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 parts were read in Latin, unfamiliar and incomprehensible people).
Emperor Michael sent the Greeks to Moravia - the scientist Constantine the Philosopher (the name Cyril Constantine received when he became a monk in 869, and with this name he went down in history) and his older brother Methodius.
The choice was not random. The brothers Constantine and Methodius were born in Thessalonica (in 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 well, Arabic, taught philosophy, for which he received the nickname Philosopher. Methodius was in military service, then for several years he ruled one of the regions inhabited by the Slavs; subsequently retired to a monastery.
In 860, the brothers had already made a trip to the Khazars for missionary and diplomatic purposes.
In order to be able to preach Christianity in the Slavic language, it was necessary to translate the Holy Scripture into Slavic; however, the alphabet capable of conveying Slavic speech did not exist at that moment.
Constantine set about creating the Slavic alphabet. Methodius, who also knew the Slavic language well, helped him in his work, since a lot of Slavs lived in Thessalonica (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; scientists still do not have a consensus which of these two options was created by Cyril). With the help of Methodius, a number of liturgical books were translated from Greek into Slavonic. The Slavs got the opportunity to read and write in their own language. The Slavs not only had 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 a combination of two letters “az” and “beeches”, which denoted the first letters of the alphabet A and B. An interesting fact is that the Old Slavonic alphabet was graffiti, i.e. graffiti 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 St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv. 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 man who printed it.
ABC structure
If you look back, you will see that Cyril and Methodius created not just an alphabet, they revealed to the Slavic people new way leading to the perfection of man on earth and the triumph of the new faith. If you look at historical events, the difference between which is only 125 years, you will understand that in fact the path of establishing Christianity in our land is directly related to the creation of the Slavic alphabet. Indeed, literally in 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 today is beyond doubt. 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 cryptography 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 in parts by adding new letter forms. It is also interesting that most of the letters are old Slavic alphabet are letters and 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, we will conditionally call the first half of the alphabet 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 letter-words that carry a meaning understandable 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 Slavonic alphabet do not have a numerical value, unlike the letters of the higher 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 each 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 initial Slavic alphabet, which denotes the pronoun I. However, its root meaning is the word “originally”, “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, “starting from the basics” meant “starting from the beginning.” Thus, with the beginning of the alphabet, the Slavs denoted the entire philosophical meaning of being, where without beginning there is no end, 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 dispensation of the world. Actually, the alphabet itself is built on the principle of duality, where it is conditionally divided into two parts: the highest and the lowest, positive and negative, the part located at the beginning and the 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, not even numbers were the embodiment of everything positive, kind and bright. 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 family begins. This number has several synonyms: 1 is one, 1 is one, 1 is times.
Beeches(Beeches) - the second letter-word in the alphabet. It has no digital meaning, but it has no less deep philosophical meaning than Az. Beeches - means "to be", "will be" was most often used in turnovers in the future form. For example, “bodie” means “let it be”, and “bowdo”, as you probably already guessed, means “future, upcoming”. In this word, our ancestors expressed the future as an inevitability that could be both good and rosy, or gloomy and terrible. It is still not known for certain why Bukam Constantine did not give a numerical value, but many scholars suggest that this is due to the duality of this letter. Indeed, by and large, it denotes the future, which each person imagines for himself in a rainbow light, but on the other hand, this word also denotes the inevitability of punishment for committed low deeds.
Lead – most interesting letter Old 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 into one phrase, you will get a phrase that means "I will know!". Thus, Constantine showed that a person who discovered the alphabet created by him would subsequently have some kind of knowledge. No less important is the numerical load of this letter. After all, 2 - two, two, a couple 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, the deuce was a symbol of the confrontation between the two sides, heavenly and earthly balance. Moreover, it is worth noting that the Slavs considered the deuce devilish number and attributed to him a lot negative properties, considering that it is the two that opens the number series negative numbers that bring death to a person. That is why the birth of twins in Old Slavic families was considered bad sign who brought sickness and misfortune to the family. In addition, the Slavs a bad sign it was considered to rock the cradle together, two people to dry themselves with one towel and generally perform some action together. Despite this negative attitude to number 2, the Slavs recognized him magical power. For example, many rituals of exile evil spirits were carried out using two identical objects or with the participation of twins.
Having considered higher part alphabet, one can state the fact that it is secret message Constantine to posterity. "Where is it seen?" - you ask. And now you try to read all the letters, knowing their true meaning. If you take several subsequent letters, then phrases-edifications are added:
Lead + The verb means "lead the teaching";
Rtsy + Word + Firmly can be understood as the phrase "speak 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 script 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 "higher" part of the Cyrillic letters can be considered from two positions.
Firstly, the fact that each letter-word is formed into a meaningful phrase with the next one may mean a non-random pattern that was invented to quickly memorize the alphabet.
Secondly, the Old Slavonic alphabet can be considered from the point of view of numbering. That is, each letter is also 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. The letter K begins with tens, which are listed here in the same way as 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 perfectly suited cursive writing, and the person did not experience any difficulties 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 goodness, light and truth.
Having studied the alphabet from the very beginning, we can come to the conclusion that Constantine left to his descendants main value- a creation that calls 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 that came into being thanks to the efforts of Constantine the Philosopher is not just a list of letters that begin words that express our fear and indignation, love and tenderness, respect and delight.
Kuban State University
Faculty of Management and Psychology
on documentation on the topic:
"History of the Russian alphabet: from antiquity to the present day"
Completed by a student
2nd year DDOU:
Teterleva Elena
Krasnodar 2010
Introduction
1. The emergence of the Slavic alphabet
2. Cyrillic letters and their names
3. The composition of the Russian alphabet
Conclusion
INTRODUCTION
When transmitting speech in writing, letters are used, each of which has a specific meaning. A set of letters arranged in the prescribed order is called alphabetically or alphabet .
Word alphabet comes from the name of the first two letters Greek alphabet: α-alpha; β - beta(in modern Greek - vita).
Word ABC comes from the name of the first two letters of the ancient Slavic alphabet - Cyrillic: A - az; B - beeches.
How did the alphabet originate? How did it develop in Russia? The answers to these questions can be found in this essay.
1. THE ORIGIN OF THE SLAVIC ALPHABET
Alphabet is a system of letters that convey the sounds or phonemes of a language. Almost all known alphabetic writing systems have a common origin: they go back to the Semitic writing of Phenicia, Syria, Palestine of the 2nd millennium BC.
The Phoenicians, who lived on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, were famous sailors in antiquity. They were actively trading with the states of the Mediterranean. In the ninth century BC e. The Phoenicians introduced their writing to the Greeks. The Greeks slightly modified the inscriptions Phoenician letters and their names, keeping the order.
In the first millennium BC. e. Southern Italy was colonized by the Greeks. As a result of this, they became acquainted with the Greek letter different nations Italy, including the Latins - the Italian tribe that founded Rome. The classical Latin alphabet in the 1st century BC e. Some Greek letters were not included in the Latin alphabet. In the era of the Roman Empire, the Latin language and writing were widely spread. His influence increased in the Middle Ages in connection with the transition to. Christianity of all peoples of Europe. Latin became the liturgical language in all states Western Europe, and the Latin script is the only acceptable script for liturgical books. As a result, Latin has been the international language for centuries.
On the territory of the Central of Eastern Europe, inhabited by the Slavs, starting from the VI-VII centuries. appear separate unions Slavic tribes, state associations.
19th century the state association of the Western Slavs was known - the Moravian Principality, located on the territory of present-day Slovakia. German feudal lords sought to subjugate Moravia in political, economic, culturally. German missionaries were sent to Moravia to preach Christianity in Latin. This threatened the political independence of the state. In an effort to maintain independence, the far-sighted Moravian prince Rostislav sent an embassy to the Byzantine emperor Michael III with a request to send teachers to Moravia (preachers of Christianity according to the Byzantine rite) who would teach the inhabitants of Moravia Christianity on mother tongue. Michael III entrusted the Moravian mission to Constantine (monastic name - Cyril) and his brother Methodius. The brothers were natives of the city of Thessalonica (now Thessaloniki), which at that time was part of the Slavic (Bulgarian) territory and was cultural center Macedonia, Ancient Thessalonica was a bilingual city in which, in addition to Greek sounded Slavic.
Konstantin was a very educated person for his time. Even before his trip to Moravia, he compiled the Slavonic alphabet and began translating the Gospel into Slavonic. In Moravia, Constantine and Methodius continued to translate church books from Greek into Slavonic, taught the Slavs how to read, write, and lead worship in Slavonic. The brothers stayed in Moravia for more than three years, and then went with their students to Rome to the Pope. There they hoped to find support in the fight against the German clergy, who did not want to give up their positions in Moravia and prevented the spread of Slavic writing. On the way to Rome, they visited another Slavic country - Pannonia (Lake Balaton region, Hungary). And here the brothers taught the Slavs book business and worship in the Slavic language.
In Rome, Constantine took the monastic vows, taking the name Cyril. There, in 869, Cyril was poisoned. Before his death, he wrote to Methodius: "You and I are like two oxen; one fell from a heavy burden, the other must continue on his way." Methodius with his disciples, who received the priesthood, returned to Pannonia, and later to Moravia.
By that time, the situation in Moravia had changed dramatically. After the death of Rostislav, his captive Svyatopolk became the Moravian prince, who submitted to the German political influence. The activities of Methodius and his disciples proceeded in a very difficult conditions. The Latin-German clergy interfered in every possible way with the spread of the Slavic language as the language of the church.
Methodius was imprisoned, where he dies in 885, and after that his opponents managed to achieve the prohibition of Slavic writing in Moravia. Many students were executed, some moved to Bulgaria and Croatia. In Bulgaria, Tsar Boris in 864 converted to Christianity. Bulgaria becomes the center for the dissemination of Slavic writing. Slavic schools are created here, Cyrillic and Methodius originals of liturgical books (Gospel, Psalter, Apostle, church services)" new Slavic translations are made from the Greek language, original works appear in the Old Slavonic language ("0 writings of Chrnorizets the Brave").
The widespread use of Slavic writing, its "golden age", dates back to the reign of Simeon (893-927), son of Boris, in Bulgaria. Later Old Slavonic language penetrates into Serbia, and at the end of the X century. becomes the language of the church in Kievan Rus.
The Old Church Slavonic language, being the language of the church in Russia, was influenced by Old Russian language. It was the Old Slavonic language of the Russian edition, as it included elements of living East Slavic speech.
The Old Slavonic alphabets with which the monuments that have survived to this day are written are called Glagolitic and Cyrillic. The first Old Slavonic monuments were written in the Glagolitic script, which, as is assumed, was created by Constantine on the basis of cursive Greek writing of the 9th century. with the addition of some letters from other Eastern alphabets. This is a very peculiar, intricate, looped letter, which long time in a slightly modified form it was used by the Croats (until the 17th century). The appearance of the Cyrillic alphabet, which goes back to the Greek statutory (solemn) letter, is associated with the activities of the Bulgarian school of scribes. Cyrillic is the Slavic alphabet that underlies the modern Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Serbian and Macedonian alphabets.
2. CYRILLIC LETTERS AND THEIR NAMES
Figure 1 - "Cyrillic letters and their names"
The Cyrillic alphabet, shown in Figure 1, has been gradually improved as it is used in the Russian language.
The development of the Russian nation in early XVIII c., the need for printing civil books necessitated the simplification of the styles of the letters of the Cyrillic alphabet.
In 1708, a Russian civil font was created, and Peter I himself took an active part in the production of sketches of letters. In 1710, a sample of a new alphabet font was approved. This was the first reform of Russian graphics. The essence of the Petrine reform was to simplify the composition of the Russian alphabet by excluding from it such obsolete and unnecessary letters as "psi", "xi", "omega", "Izhitsa", "earth", "like", "yus small". However, later, probably under the influence of the clergy, some of these letters were restored to use. The letter E ("E" reverse) was introduced in order to distinguish it from the iotized letter E, as well as the letter I instead of the small iotized yus.
For the first time, uppercase (large) and lowercase (small) letters are established in the civil font.
Letter Y ( and short) was introduced by the Academy of Sciences in 1735. The letter Yo was first used by N. M. Karamzin in 1797 to denote the sound [o] under stress after soft consonants, for example: sky, dark .
In the XVIII century. in literary language sound denoted by the letter b ( yat), matched the sound [ uh ]. Bush, therefore, practically turned out to be unnecessary, but according to tradition, it was kept in the Russian alphabet for a long time, until 1917-1918.
The spelling reform of 1917-1918. two letters that duplicated each other were excluded: "yat", "fita", "and decimal". Letter b ( ep) was kept only as a delimiter, b ( er) - as separator sign and to indicate the softness of the preceding consonant. With regard to Yo, the decree contains a clause on the desirability, but not the obligatory use of this letter. Reform 1917-1918 simplified Russian letter and thereby facilitated the teaching of literacy.
3. COMPOSITION OF THE RUSSIAN ALPHABET
There are 33 letters in the Russian alphabet, of which 10 denote vowel sounds, 21 are consonants, and 2 letters do not denote special sounds, but serve to convey certain sound features. The Russian alphabet, shown in Table 1, has uppercase (large) and lowercase (small) letters, printed and handwritten letters.
Table 1 - Russian alphabet and letter names
CONCLUSION
Throughout the history of the Russian alphabet, there was a struggle with "superfluous" letters, culminating in a partial victory in the reform of graphics by Peter I (1708-1710) and a final victory in the spelling reform of 1917-1918.
The alphabet of the Old Slavonic alphabet, like any other alphabet, was a system of certain signs, to which a certain sound was assigned. The Slavic alphabet was formed in the territory inhabited by peoples Ancient Russia many centuries ago.
Events of the historical past
The year 862 went down in history as the year when the first official steps were taken in Russia to adopt Christianity. Prince Vsevolod sent envoys to the Byzantine emperor Michael, who were supposed to convey his request that the emperor send preachers of the Christian faith to Great Moravia. The need for preachers arose due to the fact that people themselves could not penetrate the essence of Christian teaching, because the Holy Scriptures were only in Latin.
In response to this request, two brothers were sent to the Russian lands: Cyril and Methodius. The first of them received the name Cyril a little later, when he took monastic vows. This choice has been carefully considered. The brothers were born in Thessalonica in the family of a military leader. The Greek version is Thessaloniki. The level of education for that time they had a very high. Konstantin (Cyril) was trained and brought up at the court of Emperor Michael the Third. He could speak several languages:
- Greek
- Arabic,
- Slavic
- Jewish.
For his ability to initiate others into the secrets of philosophy, he received the nickname Constantine the Philosopher.
Methodius began his activity with military service, tried himself as the ruler of one of the regions, which was inhabited by the Slavs. In 860, they made a trip to the Khazars, their goal was to spread the Christian faith and reach some agreements with these people.
History of written characters
Constantine had to create written signs with the active help of his brother. After all, Holy Scripture was only in Latin. To convey this knowledge to a large number of people, the written version of the Holy Books in the language of the Slavs was simply necessary. As a result of their painstaking work, the Slavic alphabet appeared in 863.
Two variants of the alphabet: Glagolitic and Cyrillic are ambiguous. Researchers argue about which of these two options belongs directly to Cyril, and which one appeared later.
After the creation of the written system, the brothers were engaged in translating the Bible into the language of the Slavs. The meaning of this alphabet is enormous. The people could not only speak their own language. But also to write, and to form the literary basis of the language. Some of the words of that time have come down to our time and function in Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian languages.
Word symbols
Letters ancient alphabet had names that matched the words. The very word "alphabet" comes from the first letters of the alphabet: "az" and "beeches". They represented modern letters"A" and "B".
The first written characters Slavic lands scratched on the walls of the churches of Pereslavl in the form of pictures. It was in the 9th century. In the 11th century, this alphabet appeared in Kyiv, in St. Sophia Cathedral, where signs were interpreted, written translations were made.
A new stage in the formation of the alphabet is associated with the advent of printing. 1574 brought the first alphabet to the Russian lands, which was printed. It was called "Old Slavonic alphabet". The name of the person who released it entered the centuries - Ivan Fedorov.
The connection between the emergence of writing and the spread of Christianity
The Old Slavonic alphabet was more than a simple set of characters. Its appearance made it possible for a large number of people to get acquainted with the Christian faith, to penetrate into its essence, to give it their heart. All scholars agree that without the appearance of writing, Christianity in the Russian lands would not have appeared so quickly. Between the creation of letters and the adoption of Christianity - 125 years, during which there was a huge leap in the self-consciousness of the people. From dense beliefs and customs, people came to faith in the One God. Exactly Holy books, which spread throughout the territory of Russia, and the ability to read them, became the basis for the spread of Christian knowledge.
863 is the year of the creation of the alphabet, 988 is the date of the adoption of Christianity in Russia. This year, Prince Vladimir announced that a new faith was being introduced in the principality and a struggle began against all manifestations of polytheism.
The mystery of written symbols
Some scholars believe that the symbols of the Slavic alphabet are secret signs in which religious and philosophical knowledge is encrypted. Together they represent a complex system based on clear logic and mathematical relationships. There is an opinion that all the letters in this alphabet are an integral, inseparable system, which is why the alphabet was created as a system, and not as separate elements and signs.
The first such signs were something between numbers and letters. The Old Slavonic alphabet was based on the Greek uncial writing system. The Slavic Cyrillic alphabet consisted of 43 letters. The brothers took 24 letters from the Greek unique, and the remaining 19 were invented by themselves. The need to invent new sounds arose due to the fact that the Slavic language contained sounds that were not characteristic of Greek pronunciation. Accordingly, there were no such letters. Constantine either took these symbols from other systems or invented them himself.
"higher" and "lower" part
The whole system can be divided into two distinct parts. Conventionally, they received the names "higher" and "lower". The first part includes letters from "a" to "f" ("az" - "fet"). Each letter is a symbol-word. Such a name was completely focused on people, because these words were clear to everyone. The lower part went from "sha" to the letter "Izhitsa". These symbols were left without digital correspondence, were filled with negative connotations. “In order to penetrate the essence of the cryptography of these symbols, they need to be carefully studied, analyzed all the nuances. After all, in each of them lives the meaning laid down by the creator.
Researchers also find the meaning of the triad in these symbols. A person, comprehending this knowledge, must achieve more high level spiritual perfection. Thus, the alphabet is the creation of Cyril and Methodius, leading to the self-improvement of people.
The word "Azbuka" comes from the names of the first two letters of the Slavic alphabet: A (az) and B (beeches).
Much older than the alphabet is the word "Alphabet", which comes from the name of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet: Alpha + Vita. It is generally accepted that the creators of the Slavic alphabet were the brothers Cyril and Methodius. Back in the 9th century there was no ABC, and the Slavs did not have own letters there was no writing.
At the request of the Slavic prince Rostislav, the Greek Tsar Michael sent the Slavs two brothers, Constantine and Methodius, who lived in Byzantium in the city of Thessalonica (now Thessaloniki, Greece), to tell the Slavs about the holy Christian books, words unknown to them and their meaning. Both brothers received a good education. They were wise people and knew well different languages. Methodius was even the ruler of one Slavic region, but soon left the world and settled in a monastery on Mount Olympus. Cyril gravitated toward God from childhood and decided to also settle in a monastery with his brother.
Slavic writing“is born” in one of the Constantinople monasteries.
Cyril creates the Slavic alphabet in the image and likeness of the Greek.
Among historians and scientists there is no consensus on what kind of alphabet Cyril created - Cyrillic or Glagolitic. The names in Glagolitic and Cyrillic are the same, only the graphics are different.
Like the letters of the Greek alphabet, Glagolitic and Cyrillic letters were used to denote not only speech sounds, but also numbers. Most of the letters of the Old Slavonic alphabet are letters-numbers. Studying the Old Slavonic alphabet, many scientists come to the conclusion that in fact the first "ABC" is a cryptography that has a deep religious and philosophical meaning. If you read each letter, you can understand the meaning that Konstantin put into it.
Cyril and Methodius created not just 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. Today, there is no doubt about the connection between the creation of the Cyrillic alphabet and the adoption of Christianity. The Cyrillic alphabet was created in 863, (it is interesting to note that Konstantin the Philosopher composed an alphabetic acrostic for the first Slavic alphabet he invented - a poem, each line of which begins with the corresponding letter of the alphabet (in alphabetical order). And already in the 988th year, Prince Vladimir officially announced the introduction of Christianity.
Initially, the Old Slavonic alphabet consisted of 43 letters. It contained all the necessary letters to convey the basic sounds, but at the same time, the Cyrillic alphabet included 6 Greek letters not needed for the transmission of Slavic speech. Therefore, during the reforms of Russian writing in the 18-20 centuries, these 6 letters were excluded from the alphabet.
From the foregoing, it can be argued that modern alphabet is a direct descendant of what was created by the great enlighteners Cyril and Methodius.
Not all people know what May 24 is famous for, but it’s even impossible to imagine what would have become of us if this day in 863 turned out to be completely different and the creators of writing abandoned their work.
Who created Slavic writing in the 9th century? These were Cyril and Methodius, and this event happened just on May 24, 863, which led to the celebration of one of the most important events in the history of mankind. Now the Slavic peoples could use their own script, and not borrow the languages of other peoples.
The creators of Slavic writing - Cyril and Methodius?
The history of the development of Slavic writing is not as "transparent" as it might seem at first glance, there are different opinions about its creators. There is interesting fact that Cyril, even before he began working on the creation of the Slavic alphabet, was in Chersonese (today it is Crimea), from where he could take scriptures The Gospels or the Psalter, which already at that moment turned out to be written precisely with the letters of the Slavic alphabet. This fact makes one think: who created the Slavic script, did Cyril and Methodius really write the alphabet or did they take the finished work?
However, besides the fact that Cyril brought the finished alphabet from Chersonesus, there is other evidence that the creators of Slavic writing were other people, and who lived long before Cyril and Methodius.
Arabic sources historical events say that 23 years before Cyril and Methodius created the Slavic alphabet, namely in the 40s of the IX century, there were baptized people in whose hands were books written specifically in the Slavic language. There is also another serious fact proving that the creation of Slavic writing took place even earlier than the stated date. The bottom line is that Pope Leo IV had a diploma issued before 863, which consisted of the letters of the Slavic alphabet, and this figure was on the throne in the interval from 847 to 855 of the IX century.
Another, but also important fact of the proof is more ancient origin Slavic writing lies in the approval of Catherine II, who during her reign wrote that the Slavs were more ancient people than it is commonly believed, and they have had writing since the time preceding the birth of Christ.
Evidence of antiquity among other peoples
The creation of Slavic writing before 863 can be proved by other facts that are present in the documents of other peoples who lived in ancient times and used other types of writing in their time. There are quite a few such sources, and they are found in the Persian historian named Ibn Fodlan, in El Massoudi, as well as in slightly later creators in quite a few famous works, which says that Slavic writing was formed before the Slavs had books.
The historian, who lived on the border of the 9th and 10th centuries, argued that the Slavic people are more ancient and more developed than the Romans, and as proof, he cited some monuments that allow us to determine the antiquity of origin Slavic people and their writing.
And the last fact that can seriously affect the way people think in search of an answer to the question of who created the Slavic script is coins that have different letters of the Russian alphabet, dated more than early dates than 863, and located in the territories of such European countries like England, Scandinavia, Denmark and others.
Refutation of the ancient origin of Slavic writing
The alleged creators of the Slavic script "missed" a little with one thing: they did not leave any books and documents written in it. However, for many scientists it is enough that the Slavic script is present on various stones, rocks, weapons and household items that were used by the ancient inhabitants in their Everyday life.
Many scientists worked on the study of historical achievements in the writing of the Slavs, but the elder Researcher by the name of Grinevich, he was able to reach almost to the very source, and his work made it possible to decipher any text written in Old Slavonic.
Grinevich's work in the study of Slavic writing
In order to understand the writing of the ancient Slavs, Grinevich had to do a lot of work, during which he discovered that it was not based on letters, but had a more complex system that worked through syllables. The scientist himself absolutely seriously believed that the formation of the Slavic alphabet began 7,000 years ago.
The signs of the Slavic alphabet had a different basis, and after grouping all the symbols, Grinevich singled out four categories: linear, separating symbols, pictorial and restrictive signs.
For research, Grinevich used about 150 different inscriptions that were present on all kinds of objects, and all his achievements were based on the decoding of these symbols.
Grinevich, in the course of his research, found out that the history of Slavic writing is older, and the ancient Slavs used 74 characters. However, there are too many signs for the alphabet, and if we talk about whole words, then there cannot be only 74 of them in the language. These reflections led the researcher to the idea that the Slavs used syllables instead of letters in the alphabet.
Example: "horse" - syllable "lo"
His approach made it possible to decipher the inscriptions that many scientists fought over and could not understand what they meant. And it turned out that everything is quite simple:
- The pot, which was found near Ryazan, had an inscription - instructions, which said that it must be put in the oven and closed.
- The sinker, which was found near the Trinity city, had a simple inscription: "Weighs 2 ounces."
All the above evidence fully refutes the fact that the creators of Slavic writing are Cyril and Methodius, and prove the antiquity of our language.
Slavic runes in the creation of Slavic writing
The one who created Slavic writing was a rather smart and courageous person, because such an idea at that time could destroy the creator due to the ignorance of all other people. But besides the letter, other options for disseminating information to people were invented - Slavic runes.
In total, 18 runes have been found in the world, which are present on a large number of different ceramics, stone statues and other artifacts. An example is ceramic products from the village of Lepesovka, located in southern Volhynia, as well as an earthen vessel in the village of Voyskovo. In addition to evidence located on the territory of Russia, there are monuments that are located in Poland and were discovered back in 1771. They also have Slavic runes. We should not forget the temple of Radegast, located in Retra, where the walls are decorated precisely Slavic symbols. The last place that scientists learned about from Titmar of Merseburg is a fortress-temple and is located on an island called Rügen. There is present a large number of idols whose names are written using runes of Slavic origin.
Slavic writing. Cyril and Methodius as creators
The creation of writing is attributed to Cyril and Methodius, and in support of this, historical data are given for the corresponding period of their lives, which is described in some detail. They affect the meaning of their activities, as well as the reasons for working on the creation of new symbols.
Cyril and Methodius led to the creation of the alphabet by the conclusion that other languages \u200b\u200bcannot fully reflect Slavic speech. This constraint is proved by the works of the Chernoristian Khrabr, in which it is noted that before the adoption of the Slavic alphabet for general use, baptism was carried out either in Greek or in Latin, and already in those days it became clear that they could not reflect all the sounds that filled our speech. .
Political influence on the Slavic alphabet
Politics began its influence on society from the very beginning of the birth of countries and religions, and it also had a hand in, as well as in other aspects of people's lives.
As described above, Slavic baptismal services were held either in Greek or Latin, which allowed other churches to influence the minds and strengthen the idea of their leading role in the heads of the Slavs.
Those countries where the liturgies were held not in Greek, but in Latin, received an increase in the influence of German priests on the faith of people, and for the Byzantine Church this was unacceptable, and she took a retaliatory step, instructing Cyril and Methodius to create writing, in which it will be written service and sacred texts.
The Byzantine Church reasoned correctly at that moment, and its plans were such that the one who created the Slavic script based on the Greek alphabet would help weaken the influence of the German Church on all Slavic countries at the same time and at the same time help bring the people closer to Byzantium. These actions can also be seen as dictated by self-interest.
Who created the Slavic alphabet based on the Greek alphabet? Created by Cyril and Methodius, and for this work they were chosen by the Byzantine Church not by chance. Kirill grew up in the city of Thessalonica, which, although it was Greek, about half of its inhabitants spoke the Slavic language fluently, and Kirill himself was well versed in it, and also had an excellent memory.
Byzantium and its role
As for when work began on the creation of Slavic writing, there are quite serious disputes, because May 24 is the official date, but there is a large gap in history in history that creates a discrepancy.
After Byzantium gave this difficult task, Cyril and Methodius began the development of Slavic writing and in 864 arrived in Moravia with a ready-made Slavic alphabet and a fully translated Gospel, where they recruited students for the school.
After receiving an assignment from the Byzantine Church, Cyril and Methodius head to Morvia. During their journey, they are engaged in writing the alphabet and translating the texts of the Gospel into Slavonic, and already upon arrival in the city, they have in their hands finished works. However, the road to Moravia does not take so much time. Perhaps this time period allows you to create an alphabet, but to translate the Gospel writings for such short term it is simply impossible, which speaks of the advance work on the Slavic language and the translation of texts.
Cyril's illness and his departure
After three years of work in his own school of Slavic writing, Kirill abandons this business and leaves for Rome. This turn of events was caused by the disease. Cyril left everything for a quiet death in Rome. Methodius, finding himself alone, continues to pursue his goal and does not step back, although now it has become more difficult for him, because Catholic Church began to understand the scale of the work done and not delighted with it. The Roman Church imposes bans on translations into Slavic and openly demonstrates its discontent, but Methodius now has followers who help and continue his work.
Cyrillic and Glagolitic - what marked the beginning of modern writing?
There are no confirmed facts that can prove which of the scripts originated earlier, and there is no exact information about who created the Slavic and which of the two possible Cyril had a hand in. Only one thing is known, but the most important thing is that it was the Cyrillic alphabet that became the founder of today's Russian alphabet, and only thanks to it can we write the way we write now.
The Cyrillic alphabet has 43 letters in its composition, and the fact that its creator, Cyril, proves the presence of 24 in it. And the remaining 19, the creator of the Cyrillic alphabet based on the Greek alphabet, included it solely to reflect complex sounds that were present only among the peoples who used the Slavic language for communication.
Over time, the Cyrillic alphabet was transformed, almost constantly it was influenced in order to simplify and improve. However, there were moments that at first made it difficult to write, for example, the letter "e", which is an analogue of "e", the letter "y" is an analogue of "i". Such letters at first made spelling difficult, but reflected the sounds corresponding to them.
The Glagolitic, in fact, was an analogue of the Cyrillic alphabet and used 40 letters, 39 of which were taken from the Cyrillic alphabet. The main difference between Glagolitic is that it has a more rounded style of writing and is not inherently angular, unlike Cyrillic.
The disappeared alphabet (Glagolitic), although it did not take root, was intensively used by the Slavs living in the southern and western latitudes, and, depending on the location of the inhabitants, it had its own writing styles. Slavs living in Bulgaria used Glagolitic with a more rounded style for writing, while Croatians gravitated towards angular writing.
Despite the number of hypotheses and even the absurdity of some of them, each is worthy of attention, and it is impossible to answer exactly who the creators of Slavic writing are. The answers will be vague, with many flaws and shortcomings. And although there are many facts that refute the creation of writing by Cyril and Methodius, they were honored for their work, which allowed the alphabet to spread and transform to its current form.
