Cyril and Methodius: why is the alphabet named after the youngest of the brothers? The emergence of writing: the creation of the Slavic alphabet.

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

Brethren 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 Muslim states were strengthening, crowding out Byzantium, and in the young Slavic principalities, the 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 are commented on many times, and pundits argue about the details of the biographies and the permissible interpretations of the information that has come down. And how could it be otherwise when it comes to the creators of the Slavic alphabet? And yet, until now, the images of Cyril and Methodius are lost behind an abundance of ideological constructions and mere inventions. The Khazar dictionary of Milorad Pavic, in which the enlighteners of the Slavs are built into a multifaceted theosophical hoax, is not the worst option.

Kirill, the youngest both in age and in hierarchical ranks, was just a layman until the end of his life and took monastic vows with the name Cyril only on his deathbed. While Methodius, the elder brother, held high positions, was the ruler of a separate region of the Byzantine Empire, the abbot of the monastery and ended his life as an archbishop. And yet, traditionally, Cyril takes an honorable first place, and the Cyrillic alphabet is named after him. All his life he had a different name - Konstantin, and another respectful nickname - the Philosopher.

Konstantin was an extremely gifted man. “The speed of his abilities was not inferior to diligence,” the life, compiled shortly after his death, repeatedly emphasizes the depth and breadth of his knowledge. Translating into the language of modern realities, Konstantin the Philosopher was a professor at the University of Constantinople in the capital, very young and promising. At the age of 24 (!) he received the first important state task - 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 today. But even for it one can find some analogy in the modern world order. And today the superpowers, the newest empires, base their influence not only on military and economic strength. There is always an ideological component, an ideology that is “exported” to other countries. For the Soviet Union, it was communism. For the United States, it is a liberal democracy. Someone accepts the exported ideas peacefully, somewhere you have to resort to bombing.

For Byzantium, the doctrine was Christianity. The strengthening and spread of Orthodoxy was perceived by the imperial authorities as a paramount state task. Therefore, as the modern researcher of the Cyril and Methodius heritage A.-E. Tahiaos, "a diplomat who negotiated 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 activity from his political one. Just before his death, he symbolically resigned from public service, taking monasticism.

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

His life story tells about his Arab and Khazar mission, tricky questions and witty and profound answers. Muslims asked him about the Trinity, how Christians could worship "many gods" and why, instead of resisting evil, they strengthened the army. The Khazar Jews disputed the Incarnation and accused Christians of non-observance of the Old Testament prescriptions. Konstantin's answers - bright, imaginative and short - if they did not convince all opponents, then, in any case, delivered a polemical victory, leading the listeners into admiration.

"Nobody else"

The Khazar mission was preceded by events that greatly changed the internal structure of the Thessalonica brothers. At the end of the 50s of the 9th century, both Constantine, a successful scientist and polemicist, and Methodius, shortly before this appointed archon (head) of the province, retired from the world and led a secluded ascetic life for several years. Methodius even takes monastic vows. The brothers were distinguished by piety from an early age, and the idea of ​​monasticism was not alien to them; however, there were probably external reasons for such a sharp change: a change in the political situation or the personal sympathies of those in power. However, this life is silent.

But the worldly bustle receded for a while. Already in 860, the Khazar kagan decided to arrange an "inter-religious" dispute in which Christians had to defend the truth of their faith in front of Jews and Muslims. According to the expression of the life, the Khazars were ready to accept Christianity if the Byzantine polemists "won the upper hand in disputes with the Jews and Saracens." They again found Constantine, 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 adequately take it upon themselves.” On the journey, Konstantin took his older brother as an assistant.

The negotiations ended on the whole 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 also pay attention to an important passing event. On the way, the Byzantine delegation went to the Crimea, where, near modern Sevastopol (ancient Chersonese), Constantine found the relics of the ancient holy Pope Clement. Subsequently, the brothers will transfer the relics of St. Clement to Rome, which will additionally win over Pope Adrian. It is with Cyril and Methodius that the special veneration of St. Clement among the Slavs begins - let us recall 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

The birth of writing

862 year. We have reached a historic milestone. This year, the Moravian prince Rostislav sent 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 separate regions of the modern Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Romania and Poland, was already Christian. But the German clergy enlightened her, and all divine services, sacred books and theology were Latin, incomprehensible to the Slavs.

And again at the court they remember about Constantine the Philosopher. If not him, then who else would be able to accomplish 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 even the fact of the absence of letters was not the main problem. They did not have abstract concepts and the richness of terminology that usually develops in "book culture".

High Christian theology, Scripture and liturgical texts had to be translated into a language that had no means of doing so.

And the Philosopher coped with the task. Of course, one should not imagine that he worked alone. Konstantin again called for help from his brother, and other employees were also involved. It was a kind of scientific institute. The first alphabet - Glagolitic - 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 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, verified expressions and terms, translated liturgical books. The volume of translations carried out by the holy brothers and their immediate disciples was very significant - by the time of the baptism of Russia, a whole library of Slavic books already existed.

The price of success

However, the activities of the enlighteners could not be limited only to scientific and translational research. It was necessary to teach the Slavs new letters, a new bookish language, a new divine service. The transition to a new liturgical language was especially painful. It is not surprising that the clergy of Moravia, who until then had followed German practice, took the new trends with hostility. Even dogmatic arguments were put forward against the Slavonic transposition of services, the so-called trilingual heresy, as if one could speak with God only in "sacred" languages: Greek, Hebrew and Latin.

Dogma intertwined with politics, canon law with diplomacy and power ambitions - and Cyril and Methodius found themselves at 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 Church, 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 connected with the secular authorities of Bavaria, saw in the undertakings of the brothers the realization of Slavic separatism. Indeed, in addition to spiritual interests, the Slavic princes also pursued state interests - their liturgical language and church independence would significantly strengthen their position. Finally, the pope was in tense relations with Bavaria, and support for the revival of church life in Moravia against the "tri-pagans" fit perfectly into the general direction of his policy.

Political controversy cost the missionaries dearly. Because of the constant intrigues of the German clergy, Constantine and Methodius twice had to justify themselves before the Roman high priest. In 869, unable to withstand the strain, St. Cyril died (he was only 42 years old), and Methodius continued his work, shortly after that he was ordained in Rome to the episcopal rank. Methodius died in 885, having experienced exile, insults and imprisonment that lasted several years.

The most valuable gift

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

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

Artist Jan Matejko

Very few nations have been honored to have their own alphabet. This was understood already in the distant ninth century.

“God has created even now in our years — declaring 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 that glorify God in their own language ... Accept the gift, the most valuable and greater than any silver, and gold, and precious stones, and all transient wealth, ”wrote Emperor Michael to Prince Rostislav.

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

emergence Slavic writing turns 1155 years old. In 863, according to the official version, the brothers Cyril (in the world Constantine the Philosopher, born in 826-827) and Methodius (worldly name unknown, presumably Michael, born before 820) created the basis of the modern Cyrillic alphabet.
The acquisition of written language by the Slavic peoples had the same historical and geopolitical significance as the discovery of America.
In the middle of the first millennium A.D. e. 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 attempt to convert the "barbarians" to the Christian faith, subordinating their daughter churches to the main one - Latin in Rome, Greek in Constantinople. Missionaries were sent to the "barbarians". Among the envoys of the church, no doubt, there were many who sincerely and confidently fulfilled their spiritual duty, and the Slavs themselves, living in close contact with the European medieval world, were increasingly inclined to the need to enter the bosom of the Christian church. At the beginning of the 9th century, the Slavs began to actively adopt Christianity.
And then a new challenge arose. How to make available to new converts a huge layer of world Christian culture - sacred writings, prayers, epistles of the apostles, the works of the church fathers? The Slavic language, differing in dialects, remained the same for a long time: everyone understood each other perfectly. However, the Slavs did not yet have a written language. “Before, the Slavs, when they were pagans, did not have letters,” says the Tale of the Chernorizet Khrabr “On Letters” - but [counted] and guessed with the help of features and cuts. However, in trade transactions, when accounting for the economy, or when it was necessary to accurately convey a message, it was unlikely that “devils and cuts” were enough. There was a need to create Slavic writing.
“When [the Slavs] were baptized,” said the Chernoryets 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 that sound in Slavic, but were written in Latin letters in the 10th century, are common among Western Slavs. Or another interesting monument - documents in which Bulgarian texts are written in Greek letters, moreover, from those times when the Bulgarians spoke the Turkic language (later the Bulgarians will speak Slavic).
And yet, neither the Latin nor the Greek alphabets corresponded to the sound palette of the Slavic language. Words, the sound of which cannot be correctly conveyed in Greek or Latin letters, were already cited by the Chernoryets Brave: belly, church, aspiration, youth, language, and others. But there was another side of the problem - the political one. Latin missionaries did not at all seek to make the new faith understandable to believers. There was a widespread belief in the Roman Church that there were “only three languages ​​in which it is fitting to praise God with the help of (special) scripts: Hebrew, Greek and Latin.” In addition, Rome firmly adhered to the position that the “secret” of Christian doctrine should be known only to the clergy, and ordinary Christians only need very few specially processed texts - the very beginnings of Christian knowledge.
In Byzantium, they looked at all this, apparently, in a slightly different way, here they began to think about the creation of 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 Konstantin he called when, in the early 860s, an embassy from Moravia (part of the territory of modern Czech Republic) came to Constantinople. The tops of the Moravian society had already adopted Christianity three decades ago, but the Germanic church was active among them. Apparently, trying to gain complete independence, the Moravian prince Rostislav asked "the teacher to tell us the right faith in our language ...".
“No one can do this, only you,” the Caesar admonished Constantine the Philosopher. This difficult, honorable mission simultaneously fell on the shoulders of his brother, hegumen (rector) of the Orthodox monastery of Methodius. “You are Thessaloniki, and the Thessalonians all speak pure Slavic” - was another argument of the emperor.
Cyril and Methodius, two brothers, really came from the Greek city of Thessalonica (its modern name is Thessaloniki) in northern Greece. South 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 wealthy 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 younger. As a seven-year-old child (as his “Life” tells), 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: "her name was Sophia, that is, Wisdom." The phenomenal memory and excellent abilities of the boy - in teaching he excelled everyone - amazed those around him.
It is not surprising that, having heard about the special giftedness of the children of the Thessalonica nobleman, the ruler of the Caesar called them to Constantinople. Here they received an excellent education. With knowledge and wisdom, Konstantin earned himself honor, respect and the nickname "Philosopher". He became famous for many of his verbal victories: in discussions with carriers of heresies, at a dispute in Khazaria, where he defended the Christian faith, knowledge of many languages ​​and reading ancient inscriptions. In Chersonese, 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 his affairs. But the brothers received world fame and grateful gratitude from their descendants by creating the Slavic alphabet and translating sacred books into the Slavic language. Great work, which played an epochal role in the formation of the Slavic peoples.
However, many researchers rightly believe that work on the creation of the Slavic script in Byzantium began to work, 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 Slavic of the Gospel - a complex, multi-layered, internally rhythmic literary work that requires careful and adequate selection of words - is a colossal work. To fulfill it, even Constantine the Philosopher and his brother Methodius "with his henchmen" would need more than one year. Therefore, it is natural to assume that it was precisely this work that the brothers did back in the 50s of the 9th century in a monastery on Olympus (in Asia Minor on the coast of the Sea of ​​​​Marmara), where, according to the Life of Constantine, they constantly prayed to God, “engaging in just 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 there was still work to be done. Students were assigned to help the brothers and to train with them. “And soon (Konstantin) translated the entire church order and taught them both morning, and 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. Cyril died and was buried in Rome.
The eldest of the brothers, Methodius, continued the work they started. According to the "Life of Methodius", "... having planted shorthand writers from his students, he quickly and completely translated all the books (biblical), except for the Maccabees, from Greek into Slavic." The time devoted to this work is indicated as 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 well-known medieval sources that responded to this event report how "some people began to blaspheme Slavic books", arguing that "no nation should have its own alphabet, except for 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 a non-canonized Slavic language was contrary to the principles of the Latin Church, the pope, nevertheless, did not condemn the detractors, saying, allegedly, quoting Scripture, like this: "Let all peoples praise God."
Cyril and Methodius, having created the Slavic alphabet, translated almost all the most important church books and prayers into the Slavic language. But not one Slavic alphabet has survived to this day, but two: Glagolitic and Cyrillic. Both existed in the IX-X centuries. In both, to convey sounds reflecting the features of the Slavic language, special signs were introduced, and not combinations of two or three main ones, as was practiced in the alphabets of Western European peoples. The Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets almost coincide in 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 Slavonic literary language and Slavic book business. There is evidence that Cyril created, in addition, original works. Thirdly, for many years Cyril and Methodius carried out great educational work among the Western and Southern Slavs and greatly contributed to the spread of literacy among these peoples. In the course of all their activities in Moravia and Pannonia, Cyril and Methodius, in addition, waged an unceasing selfless struggle against the attempts of the German Catholic clergy to ban the Slavic alphabet and books. Fourthly: Cyril and Methodius were the founders of the first literary and written language of the Slavs - the Old Slavonic language, which in turn was a kind of catalyst for the creation of the Old Russian literary language, Old Bulgarian and the literary languages ​​of other Slavic peoples.
Finally, when evaluating the educational activities of the Thessalonica brothers, it should be borne in mind that they did not engage in the Christianization of the population as such (although they contributed to it), because Moravia was already a Christian state by the time they arrived. Cyril and Methodius, having compiled the alphabet, translating from Greek, teaching literacy and familiarizing the local population with Christian and encyclopedic literature rich in content and forms, were precisely the teachers of the Slavic peoples.
Slavic monuments of the X-XI centuries that have come down to us. testify that, starting from the era of Cyril and Methodius, for three centuries the Slavs used, in principle, a single literary language with a number of local variants. The Slavic language world was rather uniform when compared with the modern one. Thus, Cyril and Methodius created an international, inter-Slavic language.

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Introduction. Brief history of writing

1. The origins of Russian writing

1.1 Slavic alphabet and Greek alphabet

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

1.3 How Cyril and Methodius created the alphabet

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

3. From the biographies of Cyril and Methodius

4. Cyrillic letters and their names

5. The composition of the Russian alphabet

Conclusion

Literature

Introduction

Brief history of writing

When we try to imagine the beginning of Russian literature, our thought necessarily turns to the history of writing. The importance of writing in the history of the development of civilization is difficult to overestimate. 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.

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

At first, picture writing (pictography) appeared: some event was depicted in the form of a drawing, then they began to depict not an event, but individual objects, first observing the similarity with the depicted, and then in the form of conventional signs (ideography, hieroglyphs), and, finally, they learned not to depict objects, but to convey their names with signs (sound writing). Initially, only consonants were used in the sound letter, and vowels were either not perceived at all, or were indicated by additional signs (syllabary). The syllabary was in use among many Semitic peoples, including the Phoenicians.

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

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

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

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

writing alphabet cyrillic Slavic

1. The origins of Russian writing

1.1 Slavsskai alphabet and greek alphabet

Do you know how Russian writing originated? If you don't know, we can tell you. But first answer this question: what is the difference between the alphabet and the alphabet?

The word "alphabet" comes from the names of the first two letters of the Slavic alphabet: A (az) and B (beeches):

ALPHABET: AZ + BUKI

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

ALPHABET: ALPHA + VITA

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

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

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

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

1.3 howCyril and Methodius created the alphabet

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

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

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

From our main witness to the original history of Russia - "The Tale of Bygone Years" - we learn that once the Slavic princes Rostislav, Svyatopolk and Kotsel sent ambassadors to the Byzantine Tsar Michael with these words:

“Our land is baptized, but we do not have a teacher who would instruct and instruct us and explain the holy books. For we know neither Greek nor Latin; some teach us in this way, and others in another way, because of this we do not know either the outline of the letters or their meaning. And send us teachers who could tell us about book words and their meaning.

Then Tsar Michael called to himself two learned brothers - Constantine and Methodius and “the king persuaded them, and sent them to the Slavic land to Rostislav, Svyatopolk and Kotsel. When these brothers came, they began to compose the Slavic alphabet and translated the Apostle and the Gospel.

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

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

To protect the Slavic writings, the brothers Constantine and Methodius went to Rome. The Bishop of Rome condemned those who grumble against the Slavic books, saying this: “Let the word of Scripture be fulfilled: “Let all nations praise God!” That is, let every nation pray to God in its own mother tongue”. Thus, he approved Divine services in the Slavic language.

3. Frombiographies of Cyril and Methodius

Among the most ancient monuments of Slavic writing, a special and honorable place is occupied by the biographies of the creators of the Slavic letters - Saints Cyril and Methodius, such as "The Life of Constantine the Philosopher", "The Life of Methodius" and "Eulogy to Cyril and Methodius".

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

The future Slavic enlighteners received an excellent upbringing and education. Constantine from infancy showed extraordinary mental gifts. Studying at the Thessalonica school and not yet reaching the age of fifteen, he already read the books of the most thoughtful of the fathers of the Church - Gregory the Theologian (4th century). The rumor about the talent of Constantine reached Constantinople, and then he was taken to the court, where he studied with the emperor's son from the best teachers of the capital of Byzantium. The famous scholar Photius, the future Patriarch of Constantinople, Constantine studied ancient literature. He also studied philosophy, rhetoric (oratory), mathematics, astronomy and music. Constantine was expected to have a brilliant career at the imperial court, wealth and marriage to a noble beautiful girl. But he preferred to retire to the monastery “on Olympus to Methodius, his brother,” says his biography, “he began to live there and constantly pray to God, doing only books.”

However, Konstantin could not spend long periods of time in solitude. As the best preacher and defender of Orthodoxy, he is often sent to neighboring countries to participate in disputes. These trips were very successful for Konstantin. Once, traveling to the Khazars, he visited the Crimea. Having baptized up to two hundred people and taking with him the captive Greeks released to freedom, Constantine returned to the capital of Byzantium and began to continue his scientific work there.

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

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

4. Cyrillic letters and their names

Figure 1 - "Cyrillic letters and their names"

The Cyrillic alphabet, shown in Figure 1, has been gradually improved as it is used in the Russian language.

The development of the Russian nation at the beginning of the 18th century, the emerging need for printing civilian books necessitated the need to simplify the outlines of the letters of the Cyrillic alphabet.

In 1708, a Russian civil font was created, and Peter I himself took an active part in the production of sketches of letters. In 1710, a sample of a new alphabet font was approved. This was the first reform of Russian graphics. The essence of the Petrine reform was to simplify the composition of the Russian alphabet by excluding from it such obsolete and unnecessary letters as "psi", "ksi", "omega", "izhitsa", "earth", "like", "yus small". However, later, probably under the influence of the clergy, some of these letters were restored to use. The letter E ("E" reverse) was introduced in order to distinguish it from the iotized letter E, as well as the letter I instead of the small iotized yus.

For the first time, uppercase (large) and lowercase (small) letters are established in the civil font.

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

In the XVIII century. in the literary language, the sound denoted by the letter b (yat) coincided with the sound [ uh]. Bush's Kommersant, thus, practically turned out to be unnecessary, but according to tradition, it was kept in the Russian alphabet for a long time, right up to 1917-1918.

The spelling reform of 1917-1918. two letters that duplicated each other were excluded: "yat", "fita", "and decimal". The letter Ъ (ep) was retained only as a separator, b (er) as a separator and to indicate the softness of the preceding consonant. With regard to Yo, the decree contains a clause on the desirability, but not the obligatory use of this letter. Reform 1917-1918 simplified Russian writing and thereby facilitated literacy.

5. Composition of the Russian alphabet

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

Table 1 - Russian alphabet and letter names

Conclusion

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

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

Literature

1. Vetvitsky V.G. Modern Russian writing. /V.G. Vetvitsky//- M.: Enlightenment, 1994. -143s.

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

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

4. Dal V.I. Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language. In four volumes./V.I. Dal. - M.: AST-ASTREL, 2009. - 834s.

5. Kolesov V.V. The history of the Russian language in stories / V.V. Kolesov//- M.: "Enlightenment", 1996-175p.

6. Z. N. Lyustrov, L. I. Skvortsov, and V. Ya. Conversations about the Russian word / Z.N. Lustrova, L.I. Skvortsov, V.Ya. Deryagin//- M.: "Knowledge", 1976-144p.

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It is extremely difficult for a modern person to imagine a time when there was no alphabet. All these letters that we are taught at school desks appeared quite a long time ago. So in what year did the first alphabet appear, which, I'm not afraid of this phrase, changed our lives?

In what year did the Slavic alphabet appear?

Let's start with the fact that 863 is recognized as the year when the Slavic alphabet appeared. She owes her "birth" to two brothers: Cyril and Methodius. Once the ruler Rostislav, who owns the throne of Great Moravia, turned to Michael, the emperor of Byzantium, for help. His request was simple: send preachers who spoke Slavic and thus promote Christianity among the people. The emperor took into account his request and sent two outstanding scientists at that time!
Their arrival coincides with the year when the alphabet appeared, because the brothers faced the problem of translating the Holy Scripture into the language of the Slavs. By the way, there was no alphabet then. This means that the basis of the whole attempt to translate the holy speeches to ordinary people was missing.

The time when the first alphabet appeared can be safely called the moment of the birth of the modern language and the alphabet, the development of the culture and history of the Slavs themselves. The creation of the Slavic alphabet in 863 was a significant day!

A curious fact about abzuki in general: Louis Braille invented almost 1000 years later. When they ask you, they say, the creation of the Slavic alphabet in what year began, then you will be able to answer! And also read. It's educational too!

  KIRILL(before he became a monk at the beginning of 869 - Constantine) (c. 827-14.02.869) and METHODIUS(c. 815-06.04.885) - Enlighteners, creators of the Slavic alphabet, who translated the Holy Books into Slavic, preachers of Christianity, creators 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 into Slavic the Old Testament (except for the Maccabean books), the Nomocanon (Regulations of the Holy Fathers) and the patristic books (Paterik), 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 direction 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.