Cyril and Methodius in the world. Cyril and Methodius: a short biography, interesting facts from the biography, the creation of the Slavic alphabet

The Slavic Guides of the Faith of Christ, although they do not directly belong to the Slavic-Russian writers, however, since they are revered as the inventors of the Slavic letters we use, and the first translators of our Church Slavonic Books, information about them and their translations in some way also applies to Slavic -Russian Church History. They lived about half of the 9th century and were originally from the Greek trading city of Thessalonica. Methodius served under Emperor of Constantinople Michael III in military service Voivode, and was sent to the countries adjacent to the Slavs, where he learned the Slavic language. And Konstantin was brought up from childhood at the Court of Constantinople, then, having taken the monastic vows, he was a Hieromonk and Librarian at the Constantinople Cathedral Sophia Church, and, moreover, a Philosophy Teacher. Emperor Michael sent him to the Saracens on the Euphrates River to justify the Faith of Christ, and then, together with his brother, to the Kozars to convert them to Christ, and finally, around 863, when the Moravian Princes Rostislav, Svyatopolk and Kotsel sent to Constantinople to ask for Christian Teachers; then on this occasion, both brothers Constantine and Methodius were sent to them from the Emperor and the Constantinople Clergy; the first, like a connoisseur of many Eastern languages, and the last, well-versed in Slavonic. Our Chronicler Prof. Nestor and many Western Writers agree that they invented Slavic letters and were the first to translate the Holy Scriptures and Church Books into the Slavic language. In their Description of Life, placed in the Chetya Menaia, under the 11th Mayan number, it is said that before leaving for the Moravians in Constantinople, they invented the Slavonic Alphabet, composed of thirty-eight letters, and there they began to translate into the Slavic language for experience the first Gospel of John. Although their works were common, the Slavic alphabet was nicknamed Cyril's, perhaps because Cyril, according to his knowledge of many Eastern languages, chose letters from them for the Slavic language that were missing in the Greek alphabet, and Methodius worked more than him in translating books. For Constantine, or Cyril, was only 4 and a half years with his brother in Moravia, and then went to the Bulgarians or, as Schlozer thinks, to Rome, and about 869 or 871, according to Schlozer's calculation, and according to Miller, 868 in Rome died; Methodius's death is supposed to be there after 881. But some of the Westerners tried to anticipate the primacy of this honor among them and attributed both the invention of the Slavic letters and the translation of the Holy Scriptures to Jerome of Stridon, the Western Father of the 4th century. At this end, from the 13th century and not older than 1222, according to Joseph Dobrovsky, a special Jerome supposedly invented, the so-called Glagolitic ABC, was invented. However, this forgery has already been quite exposed and refuted. Recently Hankenstein, Moravian Nobleman, in a printed German in Ofen in 1804, in his Review of a Slavic manuscript allegedly found by him in the 8th century, he also tried to prove that the Slavs, even before Cyril and Methodius, from ancient times, and not even later than the Greeks, had their own letters, composed of different Eastern ABCs. But the evidence did not convince him. Some of us also boasted of the discovery of supposedly ancient Slavic-Russian Runic writings different kind, who wrote the Boyanov Hymn and several prophecies of Novgorod pagan Priests, allegedly of the fifth century. These runes are very similar to the corrupted Slavic letters, and therefore some concluded that the Slavs, even before Christianity, from ancient times had their own special Runic Alphabet compiled by someone, and that Constantine and Methodius already from these Runes, with the addition of some letters from the Greek and other Alphabets, made up our Slavic, since Bishop Ulfila in the 4th century for the Goths, who lived in Mysia and Thrace, compiled a special Gothic alphabet from the Northern Runic, Greek and Latin letters . With such Slavic-Russian Runes the first Stanza of the imaginary Boyanov Hymn was printed, and one Oracle of the priest in the 6th book of the Reading in the Conversation of the Lovers of the Russian Word in St. Petersburg in 1812. But even this discovery did not convince anyone. As for the Slavic Books translated by Constantine and Methodius for the Moravians, Nestor testifies that they, firstly, translated from the Greek language the Apostle and the Gospel, and then the Psalter, Octoechos and other books - to understand here, of course, one should understand the most necessary, or though all of the then century for the Church Service. For then there were not as many of them as there are today, and the Honorary Menaion adds only the Book of Hours and the Liturgiary. Constantine, according to the testimony of Chetya Menaia and Western historians, stayed in Moravia with his brother for only four years and after that he went to the Bulgarians, as already mentioned above; and Methodius, staying with the Moravians and Pannonians for about 30 years, continued to translate books into the Slavic language for Church use, and with two priests, as shorthand writers, finished them in full in six months, as Nestor says. But what these books are, is unknown. The Church Books most commonly used for the regular Service are: the Book of Hours with the Psalter, the Missal with the Breed Book, the Apostle and the Gospel, the Octoechos, the Irmologion, the two Triodis, the Parameinik, the Monthly Menaion, or instead of it, the Common with the Feast and the Charter. It is impossible not only to translate these books, but also to write them off by two cursive writers in six months, and in the thirty years of his stay with the Moravians, Methodius could do all this more conveniently and better. At the same time, the question arises: did he and his brother translate the entire Bible into the Slavic language? - Schlozer and others strongly assert this, based on the evidence of two Latin Chronicles, the Dioles one of the 11th century and the Blaubeir Benedictine, much later. Schlozer also means by Nester's word of the Book directly the Bible, although among the Greeks it was more often called Scripture. Some of ours also refer in this to the testimony of Presbyter John, the Exarch of Bulgaria (see the article about him), who, in the Preface to his translation of the Theology of St. John of Damascus, called Heaven, says the following about the works of Methodius and Constantine: man of God Kstyantin Philosopher river (recommended) many labors, building the inscriptions of the Slovenian books and from the Gospel and the Apostle, changing the choice, and even having achieved living in this dark world, just having transgressed the infinity and the light accepts the reward of his deeds. this Great Archbishop of God Methodius, his brother, transpose all the Statutory Books 60 from the Elinsky language, which is Greek to Slovyansk. But I heard many things and wanted to taste the teacher's legends ready to translate into the Slovenian language. They were already 60 offered by Methodius, etc. "But here again it is not known what all the Statutory Books 60 translated by Methodius are understood to be. For there are not so many Church Statutory Books. To explain this, they refer to: about the Books of the Old and New Testaments (Art. 7, Chapter VI of the Song of Songs and 60 About the Queens); 2) on one parchment Slavic Prologue of the XIII or XIV century, located in the library of Chancellor Count N.P. Rumyantsev, written, according to the remark of some , somewhere either in Bulgaria, or in Serbia, or Hilandar on Mount Athos.In it, under the number of August 25, there is an article with the inscription: "Remembrance in the Saints is truly the Reverend Father of our Archbishop of Moravian Kostandin, who is called Cyril the Philosopher and Methodius of his brother and Teacher of the Slovenian language. And to create memory with her 3 April of the month and the grandeur of the Church celebrates on the day of memory with her. "In the same article about Methodius it is said:" Sedezhe in the lands of the Moravstei, transposing all 60 Books of the Old and New Law from Greek into Slavic in 3 Endic in Hundreds of T . OU. and the third year of Stopoltse Knez, Tsar was then the Greek Basil, and Blgar from God Knez Borys and Kral by the Nemech people "; 3) They refer to the Slavic translation of the book of Dioptra or Mirror (composed in verse by the Greeks by Philip the Hermit, supposedly even in our city of Smolensk 1095 . according to a parchment list about the 15th century, written and located in the library of Count Tolstoy, in the conclusion of which it is said: "The Spirit of the Most Holy Wise the Prophets with their inspiration then is clear, the Apostles are packs in one likeness, and they used to be wiser from him and they and these both agreed and wrote and rekosha, even deciding, together are joined together more Books, the Old 30 and three above these, the New 20, and seven to it. , but 73 and even without Apocryphal 64. Others also say that John Exarch bible books borrowed from Damascene Theology, but Damascene (Book IV, in chapter XVII on Holy Scripture), according to Jewish custom, considers the Old Testament Books only 22, and separately 38; New Testament 28. Be that as it may, the evidence of the Translation of the entire Bible by Constantine and Methodius was not confirmed either by Nestor, or Chet-Minaeus in the Lives of these Saints, nor by the remnants of their translations anywhere, which even Exarch John did not see, but only heard of them, as he himself admits. Only the gospels, the Apostles, the Psalters, the Paremeiniks and some other books that are always used in the Church, probably the translation of these Preachers, accepted by the Russian Church since the time of Vladimir the Great during the conversion of the Slavic Russes, have come down to us no older than the 11th century. For the then close, according to Nestor, the similarity of the dialects of Slavic-Russian with Moravian and the readiness of these translations could convince them to accept them. True, in all lists of these Books there are some, albeit not great, contradictions, proving either different translations or amendments to it; and therefore it is no longer possible to determine what exactly the original Methodius and Constantine translations were. But in some written Gospels, and in one printed one, which was in the possession of Professor Bause, and now in the library of Count Tolstoy, it is not known when and where it was published, it is precisely said that it is the Translation of Methodius and Cyril; in the same way, in one edition of the General Menaion, printed in Moscow under Patriarch Job and Tsar Boris in 1600, it is indicated that this book is the Creation and Collection of Cyril the Philosopher, Teacher Slav and Bolgar, for the poor. But the whole Bible of ancient haraten lists, not only the translation of Cyril and Methodius, but also no one, has not yet been found with us. Konstantin, Prince of Ostrozhsky, in the Preface to the Slavic Bible published by him in 1581 in Ostrog, testifies that he did not find a complete list of it in any Slavic tribe, but only received one from Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, very similar allegedly to the Greek translation of the Seventy Tolkovnikov , but allegedly translated back in the time of Vladimir the Great, but both of these assurances are unfair. The inaccuracy of the Ostroh edition with the Greek has already been sufficiently proved in the Preface to the newly corrected Slavic Bible, printed in 1751 in St. Petersburg. And the list delivered to the Prince of Ostrog from Tsar Ivan Vasilievich was exactly the same as one, perhaps one of the oldest in Russia, is still in the Moscow Patriarchal Library, written in 1538 in half-charter, in a sheet, on half-Alexandrian paper by Monk Joachim in the Monastery Joseph Volokolamsky. The Ostroh edition, apart from small and rare changes of dilapidated and vulgar words to the newest and Slavic ones, is completely similar to this list and even in many places with the same lists, omissions and confusions against the Greek original. Above all, both in the list and in the Ostroh edition, entire books of Tobit, Judith, and the third Ezra are translated not from Greek, but from the Vulgate Latin, and many places in the Prophets are corrected with this latter. But neither Methodius and Cyril, nor the Translators of Vladimir's century would have done this. Therefore, it is obvious that the translation of this Bible is of modern times. This is also proved by the fact that the Paremias in our old Church Books, and the Laws of Moses, printed in the 2nd part of the Pilot's Book, are of a completely different translation than the one in the Ostrog edition. There is also one older than Joachim's list in the Vienna Empire. library, written in Serbian letters in Moldavia in 1535, as Lind assures. But whether he is similar to Joachimovsky is unknown. There would be no need to ask here what language or Slavic dialect these Preachers translated their books into, if scientists were not divided into different opinions in this. It is known that Cyril and Methodius were teachers especially of the Moravian and Bulgarian Slavs. Therefore, it is closest to conclude with Schlozer that they should have written in their own and for them then intelligible dialect. And Nestor testifies that in his time, i.e., about 250 years after Constantine and Methodius, both the script and the Slavic language were still common to all Slavic tribes. Perhaps this should be understood about the language of the book, or the Church, from which the common people in each tribe could already differ in many ways. Nestor himself wrote in this Church language with many already common expressions; and in the style of Russian Pravda, which was still written before him, there were already much greater differences. Longer than all tribal peoples wrote their books in Slavic church language Slavic Russians and Serbs; the former almost until the 18th century, and the latter almost until modern times, although the vernacular and clerical language have long since changed in both. Therefore, some Western Scientists, such as: Beck, Engel and Dobrovsky, who are more familiar with Serbian than our books, concluded that Constantine and Methodius translated Slavic books into the indigenous Old Serbian dialect. But there is no direct historical evidence for this. Even if we assume, according to some, referring to the testimony of Constantine Porphyrogenitus and John Kantakuzen, that in the Thessalonica Region there were Serbian cities from the 7th century, and therefore allegedly Constantine and Methodius in Thessalonica had a chance to learn at first only the Serbian dialect; then, upon arrival to the Moravians, they should and could have conveniently adopted Moravian, due to the then still short-lived difference in the Slavic dialects, and not the Moravians, retrained into Serbian. There is still one controversial issue about these Preachers. Although, according to Nestor and many Western Chroniclers cited by Schlozer, it is known that they came to Moravia from Constantinople, however, some Western Writers tried to prove that they were sent there from Rome from the Pope, and that Methodius was appointed by the Pope as Archbishop in Moravia or Pannonia, and after that both brothers were called to account in Rome. But all these evidences were quite thoroughly considered and refuted by the Archbishop of Novgorod Feofan Prokopovich in his Consideration of the Mavro-Urbin book about the Slavic people, from Italian into Russian, by order of Sovereign Peter the Great, translated into St. Petersburg in 1722 in 4 parts of a sheet printed . (see at the end of that book the printed Consideration of Feofanov; and detailed description for the life and work of Constantine and Methodius, see the Menaion of the Lord and the Prologue under the number 11 Maya, and Dobrovsky's Study on Cyril and Methodius, published and in the Russian translation of 1825 in Moscow with translator's notes). Between the manuscripts of the library of the Monastery of Joseph Volokolamsky there is a Prayer of Skete's repentance, Cyril the Philosopher, a teacher Slovene and Bolgar, who also translate the Greek letter into Russian.

Cyril and Methodius - saints, equal to the apostles, Slavic enlighteners, creators Slavic alphabet, preachers of Christianity, the first translators of liturgical books from Greek into Slavic. Cyril was born around 827, died on February 14, 869. Before becoming a monk at the beginning of 869, he bore the name Constantine. His older brother Methodius was born around 820, died on April 6, 885. Both brothers were from Thessalonica (Thessalonica), their father was a military leader. In 863, Cyril and Methodius were sent by the Byzantine emperor to Moravia in order to preach Christianity in the Slavic language and assist the Moravian prince Rostislav in the fight against the German princes. Before leaving, Cyril created the Slavic alphabet and, with the help of Methodius, translated several liturgical books from Greek into Slavonic: selected readings from the Gospel, apostolic letters. Psalter, etc. There is no consensus in science on the question of which alphabet Cyril created - Glagolitic or Cyrillic, but the first assumption is more likely. In 866 or 867, Cyril and Methodius, at the call of Pope Nicholas I, went to Rome, on the way they visited the Blaten Principality in Pannonia, where they also distributed the Slavic letter and introduced worship in the Slavic language. After arriving in Rome, Cyril fell seriously ill and died. Methodius was consecrated Archbishop of Moravia and Pannonia and in 870 returned from Rome to Pannonia. In the middle of 884, Methodius returned to Moravia and was busy translating the Bible into Slavonic. Through their activities, Cyril and Methodius laid the foundation Slavic writing and literature. This activity was continued in the South Slavic countries by their students, who were expelled from Moravia in 886 and moved to Bulgaria.

CYRIL AND METHODIUS - ENLIGHTENERS OF THE SLAVIC PEOPLES

In 863, ambassadors from Great Moravia from Prince Rostislav arrived in Byzantium to Emperor Michael III with a request to send them a bishop and a person who could explain the Christian faith in Slavonic. The Moravian prince Rostislav strove for the independence of the Slavic Church and had already applied to Rome with a similar request, but was refused. Michael III and Photius, just as in Rome, reacted to the request of Rostislav formally and, having sent missionaries to Moravia, did not ordain any of them as bishops. Thus, Constantine, Methodius and their associates could only lead educational activities, but did not have the right to ordain their students to the priestly and deacon ranks. This mission could not have been successful and of great importance if Constantine had not brought to the Moravans an alphabet perfectly developed and convenient for the transmission of Slavic speech, as well as a translation into Slavonic of the main liturgical books. Of course, the language of the translations brought by the brothers differed phonetically and morphologically from the living spoken language spoken by the Moravans, but the language of liturgical books was initially perceived as a written, bookish, sacred, sample language. It was much more understandable than Latin, and a certain dissimilarity to the language used in everyday life, gave it greatness.

Constantine and Methodius read the Gospel in Slavonic at divine services, and the people reached out to the brothers and to Christianity. Constantine and Methodius diligently taught the students the Slavic alphabet, worship, continued translation activities. Churches where the service was conducted in Latin were empty, the Roman Catholic priesthood was losing influence and income in Moravia. Since Constantine was a simple priest, and Methodius was a monk, they did not have the right to put their students in church positions themselves. To solve the problem, the brothers had to go to Byzantium or Rome.

In Rome, Constantine handed over the relics of St. Clement to the newly ordained Pope Adrian II, so he received Constantine and Methodius very solemnly, with honor, took under his care the service in the Slavic language, ordered to put Slavic books in one of the Roman temples and perform a divine service over them. The Pope ordained Methodius as a priest, and his disciples as presbyters and deacons, and in a letter to the princes Rostislav and Kotsel he legitimizes the Slavonic translation Holy Scripture and the administration of worship in the Slavic language.

The brothers spent almost two years in Rome. One reason for this is Constantine's deteriorating health. At the beginning of 869, he took the schema and the new monastic name Cyril, and on February 14 he died. By order of Pope Adrian II, Cyril was buried in Rome, in the church of St. Clement.

After the death of Cyril, Pope Adrian ordained Methodius to the rank of Archbishop of Moravia and Pannonia. Returning to Pannonia, Methodius launched a vigorous activity to spread Slavic worship and writing. However, after the removal of Rostislav, Methodius did not have a strong political support. In 871, the German authorities arrested Methodius and held a trial against him, accusing the archbishop of having invaded the possessions of the Bavarian clergy. Methodius was imprisoned in a monastery in Swabia (Germany), where he spent two and a half years. Only thanks to the direct intervention of Pope John VIII, who succeeded the deceased Adrian II, in 873 Methodius was released and restored in all rights, but the Slavic service became not the main one, but only an additional one: the service was conducted in Latin, and sermons could be delivered in Slavonic.

After the death of Methodius, the opponents of the Slavic worship in Moravia became more active, and the worship itself, which rested on the authority of Methodius, was first oppressed, and then completely faded. Some of the students fled to the south, some were sold into slavery in Venice, some were killed. The closest disciples of Methodius Gorazd, Clement, Naum, Angellarius and Lawrence, imprisoned in iron, kept in prison, and then expelled from the country. The writings and translations of Constantine and Methodius were destroyed. This explains the fact that their works have not survived to this day, although there is a lot of information about their work. In 890, Pope Stephen VI anathematized Slavic books and Slavic worship, finally banning them.

The work begun by Constantine and Methodius was nevertheless continued by his disciples. Clement, Naum and Angellarius settled in Bulgaria and were the founders of Bulgarian literature. Orthodox Prince Boris-Michael, a friend of Methodius, supported his students. New Center Slavic writing originates in Ohrid (the territory of modern Macedonia). However, Bulgaria is under strong cultural influence Byzantium, and one of the students of Constantine (most likely, Clement) creates a script similar to Greek writing. This happens at the end of the 9th - beginning of the 10th century, during the reign of Tsar Simeon. It is this system that gets the name Cyrillic in memory of the person who first attempted to create an alphabet suitable for recording Slavic speech.

THE QUESTION OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE SLAVIC ALPHABETs

The question of the independence of the Slavic alphabets is caused by the very nature of the outlines of the Cyrillic and Glagolitic letters, their sources. What were the Slavic alphabets - a new writing system or just a kind of Greek-Byzantine writing? In deciding this issue, the following factors must be taken into account:

In the history of writing, there was not a single letter-sound system that would have arisen completely independently, without the influence of previous writing systems. So, the Phoenician letter arose on the basis of the ancient Egyptian (although the principle of writing was changed), ancient Greek - on the basis of Phoenician, Latin, Slavic - on the basis of Greek, French, German - on the basis of Latin, etc.

Consequently, we can only talk about the degree of independence of the writing system. At the same time, it is much more important how accurately the modified and adapted original writing corresponds to the sound system of the language that it intends to serve. It is in this respect that the creators of Slavic writing showed a great philological flair, a deep understanding of phonetics. Old Church Slavonic as well as great graphic taste.

THE ONLY STATE CHURCH HOLIDAY

PRESIDIUM OF THE SUPREME SOVIET OF THE RSFSR

RESOLUTION

ABOUT THE DAY OF SLAVIC WRITING AND CULTURE

Attaching great importance to the cultural and historical revival of the peoples of Russia and taking into account the international practice of celebrating the day of the Slavic enlighteners Cyril and Methodius, the Presidium Supreme Council The RSFSR decides:

Chairman

Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR

In 863, 1150 years ago, the Equal-to-the-Apostles brothers Cyril and Methodius began their Moravian mission to create our written language. It is mentioned in the main Russian chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years": "And the Slavs were glad that they heard about the greatness of God in their own language."

And a second anniversary. In 1863, 150 years ago, the Russian Holy Synod determined: in connection with the celebration of the millennium of the Moravian Mission of the Holy Brothers Equal to the Apostles, to establish an annual celebration in honor of St. Methodius and Cyril on May 11 (24 CE).

In 1986, at the initiative of writers, especially the late Vitaly Maslov, first the first Writing Festival was held in Murmansk, and on next year it was widely celebrated in Vologda. Finally, on January 30, 1991, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR adopted a resolution on the annual holding of the Days of Slavic Culture and Literature. Readers do not need to be reminded that May 24 is also the name day of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus'.

Logically, it seems that the only state-church holiday in Russia has every reason to acquire not only a national sound, as in Bulgaria, but also a pan-Slavic significance.

May 24 is the day of Slavic writing and culture. It is also the day of veneration of the holy enlighteners Cyril and Methodius, who gave the Slavs that script, that alphabet that we still use.

Thessalonica Brothers

Leo and Mary, who lived in Greek city Thessalonica (now called Thessaloniki), had seven children. The eldest of them is Mikhail, the youngest is Konstantin. It was they who later became known as the enlighteners Methodius and Cyril, the inventors of the Slavic alphabet. Thessaloniki, or as the Slavs called Thessalonica, was port city, and therefore the brothers grew up surrounded by many languages. Moreover, some researchers believe that Mikhail and Konstantin were bilingual, because their father, a local military leader, was Slavic by origin, and their mother was Greek.

Michael Thessalonica

Both Methodius and Cyril did not immediately become enlighteners. The eldest of the Thessalonica brothers followed in his father's footsteps and chose military career. At the age of twenty, he was appointed manager of Slavinia, one of the Slavic-Bulgarian regions that were subordinate to Byzantium. But ten years later, he decided to radically change his life. Mikhail left both the military-administrative career and the world in order to go to Olympus and take the veil there as a monk. When he was tonsured, he took the name Methodius.

Constantine of Thessalonica

The youngest of the Thessalonica brothers, Constantine, was twelve years younger than Michael. When the elder had already served in Slavinia for a long time, Constantine, as a capable young man, was accepted into an elite school at the court of the Byzantine emperor Michael III. There, the future enlightener studied philosophy, grammar, rhetoric, all the "Hellenic arts", as well as Slavic, Jewish, Khazar, Arabic, Samaritan, Syriac (Sura) languages.

Library instead of wife

Obviously, Konstantin was one of the best students in the court school, and a brilliant career was secured for him. In any case, this opinion was shared by one of the highest officials in the state and its actual ruler, the logothete Theoktist. Therefore, he proposed to the young Konstantin, who had just completed his studies, to marry his, Feoktist, goddaughter. But Konstantin refused, and first got a job in a library, then retired to a monastery and, in the end, became a teacher of philosophy in Constantinople. For this he was nicknamed Constantine the Philosopher.

The Miracle of Finding Relics

In 860, Constantine and Methodius were sent on an educational mission to Khazar Khaganate. Along the way, they stopped in Chersonese, where they replenished their knowledge of the Hebrew language (Konstantin studied the Samaritan script), got acquainted with the mysterious "Russian" writings, which the researchers consider to be Sura, that is, Syrian. Here Constantine performed a miracle. Having learned that for half a century the parishioners could not worship the relics of St. Clement (the patron saint of Rome, the bishop of Rome, exiled to the Inkerman quarries and drowned in the Black Sea), Konstantin invited the local priest to hold a service for the acquisition of incorruptible relics. The service was completed, and Constantine, having brought the Chersonesites to the shore, pointed out a place in shallow water, where, indeed, the remains were found with an anchor chain around their necks. Since Clement was drowned with an anchor tied to his neck, no one had any doubts about the authenticity of the remains found. Subsequently, the relics of St. Clement served the brothers well.

Gospel for the Slavs

Apparently, the invention of the alphabet was not an end in itself for the illuminators. For some reason (maybe because they themselves were half, and according to some versions, exclusively Slavs), Constantine and Methodius sought to spread Slavic as the language of worship. Therefore, by the year 863, when Patriarch Photius of Constantinople sent the Thessalonica brothers on a mission to Moravia, they not only managed to come up with what later became known as the Cyrillic alphabet, but also translated a number of biblical texts into Slavonic, in particular, the Gospel. In Velehrad, the capital of Moravia, worship in the Slavic language quickly became popular. It is noteworthy that the brothers translated the Bible into a dialect common in Thessalonica, that is, into a language that was very familiar to them. But the Moravians understood the southern dialect with difficulty and therefore began to treat it as a bookish, sacred language. Soon a group of opponents of the actions of Constantine and Methodius, the so-called tri-pagans, arose. These people believed that biblical texts must be read exclusively in the canonical languages, Hebrew, Greek and Latin. For support, the inventors of Slavic writing went to Rome.

Bishop Methodius of Moravia

In Rome, the Enlighteners were received cordially, perhaps largely due to the relics of St. Clement, part of which they took with them when they left Chersonesus, and now brought to the eternal City. The youngest of the brothers died here after a long illness, having taken the monastic vows under the name Cyril before his death. And the elder was ordained a priest, then appointed bishop of both Moravia and Pannonia. Returning to the Slavic lands, he continued the work of popularizing the Slavic language, but despite his efforts, he could not achieve great success: in the principalities, the political situation, the ruler Roslav, who supported the brothers, was overthrown, and the new authorities looked at the Slavic-language services without enthusiasm. After holding the bishop for two years in prison, they finally allowed him to preach in Slavic.

And Methodius were born in the Byzantine city of Thessaloniki (Thessaloniki, Slavic. "Thesalt"). Their father, named Leo, "of good family and rich," was a drungarii, that is, an officer, under the strategos (military and civil governor) of Thessalonica. Their grandfather (it is unclear by father or mother) was a great nobleman in Constantinople, but then, apparently, he fell out of favor and ended his days in obscurity in Thessalonica. The family had seven sons, and Methodius (researchers do not know whether this name was baptismal or given at tonsure) is the eldest, and Konstantin (Cyril) is the youngest of them.

According to the most common version in science, Cyril and Methodius were of Greek origin. In the 19th century, some Slavic scientists (Mikhail Pogodin, Germengild Irechek) defended their Slavic origin, based on their excellent command of the Slavic language - a circumstance that modern scientists consider insufficient for judging ethnicity. The Bulgarian tradition calls the brothers Bulgarians (to which the Macedonian Slavs were included until the 20th century), relying in particular on the prologue “The Life of Cyril” (in a later edition), where it is said that he “has come from the blessed hail from Soloun Grad”; this idea is readily supported by modern Bulgarian scientists.

Thessalonica, where the brothers were born, was a bilingual city. In addition to the Greek language, they sounded the Slavic Thessalonica dialect, which was spoken by the tribes surrounding Thessaloniki: Dragovites, Sagudats, Vayunits, Smolyans and which, according to the research of modern linguists, formed the basis of the language of translations of Cyril and Methodius, and with them the entire Church Slavonic language . An analysis of the language of the translations of Cyril and Methodius shows that they spoke Slavonic as their native language. The latter, however, does not yet speak in favor of their Slavic origin and apparently did not distinguish them from other inhabitants of Thessalonica, since The Life of Methodius ascribes to Emperor Michael III such words addressed to the saints: talk."

Years of study and teaching

Both brothers received excellent education. Methodius, with the support of a friend and patron of the family, the great logothete (head of the state treasury) the eunuch Theoktist, made a good military and administrative career, culminating in the post of strategist of Slavinia, a Byzantine province located on the territory of Macedonia. Then, however, he took the veil as a monk.

Cyril, unlike his brother, initially followed the spiritual and scientific path. According to the "Life", compiled in the circle of his direct students, from the very beginning of his teaching in Thessalonica, he impressed those around him with his abilities and memory. Once, in his youth, while hunting, he lost his beloved hawk, and this made such an impression on him that he gave up all the amusements and, drawing a cross on the wall of his room, delved into the study of the works of Gregory the Theologian, to whom he added special poetic praise. Under the patronage of the logothete Theoktist, he went to Constantinople, where, according to his life, he studied with the emperor (but the young Michael was much younger than Constantine, perhaps in reality he was supposed to help in teaching the child emperor). Among his teachers are the largest the scholars of that time, the future Patriarch Photius I and Leo Mathematician. There he (according to the author of the Life, as if in three months) studied "To Homer and geometry, and to Leo and Photius to dialectics, and to all the philosophical sciences in addition: and rhetoric, and arithmetic, and astronomy, and music, and all other Hellenic arts". Subsequently, he also mastered Aramaic and Hebrew. At the end of his studies, he refused to start a very promising secular career by entering into an advantageous marriage with the goddaughter of the logothete (together with whom the "archontia" was also promised to begin with, that is, the administration of one of the semi-autonomous Slavic regions of Macedonia, and in further perspective and the post of strategos), and therefore was sent along the path of church service (since Konstantin was only 15 years old at that time, he had to go through several more preliminary steps in the church hierarchy before becoming a priest) and entered the service as, according to expression of life, "the books of the patriarch in St. Sophia". Under the "reader of the patriarch" (the patriarch was Photius, the teacher of Constantine) can be understood as hartofilax (head of the patriarch's office, literally - "keeper of the archive"), or maybe bibliophilax - the patriarchal librarian; B. Florea prefers the second option, since the young deacon had no administrative experience for such a responsible position as the patriarch's secretary. However, at some point, he unexpectedly abandoned his post and hid in the monastery. After 6 months, the patriarch's envoys found him and begged him to return to Constantinople, where he began to teach philosophy at the same Magnavra University, where he had recently studied himself (since then, the nickname Constantine the Philosopher has become stronger behind him). According to the Life of Constantine, he won the dispute famous leader iconoclasts, the former patriarch John Grammar (appears in the Life under the contemptuous nickname "Annius"); but modern researchers almost unanimously consider this episode fictional.

Khazar mission

Finding the relics of St. Clement, Pope

Constantine-Cyril played a leading role in this event, which he later described himself in the “Sermon for the Uncovering of the Relics of Clement, Pope of Rome”, which has come down in a Slavonic translation. At the same time, the acquisition itself took place with the participation of high-ranking representatives of the Constantinople clergy and the local bishop. E. V. Ukhanova believes that both the acquisition of the relics and their subsequent transfer by Constantine-Cyril to Rome (see below) were not only acts of piety, but also political acts of the Constantinople court aimed at reconciling Constantinople with the Roman throne in two moments when it seemed possible: when Photius was elected patriarch (before his famous break with Pope Nicholas I) and after the removal of Photius by the new emperor Basil the Macedonian.

Moravian mission

If you ask the Slavic literate, saying: “Who created the letters or translated the books for you?”, Then everyone knows and, answering, they say: “Saint Constantine the Philosopher, named Cyril - he created the letters for us and translated the books, and Methodius, his brother. Because those who saw them are still alive. And if you ask: “what time?”, then they know and say: “that during the time of Michael, the king of Greece, and Boris, the prince of Bulgaria, and Rostislav, the prince of Moravia, and Kotsel, the prince of Blaten, in the summer from the creation of the whole world" .

If you ask the Slovenian boukar, saying: “Who did you create the letters, or did you offer the books?” - Then you see and answer, they say: “Saint Kostantin the Philosopher, called Kiril, create the letters for us and offer his books, and brother Methodius The essence of the bo is still alive, and the essence has seen them. And if you ask: “at what time?” then they lead and say: “as in the time of Michael, Tsar of Grchsk, and Boris, Prince of Bulgaria, and Rastitsa, Prince of Moravia, and Kotsel, Prince of Blatnsk, in the summer from the creation of the whole world”

Thus, the creation of the Slavic alphabet can be attributed to the year 863 after the birth of Christ, according to the Alexandrian chronology, used at that time by the Bulgarian chroniclers.

Experts have not yet come to a consensus on which of the two Slavic alphabets - Glagolitic or Cyrillic - is Konstantin. Chernorizet Khrabr, however, mentions that Cyril's alphabet had 38 characters, which indicates a Glagolitic alphabet.

Roman trip

Before his death, fearing that Methodius would return to the monastery on Olympus, he said to his brother:

“Here, brother, we were like two oxen in harness, plowed one furrow, and I y the forest<, дойдя борозду,>I fall, my day is over. And although you love the mountain very much, you cannot leave your teaching for the sake of the mountain, for how else can you better achieve salvation?

Original text (old Slav.)

““Behold, brother, you are the wife of Byakhov, one rein is heavy, and I fall on the forest, having finished my days. And if you love the mountain Velmy, then do not break the mountain for the sake of leaving your teachings, more than you can be saved.”

The Pope ordained Methodius to the rank of Archbishop of Moravia and Pannonia.

Return of Methodius to Pannonia

In 879, the German bishops organized a new trial against Methodius. However, Methodius brilliantly justified himself in Rome and even received a papal bull allowing worship in the Slavic language.

In 881, Methodius, at the invitation of Emperor Basil I the Macedonian, arrived in Constantinople. There he spent three years, after which, together with his students, he returned to Moravia (Velegrad). With the help of three students, he translated into Slavonic Old Testament and patristic books.

In 885, Methodius fell seriously ill. Before his death, he appointed his disciple Gorazd as his successor. On April 4, on Palm Sunday, he asked to be carried to the temple, where he read a sermon. On the same day he died. The funeral of Methodius took place in three languages ​​- Slavic, Greek and Latin.

After death

After the death of Methodius, his opponents managed to achieve the prohibition of Slavic writing in Moravia. Many students were executed, some moved to Bulgaria (Gorazd Ohrid and Kliment Ohrid) and Croatia.

Pope Adrian II wrote to Prince Rostislav in Prague that if anyone begins to be contemptuous of books written in Slavonic, then let him be excommunicated and brought to trial by the Church, for such people are “wolves”. And Pope John VIII in 880 writes to Prince Svyatopolk, ordering that sermons be delivered in Slavonic.

Disciples of Saints Cyril and Methodius

The aforementioned disciples are revered in the Balkans as holy sevens.

Heritage

Cyril and Methodius developed a special alphabet for writing texts in the Slavic language - Glagolitic. At present, the point of view of V. A. Istrin prevails among historians, but is not generally recognized, according to which the Cyrillic alphabet was created on the basis of the Greek alphabet by the disciple of the holy brothers Clement Ohridsky (which is also mentioned in his Life). Using the created alphabet, the brothers translated from Greek the Holy Scriptures and a number of liturgical books.

At the same time, it should be noted that even if the Cyrillic letter styles were developed by Clement, he relied on the work on isolating the sounds of the Slavic language, done by Cyril and Methodius, and this work is main part any work on the creation of a new script. Modern scholars note high level this work, which gave designations for almost all scientifically distinguished Slavic sounds, which we owe, apparently, to the outstanding linguistic abilities of Konstantin-Cyril, noted in the sources.

Sometimes it is argued that there was a Slavic script before Cyril and Methodius, based on a passage from the life of Cyril, which refers to books written in "Russian letters":

"And found the Philosopher here<в Корсуни>The Gospel and the Psalter, written in Russian letters, and found a man, talking toy speech. And he talked with him and understood the meaning of the language, correlating the differences between vowels and consonants with his own language. And offering up a prayer to God, he soon began to read and speak. And many were amazed at this, glorifying God.

Original text (old Slav.)

“Receive that Gospel and the Psalter, Russian writings are written, and you will find a person, speaking with that conversation. And having conversed with him, we will receive the power of speech, applying various vowel and consonant letters to our conversations. And holding a prayer to God, soon begin to clean and say. And I am giving him wonder, praising God.

However, it does not follow from the passage that the "Russian language" mentioned there is Slavic; on the contrary, the fact that Konstantin-Kirill's mastery of it is perceived as a miracle directly indicates that it was not a Slavic language. It should be remembered at the same time that in the time of Cyril and Methodius and much later, the Slavs easily understood each other and believed that they spoke a single Slavic language, which some modern linguists agree with, who believe that one can talk about the unity of the Proto-Slavic language until the XII century. . Most researchers believe that the fragment refers either to the gospel in the Gothic language (an idea first expressed by Shafarik), or the manuscript contains an error and instead of “Russians” should be considered “Sursky”, that is, “Syrian”. In confirmation, they indicate that the author makes a special distinction between vowels and consonants: as you know, in Aramaic writing, vowels are denoted by superscripts. It is also indicative that in general the entire fragment is given in the context of the story about Constantine's study of the Hebrew language and Samaritan writing, which he took up in Korsun, preparing for a dispute in Khazaria. Metropolitan Macarius (Bulgakov) also points out that in the same life it is emphasized more than once that Constantine was the creator of Slavic letters and there were no Slavic letters before him - that is, the author of the life does not consider the described “Russian” letters to be Slavic.

veneration

They are revered as saints both in the East and in the West.

The widespread veneration of Cyril and Methodius begins in the middle of the 19th century, when the names of the Slavic first teachers become a symbol of the self-determination of cultures. Slavic peoples. For the first time, the celebration of the day of memory of Cyril and Methodius was held on May 11, 1858 in Plovdiv, and the Greeks did not participate in the celebrations. The celebration itself had the character of a symbolic act of confrontation with the Greek hierarchies of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, under whose jurisdiction the Bulgarian Church was then.

First practical steps Bishop Anthony of Smolensk (Amfiteatrov), who addressed the Chief Procurator of the Synod in the summer of 1861 with a report in which he drew attention to the fact that in the Menaia under May 11 there was no service to Cyril and Methodius, and in the Monthly Book for them there is no troparion or kontakion. That is, in the liturgical practice of countries that used liturgical books printed in Russia (in Serbia, Bulgaria and Russia), Slavic primary teachers did not special service. Such a service had to be compiled and put into liturgical use. The initiative was supported by Metropolitan Filaret  (Drozdov).

Two years after these celebrations, the Cyril and Methodius Collection was published, edited by M. P. Pogodin, which included the publication of a significant number of primary sources related to the activities of Cyril and Methodius, including ancient services to the Slavic primary teachers. Also, articles were placed here that emphasized the political aspect of the Cyril and Methodius celebrations.

The holiday in honor of Cyril and Methodius is a public holiday in Russia (since 1991), Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the Republic of Macedonia. In Russia, Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia, the holiday is celebrated on May 24; in Russia and Bulgaria it bears the name, in Macedonia - the Day of Saints Cyril and Methodius. In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the holiday is celebrated on July 5th.

In Bulgaria there is the Order of Cyril and Methodius. Also in Bulgaria, back in the communist period, a public holiday was established - the Day of Slavic Writing and Culture (coinciding with the day of church commemoration of Cyril and Methodius), which is widely celebrated today.

In mid-July 1869, in the century-old forest across the Tsemes River, Czech settlers who arrived in Novorossiysk founded the village of Mefodievka, which was named after St. Methodius.

To the cinema

• Cyril and Methodius - Apostles of the Slavs (2013)

see also

• Day Slavic culture and writing (Day of Cyril and Methodius)

Notes

1. Duychev, Ivan. Bulgarian Middle Ages. - Sofia: Science and Art, 1972. - S. 96.
2. LIFE KONSTANTIN-KIRILL
3. “Grandfather is great and glorious, even sitting near the Caesar, and he rejected the glory given to him by will, he was exiled, and he came to another land, impoverished. And give birth to me ”- quotes the life of the words of Konstantin himself - see LIFE KONSTANTIN-KIRILL
4. Takhiaos, Anthony Aemilius-N. Holy Brothers Cyril and Methodius Enlighteners of the Slavs. Sergiev Posad, 2005. P. 11.
5. Cyril and Methodius Equal to the Apostles Teachers Slovenian
6. Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-05, s.v. "Cyril and Methodius, Saints"; Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica Incorporated, Warren E. Preece - 1972, p.846
7. // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
8. Cyril and Methodius// New encyclopedic dictionary. Volume 21. 1914
9. E. M. VERESHCHAGIN From the history of the emergence of the first literary language of the Slavs. Translation technique of Cyril and Methodius)
10. Cyrillo-Methodius Encyclopedia., Sofia., BAN edition (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences), 1985
11. S. B. Bernshtein. Slavic languages. Linguistic encyclopedic dictionary. - M., 1990. - S. 460-461

This is the only state and church holiday in our country. On this day, the church honors the memory of Cyril and Methodius, who invented the Cyrillic alphabet.

The church tradition of venerating the memory of Saints Cyril and Methodius originated in the 10th century in Bulgaria as a token of gratitude for the invention of the Slavic alphabet, which gave many peoples the opportunity to read the Gospel in English. mother tongue.

In 1863, when the alphabet turned a thousand years old, the holiday of Slavic writing and culture was celebrated for the first time on a grand scale in Russia. At Soviet power The holiday was no longer celebrated, and the tradition was revived in 1991.

The creators of the Slavic alphabet Cyril (before becoming a monk - Constantine) and Methodius (Michael) grew up in the Byzantine city of Thessalonica (now Thessaloniki, Greece) in a wealthy family with seven children in total. Ancient Thessalonica was part of the Slavic (Bulgarian) territory and was a multilingual city in which different linguistic dialects coexisted, including Byzantine, Turkish and Slavic. The elder brother, Methodius, became a monk. The youngest, Cyril, excelled in the sciences. He was fluent in Greek and Arabic, studied in Constantinople, was educated by the greatest scientists of his time - Leo the Grammarian and Photius (the future patriarch). After completing his studies, Konstantin took the rank of priest and was appointed curator of the patriarchal library at the church of St. Sophia and taught philosophy at the higher school of Constantinople. The wisdom and strength of Cyril's faith were so great that he managed to defeat the heretic Aninius in the debate. Soon, Constantine had the first students - Clement, Naum and Angelarius, with whom he came to the monastery in 856, where his brother Methodius was the abbot.

In 857, the Byzantine emperor sent brothers to the Khazar Khaganate to preach the gospel. On the way, they stopped in the city of Korsun, where they miraculously found the relics of the Holy Martyr Clement, Pope of Rome. After that, the saints went to the Khazars, where they convinced the Khazar prince and his entourage to accept Christianity and even took 200 Greek captives from there.

In the early 860s, the ruler of Moravia, Prince Rostislav, who was oppressed by the German bishops, turned to Byzantine Emperor Michael III with a request to send pundits, missionaries who speak the Slavic language. All divine services, sacred books and theology there were Latin, and the Slavs did not understand this language. “Our people profess the Christian faith, but we do not have teachers who could explain the faith to us in our native language. Send us such teachers,” he asked. Michael III answered the request with consent. He entrusted the translation of liturgical books into a language understandable to the inhabitants of Moravia to Cyril.

However, in order to record the translation, it was necessary to create a written Slavic language and a Slavic alphabet. Understanding the magnitude of the task, Cyril turned to his older brother for help. They came to the conclusion that neither the Latin nor the Greek alphabets corresponded to the sound palette of the Slavic language. In this regard, the brothers decided to remake the Greek alphabet and adapt it to sound system Slavic language. The brothers did a great job of isolating and transforming sounds and inscribing the letters of the new script. Based on the developments, two alphabets were compiled - (named after Cyril) and Glagolitic. According to historians, the Cyrillic alphabet was created later than the Glagolitic and based on it. With the help of a Glagolitic Greek the Gospel, the Psalter, the Apostle and other books were translated. According to official version, it happened in 863. Thus, we are now celebrating 1155 years since the creation of Slavic alphabet.

In 864, the brothers presented their work in Moravia, where they were received with great honors. Soon, many students were assigned to teach them, and after a while the entire church order was translated into Slavonic. This helped to teach the Slavs all church services and prayers, in addition, the lives of the saints and other church books were translated into Slavonic.

gaining own alphabet led to the fact that Slavic culture made a serious breakthrough in its development: it acquired a tool for recording its own history, for consolidating its own identity back in those days when most modern European languages was not yet in sight.

In connection with the constant intrigues of the German clergy, Cyril and Methodius twice had to justify themselves before the Roman high priest. In 869, unable to withstand the stress, Cyril died at the age of 42.

When Cyril was in Rome, he had a vision in which the Lord told him about the approach of death. He accepted the schema (the highest level of Orthodox monasticism).

His work was continued by his elder brother Methodius, who shortly thereafter was ordained to the episcopal rank in Rome. He died in 885, having survived several years of exile, abuse and imprisonment.

To the saints Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius were numbered in antiquity. In the Russian Orthodox Church, the memory of the Enlighteners of the Slavs has been honored since the 11th century. The oldest services to saints that have come down to our time refer to XIII century. The solemn celebration of the memory of the saints was established in the Russian Church in 1863.

For the first time, the Day of Slavic Literature was celebrated in Bulgaria in 1857, and then in other countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Belarus. In Russia, at the state level, the Day of Slavic Literature and Culture was first solemnly celebrated in 1863 (the 1000th anniversary of the creation of the Slavic alphabet was celebrated). In the same year, the Russian Holy Synod decided to celebrate the Day of Remembrance of Saints Cyril and Methodius on May 11 (24 according to the new style). During the years of Soviet power, the holiday was forgotten and restored only in 1986.

On January 30, 1991, May 24 was declared the Holiday of Slavic Literature and Culture, thereby giving it a state status.