Cyril is a Slavic educator from Byzantium. Report: Great Slavic Enlighteners. Brothers Cyril and Methodius

From the "Life of Constantine the Philosopher"

If we follow the Russian version of the lives of the saints, then the beginning of work on the compilation of the alphabet can be considered the time when the brothers were in Korsun (Chersonesos) on the way to Khazaria: in Russian, and began to learn from this man to read and speak his language. "

“I found here the Gospel and the Psalter, written in Russian letters, and found a person speaking that language, and talked with him, and understood the meaning of this speech, and, comparing it with his own language, distinguished the letters vowels and consonants, and, making a prayer God, soon began to read and expound (them), and many were amazed at him, praising God. "

What was said in the Life in this case corresponds to the truth: precisely by the Russians. This is not a Slavic syllabic letter, for we are talking about letters, not about syllabic signs; these are not Germanic or Türkic runes, and not even Glagolitic.

According to this "Life", during his journey to the Khazars in 860, Constantine found in the Crimea, in Chersonesos, the Gospel and the Psalter, written in Russian letters ("written in Russian letters"). Further in the "Life" it is said that Constantine met a man who spoke Russian in Chersonesos, entered into a conversation with him, and, having adapted to his language, began to use Russian letters, vowels and consonants to his own (Slavic-Macedonian) speech.

In one of the Russian manuscripts of the 15th century. (in the Explanatory Paley) it is said even more definitely: "And the Russian literacy appeared, given by God, in Korsun to the Rusin, the philosopher Konstantin learned from it, and from there he folded and wrote books in Russian."

The very fact of Constantine's trip to Chersonesos in 860 is beyond doubt. It is confirmed, in particular, by the testimony of a contemporary of Constantine, the papal librarian Anastasius. However, the above passage in the Life has raised doubts among many researchers. Some, for example, O.M.Bodyansky, wondered why it took Eastern Slavs to translate Christian liturgical books into pre-Christian times, and therefore considered this passage of the Life to be a late insertion.

However, in the middle of the IX century. there were already many Christians among the Eastern Slavs; so, according to the testimony of the Byzantine patriarch Photius, in 860 a whole princely squad was baptized. Others suggested that the "Russian letters" are named in the "Life" not Russian letters, but the Scandinavian runes brought to the Eastern Slavs by the Varangians (the tribe "Rus"), or Gothic ("prushokie") and even Syrian ("Surya") letters ...

These assumptions are not very plausible. If the books found by Constantine in Chersonesos had been written in Varangian, Gothic or Syriac, Constantine would not have been able to quickly learn to read and understand them, since he did not know Varangian, Gothic and Syriac languages and letters; meanwhile, in the "Life" it is especially noted that the Greek companions of Constantine were amazed at how quickly Constantine was able to learn to read and speak Russian. It goes without saying that such complex books as the Gospel and the Psalter could not be conveyed by writing like "lines and cuts".

It is most likely that the books found by Constantine were written in Russian in the "proto-Cyrillic" script, which arose from the Greek script.

Let us recall that some Slavic books that existed before the creation of the alphabet by Constantine are also described in the Life of his brother Methodius (“Here God revealed the Slavic books to the philosopher”). In addition, in the so-called "Italian legend" the very sending of the Moravian prince Rostislav of the embassy to Byzantium is linked to the success of Constantine's mission to the Khazars and to Korsun.

There are references to the existence of writing in Russia in the first half of the 10th century. and in the treaties of the Russian princes Oleg and Igor that have come down to us with Byzantium.

So, in the treaty of Prince Oleg with the Greeks (911) there is an indication of the existence of written wills among the Russians. Igor's treaty with the Greeks (944) speaks of gold and silver seals, letters of conveyance, which were handed over to Russian ambassadors and guests traveling to Byzantium. The inclusion in the treaty with Byzantium of special clauses on wills, messengers and guest letters and seals proves not only that all this already existed in Russia at the beginning of the 10th century, but also that it became widespread by the 10th century.

They are monuments of Russian writing of the 10th century. and the Russian treaties themselves with Byzantium, since their translation from Greek into Russian was, apparently, contemporary with the treaties themselves. So, academician S.P. Obnorsky, based on the study of the language of Russian translations of treaties, writes: "The appearance of the texts of treaties translated from Greek could not be either relatively late or simultaneous, and therefore, it should have approximately coincided with the time of the actual conclusion of the corresponding diplomatic acts." Particularly interesting is the indication in the 911 treaty that Russia and Byzantium even in earlier times (ie, back in the 9th century) resolved controversial issues "not only verbally, but also in writing."

Http://maxbooks.ru/writing/stor76.htm

So, Cyril found an already existing Cyrillic alphabet, which was then called "Russian letters", and this is downright deadly evidence of the existence of pre-Cyrillic letters among the Russians!

So there was no need for Cyril to invent the Slavic writing, it already existed before him!

The assumption that before Cyril there existed not only secular, but also Christian writing is confirmed by this evidence.

Note that acquaintance with the existing Slavic writing was an accidental matter, and not particularly significant for Cyril, for his main act was the acquisition of the relics of St. Clement.
that part of the Life of V.A. Istrin retells this:

“In the same place in Chersonesos, Constantine recalls that on the verge of the 1st and 2nd centuries. AD here the Roman bishop Clement was supposedly exiled by the emperor Trajan. According to legend, Clement was drowned by pagans at sea with an anchor around his neck. Constantine searches for the remains of Clement and finds some ancient bones on some island; by the anchor lying next to him, he takes them for the remains of Clement. For some reason, Constantine does not give these remains to one of the Chersonesus churches, but takes them with him to Byzantium. There he also keeps these remains at home, then takes them to Moravia, from Moravia to Rome ... Why? For what? The only possible explanation is that Constantine understood how valuable his find was, and foresaw the role that it could play in his fate. This foresight, as will be shown below, was fully justified. "

Cyril's behavior in Chersonesos does not correspond much to the function of the first teacher of the Slavic, but very much resembles the activity of a Christian missionary. It is also interesting that before his death in 869, he wrote two works that crowned the works of his entire life. Alas, these were not comments about the creation Slavic alphabet or translation notes biblical books into the Slavic language; it was a literary opus "The Finding of the Relics of St. Clement" and a poetic hymn dedicated to the same Clement. That's what Constantine himself considered his life's work!

Yes, Glagolitic writing, having achieved considerable success in the first stage

The construction of a new literary language, at first striking the imagination of many with its freshness, unprecedentedness, bright and exotic novelty, its mysterious appearance, clear correspondence of each individual sound to a certain letter, gradually began to lose ground. Glagolitic meant there was a quality of an object deliberate, deliberately closed, suitable for a narrow circle of insiders, owners of almost secret writing. In the shapes of its letters, every now and then some kind of playfulness, curliness appeared, simple manipulations flashed now and then: turned up in circles - one letter, down in circles - another, circles to the side - a third, added a similar side next to it - the fourth ... But the alphabet as such in the life of the people using it, it cannot be the subject of a joke. This is especially deeply felt by children who, with great attention and downright prayerful tension of all the powers that be, perform the first letters and syllables in their notebooks. The ABC is too closely connected with the main meanings of life, with its sacred heights, to wink with the reader. An illiterate shepherd or a farmer, or a warrior, stopping at a graveyard slab with large incomprehensible letters, despite his ignorance, nevertheless read: something most important is expressed here about the fate of a person unknown to him.

Also for this reason, there is still no pacification around the question of Glagolitic, that the further, the more the prospect of the very origin of the phenomenal alphabet doctrine is shaking. Its appearance to this day excites the imagination of researchers. Competitive activity does not dry up in the search for more and more evidence-based guesses. It is pretentiously called the sacred code, the matrix of the universal sound, to which it is necessary, as to a great sanctuary, to unfold both the Cyrillic alphabet and other European alphabets. Who will have the honor to finally highlight the pedigree of the outlandish guest at the writing feast?

The pool of scientific - and more recently amateur - hypotheses is growing before our very eyes. By now, their volume has become such that experts on the issue seem to be confused themselves at the sight of the non-stop chain reaction of version creation. And many are thinking: isn't it time, finally, to stop, to agree on one thing. Otherwise, the theme of the genesis of Glagolitic will one day drown in the funnel of evil infinity. Not least of all, it is embarrassing that in the confusion and confusion of disputes about the origin of the name, not very attractive methods of arguing authorities are often found.

It is clear that science is not dispassionate. In the heat of intellectual battles, it is not shameful to insist on your own to the end. But it is embarrassing to observe how other people's arguments are deliberately forgotten, well-known written sources or dates are bypassed. Just one example. A modern author, describing in a popular scientific work the Reims Gospel, taken by the daughter of Prince Yaroslav the Wise Anna to France, calls it a Glagolic monument. And for greater persuasiveness, it places an image of a passage written in Croatian handwriting in the style of Gothic Glagolitic. But the manuscript of the Reims Gospel, as is well known in the scientific world, consists of two parts of very unequal age. The first, the oldest, dates back to the 11th century and is made in Cyrillic script. The second, Glagolic, was written and added to the first only in the 14th century. At the beginning of the 18th century, when Peter the Great was visiting France, the manuscript was shown to him as a precious relic, on which the French kings had sworn allegiance, and the Russian tsar immediately began to read aloud the Cyrillic verses of the Gospel, but was puzzled when it came to the Glagolic part.

It has already been partly said that the Greek classical alphabet within the ancient Mediterranean, and then in a wider Euro-Asian area, for more than one millennium was a cultural phenomenon of a very special attractive force. Attraction to him as a role model was outlined even among the Etruscans. Let the vocalization of their written signs have not yet been sufficiently revealed, but the Latins, who replaced the Etruscans in the Apennines, successfully imitated two alphabets to arrange their own writing: the Greek and the Etruscan.

Until now, the problem of the Slavic alphabet was solved by philologists, believing that the first alphabet is the one that solved philological problems, that is, the transmission of Slavic sounds in writing.

For this, Cyril had to be a philologist. And he had the nickname Philosopher and was the messenger of the patriarch, then the pope on very delicate religious issues. Honestly, the alphabet for government documents, and even more so for books by secular authors or for personal records ordinary people he was not interested.

He needed to create a writing system for sacred texts in order to be able not only to translate from Greek or Latin, but also to transfer numerous proper names, as well as many biblical terms and realities, without distortion. And this is a completely different task. In other words, he needed to create the first Christian alphabet, perhaps even already - the first alphabet for the Orthodox Slavs (although Catholicism at that time had not yet officially dissociated itself from Orthodoxy).

And from this point of view, no matter how many secular alphabets exist by this time, the alphabet of Orthodoxy will still be the first in its intended purpose. And even more than that: if the alphabet for Catholics already existed, then in this case the alphabet for Orthodox Christians can quite rightly be called "the first Slavic".

Taking this position, one can quite reasonably combine two mutually exclusive theses: Cyril created the Cyrillic alphabet as the first Orthodox Christian Slavic letter, and the Glagolitic alphabet could be either the first secular Slavic letter, or the first Catholic Christian letter.

Did the Solunsk brothers create Slavic writing? In other words, did they create not a confessional, but a general civil letter? Nobody dared to pose this problem seriously. After all, a negative answer to the question would mean (again, within the framework of the current paradigm) that Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius did not create the Slavic alphabet as the work of their entire lives (as many researchers of their work often call it), and, therefore, they were simply Greek missionaries in the Slavic lands (of which there were several other people besides them).

And then the creation of the Slavic nationwide alphabet is deprived of the sacred halo and leaves the number of national holidays of the Orthodox Church of the Slavic countries. This is a very tangible loss, which, for example, the Russian Orthodox Church is unlikely to accept. Even the change of Cyrillic to Verb as the alphabet created by Cyril has already considerably muddied the once perfect picture of the introduction to Christianity of the Slavic part of Europe.

Rejoice, Methodius and Cyril,

language of Slovenian apostles and divine wisdom teaching

Once the holy Apostle Paul, prostrating himself with the preaching of the Gospel from one country to another, reached the limit set by nature between two parts of the world - he stopped at Troas, on the shores of the strait separating Asia from Europe. Here one of the inhabitants of the European coast, a Macedonian, appeared to him in a dream, and called the apostle to help him in Macedonia (Acts 16: 8-10). It was the will of God to grant this tribe the benefit of salvation. The apostle obeyed this calling, and many grateful successes accompanied his preaching in that country. The Church of Philip and the Church of Thessalonia are a model for all believers (Sol. 1: 7), the joy and crown of the apostle (Phil. 4: 1) stand before us in Paul's writings as eternal monuments and testimonies of his educational activity.

Centuries have passed, and another time has come when the Slavic peoples, just entering the stage of historical life, began to need an intelligible sermon and national worship. And in 863, the embassy of the ruler of Great Moravia, Prince Rostislav, arrived in Constantinople, asking to send teachers to preach in the country that had recently adopted Christianity. The Byzantine emperor decided to send there learned monks, familiar with the life and customs of the local population. And then the Macedonian Church presented the Slavs equal to the apostles leaders, in the person of Saints Cyril and Methodius, natives of Thessalonians.

These enlighteners became the compilers of the Slavic literacy. The word of the Gospel was entrusted to the new writings, they conveyed the prayers of the divine service. And thanks to Saints Cyril and Methodius, the Slavs began to hear the word of the Lord in their native language, and were also able to praise Him with dignity. These are two necessary needs of piety, without the satisfaction of which there is no living Christianity.

And as soon as the word of God and the liturgy appeared in the Slavic language, there was a need for Slavic priests. Consequently, the Slavs had to have their own sacred hierarchy - important condition for the prosperity of each Church in its people. And, indeed, the first task of the enlighteners was to prepare from the local residents worthy servants of the altar of the Lord. Conceived on such broad and solid foundations, the enlightenment of the Slavs could not do without schools. And the holy evangelists founded them wherever they worked. These schools satisfied not only the needs of the clergy, but also contributed to the emergence of educated people who could themselves work for the benefit of the newly founded Slavic Church. Some translated from Greek for the edification of the church and domestic words and the lives of the saints; others transmitted the dogmatic creations of the fathers and interpretations to Holy Scripture; others themselves undertook to explain Scripture and to defend the truth of Orthodoxy from heretics. The remarkable abundance of such works in the early days of Slavic preaching shows how beneficial the work of our enlighteners was. What was it high life what a strong and fruitful activity!

On the Slavic land, the divine fire of the holy faith of Christ was kindled. And, if you pay attention to the original monuments of ancient Slavic writing, you can see how they laid the foundation for the theological and philosophical language - the foundations of that positive knowledge, which later became so famous for Slavic scholarship. Gradually, the now established terms began to be developed for abstract objects, before the adoption of Christianity by the Slavs unknown. This speaks of the attention and scrupulousness with which the enlightened translators acted. So in Greek works they often met the word "divine", referring to objects and actions that are not God's own. And in order not to confuse the concepts in the newly enlightened Christians, they used the previously unknown words "great", "saint." To designate virtues, they began to use "voluntariness", "good nature", "good disposition", "kindness", believing that the essence of virtue consists not in external activity, but in the improvement of will and disposition.

But the holy enlighteners dealt not only with the school, but above all with the people: they had to speak with them in a special language in order to act on them more successfully. It should be noted that Saint Cyril, nicknamed the Philosopher for his learning, especially mastered the art of presenting his instructions to the people visually, in parables. This wise imitation of the gospel way of teaching, of course, has not lost its significance even today, as applied to a people who are not accustomed to abstract speculation. Thanks to being so close to people Slavic educators completely captured his attention.

But those called to work for those baptized into the Orthodox faith, Saints Cyril and Methodius, with their zeal, their preaching, their ceremonial worship, attracted many Slavs who did not believe in Christ. Many of them were baptized by the holy brothers in Moravia and neighboring regions; Saint Methodius preached the Gospel in the Czech land and baptized Saint Princess Ludmila. The example of the Equal-to-the-Apostles brothers, and their labors in translating sacred books, facilitated the success of the preaching of Christianity among the Slavs in subsequent times. The Eastern and Southern Slavs were not imposed on the Latin liturgy, as was the case with the German preachers in Pomorie. And wherever it was reasonably offered to preach in their native language, the Slavs freely submitted to Christianity, taking along with it the written language.

The example of the Slavic enlighteners later became a living subject for imitation in Russia for the disseminators of the Gospel among foreigners. This is how Saint Stephen acted in Perm, the Monk Tryphon of Vyatka and other later evangelists among the Yakuts, Mongols, Altai, etc.

Introducing the word of God and the Liturgy in a common language among the Slavic peoples, the holy enlighteners Cyril and Methodius decided the question of our Orthodoxy and the future of the Slavic peoples. In those years, a dispute was already flaring up between the Eastern and Western Churches, aroused by the claims of the lust for power and self-love of the Roman hierarchs. Saint Cyril was a disciple of the blessed Patriarch Photius, who rose to the defense of Orthodoxy and the Eastern Orthodox Church. Operating in a territory independent from the Patriarchate of Constantinople, but adjacent to the Roman throne, the Slavic enlighteners had to be extremely careful not to arm themselves against the power of Rome to the detriment of paternal Orthodoxy. Their great confession of faith testifies to this. With this firmness they kept the peoples enlightened by them in Orthodoxy. And the unreasonable persecution raised by the Roman Church against the Slavic liturgy even more disposed the Slavs to fear rapprochement with the West and to cherish the God-wise freedom of the Orthodox East. This is how the holy enlighteners defined our history, our spiritual heritage, our salvation.

No matter how great the invention of the Slavic literacy was, no matter how significant for every nation the beginning of its writing - all this was also perceived as a powerful tool that received the proper meaning in the great triumph of the enterprise organized by the enlighteners. On these powerful foundations, the work of enlightenment then embraced all the Slavs, and not in general abstract lines, but in the living representatives of the then Slavic world, in its typical and largest faces. In the Bulgarian branch, where this great work of Slavic enlightenment was born, and where then majestically flourished; along the Danube, where the first teachers walked between the Slavic settlements; in Moravia, where they concentrated all their power better time their activities; in Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Poland, where the rays of the new enlightenment quickly penetrated along the outskirts of the vast Moravian state; in Serbia, which was in a hurry to join the common cause, and took it under the roof of its power from the hands of weakening Bulgaria; and, finally, in the south of Russia. It was there that Saint Cyril sowed the undying seeds of his preaching in Kherson, where Prince Vladimir of Kiev later came to win the keys of this newly-minted world. It was from there that the Bulgarians came to Russia with a new literacy, new books and Orthodox worship, Slavic church singing, and from where Nestor the chronicler drew his ardently expressed conviction that with the unity of literacy, the Slavs are one language and people, and Russia is part of this great heritage and wealth.

Indeed, both literacy and all writing that arose then still contain the features of true, real enlightenment. This enlightenment became the source and symbol of Slavic unity. And all the branches of the Slavs felt their common, root unity of the tribe, then the unity of the language, which expressed the unity of the elements of the people, and then served as a new means of higher, spiritual unity. All this was accomplished with the help of literacy, the writing generated by it and the high creativity caused by all this. Slavic culture.

And then more than half of Europe from Constantinople across the entire eastern half of the Balkan Peninsula, in the vast Bulgarian state, along the entire Danube, in modern Hungary, to the outskirts of Poland, Czech Republic, Croatia and Serbia, finally to Kiev and Novgorod, awakened in a grandiose historical movement. Here, whole masses of the people were called to a new life, exchanging embassies and letters with each other, establishing various cultural and trade ties. The best leaders of the people, the most educated Slavic minds of that time - all were united in a common cause; all the governments of the Slavic peoples were in the works, at the head of the activity were the sovereigns: Michael the Greek; Boris and Simeon Bulgarian; Rostislav, Svyatopolk Moravian; Vladislav and Ludmila Czech; Russian Olga, Vladimir and Yaroslav - what great names, what incomparable power!

And in our days, each new search for the glorious deed of the Slavic enlighteners, each new work according to Church Slavonic grammar or a printed edition of the monument to Cyril's writing, shed light on modern Slavic dialects, on the fate of Slavic science. The works of modern Slavists, directed by their gaze at that distant time and era, help to understand the development paths of modern Slavic languages and all Slavic literature. And the very history of the Slavic peoples becomes clearer the more, the closer we get to their single great beginning. And if the awareness of this beginning has such a strong influence on modern Slavic studies in science and life, then, on the contrary, every new phenomenon in the life of the modern Slavic world awakens the memory of the past, gives a reason to better understand it, appreciate it, explore and recreate it.

It is therefore understandable that in our days the work of Saints Equal to the Apostles Cyril and Methodius is not yet over. Their preaching gave rise to an independent Slavic hierarchy; their labors laid the foundation for the development of theological, historical and philological sciences among the Slavic peoples. And in modern conditions it is necessary to continue the further development of all this positive knowledge. And much more jealousy is needed, a lot of common efforts in order to worthily continue the work of the holy enlighteners.

The dying word of Saint Cyril is recalled here. Caught up in a fatal illness in the prime of his life, almost at the very beginning of his labors among the Slavs and in view of the multitude of work to come, he was touchingly saying goodbye to his brother, fearing that he would have an intention to return to his former monastic life in the monastery. “You and I, like two oxen, were driving one furrow. And I am falling on my line, my day is over. And you do not try to leave the labors of the teachings in order to retire to your mountain. Not here, among the Slavs, rather you can find salvation. " Let this testament of holy jealousy respond with the strongest excitement in the soul of each of the summoned and newly summoned figures in the field of enlightenment and teaching.

And here is the last memory. Between the ancient prayers of Church Slavonic books, one thing has survived, “at the beginning of the teaching,” in which the priest prays for the youth: “Give him, Lord, from David's mind, from Solomon's wisdom, and from Kiril's cunning. Let him stand with the priest and with all your saints. " For this, among other things, cunning is asked, that is, the sharpness of the mind of the wise teacher of the Slavs, Cyril, so that the one who comprehends new knowledge can use it with dignity and benefit for the benefit of himself and other people.

May this petition be a constant desire in the minds and hearts of all of us, who are called to preserve and increase the glorious legacy of the great Slavic teachers, Saints Cyril and Methodius.

Saints Cyril and Methodius did a titanic job - they brought the Slavs to a fundamentally new level. Instead of a disunited and heterogeneous paganism, the Slavs had a single Orthodox faith, from the people, not ...

Saints Cyril and Methodius did a titanic job - they brought the Slavs to a fundamentally new level. Instead of a disunited and heterogeneous paganism, a single Orthodox faith appeared among the Slavs, from a people without a written language, the Slavs became a people with their own unique writing, for centuries it was common to all Slavs.

In the 9th century, the history of the apostolic age was repeated, how the twelve disciples of Christ were able to change the world of the Mediterranean, so two selfless missionaries, through preaching and scientific works, were able to bring a huge ethnic group of Slavs into the family of Christian nations.

The beginning of the ministry

The brothers Cyril and Methodius were born at the beginning of the 9th century in Thessaloniki, in a city where, in addition to the native inhabitants of the Greeks, many Slavs lived. Therefore, the Slavic language was practically their native language for them. The elder brother, Methodius, made a good administrative career, for some time he served as a strategist (military governor) in the Byzantine province of Slavinia.

The younger, Constantine (this was the name Cyril bore before taking monasticism) chose the path of a scientist. He studied at the University of Constantinople, which existed at the imperial court - in the capital of Byzantium, the university was founded long before the opening of such educational institutions in Western Europe.

Among the teachers of Constantine were remarkable representatives of the "Macedonian Renaissance" Leo the Mathematician and Photius, the future patriarch of Constantinople. Constantine was promised a promising secular career, but he preferred pursuing science and serving the Church. He was never a priest, but he was ordained a reader - this is one of the degrees of clergy. For his love of philosophy, Constantine was named Philosopher.

As the best graduate, he was left at the university by a teacher, and at the age of 24 he was entrusted with a matter of state importance - as part of the diplomatic embassy, he went to Baghdad, to the court of Caliph Al-Mutawakkil. In those days, theological disputes with gentiles were common, so the theologian was certainly a member of the diplomatic mission.

Today, at religious summits, representatives of different faiths talk about anything, just not about religion, but then the issues of faith in society were priority, and Constantine the Philosopher, having arrived at the court of the Caliph, testified to the Baghdad Muslims about the truths of Christianity.

Khazar mission: on the territory of modern Russia

The next mission was no less difficult, because went to the Khazar Kaganate, whose rulers professed Judaism. It began shortly after the siege of Constantinople and the plundering of its outskirts by the "Russian" squads of Askold and Dir in 860.

Probably, Emperor Michael III wanted to enter into an alliance with the Khazars and involve them in the defense of the northern borders. Byzantine Empire from the warlike ross. Another reason for the embassy could be the position of Christians in the territories controlled by the Khazars - in Taman and Crimea. The Jewish elite oppressed Christians, and the embassy had to resolve this issue.

The embassy from the Sea of Azov went up the Don to the transfer to the Volga and along it went down to the capital of Khazaria - Itil. There was no kagan here, so I had to get to Semender (the area of modern Makhachkala) across the Caspian Sea.

Uncovering of the relics of Clement of Rome near Chersonesos. Miniature from the Menology of Emperor Basil II. XI century

Constantine the Philosopher managed to resolve the issue - the Christians of Khazaria were restored freedom of religion, their church organization in Taman and the Crimea (Fully Archdiocese) was restored. In addition to important administrative issues for the protection of Khazar Christians, the priests of the embassy baptized 200 Khazars.

The Russians defeated the Khazars with a sword, and Konstantin the Philosopher with a word!

During this journey, Saint Cyril miraculously found the relics of Saint Clement, Pope of Rome, on a small island in the bay near Chersonesos (now it is called Cossack), who died in exile in Crimea in 101.

Moravian mission

Saint Cyril, endowed with great ability to learn languages, differed from ordinary polyglots in that he was able to construct an alphabet. He spent this most difficult work on creating the Slavic alphabet for a long time, in those months when he managed to stay in the monastic silence on the Little Olympus.

The fruit of prayer and intellectual hard work was the Cyrillic alphabet, the Slavic alphabet, which underlies the Russian alphabet and others. Slavic alphabets and writing (I must say that in the 19th century there was an opinion that Saint Cyril created the Glagolitic language, but this issue is still controversial).

The work done by Cyril cannot be called simply professional, the creation of an alphabet and writing that was brilliant in its simplicity was a matter of the highest and even divine level! This is confirmed by such an impartial expert in Russian literature as Leo Tolstoy:

"The Russian language and the Cyrillic alphabet have a huge advantage and difference over all European languages and alphabets ... The advantage of the Russian alphabet is that every sound in it is pronounced - and pronounced as it is, which is not in any language."

With almost a ready-made alphabet, Cyril and Methodius went on a mission to Moravia in 863, at the invitation of Prince Rostislav. The prince was overpowered by Western missionaries, but the Latin used by the German priests was not understandable to the Slavs, so the Moravian prince turned to the Byzantine emperor Michael III with a request to send them a "bishop and teacher" who would convey the truth of the faith in his native language for the Slavs language.

Vasilevs sent Constantine the Philosopher and his brother Methodius to Great Moravia, who by that time had left the secular service and accepted monasticism.

During their stay in Moravia, Cyril and Methodius translated those liturgical books that are used during worship, including the Gospel and the Apostle. In the Moravian mission, which lasted three years and four months, the holy brothers laid the foundations of the Slavic written tradition, the Slavs were able not only to participate in divine services performed in their native language, but also to better understand the foundations of the Christian faith.

Cyril and Methodius pass on the alphabet to the Slavs

One of the points of the program of the Moravian mission was the creation of a church structure, i.e. a diocese independent of Rome and its clergy. And the claims of the Bavarian clergy to Great Moravia were serious, Cyril and Methodius had a conflict with clergy from the East Frankish kingdom, who considered it permissible to conduct church service only in Latin, and argued that the Holy Scriptures should not be translated into the Slavic language. Of course, given such a position, there could be no question of the success of Christian preaching.

Cyril and Methodius twice had to defend the correctness of their convictions before the Western clergy, the second time - before Pope Adrian II himself.

When we try to imagine the beginning of Russian literacy, our thought necessarily turns to the history of writing. The importance of writing in the history of the development of civilization can hardly be overestimated. In the language, as in a mirror, the whole world is reflected, our whole life. The possibilities of writing are not limited by either time or distance. But people did not always possess the art of writing. This art has been developing for a long time, over many millennia.
First, a picture letter (pictography) appeared: an event was depicted in the form of a picture. The next step is no longer an image of an event, but of individual objects, and then the writing of conventional signs (ideography, hieroglyphs). Finally, they learned not to depict objects, but to convey their names by signs (sound writing). Initially, only consonants were used in sound writing, and vowels were either not perceived at all, or were indicated by additional signs (syllabic writing). The syllabic writing was in use among many Semitic peoples, including the Phoenicians.
The Greeks created their alphabet based on the Phoenician writing, but significantly improved it by introducing special signs for vowels, and in the 9th century a Slavic letter was created by using the letters of the Greek alphabet. This is how it happened.
At that time in Byzantium, in the city of Solun (now the city of Thessaloniki in Greece), lived two brothers - Constantine and Methodius. They were wise and very educated people and knew the Slavic language well. Methodius was the eldest of seven brothers, and the youngest was Constantine. He received the name Cyril when he was tonsured into monasticism just before his death. Father Methodius and Constantine held the high post of assistant to the governor of the city. There is an assumption that their mother was a Slav, because the brothers from childhood knew the Slavic language as well as Greek.
Future Slavic educators received an excellent upbringing and education. Constantine discovered extraordinary mental gifts from infancy. While studying at the Solunskaya school and not yet reaching fifteen years of age, he had already read the books of the most thoughtful of the Church Fathers - Gregory the Theologian (IV century). The rumor about the talent of Constantine reached Constantinople, and then he was taken to the court, where he studied with the son of the emperor under the best teachers of the capital of Byzantium. Constantine studied ancient literature with the famous scientist Photius, the future Patriarch of Constantinople. He also studied philosophy, rhetoric, mathematics, astronomy and music. Constantine expected a brilliant career at the imperial court, wealth and marriage to a noble beautiful girl... But he preferred to retire to a monastery “on Olympus to Methodius, his brother,” says his biography, “began to live there and constantly pray to God, studying only books”.
However, Constantine did not manage to spend time in solitude for a long time. As the best preacher, he is often sent to neighbouring countries to participate in disputes. These trips were very successful for Constantine.
The Life of Constantine-Cyril describes the request of the Moravian prince Rostislav to send a teacher who can expound the Christian faith in the Slavic language. And here is an interesting conversation between the Byzantine king Michael and Constantine.
"A philosopher," the king turns to Constantine, "I know that you are tired, but it befits you to go, for no one can do this deed like you."
The Philosopher answered: "My body is tired, and I am sick, but I will go with joy if they have letters for their language ... Learning without the alphabet and without books is the same as writing a conversation on the water."
The king said to him again: "If you want, then God can give you, which gives to all who ask without a doubt, and opens them to those who knock." The Philosopher went and, according to his old custom, began to pray with other helpers. And soon God revealed to him that he was listening to the prayers of His servants, and then he folded the letters and began to write the words of the Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
In the life of Constantine-Cyril, the creation of the Slavic alphabet by him is described as a great miracle and revelation of God. And in fact, both for the contemporaries of Saint Cyril and for us, descendants, the creation of Slavic writing is a miracle. Konstantin did not limit himself to creating an alphabet with all the signs necessary for pronouncing Slavic words, but immediately began to translate the most diverse in form literary works and above all prayers and passages from the Bible.
The Bible contains samples of biographies of specific persons and panoramic descriptions of the history of nations, samples of the most exquisite poetry and laconic dialogues, samples of sermons, parables and commandments. Each genre has its own laws, requires its own literary forms, special pictorial techniques.
except Holy Scripture, Constantine, and then Methodius translated liturgical books, in which the peculiarities of pronouncing the text in a chant or singing it should be reflected. Greek literary language had by this time more than a thousand-year tradition. And to create such an instrument of Slavic writing, which would convey all the literary subtleties of the Greek originals, vocabulary richness, a variety of styles, is truly a task not for one person and not for one century. And “The Tale of Bygone Years” testifies: “Methodius planted two priests, good cursive writers, and translated all the books completely from Greek into Slavic in six months ...”
Slavic book language (Old Church Slavonic) became widespread as a common language for many Slavic peoples. It was used by the South Slavs (Bulgarians, Serbs, Croats), Western Slavs (Czechs, Slovaks), Eastern Slavs (Ukrainians, Belarusians, Russians). When the brothers compiled the Slavic alphabet, they translated the book of the Acts of the Holy Apostles and the Gospel.
However, there were people who began to blaspheme Slavic books and said that "no nation should have its own alphabet, except for Jews, Greeks and Latins, as in the inscription of Pilate, who wrote on the cross of the Lord only in these languages."
To protect the Slavic letters, the brothers Constantine and Methodius went to Rome. The Roman bishop condemned those who murmur against the Slavic books, saying: “May the word of Scripture be fulfilled:“ Let all nations praise God! ” That is, let each nation pray to God in its own language. ” So the Divine service in the Slavic language was approved.
Once, traveling to the Khazars, Konstantin visited the Crimea. Having baptized up to two hundred people and taking with him the captured Greeks who were released, Constantine returned to the capital of Byzantium and began to continue his scientific works there. His whole life was a feat in fulfilling the will of God. Frequent difficult travel, heavy hardship and very strenuous work undermined his strength, and at 42 he became very ill. Sensing his imminent end, he accepted monasticism, changing his worldly name Constantine to the name of Cyril. After that, he lived for another 50 days, the last time he read the confessional prayer himself, said goodbye to his brother and his disciples, and quietly died on February 14, 869. It happened in Rome, when the brothers once again came to seek protection from the Pope for their cause - the spread of Slavic writing. Cyril is buried in Rome in the church of St. Clement.
Before his death, Cyril said to his brother: “You and I, like two oxen, led the same furrow. I was exhausted, but do not think to leave the labors of teaching and retire to your mountain again ”. Methodius outlived his brother by 16 years. Enduring deprivation and reproach, he continued the great work - translation of sacred books into the Slavic language, preaching the Word of God, baptism Slavic people... On April 6, 885, he died, leaving as his successor the best of his disciples, the Archbishop of Gorazd and about two hundred priests trained by him - Slavs.
The creation of the Slavic alphabet was the final stage in the centuries-old process of creating writing. Chernorizets Brave wrote that Cyril relied on the experience of creating world alphabets and even began his alphabet with the same letter as the earlier Hebrew and Greek alphabets, but he streamlined the Slavic writing and thereby also accomplished a scientific feat.

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Ministry of Education of the Nizhny Novgorod Region State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education Nizhny Novgorod State Engineering and Economic Institute (GBOU VPO NGIEI)

Faculty: economic

Department: Humanities

By discipline: Patriotic history

On the subject: "The great Slavic educators Cyril and Methodius"

Performed:

Orlova A.S.

Knyaginino

Introduction

· Monasticism;

· Activity;

· Khazar mission of Cyril and Methodius;

· Bulgarian mission;

· Moravian mission;

· Last years of life;

2. Cyril and Methodius after death;

· Disciples of Saints Cyril and Methodius;

Veneration

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

Since childhood, we get used to the letters of our Russian alphabet and rarely think about when and how our writing arose. The beginning of writing is a special milestone in the history of each nation, in the history of its culture. In the depths of millennia and centuries, the names of the creators of the writing of a particular people or language family... But Slavic writing has an absolutely amazing origin. Thanks to a number of historical evidences, we know about the beginning of Slavic writing and about their creators - Saints Cyril and Methodius, who created the Slavic alphabet, and who performed the first translations of liturgical books from Greek into Slavic.

Cyril and Methodius came from the Byzantine city of Thessaloniki (Thessaloniki, Slavonic "Solun"). Their father, named Leo, "of a good family and rich", was a Drungari, that is, an officer, under the strategy (military and civilian governor) of Thessalonica. The family had seven sons, with Mikhail (Methodius) being the eldest, and Konstantin (Cyril) the youngest of them.

According to the version most widespread in science, Cyril and Methodius were 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 whom the Macedonian Slavs were also numbered until the 20th century), relying, in particular, on the padded life of Cyril (in a later edition), where it is said that he was “come from blgarin from salt to hail”; this idea is readily supported by modern Bulgarian scientists.

Thessaloniki, in which the brothers were born, was a bilingual city. In addition to the Greek language, the Slavic Solun dialect sounded in them, which was spoken by the surrounding tribes of Thessaloniki: Draguvites, Sagudites, Vayunits, Smolyans, and which, according to the research of modern linguists, formed the basis of the translation language of Cyril and Methodius, and with them the whole church Slavic language... An analysis of the language translated by Cyril and Methodius shows that they knew Slavic as their mother tongue. The latter, however, does not yet speak in favor of their Slavic origin and apparently did not distinguish them from other inhabitants of Thessaloniki.

Before being tonsured a monk, Methodius, with the support of a friend and patron of the family, the great eunuch of the eunuch Theoktist, made a good military and administrative career, crowned with the post of strategist in Slavinia, a Byzantine province located on the territory of Macedonia.

Constantine was a very educated person for his time. Even before traveling to Moravia, he compiled the Slavic alphabet and began to translate the Gospel into the Slavic language. The translations of Cyril and Methodius, and their students, not only laid the foundations of Christian morality, culture and civilization among the Slavs, but also developed their skills and abilities to write and speak correctly and beautifully.

Language and writing are perhaps the most important culture-forming factors. If the people are deprived of the right or the opportunity to speak their native language, this will be the hardest blow to their native culture. If a person is deprived of books in his native language, then he will be deprived of the most important treasures of his culture. Therefore, what the holy brothers have done for us is an indisputable great feat in the name of the formation of culture.

How do we know about the educational activities of the brothers Cyril and Methodius and the beginning of Slavic writing?

Contemporaries and disciples of the first teachers of the Slavs were their lives in the Church Slavonic language. These biographies have passed centuries of verification for reliability and to this day are recognized by Slavists of all countries. critical sources on the history of Slavic writing and culture.

The aim of the work is to reveal the historical personalities of Cyril and Methodius on the basis of scientific and educational literature.

Work tasks:

1. On the basis of scientific and educational literature, find out who Cyril and Methodius are;

2. Study their biography;

3. Find out the meaning of their activities;

4. Communicate to students about these historical figures.

1. Who are Cyril and Methodius:

Monasticism

Constantine studied under the best teachers of Constantinople in philosophy, dialectics, geometry, arithmetic, rhetoric, astronomy, as well as in many languages. At the end of his studies, refusing to conclude a very profitable marriage with the goddaughter of the logoeta, Constantine took the priesthood and entered the service as a Khartophylax (literally "keeper of the library"; in fact, this was equal to the modern title of academician) at the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Constantinople. But, neglecting the benefits of his position, he retired to one of the monasteries for Black Sea coast... For some time he lived in seclusion. Then he was almost forcibly returned to Constantinople and was determined to teach philosophy at the same Manavr University, where he himself had recently studied (since then, the nickname Constantine the Philosopher has been consolidated behind him). At one of the theological disputes, Cyril won a brilliant victory over the experienced leader of the iconoclasts, the former Patriarch Annius, which brought him wide fame in the capital.

Around 850, Emperor Michael III and Patriarch Photius sent Constantine to Bulgaria, where he converted many Bulgarians to Christianity on the Bregalnitsa River.

The next year, Cyril, together with George, Metropolitan of Nicomedia, went to the court of the militia emir to acquaint him with the basics of Christianity.

In 856 the logofet Theoktist, who was Constantine's patron, was killed. Constantine, together with his disciples Clement, Naum and Angelarius, came to the monastery, where his brother Methodius was the abbot. In this monastery, around Constantine and Methodius, a group of like-minded people formed and the idea of creating the Slavic alphabet arose.

Activity

The translation work of Constantine the Philosopher began with the Gospel of John. The first words inscribed in Slavic letters were initial words Easter Gospel Reading.

The Gospel of John stands out from all the biblical books for the abundance of religious and philosophical concepts and categories. Through the Church Slavonic translation of this Gospel, made by Cyril and Methodius, many philosophical (ontological, epistemological, aesthetic, ethical) entered the Slavic language and everyday life of Slavic philosophy.

The creation of Slavic writing was not only the invention of the alphabet with all the signs characteristic of the written expression of speech. A colossal work was also done to create a new toolkit for Slavic writing. The books translated from Greek and written in the Slavic language by Cyril and Methodius contained examples of a number of literary genres. For example, biblical texts included historical and biographical genres, monologues and dialogues, as well as examples of the most exquisite poetry. The Slavic liturgical texts that came out of the pen of the first teachers were for the most part intended to convey a philosophical character. The first translations of patristic texts (the creation of the Holy Fathers) into the Slavic language included works of a philosophical nature. The very first church-canonical Slavic collections contained translations of monuments of Byzantine legislation, that is, they laid the foundation for the legal literature of the Slavs.

Each literary genre has its own characteristics and requires its own verbal forms and visual means. To create a full-fledged toolkit of Slavic writing, which, on the one hand, would preserve the natural beauty of the Slavic language, and on the other hand, convey all the literary merits and subtleties of the Greek originals, is truly a task for several generations. But historical sources testify that this huge philological work was done by the Solun brothers and their immediate students in an amazingly short time. This is all the more surprising because the Orthodox missionaries Cyril and Methodius, although they had an excellent knowledge of the Slavic dialect, had neither scientific grammar, nor dictionaries, nor samples of highly artistic Slavic writing.

Khazar mission

In 860, Constantine was sent for missionary purposes to the court of the Khazar Kagan. According to the life, the embassy was sent in response to the request of the kagan, who promised, if persuaded, to accept Christianity. During his stay in Korsun, Constantine, preparing for the polemic, studied the Hebrew language, the Samaritan letter, and along with them some kind of "Russian" letter and language (it is believed that in the life a slip of the tongue and instead of "Russian" letters should be read "Surya", that is, the Syrian - Aramaic; in any case, this is not the Old Russian language, which at that time was not distinguished from the common Slavic). The dispute between Constantine and the Muslim imam and the Jewish rabbi, which took place in the presence of the kagan, according to the "Life" ended in victory for Constantine, but the kagan did not change his faith. Arab sources and "Letter of Joseph" give a different picture: the rabbi was declared the winner in the dispute, who pitched Constantine against the imam and, after waiting for them to discredit each other in front of the kagan in a mutual dispute, then proved to the kagan the advantages of the Jewish faith.

Bulgarian mission

The role of Constantine and Methodius in the spread of Christianity in the Bulgarian kingdom is still not fully understood. 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 adhere to the opinion that is stated below.

The sister of the Bulgarian khan Boris was held hostage in Constantinople. She was baptized with the name of Theodora and was brought up in the spirit of the Holy Faith. About 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 were converted to Christianity. Constantine and Methodius were in this country and by their preaching contributed much 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 Church Slavonic alphabet and translated the main liturgical books from Greek into Bulgarian. The legend of the Bulgarian monk Chernorizets the Brave, a contemporary of Tsar Simeon, "On the Letters", testifies to the time of the invention of the Slavic alphabet.

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

Experts still have not come to a consensus about which of the two Slavic alphabets - Glagolitic or Cyrillic - is Konstantin.

Moravian mission

In 862, ambassadors from the Moravian prince Rostislav came to Constantinople with the following request: “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. " The emperor and patriarch rejoiced and, calling on the Solun brothers, invited them to go to the morals.

In Moravia, Constantine and Methodius continued to translate church books from Greek into the Slavic language, taught the Slavs to read, write and conduct worship in the Slavic language. The brothers stayed in Moravia for more than three years, and then went with the disciples 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 to three languages, on which the inscription was made on the Cross of the Lord: Hebrew, Greek and Latin. Therefore, Constantine and Methodius, who preached Christianity in Moravia, were perceived as heretics and summoned to Rome. There they hoped to find support in the struggle against the German clergy, who did not want to give up their positions in Moravia and hindered the spread of Slavic writing. On the way to Rome, they visited another Slavic country - Pannonia, where the Blatensky principality was located. Here, in Blatnograd, on the instructions of Prince Kocel, the brothers taught the Slavs book business and worship in the Slavic language. After Constantine handed over to Pope Adrian II the relics of St. Clement that he had found in his Chersonesus journey, he approved the divine service in the Slavic language, and ordered that the translated books be placed in Roman churches. At the behest of the Pope, Formosus (Bishop of Porto) and Gauderic (Bishop Velletri) ordained three brothers who had traveled with Constantine and Methodius as priests, and the latter was ordained to the episcopal rank.

last years of life

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

Before his death, he said to Methodius: “You and I are like two oxen; from a heavy burden one fell, the other must continue on his way. " The Pope ordained him to the rank of Archbishop of Moravia and Pannonia. Methodius, with his disciples who were ordained priests, 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 became a Moravian prince, who submitted to German political influence. The activity of Methodius and his disciples proceeded in a very difficult conditions... The Latin-German clergy in every possible 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 freed. True, he also banned worship in the Slavic language, allowing only sermons.

Having been restored to the rights of archbishop in 874, Methodius, despite the prohibition, continued the divine service in the Slavic language, baptized the Czech prince Borivoj and his wife Lyudmila.

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

In 881, Methodius came to Constantinople at the invitation of Emperor Basil I of Macedonian. There he spent three years, after which he returned to Moravia with his disciples. With the help of three students, he translated the Old Testament and the patristic books into the Slavic language.

In 885, Methodius fell seriously ill. Before his death, he appointed a disciple of Gorazd as his successor. April 19, at Palm Sunday he asked to be taken to the temple, where he preached a sermon. He died on the same day. The funeral service for Methodius took place in three languages - Slavic, Greek and Latin.

2. 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.

In Bulgaria and subsequently in Croatia, Serbia and Kievan Rus the Slavic alphabet, created by the brothers, became widespread. In some regions of Croatia, until the middle of the 20th century, the liturgy of the Latin rite was served in the Slavic language. Since the liturgical books were written in Glagolitic, this rite was called Glagolic.

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

Disciples of Saints Cyril and Methodius

Cyril and Methodius developed a special alphabet for writing texts in the Slavic language - the Glagolitic alphabet. At present, among historians, the point of view of V.A. Istrina, 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 Greek.

It should be noted that even if the Cyrillic letterforms were developed by Clement, he relied on the work of isolating the sounds of the Slavic language done by Cyril and Methodius, and this work is the main part of any work on creating a new writing system. Modern scholars 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 Constantine-Cyril noted in the sources.

Sometimes it is asserted about the existence of Slavic writing before Cyril and Methodius, based on an excerpt from the life of Cyril, which says about books written in "Russian letters":

"And the Philosopher found here<в Корсуни>The Gospel and the Psalter, written in Russian letters, and found a person speaking that speech. And I talked with him and understood the meaning of the language, correlating the differences between vowels and consonants with my own language. And raising prayer to God, he soon began to read and speak. And many were amazed at this, praising God. "

However, it does not follow from the passage that the "Russian language" mentioned there is Slavic; on the contrary, the fact that the mastery of it by Constantine-Cyril is perceived as a miracle directly testifies that it was a non-Slavic language. It should be remembered, at the same time, that at the time of Cyril and Methodius and much later, the Slavs easily understood each other and believed that they spoke a single Slavic language, with which some modern linguists also agree, believing that the unity of the Proto-Slavic language can be talked about until XII century. Most researchers believe that the fragment speaks either of the Gospel in the Gothic language (an idea first expressed by Shafarik), or the manuscript contains an error and instead of “Rus” it should be considered “Suryan”, that is, “Syrian”. It is significant that, in general, the entire fragment is presented in the context of the story about Constantine's study of the Hebrew language and Samaritan writing, which he studied in Korsun, preparing for a dispute in Khazaria. Metropolitan Makarii (Bulgakov) also points out that in the same life it is repeatedly emphasized that Constantine was the creator of the Slavic letters and there were no Slavic letters before him - that is, the author of the life does not consider the described "Rus" letters to be Slavic.

Veneration

Revered as saints both in the East and in the West.

In Russian Orthodoxy, the days of remembrance of saints: Cyril - February 14 (February 27 in the new style), Methodius - April 6 (days of repose).

In Catholicism, the day of remembrance of saints is February 14; earlier in the Catholic Church the memory of Cyril and Methodius was celebrated on July 5. The year 1863 was declared by the Roman Church "the year of the Slavic jubilee" with the center of celebrations in Velehrad.

In 1863, the Russian Holy Governing Synod established the celebration of both saints annually on May 11 (by Julian calendar) "In commemoration of the completion of the millennium from the initial consecration of our native language with the Gospel and the faith of Christ"; the reason for choosing the date was not explained in the synodal decision (on May 11, 1858, the memory of Methodius and Cyril was first celebrated in Plovdiv - in the Bulgarian Church, which had the character of a symbolic act of confrontation with the Greek hierarchy of the Patriarchate of Constantinople). Professor of Moscow University Ivan Dm. Belyaev (1810-1873) in 1862 wrote in his article about a certain "church original" belonging to the Moscow Society of Russian History and Antiquities, where, under the "11th May," instructions were given on how to paint icons of Cyril and Methodius.

The first Bulgarian Exarch Anfim I, contrary to the prohibition of the Patriarchate, celebrated a liturgy in the Bulgarian church of Constantinople on May 11, 1872, during which the act of proclaiming the Bulgarian Church autocephalous was solemnly read. The official organ of the Holy Synod wrote in its review of the Orthodox East for 1885: “For a number of years, the sad fact of the separation between the two nations of the same faith, the Greek and the Bulgarian, known as the Greek-Bulgarian schism, has not left the pages of our humble chronicle.<…>A vivid example of such a passion for tribal passions was presented last year by the Orthodox Greek churches (both within Turkey and in free Hellas), which declined to participate in the celebration of the millennium anniversary of the memory of the first teachers of Slavs, Saints Cyril and Methodius, solemnly celebrated on April 6 by Orthodox Slavic churches. They declined on the pretext that this celebration was of a political nature. " In Russia, the millennium of the repose of Methodius on April 6, 1885 was marked, in particular, by a solemn divine service in St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg in the Highest presence.

By the decree of the Holy Synod in 1885, the memory of May 11 was attributed to the middle holidays with vigil. In 1901, the Synod decided to celebrate annually in churches at all educational institutions of the spiritual department a solemn all-night vigil on the eve and a liturgy followed by a prayer service to Methodius and Cyril on the very day of May 11, with the release of students from classes. The annual graduation act was also timed to coincide with May 11 in church schools.

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 of the Day of Slavic Culture and Writing, in Macedonia - the Day of Saints Cyril and Methodius. In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the holiday is celebrated on July 5th.

The Slovak poet Jan Golla dedicated a great poem "Cyril Methodius" (1835) to the brothers. The biography of Cyril and Methodius is included in the "Khazar Dictionary" by Milorad Pavich.

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 Written Language and Culture (coinciding with the day of the church commemoration of Cyril and Methodius), which is widely celebrated today.

In mid-July 1869, in a century-old forest beyond the Tsemes River, Czech settlers who arrived in Novorossiysk founded the village of Methodievka, named in honor of St. Methodius.

Cyril Methodius Slavic alphabet

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would like to quote the words from a poem by Andrei Voznesensky:

There are great lyrics -

Cyrillic!

Like Shostakovich's cry - "Three lilies!" -

"Sh" turns white in Hillels' keyboard -

Cyrillic!

And snorts "F" like an owl,

Will score with the wings "U" horizontal -

And the ducks will take off for Ontario.

In Latin - organ brass responded,

And the choral choirs -

Cyrillic!

"B" looked into the distance from under the palm -

Like a mother of god waiting for a baby.

(Andrey Voznesensky)

Annually on May 24, our country celebrates the Days of Slavic Written Language and Culture. The history of their origin is inextricably linked with the names of the saints Equal to the Apostles, not only the Orthodox, but also the Roman Catholic Church, Cyril (in the world Constantine, born in 826 - 827) and Methodius (worldly name unknown, presumably Michael, born before 820), "Slovenian teachers".

Maybe someone before Cyril and Methodius did experiments on the creation of Slavic writing, but there are only hypotheses on this score. And numerous historical sources testify only to Cyril and Methodius as the creators of the Slavic alphabet, writing and books.

Thus, using the scientific and educational material, I learned about Cyril and Methodius. And she completed all the tasks set at the beginning of the work.

Bibliography

1. Tikhomirov M.N., Muravyov A.V. Russian paleography. M., 1982. (electronic version);

2. Cyril and Methodius. Multimedia encyclopedia "History of Russia from 862-1917", 2001

3.http: //wikipedia.ru

4.http: //goole.ru

5. Cyril and Methodius. Computer program"Great Encyclopedia of Cyril and Methodius", 2002

6.http: //referat.mirslovarei.com

7.http: //5klass.net/

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Cyril is a Slavic educator from Byzantium. Report: Great Slavic Enlighteners. Brothers Cyril and Methodius

The beginning of the ministry

Khazar mission: on the territory of modern Russia

Moravian mission

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