Methodius is the creator of the Slavic alphabet. Alphabet: from Cyril and Methodius

Regional State Public Educational Institution Implementing Adapted Programs "Boarding School No. 10"

Prepared by N.V. Nesterova

2016

Explanatory note

Children about Saints Cyril and Methodius and the Slavic alphabet

And flowers, and trees, and animals, and people are God's creations. But people differ from all living beings in that they can speak. Everything in the world has a name: a cloud, a river, a carnation, a birch, wind and lightning. All signs of objects and phenomena: red, fast, warm, cold - everything is named. In a conversation, we just say: "Grandma, I missed you." But it's good to say when grandma is around. And if she is in a village, in another city? You have to somehow tell her that you miss her, you are waiting for her to visit. You can call? What if Grandma's phone broke? Write! Write a letter. A letter is more valuable than any call, a letter can be re-read, shown to neighbors: "Look, my granddaughter is writing to me, calling me to visit."

To write a letter, you need to know the words. And words are made up of letters. The letters are connected by alphabet. Our alphabet is now almost in the form in which it was brought to Russia by the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles brothers Cyril and Methodius. They translated many books, mostly religious, from Greek into Slavonic, introduced services in the Slavic language. They suffered a lot of persecution from the Roman Catholics for this: they did not want the Slavs to have their own script. To this the brothers answered: "Does not the sun shine for all, does it not rain for all, does not the Word of God's truth come to all, and in the language that man speaks?"

On the basis of the Slavic alphabet there was an alphabetic prayer. "Az buki lead" in translation: I know (know) the letters. "Verb, good, eat, live" in translation: it's good to live kindly. "Kako, people, think" - this does not need to be translated. As well as "rtsy, the word, firmly," that is: speak the word confidently, firmly.

Of course, it is immediately noticeable that the initial letters of words just make up our "abevegedeshka", the alphabet. They used to learn the alphabet out loud, all together. There was even such a proverb: "The ABC is taught, they shout in the whole hut."

the day of the holy Thessalonica brothers Cyril and Methodius is celebrated just on the day when the last bell rings in our schools, May 24th. This day is a holiday of Slavic writing and culture.

Children about Saints Cyril and Methodius and the Slavic alphabet.

Goals and objectives.

To acquaint children with the history of the emergence of Slavic writing, with the work of Cyril and Methodius - Slavic teachers.
- The first acquaintance with the Slavic alphabet.
- Reveal and replenish children's knowledge about the history of the Russian language.
- Show the similarities and features of the Church Slavonic and Russian languages.
- To form the concept of "sacred language". To develop a sense of love and respect for the native language and Russian culture.
- Develop speech, memory, thinking.

Preparation and equipment.
Place on the board the icon of the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius.

Prepare for each student a photocopy of the Church Slavonic alphabet, which would indicate the spelling, name and pronunciation of all letters.

Prepare photocopies of the Alphabet Prayer in the "arrangement" of V.Ya.Deryagin.

For visual aids and props, you can use "ancient" scrolls, letters of the Slavic alphabet, made of cardboard. To decorate the classroom, large stylized “old” scrolls with ancient Slavic letters (for example, the words of their alphabetic prayer), posters depicting the letters of the Slavic alphabet can be prepared.

Select illustrative material: modern editions of liturgical books (Psalter, Book of Hours, etc.), as well as photographs and illustrations of ancient books, manuscripts, scrolls.

Move.
- We all read, write and speak Russian. What is language?
Children try to explain the meaning of the word "language", the teacher leads them to the correct answer.
- So we found out that language is a means of communication. How can we communicate with each other?
Students' responses.
- That is, orally. And if we are far from each other and there will be no opportunity to call, how then to report the news or find out how you are doing?
Students' responses.
- So, the language is oral and ...
Students' responses.
- But is it only necessary to communicate in a written language?
Students' responses.
- Why else do you need to be able to read and write?
Students' responses. - Guys, what do you think, have the Slavs always been able to speak?
Students' responses. - But there was a time when the Slavs did not have a written language, and this is how it appeared.
It was more than a thousand years ago, when the Slavic tribes from the darkness of paganism turned to the light of Christian teaching. But the converted Christians did not understand either the Word of God or the service, since the service was conducted in Latin. Then, in 862, an embassy from the Moravian prince Rostislav arrived at the Byzantine emperor Michael with a request to send missionaries who would conduct Christian worship in a language understandable to the Slavic people and who could explain Christian teaching in an accessible way. The emperor entrusted this matter to the brothers Cyril and Methodius, and they set off on a long journey. In order to fulfill the task assigned to them, they had to translate the Holy Scriptures and liturgical books into the Slavic language. But the Slavs did not have an alphabet. The Slavs could neither read nor write. The task turned out to be more difficult than it seemed at first glance: first it was necessary to create the Slavic alphabet, then translate the books, and even teach the Slavs how to write and read. After all, it is impossible to convey everything orally. Such a teaching is both insufficient and unreliable. Do you think it is possible to keep in memory everything that is conveyed in words?
Students' responses. Teacher : The Greek alphabet was taken as the basis of the Slavic alphabet. The first step was to create an alphabet. Guys, what is the alphabet?Students' responses. Teacher : Yes, this is a certain sequence of letters. The alphabet conveys all those sounds that are present in speech. What are the letters for?
Students' responses. - Right. In 863 the alphabet was ready, St. Cyril and Methodius above her. The alphabet began to be called Cyrillic in honor of its creator. The holy brothers created not a spoken language, not an everyday, everyday language, but a sacred liturgical language. The language in which they turn to God in the temple of God - the church. It is called Church Slavonic. Now you know that Church Slavonic is the language of communion with God. It was very important for Christians to acquire the necessary knowledge of the Church Slavonic language in order to be able to participate in divine services and understand their meaning. Without this, the life of a Christian is impossible. Do you agree?
Students' responses. Yes.
- The Slavs understood this, and therefore they took up the difficult task of teaching. Today, of course, it is much easier to learn Church Slavonic, because the Slavic language is the predecessor of Russian. Look at the alphabet!(Children take a printout with the alphabet.) Many of the letters are already familiar to you. What do you think, which alphabet has more letters, Russian or Slavic?
Students' responses.
In Slavonic.

- Correctly. Over time, in the course of the development of the language, some letters were lost, but new ones were not added. Thus, the alphabet was transformed into modern Russian. Az, beeches, lead ... It is with these letters that we will begin our first acquaintance with the Church Slavonic alphabet. Each letter of the Church Slavonic language not only conveys the sound corresponding to it, but also has its own special name.
shows cards with letters:
The letter A is called Az, which means “I” in Russian. So in the sacred book of the Bible God calls Himself - Az.
The letter B is called Buki, that is, "letter".
The name of the letter B - Lead, in translation - "know."
The letter G has the name Verb, that is, "speak."
The letter D is called Dobro, in Russian it means "good."
Say these first Church Slavonic letters by their names.
students they read in unison : Az, beeches, lead, verb, good.

Do you know what we got? Know the alphabet and speak well.

This is the wish expressed by the alphabet itself to everyone who undertakes to study it. In addition, Saint Cyril wrote an alphabetical prayer. Each letter of the alphabet corresponds to a new line of prayer beginning with that letter. Listen to this prayer and you will understand how much meaning each letter of the Church Slavonic language carries.alphabet prayer A Az - I pray to God with this word:
B God, Creator of all creatures
AT Visible and invisible!
G Lord, the Living Spirit,
D Let the Word breathe into my heart!
E His Word will be the salvation of all,
F Living in Your commandments.
S Illuminated the lamp of life
3 Your law is the light of my way.
And And already looking for the gospel word
I And he asks for the gifts of You to accept the Slavic tribe.
To After all, we all turned to baptism,
L We want to be called your people,
M We want your mercy, God!
H But now give me a lengthy Word,
O Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit!
P Asking for your help,
R Stretch out your hands, repay forever
With The strength to receive and Your wisdom.
T You give strength to the worthy
Q You heal the poor
F You take away Pharaoh's malice from me,
X Cherubim's thought and mind you give me.
O , honest and Holy Trinity,
turn my sadness into joy!
C I will chastely write
H Your wonders are amazing
W Having taken the form of six-winged
I ascend in the footsteps of my Master,
following his name and following his work.
E I will reveal the gospel word,
giving praise to the Trinity in one Godhead.
YU Young and old, all wise men sing Your praise.
I The tongue gives new praise
Father and Son and Holy Spirit.
To Him be honor and glory from every creature
and every breath forever and ever.
Amen.

For such educational work, the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius began to be called Equal-to-the-Apostles. After all, they, like the apostles, enlightened the Slavic peoples, bringing them the Word of God. In ancient times, Church Slavonic writing was studied with reverence. They memorized the rules, the texts of prayers, practiced calligraphy. The latter was given particular importance. Somehow writing was not allowed, it was considered an expression of irreverence for the sacred language in which we turn to God. In ancient books, the already beautiful capital letters of the Church Slavonic language were often decorated with intricate ornaments or designs. Look here! The teacher shows illustrations of ancient books. All books were handwritten, and writing was not easy before. Therefore, the profession of a scribe was held in high esteem, a literate person was called a scientist. Books were treated with great respect. They were put on leather covers, decorated with precious stones... They were greatly appreciated, and not only because they were expensive, but also because most of them were used in worship: the Holy Scriptures, the Gospel, the Psalter. By the way, do you know that the main textbook then was the Psalter? Yes, it is this liturgical book! In the church, this attitude towards books has been preserved to this day. You may have seen the gospel in church - how beautiful it is! How solemnly the priest carries it out and reads it! We will also try to adopt this reverent attitude towards the Church Slavonic language and its study.
- Let's remember that today we learned something new and interesting, then tell me by whom and when the Church Slavonic alphabet was created?
Students' responses.
In the ninth century, St. Cyril and Methodius.
- Now let's write it down in a notebook: In the ninth century, Sts. The Slavic alphabet was created by the brothers Cyril and Methodius. Why was it necessary to create it?
Students' responses.
It was necessary to translate the service into a language understandable to people.
- Because it was necessary to translate liturgical books into Slavonic. What alphabet was taken as the basis of the Slavic alphabet?
Students' responses.
Greek.

- The Greek alphabet was taken as the basis.
What is the difference between the letters of the Church Slavonic language and the letters of the Russian language?
Students' responses.
The letters of the Slavic language have names.
Summarizing:
Today we learned the history of the creation of Slavic writing, got acquainted with Slavic letters, made a whole journey into the history of the Russian language.

Invite the children to draw any letter they like, decorating it with a beautiful ornament or making a beautiful cover similar to ancient covers.

Bibliography

1) Istrin V.A. 1100 years of the Slavic alphabet. M., 1988.

2) Remneva M.L. Az Buki Vedi, M., 1980.

Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Brothers Cyril and Methodius

In the friendly and happy family of the noble commander Leo, who lived in the Greek city of Thessaloniki, there were seven children. All of them were distinguished by diligence and zeal for learning. All of them, except for their native Greek, spoke excellent Slavonic, communicating with their Slavic peers. At that time, many Slavs lived in Thessaloniki, former prisoners and slaves captured by the Greeks in constant wars.

When the youngest of Leo's children, Konstantin, had just learned to read, the eldest, Methodius, had already left his father's house, going to public service. He was appointed governor of Macedonia by the emperor, thanks to his knowledge of the Slavic language.

The younger Konstantin was distinguished from other children by both poor health and outstanding mental abilities. By the age of fifteen, he was fluent in philosophical and theological treatises, not only in Greek, but also in Latin. A capable boy was taken to court. Together with the children of the emperor, he began to study at the highest imperial school. Here Konstantin studied literature, dialectics, astronomy, Hebrew and Arabic, music and other sciences. His mentors were the best teachers of the empire, including the famous Photius, the future Patriarch of Constantinople. For his love of philosophy, Konstantin received the nickname "philosopher", which remained with him for the rest of his life.

The elder brother of Constantine Methodius, having served as governor for about ten years, leaves the service and goes to the monastery. Soon, his younger brother also comes to him, having abandoned a brilliant career at court and a profitable marriage.

Knowing the brothers' education, their devotion to the Church and the Fatherland, the emperor sends them to Khazaria to establish diplomatic relations with the neighboring state. It included many nationalities, including the Slavs. For their sake, Constantine and Methodius created their famous Slavic alphabet in order to translate sacred books into Slavic. After all, preaching only orally, according to Constantine, is the same as “writing with your finger on the water.” The chronicler reports that the first words written by the brothers in the Slavic language were from the Gospel of John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

The trip turned out to be successful. The brothers managed to establish friendly relations with the Khazars, obtain permission for Christians to have their own churches, and converted about two hundred families to Christianity. After that, several more trips took place to the southern Slavs, including the recently baptized Bulgarians. During these journeys, Konstantin tore his already poor health.

In 862, ambassadors from the Moravian prince Rostislav came to Constantinople with a request to send Christian Slavic teachers to them. Emperor Michael had no better candidates than Constantine and Methodius. Knowing Konstantin's poor health, he addressed him not as an emperor, but as a former schoolmate: “Konstantin, my philosopher, I know you are sick, you are tired, but your work is so needed! Prince Rostislav of Moravia asks us to send him Christian missionaries. How can I refuse him? No one can do this job the way you do it!” To this request of his comrade, the sick and weak Konstantin selflessly answered: “I will gladly go there!”

In 863 the brothers went to Moravia. There they preached Christianity with great success, performing divine services in the Slavic language. Missionaries from Germany also came to Moravia, who were not accustomed to hearing Slavic worship. Liturgy in the Slavic language seemed to them blasphemy. In the West it has become customary to read the Bible and worship only in three languages - Hebrew, Greek and Latin. German preachers complained about the two brothers to Pope Nicholas. The Pope wished to see Slavic evangelists. Hoping to find protection and understanding from him, the brothers went to Rome. Arriving there, they did not find Pope Nicholas alive. His successor, Pope Adrian, received the brothers with great honour. He went out to meet them outside the city, accompanied by the clergy and a multitude of people. He consecrated the Slavic books brought to him and approved of the brothers' work in translating liturgies and Holy Scripture into Slavonic. Pope Adrian even allowed to celebrate the liturgy in several Roman churches in the Slavic language.

Shortly after arriving in Rome, Constantine, who was in poor health, fell ill and, having taken monastic tonsure with the name Cyril, died on February 14, 869. His brother Methodius was ordained Archbishop of Moravia by Pope Adrian, with permission to serve in the diocese in the Slavic language. Another fifteen years before his death, Methodius worked on the enlightenment of the Slavs. From Moravia, Christianity, even during the life of Methodius, penetrated into the Czech Republic, and then into Poland.

The activities of the Solun brothers were further developed by the southern Slavs - Serbs and Bulgarians, where their students also went.From there, the Slavic alphabet came to Kievan Rus. Today in the modern world more than 70 national languages are built on the Cyrillic alphabet.

Probably everyone knows that many years ago there was no written language at all on earth. A little later, the prince from Moravia decided to send his people to the emperor of Byzantium in order for him to solve this problem. And almost immediately, the ambassadors began to look for scientists who knew Cyrillic and Glagolitic perfectly well, and were also able to teach it to all people. It was here that our main characters Cyril and Methodius were noted in this difficult matter.

The brothers were born in a city called Thessaloniki. Their father was a soldier. From childhood, their parents taught them to write and read, which is why they were not only educated, but also smart. Cyril still combined his studies and helped the prince deal with various matters. Of course, they could not do all this, but choose a completely different life. In addition, they could easily and freely live right next to the emperor. But most of all, the guys liked to study the church, and that is why they went to the priesthood. Now they studied different sciences every day, and then they told their students about it.

When they arrived at the Slavs and began to teach them, they decided to create an alphabet with which they would be taught. Most of all, Cyril was engaged in all this, but Methodius supported him in everything and if help was needed, he always helped. It took them about a year to create the alphabet. When the alphabet was created, it was immediately given the name Cyrillic, in honor of the one who invented it. There were twenty-four letters in total. But it turned out, so that there were much more sounds than letters. And then the guys took a few letters from other alphabets, and some of them even came up with themselves. Now their alphabet was thirty-eight letters.

Each letter had its own personal sound, and with the help of these sounds it was possible to find out what was being said. A little later, the alphabet again underwent changes, and there were much fewer letters in it. Now the alphabet consists of thirty-three letters.

Option number 2

The brothers Cyril and Methodius are known as the creators of the Slavic alphabet. They preached Christianity, and thanks to them the Church Slavonic language appeared. In Orthodoxy, brothers are considered saints.

Before the tonsure, the names of Cyril and Methodius were Constantine and Michael, respectively. The birthplace of the brothers is Byzantium, the city of Thessalonica, now called Thessaloniki. Their family was noble and wealthy. The father, who held the position of an officer, served with the military governor. In addition to Cyril and Methodius, the family had five more children. Methodius, born in 815, was the eldest child. Cyril was born in 827 and was the youngest.

Both brothers were well trained. Because of their birthplace, they knew both Slavic and Greek very well. Initially, Methodius, who decided to make a career in military service, served as commander-in-chief. Methodius became a monk later. Cyril studied science from his youth. The younger brother amazed his teachers with his abilities. After training, Cyril began to work in the library at the monastery.

The beginning of the creation of the Slavic alphabet dates back to 862. Then in Constantinople, on behalf of the prince of Moravia, Rostislav, the ambassadors conveyed his request to the emperor. The prince needed people who could teach his people about Christianity. The state was already religious, but the problem was that people did not understand worship in a foreign language. The prince needed scientists who could translate religious books into Slavonic.

The emperor decided to entrust this task to Cyril in view of his excellent command of the language. To translate books, he went to Moravia. When creating the alphabet, Cyril's assistants were his older brother and several of his students. They have translated many Christian books, for example. "Gospel" and "Psalter". Scientists are still arguing about what kind of alphabet the brothers created. Some point to Cyrillic, others to Glagolitic. The most accurate date for the creation of the Slavic alphabet is 863. Cyril and Methodius stayed in Moravia for almost another three and a half years, translating books and teaching the Slavic alphabet to the people.

Due to the translation of liturgical books into Slavonic, conflicts arose in some churches. It was believed that worship was conducted only in Greek, Hebrew and Latin. The German clergy especially hindered the spread of the Slavic language. Cyril and Methodius were accused of heresy and summoned to Rome. After talking with the new pope, the brothers managed to eliminate the conflict, and worship in the Slavic language was approved.

During a trip to Rome, the younger brother fell ill. Cyril had a premonition of his death, so he decided to accept the schema and at the same time received a monastic name. Cyril died in 869 and was buried in Rome.

Methodius received the priesthood and decided to continue the educational work. However, upon returning to Moravia, it turned out that the German clergy again tried to ban worship in the Slavic language. Methodius was imprisoned in a monastery. He was released by the Pope of Rome, and a few years later he again obtained permission to worship in the Slavic language. Methodius died in 885.

4th, 5th, 6th grade, history

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Cyril and Methodius.

Cyril (in the world Constantine; 827-869) and Methodius (in the world Michael; 815-885), brothers from the city of Thessalonica - enlighteners of the Slavs, creators of the Slavic alphabet, preachers of Christianity.

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

Cyril and Methodius came from the Byzantine city of Thessalonica. Their father was a drungari under the city's warlord. The family had seven sons, with Methodius being the eldest, and Cyril being the youngest of them.

According to one version, they came from a pious Slavic family that lived in the Byzantine city of Thessalonica. From a large number of historical sources, mainly from the "Brief Life of Clement of Ohrid", it is known that Cyril and Methodius were Bulgarians.

According to another version, Cyril and Methodius were of Greek origin.

There is also an alternative theory of the ethnic origin of Cyril and Methodius, according to which they were not Slavs, but Bulgars (Proto-Bulgarians). This theory also refers to the assumptions of historians that the brothers created the Glagolitic alphabet - an alphabet that is more similar to Old Bulgarian than Slavic.

The brothers were natives of the city of Thessalonica, which at that time was part of the Slavic territory and was the cultural center of Macedonia. Ancient Thessalonica was a bilingual city, in which, in addition to the Greek language, the Slavic dialect was heard.

Before being tonsured a monk, Michael made a good military and administrative career, culminating in the post of strategos of Slavinia, a province located on the territory of Macedonia.

Konstantin was a very educated person for his time. Even before his trip to Moravia, he compiled the Slavonic alphabet and began translating the Gospel into Slavonic.

Scientists have not come to a consensus about the role of Cyril and Methodius in the spread of Christianity in the Bulgarian Khanate. Skeptics believe that the brothers during the baptism of Khan Boris carried out the Moravian mission and could not participate in this event. At the same time, Bulgarian researchers have a different opinion.

In Constantinople, the sister of the Bulgarian Khan Boris was held as a hostage. She was baptized with the name Theodora and was brought up in the spirit of holy faith. Around 860, she returned to Bulgaria and began to persuade her brother to accept Christianity. Boris was baptized, taking the name Michael. Saints Cyril and Methodius were in this country and by their preaching they greatly contributed to the establishment of Christianity in it. From Bulgaria, the Christian faith spread to neighboring Serbia. In 863, with the help of his brother Methodius and his disciples, he compiled the Old Church Slavonic alphabet and translated the main liturgical books from Greek into Bulgarian. The time of the invention of the Slavic alphabet is evidenced by the legend of the Bulgarian monk Chernorizets the Brave, a contemporary of Tsar Simeon, “On Writings”.

Thus, the creation of the Slavic alphabet can be attributed to 863 after the birth of Christ.

In 862, ambassadors from the Moravian prince Rostislav came to Constantinople with the following request: “Our people profess the Christian faith, but we have no teachers who could explain the faith to us in our native language. Send us such teachers.” The emperor and the patriarch rejoiced and, calling the holy brothers of Thessalonica, suggested that they go to the Moravians.

In Moravia, Cyril and Methodius continued to translate church books from Greek into Slavonic, taught the Slavs how to read, write, and conduct divine services in Slavonic. The brothers stayed in Moravia for more than three years, and then went with their students to Rome to the Pope. Among some theologians of the Western Church, the point of view has developed that praise to God can only be given in three "sacred" languages: Hebrew, Greek and Latin. Therefore, Cyril and Methodius, who preached Christianity in Moravia, were perceived as heretics and summoned to Rome. After Cyril handed over to Pope Adrian II the relics of St. Clement, which he had acquired during his Chersonese journey, he approved the service in the Slavic language, and ordered the translated books to be placed in Roman churches. Methodius was ordained a bishop.

In Rome, Constantine fell seriously ill, at the beginning of February 869 he finally fell ill, took the schema and the new monastic name Cyril, and died 50 days later (February 14). He was buried in Rome in the church of Saint Clement.

Since 870 the activity of Methodius and his disciples proceeded in very difficult conditions. The Latin-German clergy in every way prevented the spread of the Slavic language as the language of the church.

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 he returned to Moravia with his students. With the help of three students, he translated the Old Testament and patristic books into Slavonic.

In 885, Methodius fell seriously ill. Before his death, he appointed Gorazd's disciple as his successor. On April 19, 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.

Cyril (in the world Constantine) (c.827-869)

Methodius (815-885) Slavic enlighteners

The most important event in the history of Slavic culture is connected with the names of the two enlightening brothers - the invention of the alphabet, which gave rise to Slavic writing.

Both brothers came from the family of a Greek military leader and were born in the city of Thessalonica (modern Thessaloniki in Greece). The elder brother, Methodius, entered the military service in his youth. For ten years he was the manager of one of the Slavic regions of Byzantium, and then left his post and retired to a monastery. In the late 860s, he became abbot of the Greek monastery of Polychron on Mount Olympus in Asia Minor.

Unlike his brother, Cyril from childhood was distinguished by a craving for knowledge and as a boy he was sent to Constantinople to the court of the Byzantine Emperor Michael III. There he received an excellent education, studied not only Slavic, but also Greek, Latin, Hebrew and even Arabic. Subsequently, he refused public service and was tonsured a monk.

For several years, Kirill worked as a librarian for Patriarch Photius, and then was appointed teacher at the court school. Already at this time, he had a reputation as a talented writer. On behalf of the patriarch, he wrote polemical speeches and participated in religious disputes.

Upon learning that his brother had become abbot, Cyril left Constantinople and went to the monastery of Polychron. Cyril and Methodius spent several years there, after which they made their first trip to the Slavs, during which they realized that in order to spread Christianity, it was necessary to create a Slavic alphabet. The brothers returned to the monastery, where they began this work. It is known that only the preparation for the translation of sacred books into Slavonic took them more than three years.

In 863, when the Byzantine emperor, at the request of the Moravian prince Rostislav, sent the brothers to Moravia, they had just begun translating the main liturgical books. Naturally, such a grandiose work would have dragged on for many years if a circle of translators had not formed around Cyril and Methodius.

In the summer of 863, Cyril and Methodius arrived in Moravia, already in possession of the first Slavonic texts. However, their activities immediately aroused the dissatisfaction of the Bavarian Catholic clergy, who did not want to cede their influence over Moravia to anyone.

In addition, the appearance of Slavic translations of the Bible contradicted the establishment of the Catholic Church, according to which the church service had to be held in Latin, and the text of the Holy Scriptures should not be translated into any languages except Latin.

Therefore, in 866, Cyril and Methodius had to go to Rome at the call of Pope Nicholas I. In order to earn his blessing, the brothers brought to Rome the relics of St. Clement, which they discovered during their first trip to the Slavs. However, while they were getting to Rome, Pope Nicholas I died, so the brothers were taken over by his successor, Adrian II. He appreciated the benefits of the enterprise they had conceived and not only allowed them to worship, but also tried to achieve their initiation into church positions. Negotiations about this dragged on for a long time. At this time, Cyril unexpectedly dies, and only Methodius, at the direction of the Pope, was consecrated to the rank of archbishop of Moravia and Pannonia.

With the permission of Adrian II, he returned to Moravia, but was never able to start his activities, because the Salzburg Archbishop Adalvin, taking advantage of the unexpected death of Pope Adrian, summoned Methodius to himself, ostensibly for an introduction, and then arrested him and put him in prison. Methodius spent three years there and only at the insistence of the new Pope, John VIII, was he released. True, he was again forbidden to conduct worship in the Slavic language.

Returning to Pannonia, Methodius violated this rule, settled in Moravia, where he was engaged in translations of sacred books and continued to perform divine services. For six years, the group of students he created did a great job: they not only completed the translation into Slavonic of all the books of Holy Scripture, but also translated the most important documents that compiled the collection Nomokannon. It was a collection of decrees that determined the norms for the celebration of worship and all church life.

The activities of Methodius caused new denunciations, and he was again summoned to Rome. However, Pope John VIII realized that nothing could prevent the spread of the Slavic alphabet, and once again allowed Slavic worship. True, at the same time he excommunicated Methodius from the Catholic Church.

Methodius returned back to Moravia, where he continued his activities. Only in 883 did he again go to Byzantium, and upon his return he continued to work, but soon died, leaving as his successor a student named Gorazd.

To this day, the disputes of scientists about what kind of alphabet Cyril created - Cyrillic or Glagolitic - do not subside. The difference between them is that Glagolitic is more archaic in lettering, while Cyrillic turned out to be more convenient for conveying the sound features of the Slavic language. It is known that in the 9th century both alphabets were in use, and only at the turn of the 10th-11th centuries. Glagolitic has practically fallen out of use.

After the death of Cyril, the alphabet invented by him got its current name. Over time, the Cyrillic alphabet became the basis of all Slavic alphabets, including Russian.

(military and civil governor) of Thessaloniki. The family had seven sons, with Michael (Methodius) being the eldest, and Konstantin (Cyril) being 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 (M. P. Pogodin, G. Irechek) proved 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 prolific life of Cyril (in a later edition), where it is said that he “has come from the sun of the city”; 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: Draguvites, Sagudites, Vayunits, Smolensk 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 residents of Thessalonica, since the life of Methodius ascribes to Emperor Michael such words addressed to the saints:

Khazar mission

Bulgarian mission

The role of Constantine and Methodius in the spread of Christianity in the Bulgarian kingdom has not yet been fully elucidated. Skeptics believe that the brothers during the baptism of Khan Boris carried out the Moravian mission and could not participate in this event. At the same time, a number of Bulgarian researchers are of the opinion that is outlined below.

In Constantinople, the sister of the Bulgarian Khan Boris was held as a hostage. She was baptized with the name Theodora and was brought up in the spirit of the Holy Faith. Around 860, she returned to Bulgaria and began to persuade her brother to accept Christianity. Boris was baptized, taking the name Michael, in honor of the son of the Byzantine Empress Theodora, Emperor Michael III, during whose reign the Bulgarians converted to Christianity. Constantine and Methodius were in this country, and with their preaching, they greatly contributed to the establishment of Christianity in it. From Bulgaria, the Christian faith spread to neighboring Serbia. In 863, with the help of his brother Methodius and his disciples, Constantine compiled the Old Slavonic alphabet and translated the main liturgical books from Greek into Bulgarian. The time of the invention of the Slavic alphabet is evidenced by the legend of the Bulgarian monk Chernorizets the Brave, a contemporary of Tsar Simeon, “On Writings”. He's writing :

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 (see below).

Moravian mission

The alleged tomb of St. Cyril in the church of St. Clement

Before his death, he said to Methodius: “We are with you, like two oxen; from a heavy burden, one fell, the other must continue on his way. The Pope ordained him Archbishop of Moravia and Pannonia. Methodius with his disciples, who received the priesthood, returned to Pannonia, and later to Moravia.

By this time the situation in Moravia had changed dramatically. After Rostislav was defeated by Louis the German and died in a Bavarian prison in 870, his nephew Svyatopolk, who submitted to German political influence, became the Moravian prince. The activity of Methodius and his disciples proceeded in very difficult conditions. The Latin-German clergy in every way prevented the spread of the Slavic language as the language of the church. They even managed to imprison him for three years in one of the Swabian monasteries - Reichenau.

Upon learning of this, Pope John VIII forbade the German bishops to celebrate the liturgy until Methodius was released. True, he also banned worship in the Slavic language, allowing only sermons.

Being restored in the rights of an archbishop in 874, Methodius, despite the prohibition, continued to worship in the Slavic language, baptized the Czech prince Borivoi and his wife Lyudmila.

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 885, Methodius fell seriously ill. Before his death, he appointed his disciple Gorazd as his successor. On April 19, 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 and Croatia.

Pope Adrian II wrote to Prince Rostislav in Prague that if anyone becomes contemptuous of books written in Slavic, 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

Cyril and Methodius with students. Fresco of the monastery "St. Naum", now in the Republic of Macedonia.

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 of Ohrid (which is also mentioned in his Life). Using the created alphabet, the brothers translated the Holy Scriptures and a number of liturgical books from the Greek language.

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 the main part of any work to create a new script. Modern scientists note the high level of this work, which gave designations for almost all scientifically distinguished Slavic sounds, which we owe, apparently, to the outstanding linguistic abilities of Konstantin-Kirill, 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 speaking that 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.” .

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 a non-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 speak of the unity of the Proto-Slavic language until 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 "Russian" should be considered "Sur", that is, "Syrian" . It is significant that in general the whole 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 feast 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.

Notes

THE LIFE OF KONSTANTIN-KIRILL
Cyril and Methodius Equal to the Apostles, Slovenian teachers
Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-05, s.v. "Cyril and Methodius, Saints"; Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica Incorporated, Warren E. Preece - 1972, p.846
// Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
Cyril and Methodius// New encyclopedic dictionary. Volume 21. 1914
EM VERESHCHAGIN From the history of the emergence of the first literary language of the Slavs. Translation technique of Cyril and Methodius)
Cyrillo-Methodius Encyclopedia., Sofia., BAN edition (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences), 1985
S. B. Bernshtein. Slavic languages
History of Byzantium. Volume I, chapter 15.
Encyclopedia od Indo-European Culture, J.P. Mallory and D.Q. Adams, page 301.
Educational activities of Constantine (Cyril) and Methodius
Florya B.N. Legends about the beginning of Slavic writing. M.. 1981, pp. 115-117
Alexey Gippius. Russian scripts The author is a specialist in the Old Russian language, an employee of the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences
S. A. Pletneva. Khazars
Alexander Schmemann, Protopresbyter. The historical path of Orthodoxy. Chapter 5. Byzantium, part 6
First stage
Spelling and punctuation partially adapted to modern. Translation: “If you ask the Slavic scribes ... saying:“ who created your letters or books translated? ”, then everyone knows and in response they will say: Saint Constantine the Philosopher, called Cyril, created those letters and Methodius, his brother did not translate. Because those who saw them are still alive. And if you ask: “what time?”, then they know and say that in the time of Michael, the king of Greece, and Boris, the prince of Bulgaria, and Rastitz, the prince of Moravia, and Kotsel, the prince of Blaten, in the year from the creation of the whole world 6363 ( 863)…”