Describe Cyril and Methodius. Saints Equal to the Apostles Cyril and Methodius

Saint Constantine (Cyril) was born in the city of Thessaloniki in 827. The parent of Saint Cyril, a noble and rich nobleman named Leo, and his mother Mary lived piously, fulfilling the commandments of God. Constantine - a royal name - was the seventh son. When his mother, upon birth, gave him to a nurse so that she could feed him, he did not want to feed on someone else's milk, but only on his mother's milk...

The city of Thessaloniki was home to a large Slavic population, whose language was familiar to Saint Cyril from childhood. There are suggestions that Saint Cyril was a Slav and is called a Greek in sources due to his membership in the Greek Church. When he was seven years old, Konstantin had a dream and told it to his father and mother, in the following words: “The governor, the strategist of our city, gathered all the girls of the city and said to me: “Choose from among them whomever you want to help you and be your peer.” I looked around, looked at them all and noticed one, the most beautiful of all, with a luminous face, decorated with many golden monists and pearls and ornaments; her name was Sophia. I chose her." The parents realized that the Lord was giving the child the Virgin Sophia, i.e. Wisdom, they rejoiced in spirit and with diligence began to teach Constantine not only book reading, but also Godly good morals - spiritual wisdom. “Son,” they said to Constantine in the words of Solomon, “honor the Lord and be strong; keep the commandments and live; write the words of God on the tablet of your heart; Narts (call. - Ed.) Wisdom be your sister, but understanding (that is, close, dear) is known to you (Proverbs 7: 1-4). Wisdom shines brighter than the sun, and if you have it as your assistant, it will save you from much evil.”

It is known what successes this youth showed in the sciences, especially in the study of the works of St. Gregory the Theologian. He studied Homer, geometry, dialectics and philosophy under the guidance of the logothete drome Theoctistus and the future Patriarch Photius. Even in his youth, Saint Constantine was called the Philosopher. In addition, he studied rhetoric, arithmetic, astronomy, musical art and other secular sciences, and also knew Latin, Syriac and other languages.

Although Saint Constantine was brought up at the royal court, together with the young Emperor Michael, and could have taken a high position, he remembered his Girlfriend, and therefore refused a noble and beautiful bride.

When Saint Constantine was elevated to the priesthood, he was simultaneously appointed librarian at the Church of Hagia Sophia. It was from this chosen one of Sophia that Russian Orthodoxy received its beginning.

The apostolic mission among the Slavs was for St. Cyril the pinnacle of feat, for which he was prepared by the Providence of God and St. Sophia all his life. After accepting the priesthood, Saint Cyril, striving for solitude, did not remain in Constantinople for long: he secretly left and hid in one of the monasteries on the coast of the Golden Horn. Only six months later the emperor managed to find him and persuade him to become a philosophy teacher at the main school in Constantinople. Saint Cyril returned to Constantinople. From the time he entered preaching and public church service, his strict zeal for the establishment of Orthodoxy became evident.

Saint Cyril’s first debate was with the leader of the heretical iconoclasts, Annius. The aged Annius was defeated and put to shame by the young philosopher Saint Cyril.

In 851, Saint Cyril, by order of the emperor, went to the Saracens to prove to them the truth Christian teaching about the Holy Trinity. This was the saint's first missionary journey, which he made at the age of 24.

Saint Cyril so skillfully defended the truth of the Orthodox faith and so exposed the falsity of the teachings of Muslims that the Saracen sages, not knowing what to answer, tried to poison the saint. But the Lord kept His servant unharmed. Upon his return from the Saracens, Saint Cyril renounced the honorary position of teacher of philosophy and settled in a monastery on Olympus, where his elder brother Saint Methodius (815-885, Comm. April 6) labored. Saint Cyril spent several years in monastic deeds, prayer and reading the works of the holy fathers. On Olympus he began to study the Slavic language and became acquainted with Hebrew and Coptic writing.

In 858, ambassadors from the Khazars came to Constantinople with a request to send a learned man to them so that he would expose the lies of the Saracen and Jewish preachers who were trying to convert the Khazars to their faith. Emperor Michael III sent St. Cyril to the Khazars to preach the Gospel. His holy brother Methodius also went with him. Along the way, the holy brothers stopped for some time in the Crimea, in the Greek colony of Chersonesos. There Saint Cyril studied Jewish grammar. At the same time, Saint Cyril became acquainted with the Gospel and Psalter, written in Russian letters.

In Chersonesos, the holy brothers took part in the opening of the relics of the Hieromartyr Clement, Pope of Rome. Taking with them part of the holy relics, they continued their journey.

In the Khazar land, having won a dispute between Jews and Muslims, Saint Cyril converted many to Christianity. Refusing the rich gifts offered by the Khazar Khagan, Saints Cyril and Methodius asked in return to release all Greek captives. At their request, 200 people were released and returned to their homeland. In Constantinople, the holy brothers were greeted with great honors, like apostles. Saint Methodius retired to his monastery, and Saint Cyril settled at the Church of the Holy Apostles and began work on compiling the Slavic alphabet and translating the liturgical books into the Slavic language.

After some time, Saint Cyril and his brother went to preach Christianity in Bulgaria.

In 862 (or 863) ambassadors from the Moravian prince Rostislav came to Constantinople with a request to send Christian teachers. The choice of the emperor fell on Saint Cyril, who by the Providence of God had been prepared by that time for a great mission among the Slavic peoples. Despite his illness, Saint Cyril joyfully took up the task of fulfilling his obedience. Like any business, he began the feat of enlightening the Slavs with prayer, and then imposed a forty-day fast on himself. Soon, God, listening to the prayers of His servants, fulfilled what His faithful servant asked for: Saint Cyril compiled the alphabet for the Slavs (Glagolitic), and then, with the help of his brother and disciples, continued to translate the Greek Holy Books into the Slavic language. The first book translated by Saint Cyril was the Gospel of John. The Followed Psalter (which included the texts of troparia and kontakia for feasts and saints), various texts of the Holy Scriptures and liturgical books were also translated. This glorious feat of St. Cyril was the basis of the great work of introducing the Slavs to the Christian faith and culture. Since then it has come for the Slavs new life, there was an opportunity for an original spiritual development under the beneficial effect of preaching and worship in the native Slavic language.

St. Cyril's struggle for the independence of the Slavic peoples was complicated by the fact that the work of enlightening the Slavs was begun in Moravia, a country under Roman influence. The German priests who headed the Christian churches in Moravia did their best to prevent the introduction of divine services in the Slavic language, believing that it should be performed only in three languages: Hebrew, Latin or Greek. Saints Cyril and Methodius, exposing their untruths with the words of Holy Scripture, tirelessly prepared the servants of the new Church. Under the leadership of the holy brothers, the Moravian prince Rostislav began the construction of temples and gathered many youths to teach the Slavic alphabet and reading translated books. In a short time, Saint Cyril and his disciples translated the church rites and introduced all Divine services according to the rules. This marked the beginning of the formation of independent Slavic Churches.

But the enemies of the cause of enlightenment of the Slavs continued to hinder them: they denounced Saints Cyril and Methodius to Pope Nicholas I, accusing them of heresy. The Pope summoned the holy brothers to Rome. Taking with them part of the relics of the holy martyr Clement, they set off on a new journey, which was very unfavorable for the health of Saint Cyril. Their path lay through Slavic lands. In Pannonia, at the request of Prince Kocel, they taught him and 50 young men the Slavic alphabet. When parting, the prince wanted to give gifts to the holy preachers. But Saints Cyril and Methodius did not want to take from Kocel, just like from Rostislav of Moravia, neither silver nor gold. They preached the Gospel word free of charge and only asked for freedom from both 900 Greek captives.

In Venice, the brothers made one more stop. There Saint Cyril again had heated debates with the “trilinguals.” He proved the right of every people to their own written language and referred to the Holy Scriptures and the experience of a number of peoples (Armenians, Persians, Georgians, Goths, Avars, Khazars, Arabs, Syrians, etc.) who had their own written language for a long time.

Before the arrival of the saints in Rome, Pope Nicholas I died. The new Pope Adrian II was friendly towards the holy brothers and greeted them solemnly, especially since they were carrying the relics of the holy martyr Clement. Pope Adrian II recognized the Slavic language in the Holy Scriptures and Liturgy, but was in no hurry to release the brothers for further preaching in the Slavic lands.

Exhausted by labor and long travel, Saint Cyril fell seriously ill. During his illness, the Lord revealed to him that death was approaching, and Saint Cyril accepted the schema. He devoted the remaining 50 days of his life to repentant prayer and conversations with his disciples and brother, instructing and teaching them, commanding them to return to the Slavic lands and complete the work they had started. On February 14, 869, Saint Cyril gave up his soul to God, having lived only 42 years. His body was buried in the Church of St. Clement in Rome. The memory of Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril is also celebrated on May 11, together with the memory of the holy brother Methodius.

In the iconographic tradition of the ancient Churches, Saint Cyril, Equal to the Apostles, is depicted in hierarchal robes, as for example in the 11th century fresco of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, or the 9th century fresco in the Church of St. Clement in Rome, which depicts the consecration of Saint Cyril as a bishop. These facts indicate that Saint Cyril was in the rank of bishop.

Cyril and Methodius are Slavic first teachers, great preachers of Christianity, canonized not only by the Orthodox, but also by the Catholic Church.

The life and work of Cyril (Constantine) and Methodius is reproduced in sufficient detail on the basis of various documentary and chronicle sources.

Cyril (826-869) received this name when he was tonsured into the schema 50 days before his death in Rome; he lived his whole life with the name Constantine (Constantine the Philosopher). Methodius (814-885) - the monastic name of the saint, his secular name is unknown, presumably his name was Michael.

Cyril and Methodius are siblings. They were born in the city of Thessaloniki (Thessaloniki) in Macedonia (now a territory of Greece). Since childhood they have mastered well Old Slavonic language- Old Bulgarian. From the words of Emperor Michael III, “Thessalonians” - everyone speaks purely Slavic.

Both brothers lived a mainly spiritual life, striving to embody their beliefs and ideas, attaching no importance to sensual joys, wealth, career, or fame. The brothers never had wives or children, they wandered all their lives, never creating a home or permanent shelter for themselves, and even died in a foreign land.

Both brothers went through life, actively changing it in accordance with their views and beliefs. But all that remained as traces of their deeds were the fruitful changes they made to folk life, and vague stories of lives, traditions, and legends.

The brothers were born into the family of Leo the Drungaria, a mid-ranking Byzantine military commander from the city of Thessalonica. There were seven sons in the family, with Methodius the eldest and Cyril the youngest.

According to one version, they came from a pious Slavic family who lived in the Byzantine city of Thessaloniki. From large number historical sources, mainly from " Brief Life Clement of Ohrid” it is known that Cyril and Methodius were Bulgarians. Since in the 9th century the First Bulgarian Kingdom was a multinational state, it is not entirely possible to determine exactly whether they were Slavs or Proto-Bulgarians or even had other roots. The Bulgarian kingdom consisted mainly of the ancient Bulgarians (Turks) and Slavs, who were already forming a new ethnos - the Slavic Bulgarians, who retained the old name of the ethnos, but were already a Slavic-Turkic people. According to another version, Cyril and Methodius were of Greek origin. There is also alternative theory 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 so-called. Glagolitic - an alphabet more similar to ancient Bulgarian than to Slavic.

Little is known about the first years of Methodius' life. There was probably nothing outstanding in the life of Methodius until it crossed with the life of his younger brother. Methodius entered military service early and was soon appointed governor of one of the Slavic-Bulgarian regions subject to Byzantium. Methodius spent about ten years in this position. Then he left the military-administrative service, which was alien to him, and retired to a monastery. In the 860s, having renounced the rank of archbishop, he became abbot of the Polychron monastery on the Asian shore of the Sea of ​​Marmara, near the city of Cyzicus. Constantine also moved here, to a quiet shelter on Mount Olympus, for several years, in the interval between his travels to the Saracens and Khazars. The elder brother, Methodius, walked through life on a straight, clear path. Only twice did he change its direction: the first time by going to a monastery, and the second time by returning again under the influence of his younger brother to active work and struggle.

Kirill was the youngest of the brothers; from infancy he showed extraordinary mental abilities, but was not distinguished by health. The eldest, Mikhail, even in childhood games defended the youngest, weak with a disproportionately large head, with small and short arms. He will protect his little brother until his death - both in Moravia, and at the Council in Venice, and before the papal throne. And then he will continue his brotherly work in written wisdom. And, holding hands, they will go down in the history of world culture.

Cyril was educated in Constantinople at the Magnavra School, the best educational institution in Byzantium. Secretary of State Teoktist himself took care of Cyril’s education. Before reaching the age of 15, Kirill had already read the works of the most thoughtful father of the church, Gregory the Theologian. The capable boy was taken to the court of Emperor Michael III, as a fellow student of his son. Under the guidance of the best mentors - including Photius, the future famous Patriarch of Constantinople - Cyril studied ancient literature, rhetoric, grammar, dialectics, astronomy, music and other “Hellenic arts”. The friendship of Cyril and Photius largely predetermined future fate Kirill. In 850, Cyril became a professor at the Magnavra school. Having abandoned a profitable marriage and a brilliant career, Kirill accepted the priesthood, and after secretly entering a monastery, he began teaching philosophy (hence the nickname Konstantin - “Philosopher”). The closeness with Photius affected Cyril’s struggle with the iconoclasts. He wins a brilliant victory over the experienced and ardent leader of the iconoclasts, which undoubtedly gives Constantine wide fame. The wisdom and strength of faith of the still very young Constantine were so great that he managed to defeat the leader of the iconoclast heretics, Annius, in a debate. After this victory, Constantine was sent by the emperor to debate about the Holy Trinity with the Saracens (Muslims) and also won. Having returned, Saint Constantine retired to his brother Saint Methodius on Olympus, spending time in unceasing prayer and reading the works of the holy fathers.

The “Life” of the saint testifies that he knew Hebrew, Slavic, Greek, Latin and Arabic languages. Refusing a profitable marriage, as well as an administrative career offered by the emperor, Kirill became the patriarchal librarian at the Hagia Sophia. Soon he secretly retired to a monastery for six months, and upon his return he taught philosophy (external - Hellenic and internal - Christian) at the court school - the highest educational institution of Byzantium. Then he received the nickname “Philosopher”, which remained with him forever. It was not for nothing that Constantine was nicknamed the Philosopher. Every now and then he would escape from noisy Byzantium somewhere into solitude. I read and thought for a long time. And then, having accumulated another supply of energy and thoughts, he generously squandered it in travel, disputes, disputes, in scientific and literary creativity. Cyril's education was highly valued in the highest circles of Constantinople, and he was often involved in various diplomatic missions.

Cyril and Methodius had many students who became their true followers. Among them I would especially like to mention Gorazd Ohridski and Saint Naum.

Gorazd Ohridski - a disciple of Methodius, the first Slavic archbishop - he was the archbishop of Mikulčica, the capital of Great Moravia. Revered by the Orthodox Church in the ranks of saints, commemorated on July 27 (according to the Julian calendar) in the Cathedral of Bulgarian Enlighteners. In 885-886, under Prince Svatopluk I, a crisis arose in the Moravian Church; Archbishop Gorazd entered into a dispute with the Latin clergy, headed by Wichtig, Bishop of Nitrava, against whom St. Methodius imposed an anathema. Wichtig, with the approval of the pope, expelled Gorazd from the diocese and 200 priests with him, and he himself took his place as archbishop. At the same time, Clement of Ohrid fled to Bulgaria. They took with them the works created in Moravia and settled in Bulgaria. Those who did not obey - according to the testimony of the Life of St. Clement of Ohrid - were sold into slavery to Jewish merchants, from which they were redeemed by the ambassadors of Emperor Basil I in Venice and transported to Bulgaria. In Bulgaria, students created world-famous literary schools in Pliska, Ohrid and Preslavl, from where their works began to travel throughout Rus'.

Naum is a Bulgarian saint, especially revered in modern Macedonia and Bulgaria. Saint Naum, together with Cyril and Methodius, as well as with his ascetic Clement of Ohrid, is one of the founders of Bulgarian religious literature. Bulgarian Orthodox Church includes Saint Naum among the Seven. In 886-893 he lived in Preslav, becoming the organizer of a local literary school. Afterwards he created a school in Ohrid. In 905 he founded a monastery on the shores of Lake Ohrid, today named after him. His relics are also kept there.

Mount St. Naum on the island of Smolensk (Livingston) is also named after him.

In 858, Constantine, at the initiative of Photius, became the head of the mission to the Khazars. During the mission, Constantine replenishes his knowledge of the Hebrew language, which was used by the educated elite of the Khazars after they adopted Judaism. On the way, during a stop in Chersonese (Korsun), Constantine discovered the remains of Clement, Pope of Rome (1st-2nd centuries), who died, as they thought then, here in exile, and took part of them to Byzantium. The journey deep into Khazaria was filled with theological disputes with the Mohammedans and Jews. Constantine subsequently outlined the entire course of the dispute in Greek for reporting to the patriarch; Later, this report, according to legend, was translated by Methodius into the Slavic language, but, unfortunately, this work has not reached us. At the end of 862, the prince of Great Moravia (the state of the Western Slavs) Rostislav turned to the Byzantine Emperor Michael with a request to send preachers to Moravia who could spread Christianity in the Slavic language (sermons in those parts were read in Latin, unfamiliar and incomprehensible to the people). The emperor called Saint Constantine and told him: “You need to go there, because no one will do this better than you.” Saint Constantine, with fasting and prayer, began a new feat. Constantine goes to Bulgaria, converts many Bulgarians to Christianity; according to some scientists, during this trip he begins his work on the creation of the Slavic alphabet. Constantine and Methodius arrived in Great Moravia speaking the southern Slavic dialect of Soluni (now Thessalonica), i.e. the center of that part of Macedonia, which from time immemorial and up to our time belonged to Northern Greece. In Moravia, the brothers taught literacy and involved in translation activities, and not just rewriting books, people who undoubtedly spoke some kind of northwestern Slavic dialects. This is directly evidenced by lexical, word-formation, phonetic and other linguistic discrepancies in the oldest Slavic books that have come down to us (in the Gospel, Apostle, Psalter, Menaion of the 10th-11th centuries). Indirect evidence is described in Old Russian Chronicle the later practice of Grand Duke Vladimir I Svyatoslavich, when he introduced Christianity into Rus' as the state religion in 988. It was the children of his “deliberate children” (i.e., the children of his courtiers and the feudal elite) that Vladimir attracted for “book training,” sometimes even doing this by force, since the Chronicle reports that their mothers cried over them as if they were dead.

After completing the translation, the holy brothers were received with great honor in Moravia, and began to teach Divine services in the Slavic language. This aroused the anger of the German bishops, who performed divine services in Latin in the Moravian churches, and they rebelled against the holy brothers, arguing that divine services could only be performed in one of three languages: Hebrew, Greek or Latin. Saint Constantine answered them: “You recognize only three languages ​​worthy of glorifying God in them. But David cries: Sing to the Lord, all the earth, praise the Lord, all nations, let every breath praise the Lord! And in the Holy Gospel it is said: Go and learn all languages...” The German bishops were disgraced, but became even more embittered and filed a complaint to Rome. The holy brothers were called to Rome to resolve this issue.

To be able to preach Christianity in the Slavic language, it was necessary to translate the Holy Scriptures into the Slavic language; however, there was no alphabet capable of conveying Slavic speech at that moment.

Constantine began to create the Slavic alphabet. With the help of his brother Saint Methodius and the disciples Gorazd, Clement, Savva, Naum and Angelar, he compiled the Slavic alphabet and translated into Slavic the books without which the Divine service could not be performed: the Gospel, the Apostle, the Psalter and selected services. All these events date back to 863.

The year 863 is considered the year of birth of the Slavic alphabet

In 863, the Slavic alphabet was created (the Slavic alphabet existed in two versions: the Glagolitic alphabet - from the verb - “speech” and the Cyrillic alphabet; until now, scientists do not have a consensus which of these two options was created by Cyril). With the help of Methodius, a number of liturgical books were translated from Greek into Slavic. The Slavs were given the opportunity to read and write in their own language. The Slavs not only acquired their own Slavic alphabet, but also the first Slavic literary language was born, many words of which still live in Bulgarian, Russian, Ukrainian and other Slavic languages.

Cyril and Methodius were the founders of the literary and written language of the Slavs - the Old Church Slavonic language, which in turn was a kind of catalyst for the creation of the Old Russian literary language, Old Bulgarian and the literary languages ​​of other Slavic peoples.

The younger brother wrote, the older brother translated his works. The younger created the Slavic alphabet, Slavic writing and bookmaking; the older one practically developed what the younger one created. The younger was a talented scientist, philosopher, brilliant dialectician and subtle philologist; the eldest is a capable organizer and practical activist.

Constantine, in the quiet of his refuge, was probably busy completing the work that was in connection with his not new plans for the conversion of the pagan Slavs. He compiled a special alphabet for the Slavic language, the so-called Glagolitic alphabet, and began translating the Holy Scriptures into Old Bulgarian. The brothers decided to return to their homeland and, in order to consolidate their business in Moravia, take with them some of the students, the Moravians, for education in the hierarchical ranks. On the way to Venice, which lay through Bulgaria, the brothers stayed for several months in the Pannonian principality of Kotsela, where, despite its ecclesiastical and political dependence, they did the same as in Moravia. Upon his arrival in Venice, Constantine had a violent clash with the local clergy. Here, in Venice, unexpectedly for the local clergy, they are given a kind message from Pope Nicholas with an invitation to Rome. Having received the papal invitation, the brothers continued their journey with almost complete confidence in success. This was further facilitated by the sudden death of Nicholas and the accession to the papal throne of Adrian II.

Rome solemnly greeted the brothers and the shrine they brought, part of the remains of Pope Clement. Adrian II approved not only the Slavic translation of the Holy Scriptures, but also the Slavic worship, consecrating the Slavic books brought by the brothers, allowing the Slavs to perform services in a number of Roman churches, and ordaining Methodius and his three disciples as priests. The influential prelates of Rome also reacted favorably to the brothers and their cause.

All these successes did not come easily to the brothers, of course. A skilled dialectician and an experienced diplomat, Constantine skillfully used for this purpose the struggle of Rome with Byzantium, and the vacillations of the Bulgarian prince Boris between the Eastern and Western churches, and the hatred of Pope Nicholas for Photius, and Adrian’s desire to strengthen his shaky authority by acquiring the remains of Clement. At the same time, Byzantium and Photius were still much closer to Constantine than Rome and the popes. But during the three and a half years of his life and struggle in Moravia, the main, only goal of Constantine was to strengthen the Slavic writing, Slavic bookmaking and culture that he created.

For almost two years, surrounded by sugary flattery and praise, combined with hidden intrigues of temporarily quiet opponents of Slavic worship, Constantine and Methodius lived in Rome. One of the reasons for their long delay was Constantine’s increasingly deteriorating health.

Despite weakness and illness, Constantine composed two new literary works in Rome: “The Discovery of the Relics of St. Clement” and a poetic hymn in honor of the same Clement.

The long and difficult journey to Rome, the intense struggle with the irreconcilable enemies of Slavic writing, undermined Constantine’s already weak health. At the beginning of February 869, he went to bed, took the schema and the new monastic name Cyril, and died on February 14. Going to God, Saint Cyril commanded his brother Saint Methodius to continue their common cause - the enlightenment of the Slavic peoples with the light of the true faith.

Before his death, Kirill told his brother: “You and I, like two oxen, drove the same furrow. I am exhausted, but don’t think about leaving the work of teaching and retiring to your mountain again.” Methodius outlived his brother by 16 years. Enduring hardships and reproaches, he continued his great work - translating holy books into Slavic, preaching the Orthodox faith, and baptizing the Slavic people. Saint Methodius begged the Pope to allow his brother’s body to be taken away for burial in his native land, but the Pope ordered the relics of Saint Cyril to be placed in the Church of Saint Clement, where miracles began to be performed from them.

After the death of St. Cyril, the pope, following the request of the Slavic prince Kocel, sent St. Methodius to Pannonia, ordaining him to the rank of Archbishop of Moravia and Pannonia, to the ancient throne of St. Apostle Andronikos. After the death of Cyril (869), Methodius continued his educational activities among the Slavs in Pannonia, where the Slavic books also included features of local dialects. Subsequently, the Old Church Slavonic literary language was developed by the students of the Thessaloniki brothers in the area of ​​Lake Ohrid, then in Bulgaria proper.

With the death of his talented brother, for the modest, but selfless and honest Methodius, a painful, truly way of the cross, strewn with seemingly insurmountable obstacles, dangers and failures. But lonely Methodius stubbornly, in no way inferior to his enemies, follows this path to the very end.

True, on the threshold of this path, Methodius relatively easily achieves a new great success. But this success gives rise to an even greater storm of anger and resistance in the camp of the enemies of Slavic writing and culture.

In the middle of 869, Adrian II, at the request of the Slavic princes, sent Methodius to Rostislav, his nephew Svyatopolk and Kocel, and at the end of 869, when Methodius returned to Rome, he elevated him to the rank of Archbishop of Pannonia, allowing worship in the Slavic language. Inspired by this new success, Methodius returns to Kotsel. With the constant help of the prince, he, together with his students, began a large and vigorous work to spread Slavic worship, writing and books in the Principality of Blaten and in neighboring Moravia.

In 870, Methodius was sentenced to prison, having been accused of violating hierarchical rights in Pannonia.

He remained in prison, under the most difficult conditions, until 873, when new dad John VIII forced the Bavarian episcopate to release Methodius and return him to Moravia. Methodius is prohibited from Slavic worship.

He continues the work of the church structure of Moravia. Contrary to the pope's prohibition, Methodius continues to worship in the Slavic language in Moravia. Methodius this time also involved other Slavic peoples neighboring Moravia in the circle of his activities.

All this prompted the German clergy to take new actions against Methodius. German priests turn Svyatopolk against Methodius. Svyatopolk writes a denunciation to Rome against his archbishop, accusing him of heresy, violating the canons of the Catholic Church and disobeying the pope. Methodius manages not only to justify himself, but even to win over Pope John to his side. Pope John allows Methodius to worship in the Slavic language, but appoints Viching, one of Methodius’s most ardent opponents, to be his bishop. Viching began to spread rumors about the condemnation of Methodius by Pope, but was exposed.

Extremely tired and exhausted by all these endless intrigues, forgeries and denunciations, feeling that his health was constantly weakening, Methodius went to rest in Byzantium. Methodius spent almost three years in his homeland. In mid-884 He returns to Moravia. Returning to Moravia, Methodius in 883. started translating into Slavic full text canonical books of Holy Scripture (except the Maccabees). Having finished his hard work, Methodius weakened even more. In the last years of his life, Methodius’s activities in Moravia took place under very difficult conditions. The Latin-German clergy in every way prevented the spread of the Slavic language as the language of the church. In the last years of his life, Saint Methodius, with the help of two disciple-priests, translated the entire Old Testament, except for the Maccabean books, as well as the Nomocanon (Rules of the Holy Fathers) and the patristic books (Paterikon).

Anticipating the approach of his death, Saint Methodius pointed to one of his disciples, Gorazd, as a worthy successor. The saint predicted the day of his death and died on April 6, 885 at the age of about 60 years. The funeral service for the saint was performed in three languages ​​- Slavic, Greek and Latin. He was buried in the cathedral church of Velehrad.

With the death of Methodius, his work in Moravia came close to destruction. With the arrival of Viching in Moravia, the persecution of the disciples of Constantine and Methodius began, and the destruction of their Slavic church. Up to 200 clergy-disciples of Methodius were expelled from Moravia. The Moravian people did not give them any support. Thus, the cause of Constantine and Methodius died not only in Moravia, but also among the Western Slavs in general. But it received further life and flourishing among the Southern Slavs, partly among the Croats, more so among the Serbs, especially among the Bulgarians and, through the Bulgarians, among the Russians and Eastern Slavs, who united their destinies with Byzantium. This happened thanks to the disciples of Cyril and Methodius, expelled from Moravia.

From the period of activity of Constantine, his brother Methodius and their closest disciples, no written monuments have reached us, except for the relatively recently discovered inscriptions on the ruins of the church of King Simeon in Preslav (Bulgaria). It turned out that these ancient inscriptions were made not with one, but with two graphic varieties of Old Church Slavonic writing. One of them received the conventional name “Cyrillic” (from the name Cyril, adopted by Constantine when he was tonsured a monk); the other received the name “glagolitic” (from the Old Slavonic “verb”, which means “word”).

In their alphabetic composition, the Cyrillic and Glagolitic alphabets were almost identical. Cyrillic, according to the manuscripts of the 11th century that have reached us. had 43 letters, and the Glagolitic alphabet had 40 letters. Of the 40 Glagolitic letters, 39 served to convey almost the same sounds as the letters of the Cyrillic alphabet. Like letters Greek alphabet, Glagolitic and Cyrillic letters had, in addition to sound, also a digital meaning, i.e. were used to designate not only speech sounds, but also numbers. At the same time, nine letters served to designate units, nine - for tens and nine - for hundreds. In Glagolitic, in addition, one of the letters denoted a thousand; in Cyrillic, a special sign was used to designate thousands. In order to indicate that a letter stands for a number and not a sound, the letter was usually highlighted on both sides with dots and a special horizontal line was placed above it.

In the Cyrillic alphabet, as a rule, only letters borrowed from the Greek alphabet had digital values: each of 24 such letters was assigned the same digital value that this letter had in the Greek digital system. The only exceptions were the numbers “6”, “90” and “900”.

Unlike the Cyrillic alphabet, in the Glagolitic alphabet the first 28 letters in a row received a numerical value, regardless of whether these letters corresponded to Greek or served to convey special sounds of Slavic speech. Therefore, the numerical value of most Glagolitic letters was different from both Greek and Cyrillic letters.

The names of the letters in the Cyrillic and Glagolitic alphabet were exactly the same; However, the time of origin of these names is unclear. The order of letters in the Cyrillic and Glagolitic alphabets was almost the same. This order is established Firstly, based on the digital meaning of the letters of the Cyrillic and Glagolitic alphabet, secondly, based on the acrostics of the 12th-13th centuries that have come down to us, thirdly, based on the order of letters in the Greek alphabet.

Cyrillic and Glagolitic were very different in the shape of their letters. In the Cyrillic alphabet, the shape of the letters was geometrically simple, clear and easy to write. Of the 43 letters of the Cyrillic alphabet, 24 were borrowed from the Byzantine charter, and the remaining 19 were constructed more or less independently, but in compliance with the uniform style of the Cyrillic alphabet. The shape of the Glagolitic letters, on the contrary, was extremely complex and intricate, with many curls, loops, etc. But the Glagolitic letters were graphically more original than the Kirillov ones, and were much less like the Greek ones.

The Cyrillic alphabet is a very skillful, complex and creative reworking of the Greek (Byzantine) alphabet. As a result of careful consideration of the phonetic composition of the Old Church Slavonic language, the Cyrillic alphabet had all the letters necessary for the correct transmission of this language. The Cyrillic alphabet was also suitable for accurately transmitting the Russian language in the 9th-10th centuries. The Russian language was already somewhat different phonetically from Old Church Slavonic. The correspondence of the Cyrillic alphabet to the Russian language is confirmed by the fact that for more than a thousand years it was necessary to introduce only two new letters into this alphabet; Multi-letter combinations and superscript symbols are not needed and are almost never used in Russian writing. This is precisely what determines the originality of the Cyrillic alphabet.

Thus, despite the fact that many letters of the Cyrillic alphabet coincide in form with Greek letters, the Cyrillic alphabet (as well as the Glagolitic alphabet) should be recognized as one of the most independent, creatively and innovatively constructed letter-sound systems.

The presence of two graphic varieties of Slavic writing still causes great controversy among scientists. After all, according to the unanimous testimony of all chronicles and documentary sources, Constantine developed one Slavic alphabet. Which of these alphabets was created by Constantine? Where and when did the second alphabet appear? These questions are closely related to others, perhaps even more important. Didn’t the Slavs have some kind of written language before the introduction of the alphabet developed by Constantine? And if it existed, what was it?

A number of works by Russian and Bulgarian scientists were devoted to evidence of the existence of writing in the pre-Cyrillic period among the Slavs, in particular among the eastern and southern ones. As a result of these works, as well as in connection with the discovery ancient monuments Slavic writing, the question of the existence of writing among the Slavs can hardly raise doubts. This is evidenced by many ancient literary sources: Slavic, Western European, Arabic. This is confirmed by the instructions contained in the treaties of the Eastern and Southern Slavs with Byzantium, some archaeological data, as well as linguistic, historical and general socialist considerations.

Fewer materials are available to resolve the question of what the ancient Slavic letter was and how it arose. Pre-Cyrillic Slavic writing, apparently, could only be of three types. Thus, in the light of the development of general patterns of development of writing, it seems almost certain that long before the formation of ties between the Slavs and Byzantium, they had various local varieties of the original primitive pictographic writing, such as the “traits and cuts” mentioned by Brave. The emergence of Slavic writing of the “devils and cuts” type should probably be attributed to the first half of the 1st millennium AD. e. True, the oldest Slavic letter could only have been a very primitive letter, which included a small, unstable and different assortment of simple figurative and conventional signs among different tribes. There was no way this writing could turn into any developed and ordered logographic system.

The use of the original Slavic script was also limited. These were, apparently, the simplest counting signs in the form of dashes and notches, family and personal signs, signs of ownership, signs for fortune telling, perhaps primitive route diagrams, calendar signs that served to date the start of various agricultural works, pagan holidays, etc. P. In addition to considerations of a sociological and linguistic nature, the existence of such writing among the Slavs is confirmed by quite numerous literary sources of the 9th-10th centuries. and archaeological finds. Having originated in the first half of the 1st millennium AD, this letter was probably preserved by the Slavs even after Cyril created an orderly Slavic alphabet.

The second, even more undoubted type of pre-Christian writing of the Eastern and Southern Slavs was a letter that can be conditionally called the “Proto-Cyril” letter. A letter of the “devils and cuts” type, suitable for indicating calendar dates, for fortune telling, counting, etc., was unsuitable for recording military and trade agreements, liturgical texts, historical chronicles and other complex documents. And the need for such records should have appeared among the Slavs simultaneously with the emergence of the first Slavic states. For all these purposes, the Slavs, even before they adopted Christianity and before the introduction of the alphabet created by Cyril, undoubtedly used Greek in the east and south, and Greek and Latin letters in the west.

The Greek script, used by the Slavs for two or three centuries before their official adoption of Christianity, had to gradually adapt to the transmission of the unique phonetics of the Slavic language and, in particular, be replenished with new letters. This was necessary for the accurate recording of Slavic names in churches, in military lists, for recording Slavic geographical names and so on. The Slavs have come a long way towards adapting Greek writing to more accurately convey their speech. To do this, ligatures were formed from the corresponding Greek letters, greek letters were supplemented by letters borrowed from other alphabets, in particular from the Hebrew, which was known to the Slavs through the Khazars. This is how the Slavic “Proto-Cyril” letter was probably formed. The assumption about such a gradual formation of the Slavic “proto-Cyril” letter is also confirmed by the fact that the Cyrillic alphabet in its later version that has come down to us was so well adapted for the accurate transmission of Slavic speech that this could only be achieved as a result of its long development. These are two undoubted varieties of pre-Christian Slavic writing.

The third, although not undoubted, but only a possible variety, can be called “proto-glagolic” writing.

The process of formation of the supposed proto-glagolic letter could occur in two ways. Firstly, this process could have taken place under the complex influence of Greek, Jewish-Khazar, and possibly also Georgian, Armenian and even runic Turkic writing. Under the influence of these writing systems, Slavic “lines and cuts” could gradually also acquire a letter-sound meaning, while partially retaining their original form. Secondly, some Greek letters could have been graphically modified by the Slavs in relation to the usual forms of “features and cuts”. Like the Cyrillic alphabet, the formation of proto-glagolic writing could also have begun among the Slavs no earlier than the 8th century. Since this letter was formed on the primitive basis of the ancient Slavic “traits and cuts”, by the middle of the 9th century. it was supposed to remain even less precise and orderly than the Proto-Cyril letter. Unlike the Proto-Cyrillic alphabet, the formation of which took place throughout almost the entire Slavic territory, which was under the influence of Byzantine culture, the Proto-Glagolitic letter, if it existed, was apparently first formed among the Eastern Slavs. In conditions of insufficient development in the second half of the 1st millennium AD. political and cultural connections between the Slavic tribes, the formation of each of the three supposed types of pre-Christian Slavic writing would have occurred in different tribes in different ways. Therefore, we can assume the coexistence among the Slavs not only of these three types of writing, but also of their local varieties. In the history of writing, cases of such coexistence were very frequent.

Currently, the writing systems of all the peoples of Russia are built on the Cyrillic basis. Writing systems built on the same basis are also used in Bulgaria, partly in Yugoslavia and Mongolia. A script built on the Cyrillic basis is now used by peoples who speak more than 60 languages. The Latin and Cyrillic groups of writing systems seem to have the greatest vitality. This is confirmed by the fact that more and more new peoples are gradually switching to the Latin and Cyrillic basis of writing.

Thus, the foundations laid by Constantine and Methodius more than 1100 years ago continue to be continuously improved and successfully developed up to the present day. At the moment, most researchers believe that Cyril and Methodius created the Glagolitic alphabet, and the Cyrillic alphabet was created on the basis of the Greek alphabet by their students.

From the turn of the X-XI centuries. largest centers Kyiv, Novgorod, and the centers of other ancient Russian principalities became Slavic written languages. The oldest Slavic-language handwritten books that have come down to us, having the date of their writing, were created in Rus'. These are the Ostromir Gospel of 1056-1057, the Izbornik of Svyatoslav of 1073, the Izbornik of 1076, the Archangel Gospel of 1092, the Novgorod Menaions dated to the 90s. The largest and most valuable fund of ancient handwritten books dating back to the written heritage of Cyril and Methodius, like those named, is located in the ancient repositories of our country.

The unbending faith of two people in Christ and in their ascetic mission for the benefit of the Slavic peoples was what was the driving force behind the penetration, in the end, of writing into Ancient Rus'. The exceptional intellect of one and the stoic courage of the other - the qualities of two people who lived very long before us, turned out to be the fact that we now write them in letters, and put together our picture of the world according to their grammar and rules.

It is impossible to overestimate the introduction of writing into Slavic society. This is the greatest Byzantine contribution to the culture of the Slavic peoples. And he was created by Saints Cyril and Methodius. Only with the establishment of writing does it begin true story people, the history of their culture, the history of the development of their worldview, scientific knowledge, literature and art.

Cyril and Methodius never, in their life collisions and wanderings, found themselves in the lands Ancient Rus'. They lived more than a hundred years before they were officially baptized here and their letters were accepted. It would seem that Cyril and Methodius belong to the history of other peoples. But it was they who radically changed the existence of the Russian people. They gave him the Cyrillic alphabet, which became the blood and flesh of his culture. And this is the greatest gift to people from an ascetic man.

In addition to the invention of the Slavic alphabet, during the 40 months of their stay in Moravia, Constantine and Methodius managed to solve two problems: some liturgical books were translated into Church Slavonic (ancient Slavic literary) language and people were trained who could serve using these books. However, this was not enough to spread Slavic worship. Neither Constantine nor Methodius were bishops and could not ordain their disciples as priests. Cyril was a monk, Methodius was a simple priest, and the local bishop was an opponent of Slavic worship. To give their activities official status, the brothers and several of their students went to Rome. In Venice, Constantine entered into a debate with opponents of worship in national languages. In Latin spiritual literature, the idea was popular that worship could only be performed in Latin, Greek and Hebrew. The brothers' stay in Rome was triumphant. Constantine and Methodius brought with them the relics of St. Clement, Pope of Rome, who, according to legend, was a disciple of the Apostle Peter. Clement's relics were a precious gift, and Constantine's Slavic translations were blessed.

The disciples of Cyril and Methodius were ordained priests, while the Pope sent a message to the Moravian rulers in which he officially allowed the services to be performed in the Slavic language: “After reflection, we decided to send to your countries our son Methodius, ordained by us, with his disciples, a perfect man reason and true faith, so that he enlightens you, as you yourself asked, explaining to you in your language the Holy Scripture, the entire liturgical rite and the Holy Mass, that is, services, including baptism, as the philosopher Constantine began to do with God's grace and by prayers of Saint Clement."

After the death of the brothers, their activities were continued by their students, expelled from Moravia in 886, in the South Slavic countries. (In the West, the Slavic alphabet and Slavic literacy did not survive; Western Slavs - Poles, Czechs ... - still use the Latin alphabet). Slavic literacy was firmly established in Bulgaria, from where it spread to the countries of the southern and eastern Slavs (9th century). Writing came to Rus' in the 10th century (988 - the baptism of Rus'). The creation of the Slavic alphabet was and still is of great importance for the development of Slavic writing, Slavic peoples, and Slavic culture.

The merits of Cyril and Methodius in the history of culture are enormous. Kirill developed the first ordered Slavic alphabet and thus marked the beginning of the widespread development of Slavic writing. Cyril and Methodius translated many books from Greek, which was the beginning of the formation of the Old Church Slavonic literary language and Slavic bookmaking. For many years, Cyril and Methodius carried out great educational work among the Western and Southern Slavs and greatly contributed to the spread of literacy among these peoples. There is information that Kirill also created original works. For many years, Cyril and Methodius carried out great educational work among the Western and Southern Slavs and greatly contributed to the spread of literacy among these peoples. Throughout all their activities in Moravia and Panionia, Cyril and Methodius also waged a constant, selfless struggle against the attempts of the German Catholic clergy to ban the Slavic alphabet and books.

Cyril and Methodius were the founders of the first literary and written language of the Slavs - the Old Church Slavonic language, which in turn was a kind of catalyst for the creation of the Old Russian literary language, Old Bulgarian and the literary languages ​​of other Slavic peoples. The Old Church Slavonic language was able to fulfill this role primarily due to the fact that it was not initially something rigid and stagnant: it itself was formed from several Slavic languages ​​or dialects.

Finally, when assessing the educational activities of the Thessaloniki brothers, it should be borne in mind that they were not missionaries in the generally accepted sense of the word: they were not involved in the Christianization of the population as such (although they contributed to it), for Moravia by the time of their arrival was already a Christian state.

CYRIL AND MEFODIUS

The creators of the Slavic ABC's, preachers of Christianity, the first translators of liturgical books from Greek into Slavic.

Brothers Cyril (before taking monasticism - Constantine, around 827–869) and Methodius (secular name unknown, around 815–885) were born in Thessaloniki (Macedonia) in the family of a military leader. Since childhood, they knew the Slavic (ancient Bulgarian) language well. Kirill was educated at yard Byzantine emperor, knew many foreign languages, was a patriarchal librarian, taught philosophy, was sent by Byzantium for diplomatic and missionary purposes to different lands. Methodius was first in military service and ruled one of the regions of Byzantium inhabited by the Slavs.
Then he retired to . In 863, Cyril and Methodius were sent by the Byzantine Emperor Michael III to Moravia (the territory of modern Hungary) to preach Christianity in the Slavic language. Before leaving, Cyril created the Slavic alphabet and, with the help of Methodius, translated several liturgical books from Greek into Slavic. There is no consensus in science about what kind of alphabet Kirill created - Glagolitic or Cyrillic alphabet
(most scientists believe that it is Glagolitic). The brothers' preaching and educational activities in Moravia aroused discontent among the local German Catholic clergy. Cyril and Methodius were summoned to Rome by the Pope. Along the way they continued to preach in Slavic and spread diploma
among the Slavic peoples of Pannonia (part of the territory of modern Hungary, Yugoslavia and Austria). The Pope approved the brothers' activities. After arriving in Rome, Cyril became seriously ill and soon died (869), having become a monk before his death. Methodius was consecrated to the rank of archbishop. He continued his educational and preaching activities in Pannonia and Moravia, and was engaged in translating the Bible into the Slavic language. Died 885
With their activities, Cyril and Methodius laid the foundation for Slavic writing. Cyril and Methodius were canonized (declared saints) not only by the Orthodox ( cm. ), but also Catholic church . They are considered the patrons of Europe. The Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of Saints Cyril and Methodius on May 24. In Bulgaria and Russia this day has become a holiday -.
Day of Slavic Literature

Monument to Cyril and Methodius in Moscow on Slavyanskaya Square. Sculptor V.M. Klykov. 1992:

Icon. "Cyril and Methodius". XIX century:. Russia. Large linguistic and cultural dictionary. - M.: State Institute of Russian Language named after. A.S. Pushkin. AST-Press. 2007 .

T.N. Chernyavskaya, K.S. Miloslavskaya, E.G. Rostova, O.E. Frolova, V.I. Borisenko, Yu.A. Vyunov, V.P. Chudnov

See what "KIRILL AND MEFODIUS" is in other dictionaries: Cyril and Methodius - (Cyril, 827 869; Methodius, † in 885) St. Equal to the Apostles enlighteners of the Slavs; were born in the city of Thessaloniki in Macedonia, where their father, Leo, lived, who held a high military position. Were they Slavs by birth, as M.P. Pogodin, Irechek and others argued,... ...

Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron- brothers from Thessaloniki (Thessaloniki), Slavic educators, creators of the Slavic alphabet, preachers of Christianity. Cyril (c. 827,869; before Constantine, Constantine the Philosopher took monasticism in 869) and Methodius (c. 815,885) in 863 were invited from... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

See what "KIRILL AND MEFODIUS" is in other dictionaries:- (Thessalonica brothers) Slavic enlighteners, Orthodox preachers, creators of the Slavic alphabet. Cyril (c. 827,869; before accepting monasticism in 869, Constantine the Philosopher) and Methodius (c. 815,885) in 863 were invited from Byzantium by the prince... ... Political science. Dictionary.

See what "KIRILL AND MEFODIUS" is in other dictionaries:- This term has other meanings, see Cyril and Methodius (meanings). Cyril and Methodius Cyril (in the world, nicknamed Constantine ... Wikipedia

Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron- Slavic educators, preachers of Christianity, the first translators of liturgical books. language. Cyril (before accepting monasticism in early 869 Constantine) (ca. 827 14.II.869) and his elder brother Methodius (820 19.IV. 885) were born in the city... ... Soviet historical encyclopedia

See what "KIRILL AND MEFODIUS" is in other dictionaries:- Equal to the Apostles, Slovenian teachers. The siblings Cyril and Methodius came from a pious family that lived in the Greek city of Thessaloniki (in Macedonia). They were the children of a voivode, an ethnic Bulgarian. St. Methodius was the eldest of seven brothers,... ... Orthodoxy. Dictionary-reference book

See what "KIRILL AND MEFODIUS" is in other dictionaries:- Kiri/lla and Metho/dia, m. Slavic enlighteners, creators of the Slavic alphabet, preachers of Christianity, the first translators of liturgical books from Greek into the Slavic language. Encyclopedic commentary: Cyril, before becoming a monk... ... Popular dictionary of the Russian language

See what "KIRILL AND MEFODIUS" is in other dictionaries:- Saints Cyril and Methodius. Ancient image. CYRILL AND MEFODIUS, brothers from Thessaloniki (Thessaloniki), Slavic educators, creators of the Slavic alphabet, preachers of Christianity: Cyril (about 827 869; before Constantine accepted monasticism in 869, ... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron- brothers, creators of glory. ABCs, “first Slavic teachers”, preachers of Christianity. Born and raised in a Greek family. military leader in Thessaloniki, now Thessaloniki (hence the “Thessaloniki brothers”). Cyril (before adopting the schema in 869 by Constantine) (c. 827... ... Russian Pedagogical Encyclopedia

CYRILL and MEFODIUS- St. Equal to the Apostles, enlighteners of the Slavs, creators of glory. ABCs, translators of SCRIPTURE for glory. language. Cyril (in the world Constantine) and MEFODIUS were born in the city of Soluni (Thessaloniki) in the family of the military leader (Drungaria) Leo. Methodius was in military service from 833... ... Bibliological dictionary

The Slavic Guides of the Faith of Christ, although they do not directly belong to the number of Slavic-Russian writers, however, since they are revered as the inventors of the Slavic letters that we use, and the first translators of our Church Slavic Books, the information about them and their translations in some way applies to the Slavic -Russian Church History. They lived around the half of the 9th century and were from the Greek trading city of Thessaloniki. Methodius served under the Constantinople Emperor Michael III in Military Service Voivode, and was sent to the countries adjacent to the Slavs, where he learned the Slavic language. And Constantine was raised from childhood at the Court of Constantinople, then, having become a monk, he was a Hieromonk and Librarian at the Cathedral Sophia Church of Constantinople, and, moreover, a Teacher of Philosophy. Emperor Michael sent him to the Saracens on the Euphrates River to justify the Faith of Christ, and then, together with his brother, to the Cozars to convert them to Christ, and finally, around 863, when the Moravian Princes Rostislav, Svyatopolk and Kocel sent to Constantinople to ask for Christian Teachers; then on this occasion, both brothers Constantine and Methodius were sent to them from the Emperor and the Constantinople Clergy; the first, as an expert in many Eastern languages, and the last, knowledgeable especially in Slavic. Our Chronicler Professor. Nestor and many Western Writers agree that they invented Slavic letters and were the first to translate the Holy Scriptures and Church Books into the Slavic language. In their Life Description, placed in the Four Menaions, under the 11th of Maya, it is said that before leaving for the Moravians in Constantinople, they invented the Slavic Alphabet, composed of thirty-eight letters, and there they began to translate the first Gospel of John into the Slavic language for experience. Although their works were common, the Slavic Alphabet was nicknamed Kirillova, perhaps because Kirill, due to his knowledge of many Eastern languages, chose from them for the Slavic language letters that were missing in the Greek Alphabet, and Methodius worked more than he did in translating books. For Constantine, or Cyril, was with his brother in Moravia for only 4 and a half years, and then went to the Bulgarians or, as Schletser thinks, to Rome and around 869 or 871, according to Schletser’s calculations, and according to Miller, 868 in Rome died; Methodius's death is supposed to happen there after 881. But some of the Westerners tried to anticipate the primacy of this honor and attributed both the invention of Slavic letters and the translation of Holy Scripture to Jerome of Stridon, the Western Father of the 4th century. To this end, since the 13th century and no older than 1222, according to the remark of Joseph Dobrovsky, a special so-called Glagolitic Alphabet, allegedly invented by Jerome, was invented. However, this forgery has already been quite exposed and refuted. Recently, Hankenstein, a Moravian Nobleman, in his Review of a supposedly 8th-century Slavic manuscript he found, published in German in Ofen in 1804, also tried to prove that the Slavs, even before Cyril and Methodius from ancient centuries, and not even later than the Greeks, had their own letters, made up of different Eastern ABCs. But no one was convinced by the evidence. Some of us also boasted about the discovery of supposedly ancient Slavic-Russian Runic writings of various kinds, with which the Boyanov Hymn and several proclamations of the Novgorod pagan Priests were written, supposedly from the fifth century. These runes are very similar to spoiled Slavic letters, and therefore some concluded that the Slavs, even before Christianity, from ancient times had someone compiled their own special Runic Alphabet, and that Constantine and Methodius, already from these Runes with the addition of some letters from the Greek and other Alphabet, made up our Slavic, since Bishop Ulfila in the 4th century compiled a special Gothic Alphabet from Northern Runic, Greek and Latin letters for the Goths who lived in Moisia and Thrace. With such Slavic-Russian Runes the first Stanza of the imaginary Boyanov Hymn was printed, and one Oracle of the priest in the 6th book of Readings in the Conversation of Lovers of the Russian Word in St. -Petersburg 1812 But this discovery did not convince anyone. As for the Slavic Books translated by Constantine and Methodius for the Moravians, Nestor testifies that they, firstly, translated the Apostle and the Gospel from Greek, and then the Psalter, Octoechos and other books - here, of course, we should mean the most necessary, or although all of that time for the Church Service. For then there were not as many of them as there are now, and the Menaion Honor adds only the Book of Hours and the Liturgiary. Constantine, according to the testimony of the Chetya Menaion and Western historians , stayed in Moravia with his brother for only a little over four years and after that he went to the Bulgarians, as mentioned above; and Methodius, having stayed with the Moravians and Pannonians for about 30 years, continued to translate books into Slavic for Church use, and with two priests, cursive writers, he finished them in full in six months, as Nestor says. But what kind of books these are is unknown. The Church books most commonly used for the regular Service are: the Book of Hours with the Psalter, the Missal with the Breviary, the Apostle and the Gospel, the Octoechos, the Irmologium, the two Triodions, the Parameinik, the Menaion of the Month, or instead of it the Common with the Festive Book and the Rule. It is impossible not only to translate these books alone, but also to copy them with two cursive writers in six months, but in the thirty years of his stay with the Moravians, Methodius could have done all this more conveniently and better. At the same time, the question arises: did he and his brother translate the entire Bible into the Slavic language? - Schletser and others strongly assert this, based on the evidence of two Latin Chronicles, the Dioles Chronicle of the 11th century and the Benedictine Blaubeyir, much later. Schletser also means by Nesterov’s word “Books” the Bible, although among the Greeks it was more often called Scripture. Some of ours refer in this to the testimony of Prester John, Exarch of Bulgaria (see article about him), who in the Preface to the translation of his Theology of St. John of Damascus, called Heaven, says the following about the works of Methodius and Constantine: the man of God Kstyantin the Philosopher River (recommended) received many works, constructing letters from the Slovenian books and from the Gospel and the Apostle, making a selection, as well as the one who lived in this dark world, just as he transgressed the endless and the light of accepting his deeds with the same one left him in life. this Great Archbishop of God Methodius, his brother, translated all the Statutory Books 60 from the Elin language which is Greek into Slovyansk. Having heard many people who wanted to taste the Teacher’s legends, he was ready to translate them into the Slovenian language. They already translated 60 by Methodius and so on.” But here again it is not known what all the 60 Statutory Books translated by Methodius mean. For there are not so many Church Charters considered. To explain this, they refer to: 1) Antiochus, Abbot of the Monastery of St. Sava, who talks about the Books of the Old and New Testaments (Article 7, Chapter VI of the Song of Songs and 60 About the Queens); 2) for one parchment Slavic Prologue of the 13th or 14th century, located in the library of Chancellor Count N.P. Rumyantsev, written, according to some, somewhere either in Bulgaria, or in Serbia, or Hilandar on Mount Athos. In it, under the date of August 25, there is an article with the inscription: “Memory in the Saints of the truly Reverend Father of ours, Archbishop of Moravia Kostandin, called Cyril the Philosopher and Methodist of his brother and Teacher, is a Slovenian language. day to remember her." In the same article about Methodius it is said: “When he entered the Moravian lands, having transferred all 60 Books of the Old and New Law from Greek to Slavic in 3 Endikt in the hundredth T. OU. Boga Knez Borys and Kral Nemečski people"; 3) They refer to the Slavic translation of the book of Dioptra or Mirror (written in Greek verse by Philip the Hermit, allegedly even in our city of Smolensk in 1095, according to a parchment copy written around the 15th century and located in the library of Count Tolstoy, in the conclusion of which it is said: “The Holy Spirit has made wise The Prophets were then clearly inspired by their inspiration, and the Apostles were like them, and the wisdom that came from him, both they and these, agreed and wrote and decided, even deciding, together they were combined for the Books, the Old 30 and three above these, the New 20 and seven to another." But what these writers base their count of 60 Books of Biblical Books on is unknown. For in the Greek Church they are counted not 60, but 73, and even without the Apocryphal 64. Others also say that John the Exarch borrowed the count of Biblical books from Damascus Theology , but Damascene (Book IV, in Chapter XVII about the Holy Scriptures) according to Jewish custom, considers only 22 Old Testament Books, and separately 28 New Testament Books. Be that as it may, there is no evidence of the Translation of the entire Bible by Constantine and Methodius; confirmed neither by Nestor, nor by Chet-Minea in the Lives of these Saints, nor by the remnants of their translations anywhere, which Exarch John did not see, but only heard about them, as he himself admits. No older than the 11th century, only the Gospels, Apostles, Psalters, Parameinics and some other books always used in the Church, probably the translation of these Preachers, accepted by the Russian Church since the time of Vladimir the Great during the conversion of the Slavic-Russians, have reached us no older than the 11th century. For the then close similarity of the Slavic-Russian dialects with the Moravian, according to Nestor’s testimony, and the readiness of these translations could convince them to accept them. True, in all the lists of these Books there are some, albeit small, discrepancies that prove either different translations or amendments; and therefore it is no longer possible to determine what exactly the original Methodius and Constantine translations were. But in some written Gospels, and in one printed one, which was in the possession of Professor Bauze, and now in the library of Count Tolstoy, it is unknown when and where published, it is said that it is the Translation of Methodius and Cyril; also in one edition of the General Menaion, printed in Moscow under Patriarch Job and Tsar Boris in 1600. , it is indicated that this book is the Creation and Collection of Cyril the Philosopher, Teacher of the Slavs and Bulgarians, for the poor. But the entire Bible of ancient haraten lists, not only the translation of Cyril and Methodius, but also no one’s, has not yet been found in our country. Konstantin, Prince of Ostrog, in the Preface to the Slavic Bible published by him in 1581 in Ostrog, testifies that in no Slavic tribe did he find a complete list of it, but only received one from Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, very similar supposedly to the Greek translation of the Seventy Interpreters , and supposedly translated back in the time of Vladimir the Great, but both of these assurances are unfair. The inaccuracy of the Ostrog edition with the Greek has already been sufficiently proven in the Preface to the newly corrected Slavic Bible, printed in 1751 in St. Petersburg. And the list delivered to the Ostroh Prince from Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich was exactly the same as one, perhaps one of the oldest in Russia, which is still in the Moscow Patriarchal Library, written in 1538 in semi-character, in a sheet, on semi-Alexandrian paper by Monk Joachim in the Monastery Joseph of Volokolamsk. The Ostrog edition, except for small and rare changes of dilapidated and common words to the newest and Slavic ones, is completely similar to this list and even in many places with the same lists, omissions and confusions against the Greek original. On top of all this, both in the list and in the Ostrog edition the entire books of Tobit, Judith and the third Esdras were translated not from Greek, but from the Latin Vulgate, and many places in the Prophets were corrected from this latter. But neither Methodius and Cyril, nor the Translators of Vladimirov’s century would have done this. Therefore, it is obvious that the translation of this Bible is from modern times. This is also proven by the fact that the Proverbs in our old Church Books, and the Laws of Moses, printed in the 2nd part of the Helmsman’s Book, have a completely different translation than the one in the Ostrog edition. There is also one older than the Joachim list in the Vienna Imperial. library, written in Serbian letters in Moldavia in 1535, as Lind assures. But whether he is similar to Joakimovsky is unknown. There would be no need to ask here into what language or Slavic dialect these Preachers translated their books, if scientists were not divided into different interpretations in this matter. It is known that Cyril and Methodius were Teachers especially of the Moravian and Bulgarian Slavs. Therefore, it is closest to conclude with Schletser that they had to write in their and for them dialect that was intelligible at that time. And Nestor testifies that in his time, that is, about 250 years after Constantine and Methodius, both the Slavic writing and language were still common among all Slavic tribes. Perhaps this should be understood about the book language, or the Church language, from which the common people in each tribe could already differ in many ways. Nestor himself wrote in this Church language with many common expressions; and in the style of Russian Truth, which was still written before him, there were already much greater differences. The Slavic Russians and Serbs wrote their books in the Slavic Church language longer than all other tribal peoples; the former almost until the 18th century, and the latter almost until modern times, although the popular and clerical language of both has long since changed. Therefore, some Western Scientists, such as Bek, Engel and Dobrovsky, who are more familiar with Serbian than our books, concluded that Constantine and Methodius translated Slavic books into the indigenous Old Serbian dialect. But there is no direct historical evidence for this. Even if we assume, in the opinion of some, citing the testimony of Constantine Porphyrogenitus and John Cantacuzene, that there were Serbian cities in the Solunsk Region from the 7th century, and therefore allegedly Constantine and Methodius in Solun had the opportunity to first learn only the Serbian dialect; then, upon arrival to the Moravians, they should have and could have conveniently adopted Moravian, due to the then still short-term difference in the Slavic dialects, and not the Moravians, retrain them into Serbian. There is still one controversial question about these Preachers. Although, according to Nestor and many Western Chronicles cited by Schlozer, it is known that they came to Moravia from Constantinople, however, some Western Writers tried to prove that they were sent there from Rome from the Pope, and that Methodius was appointed by the Pope as Archbishop in Moravia or Pannonia, and then both brothers were called to account in Rome. But all this evidence was quite thoroughly examined and refuted by the Archbishop of Novgorod Feofan Prokopovich in his Consideration of the Mauro-Urbino book on the Slavic people, from Italian to Russian language by order of Sovereign Peter the Great, translated and printed in St. Petersburg in 1722. (see at the end of that book the printed Consideration of Feofanovo; and for a detailed description of the life and works of Constantine and Methodius, see the Chetyi-Minaia and the Prologue under the number 11 Maya, and Dobrovsky in the Study of Cyril and Methodius, published in the Russian translation of 1825 . in Moscow with translator's notes). Between the manuscripts of the library of the Monastery of Joseph of Volokolamsk there is a Prayer of Skete repentance, Cyril the Philosopher, teacher of the Slovenians and Bolgars, and the translation of the Greek charter into Russian.

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

According to the most widespread version in science, Cyril and Methodius were of Greek origin. In the 19th century, some Slavic scholars (Mikhail Pogodin, Hermengild Irechek) defended their Slavic origin, based on their excellent command of the Slavic language - a circumstance that modern scholars consider insufficient for judging ethnicity. The Bulgarian tradition calls the brothers Bulgarians (to which, until the twentieth century, the Macedonian Slavs were also counted), relying in particular on the prologue “Life of Cyril” (in a later edition), where it is said that he “was born in the Soloun 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: Dragovites, Sagudati, Vayunits, Smolyans and which, according to the research of modern linguists, formed the basis of the language of translations of Cyril and Methodius, and with them the entire Church Slavonic language . An analysis of the language of translations of Cyril and Methodius shows that they spoke Slavic as their native language. The latter, however, does not yet speak in favor of their Slavic origin and apparently did not distinguish them from other inhabitants of Thessaloniki, since the “Life of Methodius” ascribes to Emperor Michael III the following words addressed to the saints: “You are a villager, and all villagers are purely Slovenian.” are talking."

Years of study and teaching

Both brothers received an excellent education. Methodius, with the support of his family friend and patron, the great logothete (head of the state treasury) eunuch Theoktistus, made a good military-administrative career, culminating in the post of strategist of Slavinia, a Byzantine province located in Macedonia. Then, however, he became a monk.

Kirill, unlike his brother, initially followed the spiritual and scientific path. According to the “Life”, compiled among his immediate disciples, from the very beginning of his teaching in Thessalonica, he amazed those around him with his abilities and memory. Once in his youth, while hunting, he lost his beloved hawk, and this made such an impression on him that he abandoned all fun and, having drawn a cross on the wall of his room, delved into the study of the works of Gregory the Theologian, to whom he composed a special poetic praise. Under the patronage of the logothete Theoktistus, he headed to Constantinople, where, according to his life, he studied with the emperor (but the young Michael was much more younger than Konstantin, perhaps in reality he was supposed to help train the child emperor). Among his teachers are the greatest scientists of that time, the future Patriarch Photius I and Leo the Mathematician. There he (according to the author of the “Life” allegedly at three months) studied “Homer and geometry, and Leo and Photius, dialectic and all the philosophical sciences in addition: rhetoric, and arithmetic, and astronomy, and music, and all other Hellenic arts”. Subsequently, he also mastered Aramaic and Hebrew. At the end of his studies, he refused to begin a very promising secular career by concluding an advantageous marriage with the goddaughter of the logothete (along with which, to begin with, “archontia” was promised, that is, the control of one of the semi-autonomous Slavic regions of Macedonia, and in the future the post of strategist), and therefore was sent along the path of church service (since Constantine was only 15 years old at that time, he had to go through several more preliminary steps in the church hierarchy before becoming a priest) and entered service as, in the words of his life, “a scribe at the Patriarch's in Hagia Sophia." The “reader of the patriarch” (the patriarch was Photius, Constantine’s teacher) can be understood as a chartophylax (the head of the office of the patriarch, literally “keeper of the archive”), or maybe a bibliophilax - the patriarchal librarian; B. Florya prefers the second option, since the young deacon did not have any administrative experience for such a responsible position as the patriarch's secretary. However, at some point he unexpectedly abandoned his post and hid in the monastery. After 6 months, he was found by the patriarch’s envoys and begged to return to Constantinople, where he began teaching philosophy at the same Magnavra University where he had recently studied (since then the nickname Constantine the Philosopher has been established for him). If you believe the Life of Constantine, then he defeated the famous leader of the iconoclasts, the former Patriarch John the Grammar (in the Life he appears under the contemptuous nickname “Annius”); however, modern researchers almost unanimously consider this episode to be fictitious.

Khazar mission

Finding the relics of St. Clement, Pope

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

Moravian Mission

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

If you ask the Slovenian boukar, saying: “Who created the letters, or the books?” - Then they all say and answer: “St. Constantine the Philosopher, called Kiril, created the letters for us.” lay down the books, and Methodius his brother. The point is, those who are still alive will have seen them.” And if you ask: “at what time?” then they lead and say: “As in the time of Michael, the Tsar of Grichsk, and Boris, the Prince of Bulgaria, and Rastitsa, the Prince of Moravia, and Kotsel, the Prince of Blatnsk, in the year from the creation of the whole world.”

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

Experts have still not come to a consensus as to which of the two Slavic alphabets - Glagolitic or Cyrillic - was the author of Konstantin. Chernorizets Khrabr, however, mentions that Cyril's alphabet had 38 characters, which indicates the Glagolitic alphabet.

Rome trip

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

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

Original text (old Slavic)

“Behold, brother, I am the wife of Bekhov, weighing down the reins alone, and I am falling in the forest, having ended my days. And if you love the mountain as great, then do not destroy the mountain for the sake of leaving your teaching, otherwise you may be saved.”

The Pope ordained Methodius as Archbishop of Moravia and Pannonia.

Return of Methodius to Pannonia

In 879, 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 of Macedon, came to Constantinople. There he spent three years, after which he and his students returned to Moravia (Velegrad). With the help of three students, he translated the Old Testament and patristic books into Slavic.

In 885, Methodius became seriously ill. Before his death, he appointed his student Gorazda as his successor. On April 4, Palm Sunday, he asked to be taken to church, where he read a sermon. On the same day he died. Methodius' funeral service took place in three languages ​​- Slavic, Greek and Latin.

After death

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

Pope Adrian II wrote to Prince Rostislav in Prague that if anyone begins to treat books written in Slavic with contempt, then let him be excommunicated and brought before the court of the Church, for such people are “wolves.” And Pope John VIII in 880 wrote to Prince Svyatopolk, ordering that sermons be delivered in Slavic.

Disciples of Saints Cyril and Methodius

The above-mentioned disciples are revered in the Balkans as the seventh saints.

Heritage

Cyril and Methodius developed a special alphabet for writing texts in the Slavic language - Glagolitic. Currently, among historians, the point of view of V. A. Istrin prevails, 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 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 it is precisely this work that is main part any work to create a new written language. Modern scientists note the high level of this work, which gave designations for almost all scientifically identified Slavic sounds, which we apparently owe to the outstanding linguistic abilities of Konstantin-Kirill noted in the sources.

Sometimes it is argued about the existence of Slavic writing before Cyril and Methodius, based on a passage from the life of Cyril, which talks about books written in “Russian letters”:

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

Original text (old Slavic)

“You will find that Gospel and Psalter, written in Russian letters, and you will find a person who speaks with that conversation. And having talked with him, I received the power of speech, applying different writings, vowel and consonant, to my conversation. And holding a prayer to God, he soon began to clean and say. And I am amazed at him, praising God.”

However, it does not follow from the passage that the “Russian language” mentioned there is Slavic; on the contrary, the fact that Konstantin-Kirill’s mastery of it is perceived as a miracle directly indicates that it was not a Slavic language. It should be remembered 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 is also agreed by some modern linguists who believe that the unity of the Proto-Slavic language can be spoken of until the 12th century . Most researchers believe that the fragment either speaks of the Gospel in the Gothic language (an idea first expressed by Safarik), or that the manuscript contains an error and instead of “Russian” it should be considered “Surian,” that is, “Syrian.” In support, they point out that the author makes a special distinction between vowels and consonants: as is known, in Aramaic writing, vowel sounds are indicated by superscripts. It is also significant that the entire fragment is given in the context of a story about Constantine’s study of the Hebrew language and Samaritan writing, which he began in Korsun, preparing for the debate in Khazaria. Metropolitan Macarius (Bulgakov) also points out that in the same life it is repeatedly emphasized that Constantine was the creator of Slavic letters and before him there were no Slavic letters - that is, the author of the life does not consider the described “Russian” letters to be Slavic.

Reverence

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

Widespread veneration of Cyril and Methodius began in the middle of the 19th century, when the names of the Slavic first teachers became a symbol of self-determination of the cultures of the Slavic peoples. The first celebration of the day of memory of Cyril and Methodius took place on May 11, 1858 in Plovdiv, and the Greeks did not participate in the celebrations. The celebration itself had the character of a symbolic act of confrontation with the Greek hierarchy of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which was then subordinate to the Bulgarian Church.

The first practical steps towards the resumption of church veneration of the Slavic first teachers were taken by Bishop Anthony of Smolensk (Amphitheaters), who in the summer of 1861 addressed the Chief Prosecutor of the Synod with a report in which he drew attention to the fact that in the Menaions on May 11 there was no service to Cyril and Methodius, and in There is no troparion or kontakion for them in the Monthly Word. That is, in the liturgical practice of countries that used liturgical books printed in Russia (Serbia, Bulgaria and Russia), the Slavic first teachers did not commit special service. Such a service had to be compiled and put into liturgical use. The initiative was supported by Metropolitan Filaret (Drozdov).

Two years after these celebrations, the “Cyril and Methodius Collection” was published, published under the editorship of M. P. Pogodin, which included the publication of a significant number of primary sources related to the activities of Cyril and Methodius, including ancient services to the Slavic first teachers. Articles were also posted here that emphasized the political aspect of the Cyril and Methodius celebrations.

The holiday in honor of Cyril and Methodius is a public holiday in Russia (since 1991), Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the Republic of Macedonia. In Russia, Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia the holiday is celebrated on May 24; in Russia and Bulgaria it is called , in Macedonia it is 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 Literature and Culture (coinciding with the day of the church commemoration of Cyril and Methodius), which is widely celebrated today.

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

To the cinema

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

see also

• Day of Slavic Culture and Literature (Day of Cyril and Methodius)

Notes

1. Duychev, Ivan. Bulgarian Middle Ages. - Sofia: Science and Art, 1972. - P. 96.
2. THE LIFE OF CONSTANTINE-KIRILL
3. “I had a great and famous grandfather, who sat near the Tsar, and he willingly rejected the glory given to him, was quickly expelled, and came to another land, impoverished. And give birth to that one,” the life quotes the words of Constantine himself - see THE LIFE OF CONSTANTINE-KIRILL
4. Tahiaos, Anthony Emilius-N. Holy brothers Cyril and Methodius, enlighteners of the Slavs. Sergiev Posad, 2005. P. 11.
5. Cyril and Methodius, Equal to the Apostles, Slovenian teachers
6. Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-05, s.v. "Cyril and Methodius, Saints"; Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica Incorporated, Warren E. Preece - 1972, p.846
7. // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
8. See what "KIRILL AND MEFODIUS" is in other dictionaries:// New encyclopedic dictionary. Volume 21. 1914
9. E. M. VERESCHAGIN From the history of the emergence of the first literary language of the Slavs. 
10. Translation technique of Cyril and Methodius)
11. Cyril and Methodius Encyclopedia., Sofia., BAN publication (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences), 1985