An alphabet is a collection of letters or other signs used to write in a particular language. There are many different alphabets, each with its own characteristics and history.
In this case we will talk about the Russian alphabet. Over the course of several centuries of existence, it developed and underwent changes.
History of the Russian alphabet
In the 9th century, thanks to the monks Cyril and Methodius, the Cyrillic alphabet appeared. From this moment on, Slavic writing began to develop rapidly. This happened in Bulgaria. It was there that there were workshops where liturgical books were copied and also translated from Greek.
A century later, the Old Church Slavonic language came to Rus', and church services were conducted in it. Gradually, under the influence of the Old Russian language, Old Church Slavonic undergoes some changes.
Sometimes they put an equal sign between the Old Church Slavonic and Old Russian languages, which is completely wrong. These are two different languages. However, the alphabet, of course, originated from Old Church Slavonic.
At first, the Old Russian alphabet consisted of 43 letters. But the signs of one language cannot be accepted by another language without amendments, because the letters must somehow correspond to the pronunciation. How many Old Church Slavonic letters were removed from, how many and which letters were destined to appear is the subject of a separate article. We can only say that the changes were significant.
Over the next centuries, the alphabet continued to adapt to the requirements of the Russian language. Letters that were not in use were abolished. A significant reform of the language took place under Peter I.
By the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian alphabet had 35 letters. At the same time, “E” and “Yo” were considered one letter, just like “I” and “Y”. But the alphabet contained letters that disappeared after 1918.
Most of the letters of the alphabet, until the beginning of the 20th century, had names different from modern ones. If the beginning of the alphabet is familiar (“az, beeches, lead”), then the continuation may seem unusual: “verb, good, is, live...”
Today the alphabet consists of 33 letters, of which 10 are vowels, 21 and two letters that do not indicate sounds (“b” and “b”).
The fate of some letters of the Russian alphabet
For a long time, “I” and “Y” were considered variants of the same letter. Peter I, while reforming, abolished the letter “Y”. But after some time, she again took her place in writing, since many words are unthinkable without her. However, the letter “Y” (and short) became an independent letter only in 1918. Moreover, “Y” is a consonant letter, while “I” is a vowel.
The fate of the letter “Y” is also interesting. In 1783, the director of the Academy of Sciences, Princess Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova, proposed introducing this letter into the alphabet. This initiative was supported by the Russian writer and historian N.M. Karamzin. However, the letter was not widely used. “Yo” established itself in the Russian alphabet by the middle of the 20th century, but its use in printed publications continues to remain unsteady: sometimes “Yo” is required to be used, sometimes it is categorically not accepted.
The use of the letter “Ё” vaguely resembles the fate of the Izhitsa “V”, the letter that once completed the alphabet. It was practically not used, because was replaced by other letters, but continued to proudly exist in some words.
The next letter worthy of special mention is “Ъ” - a hard sign. Before the reform of 1918, this letter was called “er” and was used in writing much more often than now. Namely, it was necessarily written at the end of words ending with a consonant. The abolition of the rule to end words with “erom” led to large savings in the publishing industry, since the amount of paper for books was immediately reduced. But the hard sign remains in the alphabet; it performs a very necessary function when it stands inside a word.
Known to every bearer of Slavic culture as the creators of the alphabet. Of course, they are at the origins of Slavic books, but do we owe the alphabet that we still use to this day?
The creation of Slavic writing was caused by the need for Christian preaching among the Slavs. In 862 - 863 Prince of Moravia (one of the largest Slavic states at that time) Rostislav sent an embassy to Byzantium with a request to send missionaries to conduct worship in the Slavic language. The choice of Emperor Michael III and Patriarch Photius fell on the famous apologist of Eastern Christianity Constantine (who later took the name Cyril during monastic tonsure) and his brother Methodius.
They worked in Moravia for about three years: they translated the Bible and liturgical texts from Greek, trained scribes from among the Slavs, then went to Rome. In Rome, the brothers and their disciples were solemnly welcomed, they were allowed to serve the Liturgy in Slavonic. Constantine-Cyril was destined to die in Rome (in 869), Methodius returned to Moravia, where he continued to translate.
In order to fully appreciate the feat of the “Slovenian teachers”, one must imagine what it meant to translate the Holy Scriptures and liturgical books into an unwritten language. To do this, it is enough to remember what topics and how we communicate in everyday life, and compare this with the content of the biblical text, the text of the service. In everyday life, we rarely talk about complex cultural, philosophical, ethical, and religious concepts.
Spoken language by itself is not able to develop means of expressing such complex meanings. Today, when discussing abstract topics, we use what has been created for centuries in the philosophical, religious, literary tradition, i.e. tradition is purely bookish. The Slavic language of the 9th century did not possess this wealth.
The unwritten language of the Slavs of the 9th century had practically no means of expressing abstract concepts, much less theological concepts; complex grammatical and syntactic structures were poorly developed in it. To make worship understandable to the Slavs, the language needed the most subtle processing. It was necessary either to find in the Slavic language itself, or to unobtrusively import from another (this language became Greek) everything necessary for this language to become capable of conveying the Gospel to people, revealing the beauty and meaning of the Orthodox service. Slavic teachers masterfully coped with this task.
Having translated the Bible and liturgical texts into the Slavic language, revealing the Gospel to the Slavs, Cyril and Methodius at the same time gave the Slavs book, linguistic, literary, and theological culture. They gave the language of the Slavs the right and opportunity to become the language of communication between man and God, the language of the Church, and then the language of great culture and literature. The significance of the brothers’ feat for the entire Orthodox Slavic world truly cannot be overestimated. But it is also worth remembering the activities of the disciples of Cyril and Methodius, without whom the mission of the First Teachers could not have been completed, but who, unfortunately, remain in the shadow of their great teachers.
The mission of Cyril and Methodius met resistance. Methodius had to endure about two years of imprisonment, and after his death, opponents of Eastern Christianity expelled the disciples of Cyril and Methodius from Moravia. Slavic books began to be burned, services in the Slavic language were prohibited. Some of the expelled students went to the territory of what is now Croatia, and some to Bulgaria.
Among those who went to Bulgaria was one of the outstanding students of Methodius, Clement of Ohrid. It was he, according to most modern scientists, who was the creator of the alphabet that we (albeit with minor changes) use to this day.
The fact is that there are two known Slavic alphabets: Glagolitic and Cyrillic. Glagolitic letters are very complex, elaborate, and bear little resemblance to the letters of any other alphabet. Apparently, the author of the Glagolitic alphabet used elements of various writing systems, including eastern ones, and invented some symbols himself. The person capable of doing such complex philological work was Konstantin-Kirill.
The Cyrillic alphabet was created on the basis of the Greek letter, and its creator worked hard to adapt the Greek letter to the Slavic phonetic system. Based on painstaking work with the manuscripts, studying their linguistic features, territory of distribution, paleographic characteristics, the researchers came to the conclusion that the Glagolitic alphabet was created earlier than the Cyrillic alphabet, the Glagolitic alphabet was apparently created by Cyril, and the Cyrillic alphabet was created by the most talented student of Methodius, Clement of Ohrid.
Clement (c. 840 - 916), who fled from persecution from Moravia, was sent by the Bulgarian Tsar Boris to preach in Ohrid. Here he created the largest school of Slavic writing, one of the most important centers of Slavic culture. Here translations were carried out and original Slavic works of spiritual content (songs, hymns, lives) were compiled. Clement of Ohrid can rightfully be called one of the first Slavic writers. Clement’s work in teaching adults and children to read and write was also unusually extensive: according to the most conservative estimates, he introduced about 3,500 people to Slavic writing. In 893, Clement was appointed bishop of Dremvica and Wielica. He became one of the first Slavic church hierarchs, the first Bulgarian hierarch to serve, preach and write in the Slavic language. According to most modern scientists, it was he who created the alphabet, which the Orthodox Slavic peoples still use.
Clement of Ohrid is glorified among the saints equal to the apostles. His memory is celebrated on July 27 (Cathedral of Bulgarian Enlighteners) and November 25.
The role of writing in the development of the entire human society cannot be overestimated. Even before the appearance of the letters we are familiar with, ancient people left various marks on stone and rocks. At first these were drawings, then they were replaced by hieroglyphs. Finally, writing using letters, which is more convenient for transmitting and understanding information, has appeared. Centuries and millennia later, these signs-symbols helped restore the past of many peoples. A special role in this matter was played by written monuments: various codes of laws and official documents, literary works and memoirs of prominent people.
Today, knowledge of that language is an indicator not only of a person’s intellectual development, but also determines his attitude towards the country in which he was born and lives.
How it all began
In fact, the foundation for the creation of the alphabet was laid by the Phoenicians at the end of the 2nd millennium BC. e. They came up with consonant letters, which they used for quite a long time. Subsequently, their alphabet was borrowed and improved by the Greeks: vowels already appeared in it. This was around the 8th century BC. e. Further, the history of the Russian alphabet can be reflected in the diagram: Greek letter - Latin alphabet - Slavic Cyrillic alphabet. The latter served as the basis for the creation of writing among a number of related peoples.
Formation of the Old Russian state
From the 1st century AD, the process of disintegration of the tribes that inhabited the territory of Eastern Europe and spoke a common Proto-Slavic language began. As a result, Kievan Rus was formed in the area of the middle Dnieper, which later became the center of a large state. It was inhabited by part of the Eastern Slavs, who over time developed their own special way of life and customs. The story of how the Russian alphabet appeared was further developed.
The growing and strengthening state established economic and cultural ties with other countries, primarily Western European ones. And for this, writing was needed, especially since the first Church Slavonic books began to be brought to Rus'. At the same time, there was a weakening of paganism and the spread of a new religion throughout Europe - Christianity. This is where the urgent need arose for the “invention” of the alphabet, thanks to which the new teaching could be conveyed to all Slavs. It became the Cyrillic alphabet, created by the “Thessaloniki brothers”.
The important mission of Constantine and Methodius
In the 9th century, the sons of a noble Thessalonica Greek, on behalf of the Byzantine emperor, went to Moravia - at that time a powerful state located within the borders of modern Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
Their task was to introduce the Slavs who inhabited Eastern Europe to the teachings of Christ and the ideas of Orthodoxy, as well as to conduct services in the native language of the local population. It was no coincidence that the choice fell on the two brothers: they had good organizational skills and showed particular diligence in their studies. In addition, both were fluent in Greek and Constantine (shortly before his death, after being tonsured as a monk, he was given a new name - Cyril, with which he went down in history) and Methodius became the people who invented the alphabet of the Russian language. This was perhaps the most significant result of their mission in 863.
Cyrillic base
When creating the alphabet for the Slavs, the brothers used the Greek alphabet. They left the letters corresponding to the pronunciation in the languages of these two peoples unchanged. To designate the sounds of Slavic speech that were absent among the Greeks, 19 new signs were invented. As a result, the new alphabet included 43 letters, many of which were subsequently included in the alphabets of the peoples who once spoke a common language.
But the story about who invented the alphabet of the Russian language does not end there. During the 9th-10th centuries, two types of alphabet were common among the Slavs: the Cyrillic alphabet (mentioned above) and the Glagolitic alphabet. The second contained a smaller number of letters - 38 or 39, and their style was more complex. In addition, the first signs were used additionally to indicate numbers.
So did Kirill invent the alphabet?
For several centuries now, researchers have found it difficult to give an unambiguous answer to this question. In the “Life of Cyril” it is noted that “with the help of his brother... and students... he compiled the Slavic alphabet...”. If this is really the case, then which of the two - Cyrillic or Glagolitic - is his creation? The matter is complicated by the fact that the manuscripts written by Cyril and Methodius have not survived, and in later ones (dating back to the 9th-10th centuries) none of these alphabets are mentioned.
To figure out who invented the Russian alphabet, scientists have conducted a lot of research. In particular, they compared one and the other with alphabets that existed even before their appearance and analyzed the results in detail. They never came to a consensus, but most agree that Cyril most likely invented the Glagolitic alphabet, even before his trip to Moravia. This is supported by the fact that the number of letters in it was as close as possible to the phonetic composition of the Old Church Slavonic language (designed specifically for writing). In addition, in their style, the letters of the Glagolitic alphabet were more different from the Greek ones and bear little resemblance to modern writing.
The Cyrillic alphabet, which became the basis for the Russian alphabet (az + buki is the name of its first letters), could have been created by one of Konstantin’s students, Kliment Ohritsky. He named her that in honor of the teacher.
The formation of the Russian alphabet
Regardless of who invented the Cyrillic alphabet, it became the basis for the creation of the Russian alphabet and the modern alphabet.
In 988, Ancient Rus' adopted Christianity, which significantly influenced the future fate of the language. From this time on, the formation of our own writing began. Gradually, the Old Russian language, the alphabet of which is based on the Cyrillic alphabet, is being improved. This was a long process that ended only after 1917. This was when the final changes were made to the alphabet we use today.
How the Cyrillic alphabet has changed
Before the Russian alphabet acquired the form it has today, the fundamental alphabet underwent a number of changes. The most significant reforms were in 1708-10 under Peter I and in 1917-18 after the revolution.
Initially, the Cyrillic alphabet, which was very reminiscent of the Byzantine script, had several extra, doublet letters, for example, и=і, о=ѡ - they were most likely used to convey Bulgarian sounds. There were also various superscripts that indicated stress and aspirated pronunciation.
Before the reign of Peter I, the letters denoting numbers were designed in a special way - it was he who introduced Arabic counting.
In the first reform (this was caused by the need to compile business papers: 7 letters were removed from the alphabet: ξ (xi), S (zelo) and iotized vowels, I and U were added (they replaced the existing ones), ε (reverse). This made it much easier alphabet, and it began to be called “civil.” In 1783, N. Karamzin added the letter E. Finally, after 1917, 4 more letters disappeared from the Russian alphabet, and Ъ (er) and b (er) began to denote only the hardness and softness of consonants .
The names of the letters have also changed completely. Initially, each of them represented a whole word, and the entire alphabet, according to many researchers, was filled with a special meaning. This also showed the intelligence of those who invented the alphabet. The Russian language has preserved the memory of the first names of letters in proverbs and sayings. For example, “start from the beginning” - that is, from the very beginning; “Fita and Izhitsa - the whip is approaching the lazy one.” They are also found in phraseological units: “to look with a verb.”
Praise to the Great Saints
The creation of the Cyrillic alphabet was the greatest event for the entire Slavic world. The introduction of writing made it possible to pass on the accumulated experience to descendants and tell the glorious history of the formation and development of independent states. It is no coincidence that they say: “If you want to know the truth, start with the alphabet.”
Centuries pass, new discoveries appear. But those who invented the alphabet of the Russian language are remembered and revered. Proof of this is the holiday, which is celebrated annually on May 24 all over the world.
Real Russian Alphabet.
Grigori Ovanesov.
Grigory Tevatrosovich Ovanesov.
ALPHABET OF A SINGLE LANGUAGE.
No.
1__1___a___10__10____w____19___100____w____28__1000____r
2__2___b___11__20____i_____20__200____m_____29__2000____s
3__3___g____12__30___l_____21__300____j____30___3000___v
4__4___d____13__40___x_____22__400____n____31__4000____t
5__5___e____14__50___s______23__500____w____32__5000____r
6__6___z____15__60___k______24__600____o____33__6000____c
7__7___e____16__70___h______25__700____h____34__7000___y
8__8___y____17__80___z______26__800____p___35___8000____f
9__9___t____18___90___g____27__900____j____36___9000___q
_____________________________________________________________________________
No. - Letter number. h.z. – the numeric value of the letter. R. - Russian alphabet.
To indicate the beginning of a sentence, you must use the same letters with an increased size. It also means that the letter h is a soft voicing of the letter G, which is used in the Russian language, but is not recorded and is used in dialects (adverbs), especially by shepherds when they drive cows, reproducing the sound he (ge). This pronunciation of the letter G as h is considered unliterary. In addition, the same letter G, as a thin throaty wheezing sound, is written in the form g. Moreover, the letters “e” are pronounced as “yyy”, “t” as “th”, “s” as “ts”, “z” as “dz”, “j” as “j”, r as hard (English) “ p” and “q” as “kh”. The alphabet does not contain the diphtones I (ya), Yu (yu), E (ye) and Yo (yo) since their voicing with separate mono sounds is already in the alphabet. Of course, b and b signs are not letters, since they are not voiced and cannot be used in the alphabet. In the process of voicing the letters of the alphabet, people actively used a wide range of sounds that animals and birds make, imitating them. Of course, the predecessors of the alphabet in graphic notation are two interconnected alphabets compiled millions of years ago. I restored them for the first time in the world, with the same number of letters, which ensured upright walking, practicing grasping movements and creating the semantic content of words with voicing of letters. Moreover, having restored the two most ancient ABCs, I turned out to be their modern creator. In addition, with the help of ABCs, the concepts of counting and numbers were introduced with letter-by-letter notation and notation with the fingers, a decimal system of counting units, the concepts of length and time were arranged. The actual number of fingers with spaces between them on the hands and feet are four nines, which together make up the number 36.
Thus, with the help of the Unified Alphabet, a letter-by-letter way of writing numbers was created. For example, the number 9999 was originally written letter by letter as q j g t or 3446 as vnkhz (see alphabet above). In fact, it was not easy for me to figure out on my own the mechanism for writing numbers and numbers letter by letter. For this I used only the alphabet with numeric letter values. In principle, this is a very serious topic, so I highlighted it separately.
Moreover, for the first time in the world, I gave a definition to DIGIT and NUMBER.
In this case, the Number is the quantity voiced by a letter or word in a record.
So a Number is a quantity written in letters or numbers.
Of course, quantity is HOW MUCH.
It should be borne in mind that the number 0 is voiced by the word “zero, zero”, the number 1 is voiced by the word “one, one”, the number 2 is voiced by the word “two, two”, etc., and in different languages in your own words.
Moreover, the reflection of the Unified Alphabet in the form of the positions of the fingers and their grasping movements made it possible to substantiate how all numbers were created up to the largest from 10,000 onwards, which are now used for counting.
In the alphabet, the numerical values of the letters determine the order of distribution into columns (groups). In the first nine (first column), the digital recording of letter numbers and their numerical values are written in the same way. In this case, the numbers of the other three columns of letters are written in two-digit numbers. Moreover, the numerical values in each column include significant figures from 1 to 9. Moreover, in the second column, one zero is added to each of these numbers, in the third column there are two zeros, and in the fourth column there are three zeros. There is also a complete correspondence between each digital entry of a two-digit letter number and its numerical value.
It should be borne in mind that Russian-speaking people, due to the absence of a significant number of letters (mono-sounds) of the world’s first alphabet with the help of which the semantic content of words and their pronunciation were created, have serious problems with studying other adverbs of the common language of the peoples of the world.
In a world that is constantly changing, in a world open to all peoples and languages, there is something constant, something that connects us with our ancestors - this is our alphabet. We use it when we think, when we speak or write, but the alphabet is interesting not only as a building material for sentences. The uniqueness of our alphabet is in the history of its creation, because it is completely unique!
Sooner or later, every person begins to be tormented by the question: Who came up with letters, words and names of objects? It is impossible to say anything definite about the origin of some writings: who invented them and when they were invented. Take, for example, Chinese or Greek writing? These writings were not invented by individuals, but developed over many centuries and were the result of the accumulation of knowledge of several generations. They do not and cannot have a personal author, just as there is no creator of a wheel, hammer, knife, etc. Other writings are lucky: they emerged from a specific creative process that took place at a specific time in a specific place. For example, the Georgian letter was founded by King Farnavaz, and the Armenian letter by Mesrop Mashtots. If you are asked a question about who created the Slavic writing, you will answer without hesitation that the creators of the Slavic writing are Cyril and Methodius. However, their contribution is much greater than many ordinary people think. After all, Cyril and Methodius not only invented an alphabet for writing the Slavic language and became the founders of writing itself, but also translated many church books into the Slavic language. Where did it all start?
An attempt to look into the past
The history of Slavic writing is a vivid example of how powerless science is in the face of time and history, but the power of our scientists lies in the fact that despite any prohibitions or changes in power, they still try to find a life-giving source of truth. Today, the famous Solun brothers - Cyril (Constantine) and Methodius - are the brightest historical figures, about whom more than five thousand scientific works have been written, where many hypotheses have been put forward, and even more research has been conducted on who actually is the author of the first Old Slavonic ABCs. At the same time, research scientists have found a huge amount of materials that both confirm and fundamentally refute each other. That is why exact answers have not been found to important questions about the history of the emergence of Slavic writing.
“What is the reason?” - you ask. First of all, this is due to the nature of ancient texts, which are the main sources on the basis of which scientists build their hypotheses. These texts are sometimes inaccurate and sometimes deliberately distorted. In some texts you can find descriptions of events for which exact confirmation has not been found. At the same time, ancient sources have reached us in their original form. However, with repeated rewriting, different chroniclers distorted the original texts, adding their own vision or thoughts to them, and the result was a kind of “damaged telephone” that prevents modern scientists from coming to a unanimous opinion. Thus, it is often possible to encounter a situation where different copies of the same ancient document describe information differently. On the other hand, modern scientists themselves are to blame, because they often like to interpret historical events in a way that suits them. The reasons for such liberties lie either in ordinary unprofessionalism or dishonesty, or in false patriotism. Regardless of the reasons driving our scientists, we have to admit that we still do not know in what year Methodius was born and what his real name was. After all, Methodius is the monastic name of the discoverer of the Slavic alphabet. Due to the elementary human ignorance of scientists, the Solunsky brothers were credited with the creation of letters, to which they had nothing to do. Let's throw away these scientists' "probably" and "possibly" and try to figure out where the first alphabet came from, what it looked like, and what meaning our ancestors put into each letter.
The most interesting guide to the origin of Slavic writing is the primary source, which is the legend of the monk Brave, which includes excerpts from the lives of Methodius and Cyril (Constantine). This legend was republished in 1981 and is called “The Legend of the Beginning of Slavic Writing.” If desired, this book can be found on bookstore shelves or purchased through an online store.
Who invented the alphabet
In the 9th - early 10th centuries, one of the largest states in Europe was Great Moravia, which included not only modern Moravia (the historical region of the Czech Republic), but also Slovakia, and part of Poland, the Czech Republic, and other states located nearby. Great Moravia played a major political role from 830 to 906.
In 863, the Moravian prince Rostislav turned to the Byzantine emperor Michael III with a rather daring request - to hold a service in the Slavic language. This audacity lay in the fact that before this, services were held in the three languages in which the inscription on the cross of Jesus was made: Latin, Hebrew and Greek.
The decision to hold services in the Slavic language, according to Rostislav, was purely political in nature and would allow Rostislav to weaken the dependence of his policies on the Bavarian clergy. Why Slavic language? Everything is very simple - at that time the Slavs had a common language, the only difference was in different dialects. However, the Slavs did not yet have writing at that time, and they used Latin or Greek writing for writing. The transition to worship in the Slavic language presupposed the presence of Slavic writing, since it was necessary to translate the main service books into the Slavic language and train priests. Moreover, such a translation implied the creation of not only a special Slavic writing system, but also a written literary Slavic language. It was difficult to translate Greek religious texts into the everyday Slavic language, since they were not adapted to convey their content. The Greek texts simply lacked the necessary words and syntactic structures.
What do you think, answered Michael III? But he did not answer, he sent the so-called Moravian mission to Rostislav in the person of two brothers. These two brothers were the sons of a noble Greek who lived in the city of Thessaloniki (the Slavic name of the city of Thessaloniki, which is located on the territory of modern Greece), and their names were Methodius (presumably born in the year 815) and Constantine (his date of birth was in 827). oh year). Methodius (real name - Michael) was a monk. Constantine, only before his death, accepted monasticism, along with which he took the new name Cyril. It is his monastic name that will be immortalized in the name of the Slavic alphabet - Cyrillic. Although Constantine was younger than Methodius, his authority was recognized even by his elder brother. Today it is known for certain that Constantine was a very educated person, and among his many professions and callings one can single out: philosopher, theologian, poet and linguist. He knew many languages and was fluent in the art of oratory, which allowed him to participate in religious debates more than once. The brightest advantages of the elder brother were considered to be his innate organizational abilities, which allowed him to be a governor in the Slavic regions, as well as the abbot of a monastery. But the most important thing is that both brothers were fluent in the Slavic language.
Scientists believe that an interesting fact is that Constantine and Methodius, even before leaving for Moravia, created the Slavic alphabet, which was perfectly adapted for transmitting the sounds of Slavic speech. This first alphabet was called the Glagolitic alphabet and was based on the letters of minuscule Greek writing. In addition to Greek characters, some Hebrew and Coptic characters joined the Glagolitic alphabet. Naturally, having created the first Slavic alphabet, Constantine and Methodius were impatient to get to work on translations.
The first translations of church books appeared in Byzantium, and upon arrival in Moravia the brothers began their main work at a very high pace. Thus, a new written language appeared, which in academic circles is called Old Church Slavonic.
In parallel with the translations, Cyril and Methodius prepared priests who could conduct services in the Slavic language. After such painstaking work, the Solun brothers return home, distributing new writings along the way. As you understand, the emergence of new traditions did not like the “old” clergy, who recognized trilingualism, so the brothers went to Rome, where Constantine held successful debates with the trilinguals. In Rome, the mission of the Thessalonica brothers was delayed, and Constantine accepted monastic rank and the new name Cyril. This happened just 50 days before his death.
After the death of Cyril, Methodius becomes the main advocate of worship in the Slavic language, who is invited to Pannonia (modern Hungary) by the local prince Kotsela, who supports the initiatives of Cyril and Methodius. At this time, an intense struggle was being waged between the supporters of Methodius and the German trilinguals. Nevertheless, Pope Adrian, admiring the merits of Methodius, elevates him to the rank of bishop. However, this did not prevent the Bavarian clergy, the just cause of trilingualism, from putting Methodius in prison in 870, where he spent two and a half years. Only in 873 did Methodius emerge from captivity and restore his rank, after which he returned to Moravia.
Methodius spends the rest of his life in Moravia in the rank of archbishop and dies in 885. And this is where the real war between the trilinguals and the disciples of Cyril and Methodius began. In 886, the Slavic liturgy was completely destroyed, and priests who conducted services in the Slavic language were beaten, stoned, chained, expelled from the country, sold into slavery and even killed. But this does not mean that the fight against the “Slavic” ended with the victory of the trilinguals. On the contrary, many of Methodius’s disciples find refuge in the Bulgarian state, where Prince Boris kindly receives them. It was he who organized a new school of Slavic writing, and Bulgaria became the new center of Slavic book culture. The head of the new Slavic school is a student of the Thessalonica brothers, Clement, who will later be nicknamed Clement of Ohrid. Why was he given such a nickname? Everything is very simple: the school was located near Lake Ohrid, which today is located on the territory of modern Macedonia.
According to the majority of modern scientists, the creator of the new Slavic alphabet - the Cyrillic alphabet - is Kliment of Ohrid. Clement named it Cyrillic in honor of his teacher Kirill. However, the name of this alphabet for a long time confused scientists who believed that the Cyrillic alphabet was older than the Glagolitic alphabet. However, today many agree that Kirill created not the Cyrillic alphabet, but the Glagolitic alphabet. The most interesting thing is that these are just guesses, not supported by any Old Slavonic writings. But the most interesting fact remains that in ancient manuscripts there is not a single mention of the existence of two Slavic alphabets!
Glagolitic and Cyrillic
Today, most scientists agree that after all Glagolitic is the real first Old Slavonic alphabet, and it was invented by Cyril back in 863, when he was in Byzantium. Kirill - Constantine the Philosopher created it in a fairly short time and included many Greek symbols. Cyrillic was invented in Bulgaria around the 9th century. However, the controversial question still remains who is the author of this invention. Many scientists are still debating this issue. Thus, adherents of the classical theory argue that it was undoubtedly Clement of Ohrid, while others suggest that the signs displayed in the Cyrillic alphabet are more reminiscent of those used by Old Slavonic scribes led by the enlightener Konstantin of Pereslavl.
Any alphabet is notable for the fact that each letter has a formal and meaningful meaning. Formal studies of each letter involve the history of the design of the sign that is displayed in a particular letter, and a meaningful approach to the study of letters involves searching for a correspondence between the letter itself and its sound. If you pay attention to the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabet, you will see that the Glagolitic alphabet is a more striking invention than the Cyrillic alphabet. Moreover, the number of letters in the Glagolitic alphabet corresponds to the number of sounds that existed in the Old Church Slavonic language. In other words, the creator or creators of the Glagolitic alphabet knew very well the phonetics of the Old Church Slavonic language and were guided by this when creating Old Church Slavonic writing.
It is also interesting to compare the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabet by letter style. In both the first and second cases, the symbolism is very reminiscent of Greek, but the Glagolitic alphabet still has features characteristic only of the Slavic alphabet. Take, for example, the letter “az”. In the Glagolitic alphabet it resembles a cross, and in the Cyrillic alphabet it completely borrows the Greek letter. But this is not the most interesting thing in the Old Slavonic alphabet. After all, it is in the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabet that each letter represents a separate word, filled with the deep philosophical meaning that our ancestors put into it.
Although today letter-words have disappeared from our everyday life, they still continue to live in Russian proverbs and sayings. For example, the expression “start from the beginning” means nothing more than “start from the very beginning.” Although in fact the letter “az” means “I”.