into Slavic.
Being a Christian, Boris wanted, at all costs, to spread his faith to all of pagan Bulgaria in order to find an ally in Byzantium. He managed to do this soon. Bulgaria became the center of Slavic writing, from here the Old Church Slavonic language spread to Rus', Serbia, and then to many other Slavic countries. In, for example, Poland and the Czech Republic, the Latin alphabet is used, which has become entrenched in everyday life thanks to the deep Catholic tradition of these countries.
Church Slavonic language(the Russian version of the Cyrillic alphabet, which did not change at all for a long time) was fully used in Rus' before 18th century, when Peter I introduced a new standardized letter to replace the outdated church writing. He extracted several letters from the alphabet, redrew the spelling and introduced many other rules. Peter the Great actually founded the Russian language, which we still use today in a very time-worn form. The Church Slavonic language, however, is still used in churches today. Watch and listen to how they spoke approximately Ancient Rus', you can in any church during the service.
Cyril and Methodius for their mission were classified as Russian Orthodox Church to the saints. They are still one of the most popular saints in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus; even modern youth knows these historical figures.

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Problem: most students do not know the history of the creation of the Slavic alphabet.

Goal: to increase the number of students who know about the origins of the Slavic alphabet.

collect material about the origin of the Slavic alphabet;

prepare a presentation on the origin of the Slavic alphabet;

INTRODUCTION

Language and writing represent the most important factors in the formation of the culture of any people. When people begin to forget about their origins native language, then this is the heaviest blow to their native culture.

Throughout almost their entire lives, people have used the alphabet to read and create various text documents. While most of the older population can still name the creators of the Slavic alphabet, the younger generation (students), unfortunately, rarely name the names of the authors. But only a few can tell who these people were, where they came from and why they became the creators of the Slavic alphabet. I am sure that it is necessary to know the past, because this knowledge helps to understand the present. Messages reach us from the depths of centuries. It is extremely important to hear the voice of our ancestors, find answers to eternal questions, and feel like a part of the historical stream. All this determinesrelevanceof this study, since language is an indicator of the spiritual culture of the people.

Hypothesis: a large number of students do not know the history of the creation of the Slavic alphabet.

Research methods: study of literature on the topic, observation, comparison, generalization.

Theoretical and practicalimportanceThe work is determined by the possibility of using the research results in the process of studying the Russian language in the classroom, as well as when conducting further research in this direction.

5. main part

5.1. The founders of the Slavic alphabet: Cyril and Methodius.

Brothers Constantine (that was the name of Saint Cyril before he became a monk) and Methodius were born in the Macedonian region of Byzantium, namely in the main city of the region - Thessalonica. The father of the future compilers of the Slavic alphabet was from the upper stratum of the Byzantine people.

Constantine was the youngest of seven brothers, and Methodius was the oldest brother. The exact year of birth of each brother is not known. It is believed that the year of birth of Methodius dates back to the second decade of the 9th century. Konstantin learned to read very early and surprised everyone with his ability to learn other languages. He received a good education at the court of the emperor in Constantinople under the guidance of the best Byzantine mentors, such as the future Patriarch of Constantinople Photius and Leo Grammaticus, an expert on ancient culture, creator of a unique bibliographical code, mathematician, astronomer and mechanic.

The ancient heritage and all modern secular science were considered by Constantine's teachers to be a necessary preliminary stage to the comprehension of the highest science - Theology. This was also consistent with the ancient church Christian scientific tradition.

After passing all the sciences in Magnavrskaya higher school Constantinople Constantine took the department of philosophy, where he had previously studied himself, also performing the duties of the patriarch's librarian.

Returning to Byzantium, Cyril went to seek peace. In a monastery on the coast of the Marmara Sea, Mount Olympus, after many years of separation, the brothers met again to discover new page stories.

5.2. The history of the emergence of the Slavic alphabet.

In 863, ambassadors from Moravia arrived in Constantinople. Moravia was the name given to one of the West Slavic states of the 9th-10th centuries, which was located on the territory of what is now the Czech Republic. The capital of Moravia was the city of Velehrad; scientists have not yet established its exact location. The ambassadors asked to send preachers to their country to tell the population about Christianity. The emperor decided to send Cyril and Methodius to Moravia. Cyril, before setting off, asked if the Moravians had an alphabet for their language. The answer to the question was negative. The Moravians did not have an alphabet. Then the brothers began work. They had months, not years, at their disposal. In a short time, an alphabet for the Moravian language was created. It was named after one of its creators "Cyrillic".

There are various assumptions about the origin of the “Cyrillic alphabet”. Some scientists believe that in the 9th century the Slavs developed two writing systems almost simultaneously: one was called “Glagolitic”, and the other was called “Cyrillic”. Which alphabet was invented by Constantine? Perhaps the first teachers of the Slavs created both of these writing systems, but later the “Cyrillic alphabet” became most widespread, which became the basis of the modern Russian alphabet. These writing systems existed in parallel and at the same time differed sharply in the shape of the letters.

“Cyrillic” was compiled according to a fairly simple principle. At first, all Greek letters were included in it, which among the Slavs and Greeks denoted the same sounds, then new signs were added - for sounds that had no analogues in the Greek language. Each letter had its own name: “az”, “buki”, “vedi”, “verb”, “good” and so on. In addition, letters could also be used to represent numbers: the letter “az” meant 1, “vedi” - 2, “verb” - 3. There were 43 letters in the “Cyrillic alphabet” in total.

Using the Slavic alphabet, Cyril and Methodius very quickly translated the main liturgical books from the Greek alphabet into the Slavic alphabet. The first words written using the Slavic alphabet were the opening lines from the Gospel of John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The successful mission of Cyril and Methodius aroused sharp discontent among the Byzantine clergy, who tried to discredit the Slavic enlighteners. They were even accused of heresy. To protect themselves, the brothers went to Rome and were successful: they were allowed to continue the work they had started.

The long and long journey to Rome, the intense struggle with the enemies of Slavic writing, undermined Cyril’s health. He became seriously ill. Dying, he took the word from Methodius to continue the education of the Slavs.

Endless adversity befell Methodius, he was persecuted, put on trial, and imprisoned, but neither physical suffering nor moral humiliation broke his will or changed his goal - serving the cause of Slavic enlightenment. Soon after the death of Methodius, Pope Stephen 5 banned Slavic worship in Moravia under pain of excommunication. The closest associates of Cyril and Methodius were arrested and expelled after torture. Three of them - Clement, Naum and Angelarius - found a favorable reception in Bulgaria. Here they continued to translate from the Greek alphabet to the Slavic alphabet, compiled various collections, and instilled literacy in the population.

It was not possible to destroy the work of the Orthodox enlighteners Cyril and Methodius. Their alphabet began its march across countries. Especially important had the introduction of the Slavic alphabet into worship, because at that time the liturgical language was also the language of literature. With the Baptism of Rus', books in the Slavic language began to spread very quickly in Kievan Rus.

5.3. Reforms of the Slavic alphabet

Without changes, the Cyrillic alphabet existed in the Russian language almost until Peter I, under whom changes were made to the style of some letters. He removed the obsolete letters: “Ѫ, ѫ” (yus large), “Ѧ ѧ” (yus small), “Ωω” (omega) and “uk”. They existed in the alphabet only by tradition, but, as it turned out, it was perfectly possible to do without them. Peter I crossed them out from the civil alphabet - that is, from the set of letters intended for secular printing. In 1918, several more obsolete letters “gone” from the Russian alphabet: “Ѣ, ѣ” (yat), “Ѳ, ѳ” (fita), “V, ѵ” (Izhitsa), “Ъ, ъ” (er) and “b, b” (er).

Over the course of a thousand years, many letters have disappeared from our alphabet, and only two have appeared: “y” and “e”. They were invented in the 18th century by the Russian writer and historian N.M. Karamzin.

Comparative analysis of the modern Russian alphabet and the Cyrillic alphabet of the pre-Petrine era

The modern Russian alphabet has 33 letters. We compared the Cyrillic alphabet with the modern Russian alphabet and got an interesting picture. For clarity, we have compiled a table.

Table 1

It turned out that during the existence of the Russian alphabet, based on the Cyrillic alphabet, 28 letters were preserved, 4 were added and 14 were lost. However, philologists may recognize my conclusions as inaccurate, because the added letters are not reinvented, but only replace sounds or combinations of sounds. For example, the lost letter “E iotized” can be recognized as the prototype of the modern letter “E”, and the letter “small yus” - the prototype of the letter “I”. But in any case, my research will make someone think and look at the usual letters of the alphabet from a slightly different angle. I, in turn, am sure that each of the Russian letters deserves a separate study.

6. Conclusion

It is difficult to even imagine what a people would be like if they did not have an alphabet. Ignorants, ignoramuses, and simply people without memory, without a past. It is with the help of writing that one can transmit information and share experiences with descendants.

More than 1000 years ago, the Slavic scribes brothers Cyril and Methodius became the authors of the Slavic alphabet. Nowadays, one tenth of all existing languages ​​(about 70 languages) are written in Cyrillic.

Every spring, on May 24, the Day of Slavic Literature and Culture is celebrated throughout Russia. Every person who does not want to lose his connection with the past and history of his people should know and honor the history of the emergence of the Slavic alphabet.

Bibliography

Artemov V.V. Slavic Encyclopedia / V. Artemov. - Moscow: OLMA Media Group, 2011. - 304 p. : ill.

Vereshchagin E. M. Cyril and Methodius book heritage: interlingual, intercultural, intertemporal and interdisciplinary research: with two applications: [dedicated to the 1150th anniversary of the beginning of the book activity of St. Cyril and Methodius] / E. M. Vereshchagin; Ross. acad. Sciences, Institute of Russian Language named after.

Days of Slavic Literature and Culture: Materials of the International. scientific-practical Conf., May 23, 2008, Vladimir / [ed. : V.V. Gulyaeva (responsible editor)]. - Vladimir: VlGU, 2008. - 231 p.

Baiburova, R. How writing appeared among the ancient Slavs / R. Baiburova / Science and life. - 2002. - No. 5. - P. 48-55.