The feat of the Slavic first teachers “The Light showed him addition in writing...”
In the history of medieval European culture, there are not many people whose names are included in the ranks of saints and at the same time revered as national heroes. These are theologian scientists – brothers Cyril and Methodius – creators of the Slavic alphabet, the first translators of liturgical books from Greek into Old Church Slavonic.
Both brothers entered the history of world culture. Kirill became especially famous, having earned recognition in his time as a philosopher. Well-read, deep knowledge of languages, exceptionally high education, wide acquaintance with ancient culture, encyclopedic knowledge – all this helped him accomplish the main feat of his life – create a Slavic alphabet and successfully carry out extensive educational work among the Slavs. In 863, Cyril began to develop the Slavic alphabet, taking the Greek statutory letter (unitsial) as a basis, and invented a simple and convenient form for writing Slavic letters. He supplemented the alphabet with signs that convey sounds characteristic of Slavic speech and absent in Greek. Using the created alphabet, Cyril and Methodius translated the main liturgical books from Greek into Slavic in eight months – Gospel, Psalter, Apostle, etc. The first words written in the Slavic alphabet were the opening lines of the Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Having created the alphabet, giving the Slavs the “Light of book understanding,” the Solun brothers accomplished a spiritual and civic feat. Cyril and Methodius were called equal to the apostles – their role was no less than the role of the apostles, the first Christian preachers.
The miracle of creating Slavic letters remains a mystery. The Life of Methodius speaks about this succinctly: “God showed the Philosopher a Slavic letter.” Thus, hagiographers refer to the divine origin of the Slavic alphabet, which was extremely important for justifying the right to translate the Bible. Slavic writing existed before. Cyril and Methodius created a different, perfect writing. The feat of Cyril and Methodius seems even more significant if we consider that the alphabet they created – an amazing work full of sacred music, a complex logical-mathematical system. And the most amazing thing is that thanks to them the Slavs received their writing immediately in those mature and perfect forms that were developed in the original Greek text for many centuries. The Greek literary language had by that time a tradition of more than a thousand years. And to create such an instrument of Slavic writing that would convey all the literary subtleties of the Greek originals, vocabulary riches, and a variety of styles, this was not a super task for one person and not for one century.
Cyril and Methodius writing was destined to play a significant cultural and political role. The writing created by the brothers is regarded as the foundation of a new Slavic culture, the culture that brings the Slavs to the level of “great” people. The names of Cyril and Methodius were very revered in all Slavic countries, both Orthodox and Catholic. On the Day of Remembrance of Cyril and Methodius established by the church (May 24, new style) in Bulgaria, it was turned into a holiday of national education and culture. In Russia it has been celebrated since 1986. It was in Bulgaria (late 9th - early 10th century) that a significant cultural center emerged, which continued the work of Cyril and Methodius in creating Slavic writing and literature. This time is usually called the golden age of Bulgarian literature. From here Slavic writing and literature began to spread to other peoples, in particular to medieval Rus'.
(Slavic writing. Book. Library: prospectus book-il. exhibition – NGONB, Novosibirsk, 2002)