Cyril and Methodius are the Slavic first teachers, the great preachers of Christianity, canonized not only by the Orthodox, but also by the Catholic Church.
The life and work of Cyril (Constantine) and Methodius is reproduced in sufficient detail on the basis of various documentary and chronicle sources.
Cyril (826-869) received this name when tonsured into the schema 50 days before his death in Rome, he lived all his life with the name Constantine (Constantine the Philosopher). Methodius (814-885) - the monastic name of the saint, the worldly name is unknown, presumably his name was Michael.
Cyril and Methodius are brothers. They were born in the city of Thessaloniki (Thessaloniki) in Macedonia (now the territory of Greece). From childhood they have mastered the old slavic language - Old Bulgarian. From the words of Emperor Michael III, "Solunians" - all speak the Slavic language purely.
Both brothers lived mainly a spiritual life, striving for the embodiment of their beliefs and ideas, not attaching importance to either sensual joys, or wealth, or career, or fame. The brothers never had any wives or children, wandered all their lives, never creating a home or a permanent refuge for themselves, and even died in a foreign land.
Both brothers went through life, actively changing it in accordance with their views and beliefs. But as traces of their deeds, only the fruitful changes they made in the life of the people, and the vague stories of lives, traditions, and legends, remained.
The brothers were born into the family of Leo-Drungarius, a middle-ranking Byzantine military leader from the city of Thessaloniki. The family had seven sons, and Methodius was the eldest, and Cyril was the youngest of them.
According to one version, they came from a pious Slavic family who lived in the Byzantine city of Soluni. It is known from a large number of historical sources, mainly from the “Brief Life of Clement of Ohrid” that Cyril and Methodius were Bulgarians. Since in the 9th century the First Bulgarian Kingdom was a multinational state, it does not become possible to determine exactly whether they were Slavs or Proto-Bulgarians, or even had other roots. The Bulgarian kingdom consisted mainly of the ancient Bulgarians (Turks) and Slavs, who were already forming a new ethnos - Slavic Bulgarians, who retained the old name of the ethnos, but were already a Slavic-Turkic people. According to another version, Cyril and Methodius were of Greek origin. There is also an alternative theory of the ethnic origin of Cyril and Methodius, according to which they were not Slavs, but Bulgars (Proto-Bulgarians). This theory also refers to the assumptions of historians that the brothers created the so-called. Glagolitic - an alphabet more similar to the Old Bulgarian than to the Slavic.
Little is known about the first years of Methodius' life. Probably, in the life of Methodius there was nothing outstanding until she crossed with the life of his younger brother. Methodius entered military service early and was soon appointed ruler of one of the Slavic-Bulgarian regions subject to Byzantium. Methodius spent about ten years in this position. Then he left the military-administrative service that was alien to him and retired to a monastery. In the 860s, having renounced the rank of archbishop, he became hegumen of the Polykhron monastery on the Asian coast of the Sea of \u200b\u200bMarmara, near the city of Cyzicus. Here, in a quiet shelter on Mount Olympus, Constantine moved for several years, in the interval between travels to the Saracens and to the Khazars. The elder brother, Methodius, walked a straight, clear path through life. Only twice did he change her direction: the first time - by leaving for a monastery, and the second - by returning again, under the influence of his younger brother, to active work and struggle.
Cyril was the youngest of the brothers; from infancy, he discovered extraordinary mental abilities, but did not differ in health. The eldest, Mikhail, even in childhood games, defended the youngest, weak one with a disproportionately large head, with small and short arms. He will continue to protect his younger brother until his death - both in Moravia, and at the cathedral in Venice, and before the papal throne. And then he will continue the fraternal work in written wisdom. And holding hands, they will go down in the history of world culture.
Cyril was educated in Constantinople at the Magnavr School, the best educational institution Byzantium. The education of Cyril was taken care of by the State Secretary Theoktist himself. Before reaching the age of 15, Cyril had already read the works of the most thoughtful father of the church, Gregory the Theologian. A capable boy was taken to the court of Emperor Michael III, as a teaching companion to his son. Under the guidance of the best mentors - including Photius, the future famous Patriarch of Constantinople - Cyril studied ancient literature, rhetoric, grammar, dialectics, astronomy, music and other "Hellenic arts". The friendship of Cyril and Photius largely predetermined further destiny Cyril. In 850, Cyril became a professor at the Magnavr School. Refusing a profitable marriage and a brilliant career, Cyril was ordained a priest, and after secretly leaving for a monastery, he began to teach philosophy (hence the nickname Constantine - "Philosopher"). The closeness with Photius was reflected in the struggle of Cyril with the iconoclasts. He wins a brilliant victory over the experienced and ardent leader of the Iconoclasts, which undoubtedly brings Constantine wide fame. The wisdom and power of faith of a still very young Constantine were so great that he managed to defeat the leader of the heretics-iconoclasts Annius in the debate. After this victory, Constantine was sent by the emperor to a dispute to debate the Holy Trinity with the Saracens (Muslims) and also won. Returning, Saint Constantine withdrew to his brother Saint Methodius on Olympus, spending time in unceasing prayer and reading the works of the holy fathers.
The "Life" of the saint testifies that he knew Hebrew, Slavic, Greek, Latin and Arabic well. Having abandoned a lucrative marriage, as well as an administrative career offered by the emperor, Cyril became the patriarchal librarian at Hagia Sophia. Soon he secretly retired for six months to a monastery, and upon his return he taught philosophy (external - Hellenic and internal - Christian) at the court school - the higher educational institution of Byzantium. Then he received the nickname "Philosopher", which remained with him forever. It was not for nothing that Constantine was nicknamed the Philosopher. Every now and then he would break out of noisy Byzantium somewhere in solitude. I read and thought for a long time. And then, having accumulated another supply of energy and thoughts, he wasted it generously in travels, disputes, disputes, in scientific and literary creativity. Cyril's education was highly valued in the highest circles of Constantinople, he was often attracted to various diplomatic missions.
Cyril and Methodius had many students who became their real followers. Among them I would especially like to mention the Gorazd of Ohrid and Saint Naum.
Gorazd Ohridskiy - a disciple of Methodius, the first archbishop of the Slavs - he was the archbishop of Mikulčica, the capital of Great Moravia. Honored by the Orthodox Church in the face of saints, commemorated July 27 (Julian calendar) in the Cathedral of the Bulgarian Enlighteners. In 885-886, during the reign of Prince Svyatopolk I, a crisis arose in the Moravian Church, Archbishop Gorazd entered into a dispute with the Latin clergy, headed by Vihtig, bishop of Nitrava, on whom at one time St. Methodius imposed an anathema. Vihtig, with the approval of the Pope, expelled Gorazd from the diocese and with him 200 priests, and he himself took his place as archbishop. At the same time, Kliment Ohridsky fled to Bulgaria. They took with them the labors created in Moravia and settled in Bulgaria. Those who did not obey - according to the testimony - of the Life of St. Clement of Ohrid - were sold into slavery to Jewish merchants, from which they were ransomed by the ambassadors of Emperor Basil I in Venice and transported to Bulgaria. In Bulgaria, pupils created world-famous literary schools in Pliska, Ohrid and Preslavl, from where their works began to move across Russia.
Naum is a Bulgarian saint, especially revered in modern Macedonia and Bulgaria. Saint Naum, together with Cyril and Methodius, as well as with his ascetic Clement Ohridski, is one of the founders of the Bulgarian religious literature. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church includes Saint Naum among the Seven Numbers. In 886-893. he lived in Preslav, becoming the organizer of a local literary school... Then he created a school in Ohrid. In 905, he founded a monastery on the shores of Lake Ohrid, today named after him. His relics are also stored there.
Mount St. Naum on the island of Smolensk (Livingston) is also named after him.
In 858, Constantine, on the initiative of Photius, became the head of the mission to the Khazars. During the mission, Constantine replenishes his knowledge of the Hebrew language, which was used by the educated elite of the Khazars after they accepted Judaism. On the way, during a stop in Chersonesos (Korsun), Constantine discovered the remains of Clement, Pope of Rome (I-II centuries), who died, as they thought, here in exile, and took some of them to Byzantium. The journey into the interior of Khazaria was filled with theological disputes with the Mohammedans and Jews. The whole course of the dispute Constantine later set out in Greek for the report to the patriarch; later this report, according to legends, was translated into Slavic by Methodius, but, unfortunately, this work did not reach us. At the end of 862, the prince of Great Moravia (the state of the Western Slavs) Rostislav turned to the Byzantine emperor Michael with a request to send preachers to Moravia who could spread Christianity in the Slavic language (sermons in those parts were read in latin, unfamiliar and incomprehensible to the people). The emperor summoned Saint Constantine and said to him: "You must go there, for no one can do this better than you." Saint Constantine, with fasting and prayer, began a new feat. Constantine goes to Bulgaria, converts many Bulgarians to Christianity; according to some scholars, during this trip he begins his work on creating slavic alphabet... Constantine and Methodius arrived in Great Moravia using the southern Slavic dialect of Soluni (now Thessaloniki), i.e. the center of that part of Macedonia, which from time immemorial and up to our time belonged to Northern Greece. In Moravia, the brothers taught to read and write and translation activities, and not just rewriting books, people who, undoubtedly, spoke some northwestern Slavic dialects. This is directly evidenced by lexical, derivational, phonetic and other linguistic discrepancies in the oldest Slavic books that have come down to us (in the Gospel, Apostle, Psalter, Menaion of the 10th - 11th centuries). An indirect evidence is the later practice of the Grand Duke Vladimir I Svyatoslavich, described in the Old Russian Chronicle, when he introduced Christianity in Russia as a state religion in 988. It was the children of his "deliberate child" (that is, the children of his courtiers and the feudal elite) that Vladimir attracted for "teaching books", sometimes even forcibly, since the Chronicle reports that mothers cried about them as if they were dead.
After the translation was completed, the holy brothers were received with great honor in Moravia, and began to teach Divine services in the Slavic language. This aroused the anger of the German bishops who celebrated Divine services in Latin in the Moravian churches, and they rebelled against the holy brothers, claiming that Divine services can be performed only in one of three languages: Hebrew, Greek, or Latin. Saint Constantine answered them: “You recognize only three languages \u200b\u200bworthy of glorifying God with them. But David cries out: Sing to the Lord, all the earth, praise the Lord, all the nations, let every breath praise the Lord! And the Holy Gospel says: Come teach all languages \u200b\u200b... ”The German bishops were put to shame, but they became even more embittered and filed a complaint to Rome. The holy brothers were called to Rome to resolve this issue.
To be able to preach Christianity in the Slavic language, it was necessary to translate the Holy Scriptures into the Slavic language; however, the alphabet capable of transmitting Slavic speech did not exist at that time.
Constantine began to create the Slavic alphabet. With the help of his brother Saint Methodius and the disciples of Gorazd, Clement, Sava, Naum and Angelar, he compiled the Slavic alphabet and translated into the Slavic language books without which Divine services could not be performed: the Gospel, Apostle, Psalter and selected services. All these events date back to 863.
863 is considered the year of birth of the Slavic alphabet
In 863, the Slavic alphabet was created (the Slavic alphabet existed in two versions: the Glagolitic alphabet - from the verb - "speech" and the Cyrillic alphabet; until now, scientists have no consensus about which of these two options was created by Cyril). With the help of Methodius, a number of liturgical books were translated from Greek into Slavic. The Slavs were able to read and write in their own language. The Slavs had not only their own, Slavic, alphabet, but also the first Slavic literary language, many words of which still live in Bulgarian, Russian, Ukrainian and other Slavic languages.
Cyril and Methodius were the founders of the literary-written language of the Slavs - the Old Slavic language, which in turn was a kind of catalyst for the creation of the Old Russian literary language, the Old Bulgarian and literary languages \u200b\u200bof other Slavic peoples.
The younger brother wrote, the older one translated his works. The younger created the Slavic alphabet, Slavic writing and book business; the elder practically developed what the younger had created. The younger was a talented scientist, philosopher, brilliant dialectician and subtle philologist; the elder is a capable organizer and practitioner.
Constantine, in the quiet of his refuge, was probably busy completing the work that stood in connection with his not new plans for the conversion of the pagan Slavs. He compiled a special alphabet for the Slavic language, the so-called "verb", and began translating the Holy Scriptures into Old Bulgarian. The brothers decided to return to their homeland and to consolidate their work in Moravia - to take with them some of the students, the Moravians, for enlightenment in hierarchical ranks. On the way to Venice, which lay through Bulgaria, the brothers stayed for several months in the Pannonian principality of Cocela, where, despite its church and political dependence, they did the same as in Moravia. Upon arrival in Venice, Constantine had a violent clash with the local clergy. Here, in Venice, unexpectedly for the local clergy, they are handed a kind message from Pope Nicholas with an invitation to Rome. Having received the papal invitation, the brothers continued on their way with almost complete confidence of success. This was further facilitated by the sudden death of Nicholas and the accession to the papal throne of Adrian II.
Rome solemnly greeted the brothers and the shrine they brought, part of the remains of Pope Clement. Adrian II approved not only the Slavic translation of the Holy Scriptures, but also the Slavic divine service, consecrating those brought by the brothers slavic books, allowing the Slavs to perform services in a number of Roman churches, consecrate Methodius and his three disciples as priests. The influential prelates of Rome also reacted favorably to the brothers and their cause.
All these successes went to the brothers, of course, not easily. A skilful dialectician and an experienced diplomat, Constantine, skillfully used for this the struggle between Rome and Byzantium, and the vacillations of the Bulgarian prince Boris between the eastern and western churches, and Pope Nicholas' hatred for Photius, and Hadrian's desire to strengthen his shaky authority by acquiring the remains of Clement. At the same time, Byzantium and Photius were still much closer to Constantine than Rome and the popes. But during the three and a half years of his life and struggle in Moravia, the main, only goal of Constantine was to consolidate the Slavic writing, Slavic book business and culture he created.
For almost two years, surrounded by sugary flattery and praise, combined with the hidden intrigues of the temporarily subdued opponents of the Slavic worship, Constantine and Methodius live in Rome. One of the reasons for their long delay was the ever worsening health of Constantine.
Despite his weakness and illness, Constantine composed two new literary works in Rome: "The Finding of the Relics of St. Clement" and a poetic hymn in honor of the same Clement.
A long and difficult journey to Rome, an intense struggle with the implacable enemies of the Slavic writing, undermined the already weak health of Constantine. At the beginning of February 869, he took to bed, took the schema and a new monastic name, Cyril, and died on February 14. Departing to God, Saint Cyril commanded his brother Saint Methodius to continue their common work - to enlighten the Slavic peoples with the light of true faith.
Before his death, Cyril said to his brother: “You and I, like two oxen, led the same furrow. I was exhausted, but do not think to leave the labors of teaching and retire to your mountain again ”. Methodius outlived his brother by 16 years. Enduring deprivation and abuse, he continued the great work - translation into the Slavic language sacred books, preaching the Orthodox faith, the baptism of the Slavic people. Saint Methodius begged the Pope to allow him to take away his brother's body for burial in his native land, but the Pope ordered the relics of Saint Cyril to be placed in the Church of Saint Clement, where miracles began to be performed from them.
After the death of Saint Cyril, the Pope, following the request of the Slavic prince Kotsel, sent Saint Methodius to Pannonia, ordaining him to the rank of Archbishop of Moravia and Pannonia, to the ancient throne of Saint Apostle Andronicus. After the death of Cyril (869), Methodius continued his educational activities among the Slavs in Pannonia, where the Slavic books also included the features of local dialects. Later, the Old Slavonic literary language was developed by the students of the Solunsk brothers in the Ohrid Lake region, then in Bulgaria proper.
With the death of a talented brother for the modest, but selfless and honest Methodius, a painful, truly cross path begins, strewn with seemingly insurmountable obstacles, dangers and failures. But the lonely Methodius stubbornly, in no way yielding to his enemies, goes this way to the very end.
True, on the threshold of this path Methodius comparatively easily achieves a new great success. But this success gives rise to an even greater storm of anger and resistance in the camp of the enemies of Slavic writing and culture.
In the middle of 869, Adrian II at the request slavic princes, sent Methodius to Rostislav, his nephew Svyatopolk and Kotsel, and at the end of 869, when Methodius returned to Rome, elevated him to the rank of Archbishop of Pannonia, allowing worship in the Slavic language. Inspired by this new success, Methodius returns to Kocel. With the constant help of the prince, he develops, together with his students, a large and tireless work on the dissemination of Slavic worship, writing and books in the Principality of Blatene and in neighboring Moravia.
In 870 Methodius was sentenced to imprisonment on charges of violating the hierarchical rights to Pannonia.
He remained in prison, under the most difficult conditions, until 873, when the new Pope John VIII forced the Bavarian episcopate to release Methodius and return him to Moravia. Methodius is prohibited from Slavic worship.
He continues the work of the church order in Moravia. Contrary to the Pope's prohibition, Methodius continues to worship in the Slavic language in Moravia. This time Methodius also involved other Slavic peoples neighboring with Moravia in the circle of his activities.
All this prompted the German clergy to take new actions against Methodius. German priests turn Svyatopolk against Methodius. Svyatopolk writes a denunciation to Rome against his archbishop, accusing him of heresy, violating the canons of the Catholic Church and disobeying the pope. Methodius manages not only to justify himself, but even to persuade Pope John to his side. Pope John allows Methodius to worship in the Slavic language, but appoints him as bishop of Viching, one of Methodius's most ardent opponents. Wiching began to spread rumors about the condemnation of Methodius by the Pope, but was exposed.
Tired to the limit and exhausted by all these endless intrigues, forgeries and denunciations, feeling that his health was constantly weakening, Methodius went to rest in Byzantium. Methodius spent almost three years in his homeland. In the middle of 884 he returns to Moravia. Returning to Moravia, Methodius in 883. started translating into the Slavic language the full text of the canonical books of Holy Scripture (except for the Maccabean books). Having finished his hard work, Methodius weakened even more. In the last years of his life, Methodius' activity in Moravia proceeded under very difficult conditions. The Latin-German clergy in every possible way prevented the spread of the Slavic language as the language of the church. In the last years of his life, Saint Methodius, with the help of two disciple-priests, translated into the Slavic language the entire Old Testament, except Maccabees books, as well as Nomokanon (Rules of the Holy Fathers) and patristic books (Paterikon).
Foreseeing the approach of death, Saint Methodius pointed to one of his disciples, Gorazd, as a worthy successor to himself. The saint predicted the day of his death and died on April 6, 885, at the age of about 60. The funeral service for the saint was performed in three languages \u200b\u200b- Slavic, Greek and Latin. He was buried in the cathedral church of Velehrad.
With the death of Methodius, his work in Moravia approached destruction. With the arrival of Vihing in Moravia, the persecution of the disciples of Constantine and Methodius began, the destruction of their Slavic church. Up to 200 clergy disciples of Methodius were expelled from Moravia. The Moravian people gave them no support. Thus, the case of Constantine and Methodius perished not only in Moravia, but in general among the Western Slavs. But it received further life and flourishing among the southern Slavs, partly among the Croats, more - among the Serbs, especially among the Bulgarians and, through the Bulgarians - among the Russians, eastern Slavswho united their destinies with Byzantium. This happened thanks to the disciples of Cyril and Methodius, expelled from Moravia.
From the period of activity of Constantine, his brother Methodius and their closest disciples, no written monuments have survived to us, except for the relatively recently discovered inscriptions on the ruins of the Church of Tsar Simeon in Preslav (Bulgaria). It turned out that these ancient inscriptions were made not with one, but with two graphic varieties of Old Church Slavonic writing. One of them received the conventional name "Cyrillic" (from the name of Cyril, adopted by Constantine when he was tonsured a monk); the other got the name "Glagolitic" (from the Old Church Slavonic "verb", which means "word").
Cyrillic and Glagolitic were almost the same in their alphanumeric composition. Cyrillic, according to the surviving manuscripts of the XI century. had 43 letters, and the Glagolitic alphabet had 40 letters. Out of 40 glagolic letters, 39 served to convey almost the same sounds as the letters of the Cyrillic alphabet. Like the letters of the Greek alphabet, the verbal and Cyrillic letters had, in addition to the sound, also a digital meaning, i.e. were used to designate not only the sounds of speech, but also numbers. In this case, nine letters were used to denote units, nine - for tens and nine - for hundreds. In addition, in Glagolitic one of the letters denoted a thousand; in Cyrillic a special sign was used to denote thousands. In order to indicate that the letter denotes a number, and not a sound, the letter was usually highlighted on both sides with dots and a special horizontal dash was put above it.
In the Cyrillic alphabet, as a rule, only letters borrowed from the Greek alphabet had numerical values: at the same time, the same numerical meaning was assigned to each of 24 such letters that this letter had in the Greek numeric system. The only exceptions were the numbers "6", "90" and "900".
In contrast to the Cyrillic alphabet, the first 28 letters in a row in the Glagolitic alphabet received a numerical value, regardless of whether these letters corresponded to Greek or served to convey special sounds of Slavic speech. Therefore, the numerical meaning of most of the verbal letters was different from both Greek and Cyril letters.
The names of the letters in Cyrillic and Glagolitic were exactly the same; however, the time when these names appeared is unclear. The order of the letters in the Cyril and Glagolic alphabets was almost the same. This order is established, firstly, based on the numerical meaning of the Cyrillic and Glagolitic letters, secondly, on the basis of the acrostics of the 12th-13th centuries that have come down to us, and thirdly, on the basis of the order of letters in the Greek alphabet.
Cyrillic and Glagolitic were very different in the form of their letters. In Cyrillic, the shape of the letters was geometrically simple, clear and easy to write. Of the 43 letters of the Cyrillic alphabet, 24 were borrowed from the Byzantine charter, and the remaining 19 were built more or less independently, but in compliance with the unified style of the Cyril alphabet. The shape of the Glagolitic letters, on the contrary, was extremely complex and intricate, with many curls, loops, etc. But the glagolic letters were graphically more original than the Cyril letters, much less like the Greek ones.
Cyrillic is a very skillful, complex and creative reworking of the Greek (Byzantine) alphabet. As a result of careful accounting phonetic composition In the Old Church Slavonic language, the Cyril alphabet had all the letters necessary for the correct transmission of this language. The Cyrillic alphabet was also suitable for accurate transmission of the Russian language, in the 9th-10th centuries. Russian language already differed somewhat phonetically from Old Church Slavonic. The correspondence of the Cyril alphabet to the Russian language is confirmed by the fact that for more than a thousand years only two new letters had to be introduced into this alphabet; multi-letter combinations and superscripts are not needed and are almost never used in Russian. This is what determines the originality of the Cyril alphabet.
Thus, despite the fact that many letters of the Cyrillic alphabet coincide in form with the Greek letters, the Cyrillic alphabet (as well as the Glagolitic alphabet) should be recognized as one of the most independent, creatively and in a new way constructed alpha-sound systems.
The presence of two graphic varieties of Slavic writing still causes great controversy among scientists. Indeed, according to the unanimous testimony of all chronicle and documentary sources, Constantine developed some one Slavic alphabet. Which of these alphabet was created by Constantine? Where and when did the second alphabet come from? Closely related to these questions are others, perhaps even more important. Didn't the Slavs have some kind of writing before the introduction of the alphabet developed by Constantine? And if it existed, what was it?
A number of works by Russian and Bulgarian scientists have been devoted to the evidence of the existence of writing in the pre-Cyrillic period among the Slavs, in particular among the eastern and southern ones. As a result of these works, as well as in connection with the discovery of the oldest monuments of Slavic writing, the question of the existence of writing among the Slavs can hardly be doubted. This is evidenced by many of the most ancient literary sources: Slavic, Western European, Arab. This is confirmed by the indications contained in the treaties of the Eastern and Southern Slavs with Byzantium, some archaeological data, as well as linguistic, historical and general socialist considerations.
Fewer materials are available for solving the question of what the oldest Slavic writing was and how it arose. The pre-Cyril Slavic writing, apparently, could be of only three types. So, in the light of development general patterns In the development of writing, it seems almost certain that long before the formation of ties between the Slavs and Byzantium, they had various local varieties of the original primitive pictographic writing, such as the "features and cuts" mentioned by Brave. The emergence of the Slavic writing of the type "devil and cut" should probably be attributed to the first half of the 1st millennium AD. e. True, the most ancient Slavic writing could only be a very primitive letter, which included a small, unstable and different assortment of the simplest pictorial and conventional symbols for different tribes. This writing could not turn into any developed and ordered logographic system.
The use of the original Slavic writing was also limited. These were, apparently, the simplest counting signs in the form of dashes and notches, generic and personal signs, property signs, signs for fortune telling, maybe primitive route charts, calendar signs that served to date the dates of the beginning of various agricultural works, pagan holidays, etc. P. In addition to considerations of a sociological and linguistic order, the existence of such a letter among the Slavs is confirmed by quite numerous literary sources of the 9th-10th centuries. and archaeological finds. Having arisen in the first half of the 1st millennium AD, this letter, probably, was survived among the Slavs even after Cyril created an ordered Slavic alphabet.
The second, even more undoubted type of pre-Christian writing of the Eastern and Southern Slavs was the letter, which can be conventionally called the "proto-Cyril" letter. The letter of the type "lines and cuts", suitable for designating calendar dates, for fortune telling, counting, etc., was unsuitable for recording military and trade agreements, liturgical texts, historical chronicles and other complex documents. And the need for such records should have appeared among the Slavs simultaneously with the emergence of the first Slavic states. For all these purposes, the Slavs, even before their adoption of Christianity and before the introduction of the alphabet created by Cyril, undoubtedly used Greek letters in the east and south, and Greek and Latin letters in the west.
Greek writing, used by the Slavs for two or three centuries before their official adoption of Christianity, had to gradually adapt to the transmission of the peculiar phonetics of the Slavic language and, in particular, be replenished with new letters. This was necessary for the accurate recording of Slavic names in churches, in military lists, for recording Slavic geographical names etc. The Slavs have made great strides in adapting Greek writing to a more accurate transmission of their speech. For this, ligatures were formed from the corresponding Greek letters, the Greek letters were supplemented with letters borrowed from other alphabets, in particular from the Hebrew, which was known to the Slavs through the Khazars. This is how the Slavic "proto-Cyril" letter was formed. The assumption about such a gradual formation of the Slavic "proto-Cyril" letter is also confirmed by the fact that the Cyril alphabet in its later version, which has come down to us, was so well adapted for accurate transmission of Slavic speech that this could only be achieved as a result of its long development. These are the two undoubted varieties of pre-Christian Slavic writing.
The third, however, not undoubted, but only its possible variety can be called "protoglagolic" writing.
The process of forming a supposed protoglagolic writing could occur in two ways. First, this process could proceed under the complex influence of Greek, Jewish-Khazar, and possibly also Georgian, Armenian and even runic Turkic writing. Under the influence of these writing systems, the Slavic "features and cuts" could gradually also acquire an alphabetic meaning, partially retaining their original form. Secondly, and some Greek letters could be graphically changed by the Slavs in relation to the usual forms of "lines and cuts". Like the Cyrillic alphabet, the formation of proto-glagolic writing could also begin among the Slavs not earlier than the 8th century. Since this letter was formed on the primitive basis of the ancient Slavic "features and cuts", so far as by the middle of the IX century. it had to remain even less precise and orderly than the Proto-Cyril letter. In contrast to the proto-Cyrillic alphabet, the formation of which took place in almost the entire Slavic territory, which was under the influence of Byzantine culture, the proto-glagolic script, if it existed, was first formed, apparently, among the Eastern Slavs. In the conditions of insufficient development in the second half of the 1st millennium A.D. political and cultural ties between the Slavic tribes, the formation of each of the three alleged types of pre-Christian Slavic writing should have occurred in different tribes in different ways. Therefore, we can assume the coexistence among the Slavs not only of these three types of writing, but also of their local varieties. In the history of writing, cases of such coexistence were very frequent.
At present, the writing systems of all the peoples of Russia have been built on the basis of Cyril. Writing systems built on the same basis are also used in Bulgaria, partly in Yugoslavia and Mongolia. The writing based on Cyril is now used by peoples who speak more than 60 languages. The greatest vitality, apparently, is possessed by the Latin and Cyril groups of writing systems. This is confirmed by the fact that all new peoples are gradually switching over to the Latin and Cyril basis of writing.
Thus, the foundations laid by Contantin and Methodius more than 1100 years ago continue to be continuously improved and successfully developed up to the present time. At the moment, most researchers believe that Cyril and Methodius created the verb, and the Cyrillic alphabet was created by their students based on the Greek alphabet.
From the turn of the X - XI centuries. major centers Slavic writing became Kiev, Novgorod, the centers of other ancient Russian principalities. The oldest Slavic-language handwritten books that have come down to us, having the date of their writing, were created in Russia. These are the Ostromir Gospel of 1056-1057, Izbornik Svyatoslav 1073, Izbornik 1076, Archangel Gospel of 1092, Novgorod Menaion dated 90s. The largest and most valuable fund of ancient manuscript books dating back to the Cyril and Methodius written heritage, as named, is in the ancient depositories of our country.
The unyielding faith of two people in Christ and in their ascetic mission for the good of the Slavic peoples - that was the driving force behind the penetration, in the end, of writing into Ancient Russia. The exceptional intellect of one and the stoic courage of the other - the qualities of two people who lived very long before us, turned into the fact that we now write them in writing, and put together our picture of the world according to their grammar and rules.
It is impossible to overestimate the introduction of writing into Slavic society. This is the greatest Byzantine contribution to the culture of the Slavic peoples. And it was created by Saints Cyril and Methodius. Only with the establishment of writing begins true story people, the history of its culture, the history of the development of its worldview, scientific knowledge, literature and art.
Cyril and Methodius never, in their collisions and wanderings, found themselves in the lands of Ancient Rus. They lived more than a hundred years before they were officially baptized here and accepted their letters. It would seem that Cyril and Methodius belong to the history of other peoples. But it was they who radically turned the life of the Russian people upside down. They gave him the Cyrillic alphabet, which became the flesh and blood of his culture. And this is the greatest gift to people of a man-ascetic.
In addition to inventing the Slavic alphabet, during 40 months of their stay in Moravia, Constantine and Methodius managed to solve two problems: some of the liturgical books were translated into Church Slavonic (Old Slavic literary) language, and people who were able to serve on these books were trained. However, this was not enough for the spread of Slavic worship. Neither Constantine nor Methodius were bishops and could not ordain their disciples to priests. Cyril was a monk, Methodius was a simple priest, and the local bishop was opposed to Slavic worship. To give their activities an official status, the brothers and several of their disciples went to Rome. In Venice, Constantine entered into a discussion with opponents of worship in the national languages. The popular idea in Latin spiritual literature was that worship could only be performed in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. The brothers' stay in Rome was triumphant. Constantine and Methodius brought with them the relics of St. Clement, Pope of Rome, who, according to legend, was a disciple of the Apostle Peter. Clement's relics were a precious gift, and Constantine's Slavic translations were blessed.
The disciples of Cyril and Methodius were ordained priests, while the Pope sent a message to the Moravian rulers, in which he officially allowed them to perform divine services in the Slavic language: reason and true faith, so that it enlightens you, as you yourself asked, explaining to you in your language the Holy Scriptures, the entire liturgical order and holy mass, that is, services, including baptism, as the philosopher Constantine began to do with God's grace and according to to the prayers of St. Clement ”.
After the death of the brothers, their activities were continued by their disciples, expelled from Moravia in 886, in the South Slavic countries. (In the West, the Slavic alphabet and Slavic literacy did not resist; the Western Slavs - Poles, Czechs ... - still use the Latin alphabet). Slavic literacy was firmly established in Bulgaria, from where it spread to the countries of the southern and eastern Slavs (IX century). Writing came to Russia in the X century (988 - the baptism of Russia). The creation of the Slavic alphabet was and still is of great importance for the development of Slavic writing, Slavic peoples, and Slavic culture.
The merits of Cyril and Methodius in the history of culture are enormous. Cyril developed the first ordered Slavic alphabet and thus initiated the widespread development of Slavic writing. Cyril and Methodius translated many books from Greek, which was the beginning of the formation of the Old Slavonic literary language and Slavic book business. Cyril and Methodius for many years carried out great educational work among the Western and South Slavs and greatly contributed to the spread of literacy among these peoples. There is information that Cyril also created original works. 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. In the course of all their activities in Moravia and Panionia, Cyril and Methodius fought, in addition, an incessant selfless struggle against the attempts of the German Catholic clergy to ban the Slavic alphabet and books.
Cyril and Methodius were the founders of the first literary-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 literary languages \u200b\u200bof other Slavic peoples. The Old Slavic language was able to fulfill this role primarily due to the fact that it was not initially something rock-solid and stagnant: it itself was formed from several Slavic languages \u200b\u200bor dialects.
Finally, when evaluating the educational activities of the Solun brothers, it should be borne in mind that they were not missionaries in the generally accepted sense of the word: they did not engage in the Christianization of the population as such (although they contributed to it), for by the time of their arrival Moravia was already a Christian state.
Greek Christian missionaries are believed to be brothers Cyril and Methodius in 863 they were invited from Byzantium by Prince Rostislav to the Great Moravian state to introduce divine services in the Slavic language.
Constantine the alphabet was created - the so-called "Glagolitic", reflecting the phonetic features of the Slavic language. The oldest surviving Glagolic inscription with an accurate date dates back to 893 and was made in the church of the Bulgarian king Simeon in Preslav.
Cyril and Methodius translated the main liturgical books from Greek into Old Church Slavonic.
Later pupils Methodius created in Bulgaria on the basis of "Glagolitic" a new alphabet, which later received the name "Cyrillic" - in honor of Cyril.
Already in the XX century, the Pope John Paul II “… He emphasized more than once that, being a Slav, he felt especially strongly in his heart the call of those peoples to whom the“ apostles of unity ”- Cyril and Methodius, who took the trouble to“ expound the biblical ideas and concepts of Greek theology in the language understood in the context of a completely different historical experience and tradition ”, they must be understood“ by those to whom God Himself intended ”.
The Pope, who was especially sensitive to any manifestation of national culture, its identity, saw the main merit of the "apostles of the Slavs" in their desire for the Word of God to "find expression in the language of any civilization", in every possible way warning against the imposition of authorities, languages, images on other peoples ...
The mission of the saints, which were especially dear to the Pope, he dedicated the encyclical "Apostles of the Slavs" ("Slavorum apostoli", 1985) and the apostolic message "Go around the whole world" ("Euntes in mundum universum", 1988), written on the occasion of the Millennium of the Baptism of Kiev Rus.
“Saints Cyril and Methodius were formed in the bosom of the Byzantine Church at the time when it was in unity with Rome. Proclaiming them together with the saint Benedict patrons of Europe, I tried not only to affirm the historical truth about Christianity on the European continent, but also to put forward another important topic for dialogue between East and West, with which so many hopes are connected in the post-conciliar period.
As in a saint Benedict, so in Saints Cyril and Methodius Europe found its spiritual sources. That is why they should be honored together - as patrons of our past and saints to whom the Churches and peoples of Europe at the end of the second Millennium from the Nativity of Christ entrust their future. "
Elena Tverdislova, And as a sign of love - a rosary as a gift - Preface to the book: John Paul II, M., "Rudomino Book Center", 2011, p. 30-31.
“... the emergence of Slavic writing is associated with the second half of the 9th century (863), when, as a result of the initiative of the rulers of the Great Moravian principality, Greek missionaries Cyril (Constantine)and MethodiusHaving created a very perfect graphic system for one of the types of Slavic speech, they began to translate some parts of the Bible and create other liturgical texts.
The Old Church Slavonic language became the common literary language of the Slavs of the Middle Ages.
Among all Western Slavs, it was soon supplanted by the Latin language due to Western influence and conversion to Catholicism.
Therefore, the further use of the Old Church Slavonic language is mainly associated with the Slavic south (Bulgaria, Serbia) and the east (the Kiev state, then Muscovite Rus, Belarusian and Ukrainian lands). The use of the Old Church Slavonic language as a literary language led to the fact that this language was primarily subjected to grammatical processing ”.
Kondrashov N.A., History of linguistic doctrines, M., "Komkniga", 2006, p. 31.
Cyril and Methodius became famous all over the world as champions of the Christian faith and authors of the Slavic alphabet. The biography of the couple is extensive, even a separate biography is devoted to Cyril, created immediately after the death of the man. However, today to get acquainted with short history the fate of these preachers and founders of the alphabet can be found in various manuals for children. The brothers have their own icon, where they are depicted together. They turn to her with prayers for good studies, luck for students, and an increase in the mind.
Childhood and youth
Cyril and Methodius were born in the Greek city of Thessaloniki (present-day Thessaloniki) in the family of a military leader named Leo, whom the authors of the biography of a couple of saints describe as "a good family and rich." The future monks grew up in the company of five more brothers.
Before the tonsure, the men bore the names Michael and Constantine, and the first was older - born in 815, and Constantine in 827. As for the ethnicity of the family in the circles of historians, disputes still do not subside. Some attribute him to the Slavs, because these people were fluent in the Slavic language. Others attribute Bulgarian and, of course, Greek roots.
The boys received an excellent education, and when they matured, their paths diverged. Methodius went into military service under the patronage of a faithful friend of the family and even grew up to become the governor of the Byzantine province. In the "Slavic reign" he established himself as a wise and just ruler.
From early childhood, Cyril was fond of reading books, amazed the environment with excellent memory and abilities for science, had a reputation as a polyglot - in the language arsenal, in addition to Greek and Slavic, Hebrew and Aramaic were listed. At the age of 20, a young man, a graduate of Magnavr University, already taught the basics of philosophy at the court school at Constantinople.
Christian ministry
Cyril flatly refused a secular career, although such an opportunity was provided. The marriage to the goddaughter of an official of the royal office in Byzantium opened up dizzying prospects - the leadership of the region in Macedonia, and then the post of commander-in-chief of the army. However, the young theologian (Constantine was only 15 years old) preferred to set foot on the church path.
When he was already teaching at the university, the man even managed to triumph in theological disputes over the iconoclast leader, who was once the patriarch John Grammaticus, also known as Ammius. However, this story is considered just a beautiful legend.
The main task for the government of Byzantium at that time was considered the strengthening and promotion of Orthodoxy. Missionaries traveled along with the diplomats who traveled around the cities and villages where they negotiated with religious enemies. Constantine became them at the age of 24, setting off with the first important task from the state - to instruct Muslims on the right path.
In the late 50s of the 9th century, the brothers, tired of the bustle of the world, retired to a monastery, where 37-year-old Methodius was tonsured. However, Cyril was not allowed to rest for a long time: already in 860 the man was called to the throne of the emperor and instructed to join the ranks of the Khazar mission.
The fact is that the Khazar Kagan announced an inter-religious dispute, where Christians were asked to prove the truth of the faith to the Jews and Muslims. The Khazars were already ready to go over to the side of Orthodoxy, but they set a condition - only if the Byzantine polemicists won in disputes.
Cyril took his brother with him and brilliantly completed the task entrusted to him, but still the mission completely failed. The Khazar state did not become Christian, although the kagan allowed people to be baptized. On this trip, a serious historical event happened for believers. On the way, the Byzantines glanced into the Crimea, where, in the vicinity of Chersonesos, Cyril found the relics of Clement, the holy Pope of Rome, the fourth in a row, which were then transferred to Rome.
The brothers are involved in another important mission. Once the ruler of the Moravian lands asked for help from Constantinople ( slavic state) Rostislav - teachers-theologians were required to accessible language told the people about the true faith. Thus, the prince was going to get away from the influence of the German bishops. This trip became a landmark - the Slavic alphabet appeared.
In Moravia, the brothers worked tirelessly: they translated Greek books, taught the Slavs the basics of reading, writing, and at the same time taught how to conduct divine services. The "business trip" took three years. The results of the labors played an important role in the preparation for the baptism of Bulgaria.
In 867, the brothers had to travel to Rome to answer for "blasphemy." The Western Church called Cyril and Methodius heretics, accusing them of preaching sermons, including in the Slavic language, while one can only speak of the Almighty in Greek, Latin and Hebrew.
On the way to the Italian capital, they stopped at the Blatensky principality, where they taught the people to book. Those who arrived in Rome with the relics of Clement were so delighted that the new Pope Adrian II allowed the services to be held in Slavic and even allowed the translated books to be put in churches. During this meeting, Methodius received the episcopal rank.
Unlike brother Cyril, he was tonsured a monk only on the verge of death - it was necessary. After the death of the preacher, Methodius, overgrown with disciples, returned to Moravia, where he had to fight the German clergy. The deceased Rostislav was replaced by his nephew Svyatopolk, who supported the policy of the Germans, who did not allow the Byzantine priest to work quietly. Any attempts to spread the Slavic language as a church language were suppressed.
Cyril and Methodius Methodius even spent three years in prison at a monastery. Pope John VIII helped to free himself, who imposed a ban on the liturgy while Methodius was in prison. However, in order not to aggravate the situation, John also forbade worship in the Slavic language. Only sermons were not punishable by law.
But a native of Thessaloniki, at his own peril and risk, continued to secretly conduct services in Slavic. At the same time, the archbishop baptized the Czech prince, for which he later appeared at the trial in Rome. However, luck favored Methodius - he not only escaped punishment, but also received a papal bull and the opportunity to conduct divine services in the Slavic language again. Shortly before his death, he managed to translate the Old Testament.
Creating the alphabet
The brothers from Thessaloniki went down in history as the creators of the Slavic alphabet. The time of the event is 862 or 863. The Life of Cyril and Methodius states that the idea was born back in 856, when the brothers, along with their disciples Angelarius, Naum and Clement, settled on Mount Small Olympus in the Polychron Monastery. Here Methodius served as abbot.
The authorship of the alphabet is attributed to Cyril, but which one exactly remains a mystery. Scientists lean towards Glagolitic, as indicated by 38 signs that it contains. As for the Cyrillic alphabet, it was brought to life by Kliment Ohridsky. However, even if this is so, the student still used Cyril's work - it was he who isolated the sounds of the language, which is the most important thing when creating writing.
The alphabet was based on the Greek cryptography, the letters are very similar, so the verb was confused with the oriental alphabets. But for the designation of specific Slavic sounds, they took Hebrew letters, for example, "sh".
Death
Constantine-Cyril on a trip to Rome was struck by a serious illness, and on February 14, 869 he died - this day in Catholicism is recognized as the day of remembrance of saints. The body was interred in the Roman temple of St. Clement. Cyril did not want his brother to return to the monastery in Moravia, and before his death he allegedly said:
“Here, brother, you and I were like two oxen in a harness, plowing one furrow, and I am falling from the forest, having finished my day. And although you love the mountain very much, you cannot leave your teaching for the sake of the mountain, for how else can you better achieve salvation? "
Methodius outlived the wise relative by 16 years. Sensing death, he ordered himself to be taken to church to read a sermon. The priest died on Palm Sunday 4 April 885. Methodius was sung in three languages \u200b\u200b- Greek, Latin and, of course, Slavic.
At the post Methodius was replaced by the disciple Gorazd, and then all the undertakings of the holy brothers began to collapse. In Moravia, liturgical translations were gradually banned again, followers and disciples were hunted down - they were persecuted, sold into slavery and even killed. Some of the adherents fled to neighboring countries. And yet the Slavic culture survived, the center of book-learning moved to Bulgaria, and from there to Russia.
Holy Chief of the Apostles are venerated in the West and East. In Russia, a holiday has been established in memory of the brothers' feat - on May 24, the Day of Slavic Literature and Culture is celebrated.
Memory
Settlements
- 1869 - foundation of the village of Methodievka near Novorossiysk
Monuments
- Monument to Cyril and Methodius at the Stone Bridge in Skopje, Macedonia.
- Monument to Cyril and Methodius in Belgrade, Serbia.
- Monument to Cyril and Methodius in Khanty-Mansiysk.
- Monument in honor of Cyril and Methodius in Thessaloniki, Greece. The statue in the form of a gift was donated to Greece by the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.
- Statue in honor of Cyril and Methodius in front of the building of the National Library of Saints Cyril and Methodius in the city of Sofia, Bulgaria.
- Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and Saints Cyril and Methodius in Velehrad, Czech Republic.
- A monument in honor of Cyril and Methodius, erected in front of the building of the National Palace of Culture in the city of Sofia, Bulgaria.
- Monument to Cyril and Methodius in Prague, Czech Republic.
- Monument to Cyril and Methodius in Ohrid, Macedonia.
- Cyril and Methodius are depicted at the 1000th Anniversary of Russia monument in Veliky Novgorod.
Books
- 1835 - poem "Cyril-Methodius", Jan Golla
- 1865 - "Collection of Cyril and Methodius" (edited by Mikhail Pogodin)
- 1984 - "Khazar Dictionary", Milorad Pavich
- 1979 - "The Solunskie brothers", Slav Karaslavov
Films
- 1983 - "Constantine the Philosopher"
- 1989 - "The Solunski brothers"
- 2013 - "Cyril and Methodius - Apostles of the Slavs"
The creators of the Slavic alphabet Methodius and Cyril.
At the end of 862, the prince of Great Moravia (the state of the Western Slavs) Rostislav turned to the Byzantine emperor Michael with a request to send preachers to Moravia who could spread Christianity in the Slavic language (sermons in those regions were read in Latin, unknown and incomprehensible to the people).
Emperor Michael sent the Greeks to Moravia - the scientist Constantine the Philosopher (the name Cyril Constantine received when he accepted monasticism in 869, and with this name went down in history) and his older brother Methodius.
The choice was not random. The brothers Constantine and Methodius were born in Thessaloniki (Greek Thessaloniki) in the family of a military leader, received a good education... Cyril studied in Constantinople at the court of the Byzantine emperor Michael III, knew Greek, Slavic, Latin, Hebrew, Arabic languages \u200b\u200bwell, taught philosophy, for which he received the nickname Philosopher. Methodius was on military service, then for several years ruled over one of the regions inhabited by the Slavs; subsequently retired to a monastery.
In 860, the brothers already made a trip to the Khazars for missionary and diplomatic purposes.
To be able to preach Christianity in the Slavic language, it was necessary to translate the Holy Scriptures into the Slavic language; however, the alphabet capable of transmitting Slavic speech did not exist at that time.
Constantine began to create the Slavic alphabet. In his work, Methodius helped him, who also knew the Slavic language well, since a lot of Slavs lived in Soluni (the city was considered half-Greek, half-Slavic). In 863, the Slavic alphabet was created (the Slavic alphabet existed in two versions: the glagolitic alphabet - from the verb - "speech" and the Cyrillic alphabet; until now, scientists have no consensus about which of these two variants was created by Cyril). With the help of Methodius, a number of liturgical books were translated from Greek into Slavic. The Slavs were able to read and write in their own language. The Slavs had not only their own, Slavic, alphabet, but also the first Slavic literary language was born, many of whose words still live in Bulgarian, Russian, Ukrainian and other Slavic languages.
The mystery of the Slavic alphabet
The Old Slavonic alphabet got its name from the combination of two letters "az" and "beeches", which designated the first letters of the alphabet A and B. An interesting fact is that the ancient Slavic alphabet was a graffiti, i.e. lettering scrawled on the walls. The first Old Slavonic letters appeared on the walls of churches in Pereslavl around the 9th century. And by the 11th century, ancient graffiti appeared in the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev. It was on these walls that the letters of the alphabet were indicated in several styles, and below was the interpretation of the letter-word.
In 1574, an important event took place, which contributed to a new round in the development of Slavic writing. The first printed "ABC" appeared in Lvov, which was seen by Ivan Fedorov, the person who printed it.
The structure of the alphabet
If you look back, you will see that Cyril and Methodius did not just create an alphabet, they opened a new path for the Slavic people, leading to the perfection of man on earth and the triumph of a new faith. If you look at the historical events, the difference between which is only 125 years, you will understand that, in fact, the way of establishing Christianity in our land is directly related to the creation of the Slavic alphabet. Indeed, in just one century, the Slavic people eradicated archaic cults and adopted a new faith. The connection between the creation of the Cyrillic alphabet and the adoption of Christianity is beyond doubt today. The Cyrillic alphabet was created in 863, and already in 988, Prince Vladimir officially announced the introduction of Christianity and the overthrow of primitive cults.
Studying the Old Slavonic alphabet, many scientists come to the conclusion that in fact the first "ABC" is a cryptographic script that has a deep religious and philosophical meaning, and most importantly, that it is built in such a way that it is a complex logical and mathematical organism. In addition, comparing many finds, the researchers came to the conclusion that the first Slavic alphabet was created as a holistic invention, and not as a creation that was created piece by piece by adding new letter forms. It is also interesting that most of the letters of the Old Church Slavonic alphabet are letters-numbers. Moreover, if you look at the entire alphabet, you will see that it can be conditionally divided into two parts, which are fundamentally different from each other. In this case, the first half of the alphabet we will conventionally call the "higher" part, and the second "lower". The upper part includes letters from A to F, i.e. from "az" to "fert" and is a list of letters-words that carry a meaning clear to the Slav. The lower part of the alphabet begins with the letter "sha" and ends with "Izhitsa". The letters of the lower part of the Old Church Slavonic alphabet do not have a numerical meaning, in contrast to the letters of the upper part and carry a negative connotation.
In order to understand the secret writing of the Slavic alphabet, it is necessary not only to skim through it, but to read into every letter-word. After all, each letter-word contains a semantic core that Konstantin put into it.
Literal truth, the highest part of the alphabet
Az - this is the initial letter of the Slavic alphabet, which denotes the pronoun I. However, its root meaning is the word "initially", "to begin" or "beginning", although in everyday life the Slavs most often used Az in the context of the pronoun. Nevertheless, in some Old Slavonic writings one can find Az, which meant "one", for example, "I will go to Vladimir." Or “to start from scratch” meant “to start from the beginning”. Thus, the Slavs designated with the beginning of the alphabet the entire philosophical meaning of life, where there is no end without beginning, without darkness there is no light, and without good there is no evil. At the same time, the main emphasis in this is placed on the duality of the order of the world. Actually, the alphabet itself is built on the principle of duality, where it is conventionally divided into two parts: higher and lower, positive and negative, a part located at the beginning and a part that is at the end. In addition, do not forget that Az has numerical value, which is expressed by the number 1. Among the ancient Slavs, the number 1 was the beginning of everything beautiful. Today, studying Slavic numerology, we can say that the Slavs, like other peoples, divided all numbers into even and odd. At the same time, odd numbers were the embodiment of everything positive, kind and light. In turn, even numbers represented darkness and evil. At the same time, the unit was considered the beginning of all beginnings and was very revered by the Slavic tribes. From the point of view of erotic numerology, it is believed that 1 is a phallic symbol from which the continuation of the race begins. This number has several synonyms: 1 is one, 1 is one, 1 is times.
Beeches (Buki) is the second letter-word in the alphabet. It has no digital meaning, but it has no less deep philosophical meaning than Az. Buki - means "to be", "will" was most often used for revolutions in the future form. For example, "bowie" means "let it be," and "bowie", as you might have guessed, means "future, coming." In this word, our ancestors expressed the future as inevitability, which could be either good and rosy or dark and terrible. It is still not known for certain why Bukam Constantine did not give a numerical value, but many scientists assume that this is due to the duality of this letter. Indeed, by and large, it means the future, which each person imagines for himself in a rosy light, but on the other hand, this word also means the inevitability of punishment for committed low deeds.
Lead - an interesting letter of the Old Church Slavonic alphabet, which has a numerical value of 2. This letter has several meanings: to know, to know and to own. When Constantine put this meaning into Vedi, he meant secret knowledge, knowledge - as the highest divine gift. If you add Az, Buki and Vedi in one phrase, you get a phrase that means "I will know!"... Thus, Constantine showed that a person who opened the alphabet he created would later have some kind of knowledge. The numerical load of this letter is no less important. After all, 2 - two, two, a pair were not just numbers among the Slavs, they took an active part in magical rituals and, in general, were symbols of the duality of everything earthly and heavenly. The number 2 among the Slavs meant the unity of heaven and earth, the duality of human nature, good and evil, etc. In a word, two was a symbol of the confrontation between the two sides, heavenly and earthly balance. Moreover, it is worth noting that the Slavs considered two to be a devilish number and attributed a lot of negative properties to it, believing that it is the two that opens the number series of negative numbers that bring death to a person. That is why the birth of twins in old Slavic families was considered a bad sign, which carried a kind of illness and misfortune. In addition, among the Slavs, it was considered a bad sign to rock the cradle together, for two people to wipe themselves with one towel and generally to perform any action together. Despite such a negative attitude towards the number 2, the Slavs recognized its magical power. So, for example, many rituals of exorcism were carried out using two identical objects or with the participation of twins.
Having examined the higher part of the alphabet, we can state the fact that it is Constantine's secret message to descendants. "Where can you see it?" - you ask. Now try to read all the letters, knowing their true meaning. If we take several subsequent letters, then edifying phrases are formed:
Lead + The verb means "know the teaching";
Rtsy + Word + Firmly can be understood as the phrase "utter the true word";
Firmly + Ouk can be interpreted as "strengthen the law."
If you look closely at other letters, you can also find the secret writing that Constantine the Philosopher left behind.
Have you ever wondered why the letters in the alphabet are in this order, and not some other? The order of the "upper" part of the Cyrillic letters can be viewed from two positions.
Firstly, the fact that each letter-word is folded into a meaningful phrase with the next one may mean a non-random pattern that was invented for the speedy memorization of the alphabet.
Secondly, the Old Church Slavonic alphabet can be considered in terms of numbering numbers. That is, each letter also represents a number. Moreover, all letters-numbers are arranged in ascending order. So, the letter A - "az" corresponds to one, B - 2, G - 3, D - 4, E - 5 and so on up to ten. Dozens begin with the letter K, which are listed here similarly to units: 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 70, 80 and 100.
In addition, many scientists have noticed that the outlines of the letters of the "higher" part of the alphabet are graphically simple, beautiful and convenient. They fit perfectly with cursive writing, and the person did not experience any difficulty in depicting these letters. And many philosophers see in the numerical arrangement of the alphabet the principle of the triad and spiritual harmony, which a person achieves, striving for good, light and truth.
Having studied the alphabet from the very beginning, we can come to the conclusion that Constantine left to his descendants the main value - a creation that encourages us to strive for self-improvement, learning, wisdom and love, remembering the dark paths of malice, envy and enmity.
Now, opening the alphabet, you will know that the creation, which was born thanks to the efforts of Constantine the Philosopher, is not just a list of letters that begin with words that express our fear and indignation, love and tenderness, respect and delight.
The question that still torments modern researchers-philologists is this: what alphabet did the brothers invented - the verb or the Cyrillic alphabet?
Both the Glagolitic and the Cyrillic are two alphabets with which the surviving monuments of the Slavic language were written.
Both Glagolitic and Cyrillic are two alphabets of the Slavic language
We don't use the verb at all now: in the eyes modern man it is a set of letters that are incomprehensible in outline. Cyrillic is much more familiar to us: this alphabet is the basis of modern Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Serbian and Bulgarian languages. It is believed that it originated on the territory of the first Bulgarian state as a kind of compromise between the Bulgarian clergy and the nobility, who insisted on conducting divine services in the language of the local flock, and the dogmatic Greek clergy, who asserted the monopoly position of the Greek language.
However, let us return to the question that haunts modern philology.
The logic and consonance of words will incline you to the opinion that the Cyrillic alphabet is without a doubt the alphabet invented by Cyril. Nevertheless, the Old Slavonic sources that have come down to us do not provide unambiguous information: they date back to the tenth century, in which both the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets already existed. Accordingly, it is impossible to establish which alphabet appeared earlier and which of them was invented by the younger brother of the Sun (both Cyril and Methodius were natives of Thessaloniki). Therefore, this question is still open.
A bit of history ...
Cyril and Methodius went to Great Moravia from the Byzantine capital after the Moravian prince Rostislav came to Constantinople with an unusual request. The Christian principality subject to him on the Middle Danube was subordinate to the bishop in the German town of Passau, while Rostislav wanted to have his own bishop and people who preached not in Latin, but in a language understandable local residents... To avoid possible conflicts with the Germans, the emperor and patriarch of Byzantium sent not a new bishop to Moravia, but the already known enlighteners Cyril and Methodius with the words: "You are Solunians, and all Solunians speak Slavic purely."
Both brothers had unique strengths: Methodius, for example, before his tonsure was the governor of one of the Byzantine provinces, which developed in him the talent of an organizer and a person versed in the laws. Cyril, in turn, was an experienced polemicist on religious issues: he took part in the Byzantine embassies to the Arab Caliphate, went to the Lower Volga to the Khazars.
Also, the younger Solunyan was distinguished by his exceptional ability in languages: he knew Arabic, Hebrew and Syriac, was interested in comparative grammar. It was Cyril who said about the need to create a new alphabet: "Who can write a conversation on the water and not be considered a heretic?" - I mean that the inhabitants of Moravia did not have their own alphabet.
Methodius before monasticism was the governor of one of the Byzantine provinces
During their three and a half years in Moravia, the brothers translated all the texts for divine services from the Greek language, and also taught several dozen people to read and write. Their activities were not without difficulties: the Latin clergy, represented by the Germans, strongly opposed any translations, insisting that the texts can be studied only in one of the three "sacred" languages \u200b\u200b- Hebrew / Latin / Greek, in the languages \u200b\u200bof the local flock they can only be explained. Those accused of heresy Cyril and Methodius were summoned by Pope Nicholas I, but by their arrival he died. His successor, Andrian II, welcomed the "Slavic apostles" cordially: he allowed services in the Slavic language in some Roman churches, and the disciples of Cyril and Methodius, with his consent, were able to become priests.
Together, Cyril and Methodius translated almost the entire Bible, translated the Nomokanon - a collection of teachings on the main holidays of the church. They also made up the first legal monument in the Slavic language - "Judgment Law for People."
On his deathbed, February 14, 869, Cyril said to his brother Methodius: “You and I, like two oxen, led the same furrow. I was exhausted, but do not think to leave the labors of teaching and retire to your mountain again. " Methodius heeded his instruction and continued to educate his students, to engage in literary work and translations, along with the post of archbishop, to which he was soon appointed.
“Life was given to a man so that she would serve him, and not he,” one of the brothers once said. But they really succeeded.