As noted the merits of the creators of the alphabet to the country. Cyril and Methodius - the founders of Slavic writing

By the 9th century East Slavic tribes occupied vast territories in the great waterway“from the Varangians to the Greeks”, i.e. territories from Lake Ilmen and the Zapadnaya Dvina basin to the Dnieper, as well as to the east (in the upper reaches of the Oka, Volga and Don) and to the west (in Volyn, Podolia and Galicia). All these tribes spoke closely related East Slavic dialects and were at different stages of economic and cultural development; based on linguistic community Eastern Slavs a language was formed ancient Russian people, which received its statehood in Kievan Rus.

The Old Russian language was unwritten. The emergence Slavic writing is inextricably linked with the adoption of Christianity by the Slavs: liturgical texts that were understandable to the Slavs were necessary.

Consider the history of the creation of the first Slavic alphabet.

In 862 or 863, ambassadors from the Moravian prince Rostislav arrived at the Byzantine emperor Michael. They conveyed to the emperor a request to send missionaries to Moravia who could preach and worship in a language understandable to the Moravians. mother tongue instead of Latin German clergy. “Our people have abandoned paganism and adhere to the Christian law, but we do not have such a teacher who could instruct us in the Christian faith in our native language,” the ambassadors said. Emperor Michael and the Greek Patriarch Photius gladly received the ambassadors of Rostislav and sent the scientist Constantine the Philosopher and his elder brother Methodius to Moravia. The brothers Constantine and Methodius were not chosen by chance: Methodius for a number of years was the ruler of the Slavic region in Byzantium, probably in the southeast, in Macedonia. The younger brother, Konstantin, was a man of great learning, he received an excellent education. In written sources, he is usually called "Philosopher". In addition, Constantine and Methodius were born in the city of Solun (now Thessaloniki, Greece), in the vicinity of which many Slavs lived. Many Greeks, including Constantine and Methodius, knew their language well.

Constantine was the compiler of the first Slavic alphabet - Glagolitic. None of the known to science alphabets: Konstantin created it based on the sound composition of the Slavic language. In the Glagolitic one can partially find elements or letters similar to the letters of other alphabets of developed languages (Greek, Syriac, Coptic and others). graphics systems), but it cannot be said that one of these alphabets is the basis of the Glagolitic script. The alphabet, compiled by Cyril - Konstantin, is original, author's and does not repeat any of the alphabets that existed at that time. The graphics of the Glagolitic were based on three figures: a cross, a circle and a triangle. The verb letter is uniform in style, it is rounded in shape. The main difference between the Glagolitic writing and the previous writing systems attributed to the Slavs is that it perfectly accurately reflected the phonemic composition of the Slavic language and did not require the introduction or establishment of combinations of other letters to designate some specific Slavic phonemes.

Glagolitic received wide use in Moravia and Pannonia, where the brothers carried out their missionary activities, but in Bulgaria, where the disciples of Constantine and Methodius went after their death, the Glagolitic did not take root. In Bulgaria, before the advent of the Slavic alphabet, the letters of the Greek alphabet were used to record Slavic speech. Therefore, “taking into account the specifics of the situation, the students of Constantine and Methodius adapted the Greek alphabet for recording Slavic speech. At the same time, to designate Slavic sounds ( W, SCH et al.), which were absent in Greek, the Glagolitic letters were taken with some changes in their style according to the type of angular and rectangular Greek uncial letters. This alphabet received its name - Cyrillic - by the name of the real creator of Slavic writing, Cyril (Konstantin): with whom, if not with him, the name of the most common alphabet among the Slavs should be associated.

Manuscripts Slavic translations Constantine and Methodius, as well as their disciples, have not survived to our time. The oldest Slavic manuscripts date back to the 10th-11th centuries. Most of them (12 out of 18) are written in Glagolitic. These manuscripts are closest in origin to the translations of Constantine and Methodius and their students. The most famous of them are the Glagolitic gospels of Zografskoe, Mariinskoe, Assemanievo, the Cyrillic Savvin's book, the Supralskaya manuscript, the Hilandar leaflets. The language of these texts is called Old Church Slavonic.

Old Church Slavonic has never been a spoken, living language. It is impossible to identify it with the language of the ancient Slavs - the vocabulary, morphology and syntax of Old Slavonic translations largely reflect the features of the vocabulary, morphology and syntax of texts written in Greek, i.e. Slavic words repeat the models on which they were built Greek words. Being the first (known to us) written language of the Slavs, Old Slavonic for the Slavs became a model, model, ideal of the written language. And in the future, its structure was largely preserved already in the texts. Church Slavonic different outlets.

ABC old Slavic alphabet just like any other alphabet, it 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 Holy Bible was 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 signs

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 to write and form literary basis language. Some of the words of that time have come down to our time and function in Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian languages.

Word symbols

The letters of the ancient alphabet had names that coincided with the words. The very word "alphabet" comes from the first letters of the alphabet: "az" and "beeches". They were the modern letters "A" and "B".

The first written symbols in the Slavic lands were 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. Her presence made it possible a large number 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. It was the Holy Books, which were distributed throughout the territory of Russia, and the ability to read them, that 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. Together they represent 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 holy teachers of Slovenia strove for solitude and prayer, but in life they constantly found themselves at the forefront - both when they defended Christian truths before Muslims, and when they undertook great educational work. Their success sometimes looked like a defeat, but as a result, it is to them that we owe the acquisition of “a gift of the most valuable and greater than any silver, and gold, and precious stones and all transient wealth." This gift is.

Brethren from Thessalonica

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

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

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

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

Missionary politician

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

For Byzantium, the doctrine was Christianity. The strengthening and spread of Orthodoxy was perceived by the imperial power as a paramount state task. Therefore, as he writes modern explorer Cyril and Methodius heritage of A.-E. Tahiaos, "a diplomat who negotiated with enemies or 'barbarians' was always accompanied by a missionary." Constantine was such a missionary. That is why it is so difficult to separate his actual educational activity from his political one. Just before his death, he symbolically laid down public service by taking monasticism.

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

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

"Nobody else"

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

But the worldly bustle receded for a while. Already in 860, the Khazar kagan decided to arrange an "inter-religious" dispute in which Christians had to defend the truth of their faith in front of Jews and Muslims. According to the expression of the life, the Khazars were ready to accept Christianity if the Byzantine polemicists "won the upper hand in disputes with the Jews and Saracens." Constantine was found again, and the emperor personally admonished him with the words: “Go, Philosopher, to these people and talk about the Holy Trinity with Her help. No one else can adequately take it upon themselves.” On the journey, Konstantin took his older brother as an assistant.

The negotiations ended on the whole successfully, although the Khazar state did not become Christian, the kagan allowed those who wished to be baptized. There were also political successes. We should also pay attention to an important passing event. On the way, the Byzantine delegation visited the Crimea, where, near modern Sevastopol (ancient Chersonese), Constantine found the relics of the ancient holy Pope Clement. Subsequently, the brothers will transfer the relics of St. Clement to Rome, which will additionally win over Pope Adrian. It is with Cyril and Methodius that the special veneration of St. Clement among the Slavs begins - let us recall the majestic church in his honor in Moscow not far from the Tretyakov Gallery.

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

The birth of writing

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

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

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

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

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

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

The price of success

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

Dogma intertwined with politics, canon law with diplomacy and power ambitions - and Cyril and Methodius found themselves at the center of this tangle. The territory of Moravia was under the jurisdiction of the pope, and although the Western Church was not yet separated from the Eastern Church, the initiative of the Byzantine emperor and the Patriarch of Constantinople (namely, this was the status of the mission) was still viewed with suspicion. The German clergy, closely connected with the secular authorities of Bavaria, saw in the undertakings of the brothers the realization of Slavic separatism. Indeed, in addition to spiritual interests, the Slavic princes also pursued state interests - their liturgical language and church independence would significantly strengthen their position. Finally, the pope was in tense relations with Bavaria, and support for the revival of church life in Moravia against the "tri-pagans" fit perfectly into the general direction of his policy.

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

The most valuable gift

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

So next time, dotting the "yo" or tormenting over Russification new version photoshop, think about the wealth we have.

Artist Jan Matejko

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

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

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

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Introduction. Short story letters

1. The origins of Russian writing

1.1 Slavic alphabet and Greek alphabet

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

1.3 How Cyril and Methodius created the alphabet

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

3. From the biographies of Cyril and Methodius

4. Cyrillic letters and their names

5. The composition of the Russian alphabet

Conclusion

Literature

Introduction

Brief history of writing

When we try to imagine the beginning of Russian literature, our thought necessarily turns to the history of writing. The importance of writing in the history of the development of civilization is difficult to overestimate. Language, like a mirror, reflects the whole world, our whole life. And when reading written or printed texts, we seem to sit in a time machine and can be transported both to recent times and to the distant past.

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

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

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

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

Slavic book language (Old Slavonic) became widespread as common language for many Slavic peoples. They used it south slavs(Bulgarians, Serbs, Croats), Western Slavs (Czechs, Slovaks), Eastern Slavs (Ukrainians, Belarusians, Russians).

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

writing alphabet cyrillic Slavic

1. The origins of Russian writing

1.1 Slavsskai alphabet and greek alphabet

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

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

ALPHABET: AZ + BUKI

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

ALPHABET: ALPHA + VITA

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

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

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

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

1.3 howCyril and Methodius created the alphabet

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

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

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

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

“Our land is baptized, but we do not have a teacher who would instruct and instruct us and explain the holy books. After all, we do not know Greek, nor Latin; some teach us in this way, and others in another way, because of this we do not know either the outline of the letters or their meaning. And send us teachers who could tell us about book words and their meaning.

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

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

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

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

3. Frombiographies of Cyril and Methodius

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

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

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

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

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

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

4. Cyrillic letters and their names

Figure 1 - "Cyrillic letters and their names"

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

The development of the Russian nation 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 in the manufacture of sketches of letters, it took Active participation Peter I himself. 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, like "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.

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

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

The spelling reform of 1917-1918. two letters that duplicated each other were excluded: "yat", "fita", "and decimal". The letter b (ep) was retained only as a separator, 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.

5. Composition of the Russian alphabet

There are 33 letters in the Russian alphabet, of which 10 represent vowels, 21 consonants and 2 letters do not represent 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, which culminated in a partial victory in the reform of graphics by Peter I (1708-1710) and final victory during the spelling reform of 1917-1918.

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

Literature

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

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

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

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

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

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

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