Is it true that Cyrillic was invented by Cyril and Methodius?

Many believe that the creators of the modern Russian alphabet many centuries ago were two brothers-monkh, later counted by the saints. We checked how convincing this version is.

Here's what the Foundation's information portal reports "Russian World": “The Greek alphabet continued the history of its development and became the basis for another alphabet - the Cyrillic alphabet. The ancient Slavs also needed their own alphabet. They decided to turn to the Greeks for help. To do this, in 863, the Slavs invited the scientists of the Greeks brothers Cyril and Methodius, who knew the Slavic language very well. Cyril and Methodius took letters from the Greek alphabet, some letters came up with themselves and created the Cyrillic alphabet. The alphabets of many languages ​​are based on Cyrillic: Russian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Ukrainian, etc.. ”

You can hear about this in the program "News", in the programs of the TV channel "Mir 24" and a number of Russian regional TV channels, read on sites universities and on the portal "Lesson.rf".

First of all, let's understand who Cyril and Methodius are. According to performances Modern historians, brothers were born in the city of Solun (as the Slavs were called the Greek saloniki) in the first half of the 9th century with a difference of 12 years, and the senior, even though it is in pairs and mention the second, was Methodius. More precisely, he became Methodius much later (most likely, having made a tonsure), and his worldly name remains unknown. Cyril was called Konstantin in the pre -monkey life. In his youth, Methodius, like his father, was engaged in administrative activities for the good of the Byzantine empire, while Konstantin immediately chose the path of religious education. In any case, by 862, when to the Byzantine emperor Michael III The embassy arrived from the Great Moravian Prince Rostislav with a request to send a missionary to Moravia (the territory of the modern Czech Republic), the brothers were well known at the court, and it was they who were entrusted with this mission. The choice was due to the fact that Solun in those days was a bilingual city, and the brothers freely owned the local Slavic dialect, while Moravans were also Slavs.

It was this invitation that played a key role in the appearance of the Slavic alphabet. To translate and present the foundations of Christian creed, the brothers needed to develop a system of signs that would reflect the phonetic features of the language of their future students. And although the Slavic dialects at this stage of their development were very similar, neither Cyril nor Methodius knew all the intricacies of the language in which the Moravans spoke. Therefore, the basis Old Slavonic languagewho will soon become the main as a liturgical and canonical among the Western, southern, and later Eastern Slavs, a dialect, widespread in the vicinity of the native to the Soluni brothers. Over time, the Old Slavonic language transforms into Church Slavonicused today along with national languages. Nevertheless, like Latin, today it is a dead language that does not exist outside the specific environment of human activity.

Now about the most important thing. As you know, there are two ancient Slavic alphabets: Cyrillic and Glagolitic. Strictly speaking, the first term unites several concepts at once - this is a whole family of modern alphabets used in almost two dozen independent states (not counting the languages ​​of autonomous formations), and the so -called Charter font (replaced by which came civil), and, finally, the basis of all of the above is the Old Slavonic alphabet called "Cyrillic":

The Glagolitica, almost completely coinciding with the Cyrillic alphabet and the sound value of letters, is very different from it by drawings of symbols:

A very peculiar type of elements of the verb does not allow to unequivocally associate it with any letter known today, although countsthat many letters go back to the Greek, and some - to the Semitic ones. In ancient Rus', the Glagolitic was used very little - in the form of separate interspersed in Cyrillic texts, inscriptions, as well as for secret -painting. At the same time, until the middle of the XIX century, the theory of seniority of the Cyrillic alphabet over the Glagolitsa dominated science. Doubts originated in 1836, when a verb manuscript was discovered, now known as "Clotz Collection". It dates from the XI century, but it was far from the limit, as the subsequent discoveries showed. The whole mass of ancient texts on the Glagolitsa soon discovered in Constantinople a Russian linguist Victor Grigorovichwho, in parallel with the Slovak scientist Pavel Shafarik, put forward convincing evidence in favor of the fact that the Glagolitic is older than the Cyrillic alphabet. The works of scientists of the XIX - XX centuries confirmed this theory. The oldest surviving verbal inscription with accurate dating dates back to 893 and was made in the church of the Bulgarian king Simeon in Preslav:

There are other arguments in favor of the seniority of the Glagolitica, and exactly:

1. Monuments written by the Glagolitica are connected precisely with those areas (Moravia and Pannonia), where the activities of the Slavic primary teachers, as well as with Croatia and Macedonia, where the direct students of Cyril and Methodius, expelled from Moravia worked. The oldest of the Cyrillic monuments known to us, as a rule, occur in the east of the Balkan Peninsula, where the brothers did not have direct influence;

2. Monuments written by the Glagolitic, as a rule, are more archaic in language than Cyrillic texts;

3. The Glagolitica is less perfect in composition of letters than Cyrillic alphabet;

4. A number of letters are used in Cyrillic, indicating sound combinations that could appear among the Slavs only from the end of the 9th - early X century. These are the letters “XSI” and “psi” borrowed from the Greek alphabet. There were no such letters in the Glagolitic, since in the middle of the 9th century the Slavs could not have appropriate sound combinations;

5. In the monuments written by Cyrillic, individual words or interspersed of letters in the verb record are often found. The opposite is found only in cases where the Cyrillic postscript is obviously made later;

6. Parchment (the main scribble material in those days) was quite expensive, so the scribes often resorted to the use of the old book to write a new text. The text written on top of the old (washed away or scraped) inscription was called a pilim. Among the well -known pilims there are Cyrillic manuscripts written according to the washed verb, but there is not a single verb monument written on the washed Cyrillic.

And finally, about the personalities of the creators. It can be assumed that Cyril and Methodius first created a verb, and then they also came up with Cyrillic. However, modern scientists for the most part do not agree with this statement. According to tradition, Cyrillic was created by a student of Cyril and Methodius Clement of Ohrid, in 893 chosen "Bishop of the Slavic language." In his brief life you can read: “Clemented [Clement] and other drawings for letters, so that they are more clear than those invented by the Wise Cyril.” It is difficult to argue with the last statement - indeed, the Cyrillic alphabet is much more convenient to handle. However, the fact that the successor of the two brothers became precisely Clement, the scientists are not sure. Expressed assumptionthat it could be his contemporaries Naum Okrid and Konstantin Preslavsky. One way or another, but the vast majority of scientists believe that Cyril and Methodius were invented precisely by the Glagolitic, and only her.

Most likely not true

What do our verdicts mean?