Slavic alphabet: history of origin. Creation of the Slavic alphabet
Instructions
Less than 100 years have passed since they stopped teaching children the Slavic alphabet. Meanwhile, it was she who was the storehouse of knowledge that formed the child’s correct understanding of the world around him. Each letter is at the same time an image with the help of which knowledge was transmitted. For example, the initial letter Az (Азъ) has the following images: source, beginning, fundamental principle, reason, worthy, renewal.
Peculiarities Slavic alphabet
The alphabet changed with the introduction of Christianity in Rus'. In order to be able to study the Bible, Greek initial letters were introduced into the Russian alphabet, replacing them. They were required for a more correct reading of the holy books from the point of view. Cyril and Methodius, having changed and shortened the alphabet by 6 letters, predetermined the loss deep meaning the Russian language, which was mastered not by writing letters (letter combinations), but by connecting images. This can be seen in the example of many native Russian words, for example, conscience (joint message, knowledge), education (calling of an image, its creation, va(ya)nie). So in the 10th century, Russian writing, in many ways corresponding to the modern one. But there was also an older one, Slavic.
The appearance of writing in Rus'
The question of the origin of writing in Rus' has not yet been finally resolved. The traditional point of view is this: it came into life with the emergence of the Cyrillic alphabet. But the debate among scientists around this theory has been going on for a long time, and the research of Dr. philological sciences Chudinova, doctors historical sciences Natalia Guseva, academicians Vinogradov, Govorov, Sidorov and many other researchers convincingly prove that the first inscriptions in Proto-Slavic were made on stones and clay tablets.
In the 70s of the last century, the Sofia alphabet (Greek) was discovered, which included three Slavic initial letters. Consequently, writing in Rus' appeared long before the activities of Cyril and Methodius. The most ancient was the nodular, or ligature, nauz. Subsequently, runes appeared. The Old Russian Magi were written in the Holy Russian runic script. These texts are inscribed on tablets made of oak, cedar and ash.
Later cultural monuments, for example, Kharatiya, are written in Glagolitic alphabet, which is very close to the Old Slavic alphabet. It was used as trade letter, and features and cuts - as for transmission short messages for economic needs. In the history of the Greeks and Scandinavians, documentary information has been preserved that already in the 2nd-4th centuries the Slavs were an educated people and had their own written language. Moreover, every child was taught it.
The most ancient monuments Slavic writing found in 1962 in the village of Terteria (Romania). They are written in Slavic runic and date back to the 5th century BC. Before this discovery, the earliest artifact confirming the presence of writing among the ancient peoples of the East were Sumerian tablets. But they turned out to be 1000 younger than the ancient Slavic ones.
For a long time. This year we celebrate our 1150th anniversary! Let's remember how it was?
“Our land is baptized, but we have no teacher who would instruct and teach us, and explain the holy books. After all, we don’t know either Greek language. Neither Latin. And send us teachers who could tell us about book words and their meaning.” This is how the Slavic princes turned to the Byzantine basileus Michael.
We find these lines in the “Tale of Bygone Years” - the main document ancient Russian history. Then Michael summoned two learned brothers - Constantine, who took the name Cyril at tonsure, and Methodius - and sent them to the Slavic lands. In Bulgaria, the brothers improved the Slavic alphabet. This happened in 863. With the help of brother Methodius and his disciples, Constantine translated the main liturgical books from Greek into Bulgarian. This is where Slavic writing originates. In the melody of the Slavic language, Kirill was able to catch the main sounds and find letter designations for each of them. For short term Cyril and Methodius translated the Holy Scriptures and other liturgical books into Slavic. In Orthodoxy, “Slovenian teachers” are revered as saints, equal to the apostles.
There is an opinion among theologians that praise to God can only be given in the three languages in which the inscription on the Cross of the Lord was made: Hebrew, Greek and Latin. Therefore, Constantine and Methodius were perceived as heretics and summoned to Rome. There they hoped to find support in the fight against the German clergy, who did not want to give up their positions in the South Slavic lands and hindered the spread of Slavic writing.
But the wrong one was attacked. Constantine handed over to Pope Adrian II the relics of Saint Clement, which he had found on his Chersonesos journey, he approved the service in the Slavic language, and ordered the translated books to be placed in Roman churches. I note that M. Luther, translator of the Bible into German, even in the 16th century he fought for worship to be conducted in the language of the people to whom they preach. In our country, worship, and, consequently, education has been carried out in our native language since the adoption of Christianity.
Please note - the whole world comes to life in the names of Cyrillic letters. Not like X, Y, Z - the angular Latin Cartesian world.
Vedi - Indian Vedas, vedat, sorcerers, Magi (Volkhovs), the Volkhov River - the center and beginning of Russian democracy.
The verb is “to burn the hearts of people with a verb.” Neither subtract nor add.
Good, not evil, should rule the world.
There is - everything that exists - is - exists, but it’s also good to eat... in moderation.
If you live, be fruitful, multiply.
The Earth is both a planet and a soil. And there are People on it.
Think - think - preferably not for three, although this is not always bad either.
Peace - we need to sleep every day, but we only dream of eternal peace.
The Word – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Firmly - we stand on the ground and for the ground.
Dick - even a phallic symbol of fertility is present here.
The alphabets of eight Slavic languages were created on the basis of the Cyrillic alphabet - Belarusian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Ruthenian, Russian, Serbian, Ukrainian, Montenegrin; and a number of non-Slavic ones - Dungan, Moldavian, Nivkh, Tajik, Gypsy, Chukchi, Shugnan, Yaghnobi. In addition, 20 Caucasian, 4 Mongolian, 9 Tungus-Manchu, 27 Turkic, 12 Uralic languages use the Cyrillic alphabet.
There is no need to talk about the importance of writing - we read this magazine in Cyrillic. With the help of writing, it became possible to record and accumulate knowledge and transmit it vertically from generation to generation. Books, and now the Internet, make it possible to dramatically speed up the horizontal transmission of information, but, again, on the basis of writing.
Since 1863, Russia has celebrated the memory of Saints Cyril and Methodius on May 11 (May 24, new style). Now it is the Day of Slavic Literature and Culture.
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The history of the emergence of Slavic writing
On May 24, the Day of Slavic Literature and Culture is celebrated throughout Russia. It is considered the day of remembrance of the first teachers Slavic peoples- Saints Cyril and Methodius. The creation of Slavic writing dates back to the 9th century and is attributed to the Byzantine monastic scientists Cyril and Methodius.
The brothers were born in the Macedonian city of Thessaloniki, located in a province that was part of the Byzantine Empire. They were born into the family of a military leader, and their Greek mother tried to give them versatile knowledge. Methodius - this is a monastic name, the secular one has not reached us - was the eldest son. He, like his father, chose the military path and went to serve in one of the Slavic regions. His brother Constantine (who took the name Cyril as a monk) was born in 827, about 7-10 years later than Methodius. Already as a child, Kirill passionately fell in love with science and amazed his teachers with his brilliant abilities. He “succeeded in science more than all the students thanks to his memory and high skill, so that everyone was amazed.”
At the age of 14, his parents sent him to Constantinople. There, in a short time, he studied grammar and geometry, dialectics and arithmetic, astronomy and music, as well as “Homer and all other Hellenic arts.” Kirill was fluent in Slavic, Greek, Hebrew, Latin and Arabic. Kirill’s erudition, exceptionally high education for those times, wide acquaintance with ancient culture, encyclopedic knowledge - all this helped him successfully lead educational activities among the Slavs. Kirill, having refused the high administrative position offered to him, took the modest position of librarian in the Patriarchal Library, gaining the opportunity to use its treasures. He also taught philosophy at the university, for which he received the nickname “Philosopher”.
Returning to Byzantium, Cyril went to seek peace. On the coast of the Sea of Marmara, on Mount Olympus after many years After separation, the brothers met in the monastery, where Methodius was hiding from the bustle of the world. We came together to open new page history.
In 863, ambassadors from Moravia arrived in Constantinople. Moravia was the name given to one of the West Slavic states of the 9th-10th centuries, which was located on the territory of what is now the Czech Republic. The capital of Moravia was the city of Velehrad; scientists have not yet established its exact location. The ambassadors asked to send preachers to their country to tell the population about Christianity. The emperor decided to send Cyril and Methodius to Moravia. Cyril, before setting off, asked if the Moravians had an alphabet for their language. “For enlightening a people without writing their language is like trying to write on water,” Kirill explained. Reply to asked question was negative. The Moravians did not have an alphabet. Then the brothers began work. They had not years, but months at their disposal. In a short time, an alphabet for the Moravian language was created. It was named after one of its creators, Kirill. This is Cyrillic.
There are a number of hypotheses about the origin of the Cyrillic alphabet. Most scientists believe that Cyril created both the Cyrillic and Glagolitic alphabet. These writing systems existed in parallel and at the same time differed sharply in the shape of the letters.
The Cyrillic alphabet was compiled according to a fairly simple principle. At first, all Greek letters were included in it, which among the Slavs and Greeks denoted the same sounds, then new signs were added - for sounds that had no analogues in the Greek language. Each letter had its own name: “az”, “buki”, “vedi”, “verb”, “good” and so on. In addition, numbers could also be denoted by letters: the letter “az” denoted 1, “vedi” - 2, “verb” - 3. There were 43 letters in the Cyrillic alphabet in total.
Using the Slavic alphabet, Cyril and Methodius very quickly translated the main liturgical books from Greek into Slavic: these were selected readings from the Gospel, apostolic collections, the psalter and others. The first words written using the Slavic alphabet were the opening lines from the Gospel of John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The successful mission of Cyril and Methodius aroused sharp discontent among the Byzantine clergy, who tried to discredit the Slavic enlighteners. They were even accused of heresy. To defend themselves, the brothers go to Rome and achieve success: they are allowed to start their work.
Long and long journey to Rome. The intense struggle with the enemies of Slavic writing undermined Cyril’s health. He became seriously ill. Dying, he took the word from Methodius to continue the education of the Slavs.
Endless adversity befell Methodius, he was persecuted, put on trial, imprisoned, but nothing physical suffering, neither moral humiliation broke his will nor changed his goal - serving the cause of Slavic enlightenment. Soon after the death of Methodius, Pope Stephen 5 prohibited Slavic worship in Moravia under pain of excommunication. The closest scientists, Cyril and Methodius, are arrested and expelled after torture. Three of them - Clement, Naum and Angelarius - found a favorable reception in Bulgaria. Here they continued to translate from Greek into Slavic, compiled various collections, and instilled literacy in the population.
It was not possible to destroy the work of the Orthodox enlighteners. The fire they lit did not go out. Their alphabet began its march across countries. From Bulgaria the Cyrillic alphabet came to Kievan Rus.
Without changes, the Cyrillic alphabet existed in the Russian language almost until Peter 1, during which changes were made to the style of some letters. He removed the obsolete letters: “yus big”, “yus small”, “omega” and “uk”. They existed in the alphabet only by tradition, but in reality it was perfectly possible to do without them. Peter 1 crossed them out from the civil alphabet - that is, from the set of letters intended for secular printing. In 1918, several more obsolete letters “gone” from the Russian alphabet: “yat”, “fita”, “izhitsa”, “er” and “er”.
Over the course of a thousand years, many letters have disappeared from our alphabet, and only two have appeared: “y” and “e”. They were invented in the 18th century by the Russian writer and historian N.M. Karamzin.
Where would we be without writing? Ignorant, ignorant, and simply - people without memory. It is difficult to even imagine what humanity would be like without the alphabet.
After all, without writing, we would not be able to transmit information, share experiences with descendants, and each generation would have to reinvent the wheel, discover America, compose “Faust”...
More than 1000 years ago, the Slavic scribes brothers Cyril and Methodius became the authors of the first Slavic alphabet. Nowadays, a tenth of all existing languages(and these are 70 languages) have a written language based on the Cyrillic alphabet.
Every spring, on May 24, a holiday comes to Russian soil - young and ancient - the Day of Slavic Literature.
Introduction
Slavic writing enlightener antique
Since childhood, we get used to the letters of our Russian alphabet and rarely think about when and how our writing arose. The creation of the Slavic alphabet is a special milestone in the history of every nation, in the history of its culture. In the depths of millennia and centuries, the names of the creators of writing of a particular people or language family. But the Slavic alphabet has an absolutely amazing origin. Thanks to a whole series of historical evidence, we know about the beginning of the Slavic alphabet and about its creators - Saints Cyril and Methodius.
Language and writing are perhaps the most important culture-forming factors. If the people are deprived of the right or opportunity to speak their native language, then this will be the most severe blow to their native culture. If books in their native language are taken away from a person, he will lose the most important treasures of his culture. An adult, for example, who finds himself abroad, will probably not forget his native language. But his children and grandchildren will have great difficulties mastering the language of their parents and their people. Russian emigration of the 20th century, based on their arduous experience, answered the question “What place do the native language and native literature in national culture? gives a very clear answer: “Primary!”
Creation of the Slavic alphabet
Contemporaries and students of the first teachers of the Slavs compiled their lives in Church Slavonic. These biographies have been tested for centuries for authenticity and to this day are recognized by Slavists of all countries as the most important sources on the history of Slavic writing and culture. Best edition ancient lists biography of Cyril and Methodius, prepared jointly by Russian and Bulgarian scientists, was published in 1986. Here are lists of lives and words of praise for Cyril and Methodius of the 12th-15th centuries. The facsimile edition in this book of the most ancient lives of the Slavic enlighteners gives it special significance. Facsimile - “exactly reproduced” (from the Latin fac simile “do like”). Reading handwritten lives and words of praise to Cyril and Methodius, we penetrate back centuries and get closer to the origins of the Slavic alphabet and culture.
In addition to hagiographic literature, the most interesting evidence of the ancient Bulgarian writer of the late 9th-early 10th century, Monk Khrabra, who wrote the first essay on the history of the creation of Slavic writing, has been preserved.
If you ask the Slavic literati like this:
Who wrote your letters or translated your books,
Everyone knows that and, answering, they say:
Saint Constantine the Philosopher, named Cyril,
He created letters for us and translated books.
The homeland of the brothers Constantine (that was the name of St. Cyril before he became a monk) and Methodius was the Macedonian region of Byzantium, namely main city region - Thessaloniki, or in Slavic Thessaloniki. The father of the future enlighteners of the Slavic peoples belonged to the highest stratum of Byzantine society. Methodius was the eldest, and Constantine the youngest of his seven sons. The exact year of birth of each brother is not known. Researchers place the year of birth of Methodius in the second decade of the 9th century. Konstantin learned to read very early and surprised everyone with his ability to master other languages. He received a comprehensive education at the imperial court in Constantinople under the guidance of the best mentors in Byzantium, among whom stood out the future Patriarch of Constantinople Photius, an expert ancient culture, the creator of a unique bibliographic collection known as the “Miriobiblion” - and Lev the Grammar - a man who surprised compatriots and foreigners with his deep learning, an expert in mathematics, astronomy and mechanics.
The Life of Constantine reports on his education: “In three months he studied all the grammar and took up other sciences. Studied Homer, geometry and studied dialectics and others from Leo and Photius philosophical teachings, in addition - rhetoric, arithmetic, astronomy, music and other Hellenic sciences. And so he studied all this, as no one else had studied these sciences.” The ancient heritage and all modern secular science were considered by Constantine's teachers to be a necessary preliminary stage to the comprehension of the highest wisdom - Theology.
This was also consistent with the ancient church Christian scientific tradition: famous fathers Churches of the 4th century Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian, before entering church service, received education in the best educational institutions Constantinople and Athens. Basil the Great even wrote a special instruction: “To young men, on how to benefit from pagan writings.” “The Slavic alphabet taught by Saint Cyril contributed not only to the development of an original Slavic culture, but was also important factor the development of young Slavic nations, their revival and liberation from the spiritual tutelage, turning into oppression, of foreign neighbors. What Saints Cyril and Methodius did served as the foundation on which the beautiful edifice of the current Slavic culture was built, which has taken its honorable place in the world culture of mankind.” Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov). From the speech “Equal to the Apostles,” delivered on the 1100th anniversary of the death of St. Cyril. Hagiographic literature, which has preserved for us precious information about life and scientific activity Thessalonica brothers, assigned to Constantine the name Filosov (i.e. “lover of wisdom”). In this regard, an episode from the childhood of the future educator of the Slavs is of particular interest. As a seven-year-old boy, Konstantin had a dream, which he told his father and mother. The strategist (head of the region), having gathered all the girls of Thessalonica, told him: “Choose from among them whomever you want as your wife, to help (you) and your peer.” “I,” said Constantine, “having examined and examined them all, saw one more beautiful than all, with a shining face, decorated with gold necklaces and pearls and all beauty, her name was Sophia, that is, Wisdom, and her (I) chose." After completing the course of science, he took the department of philosophy at Magnavrskaya higher school Constantinople, where he himself had previously studied, Constantine the Philosopher also served as the patriarchal librarian. And, in the “books of diligence,” he rose more and more from book wisdom to the highest Wisdom, preparing for the great mission - the enlightenment of the Slavic peoples.
Constantine's embassy to Moravia in 863 was of epochal significance for the entire Slavic world. The Moravian prince Rostislav asked the Byzantine Emperor Michael III to send to him preachers who spoke the Slavic language: “Our land is baptized, but we do not have a teacher who would instruct and teach us, and explain the holy books. After all, we do not know either Greek or Latin; Some teach us this way, and others teach us differently, so we don’t know either the shape of the letters or their meaning. And send us teachers who could tell us about book words and their meaning.”
“Teaching without the alphabet and without books is like writing a conversation on water,” answered Constantine the Philosopher to Emperor Michael when he invited him to go on an educational mission to the Moravian Christians. Konstantin the Philosopher compiled the alphabet for the Slavs and, together with his brother, translated the first texts from the Gospel and Psalter. Thus, the year 863 in the history of Slavic culture is marked as the year of the creation of the Slavic alphabet, which marked the beginning of the Slavic enlightenment. The Gospel of John stands out among all biblical books for its abundance of religious and philosophical concepts and categories. Through the Church Slavonic translation of this Gospel, made by Cyril and Methodius, in Slavic language and the everyday life of Slavic philosophy included many philosophical (ontological, epistemological, aesthetic, ethical) and other terms: “light”, “enlightenment”, “truth”, “man”, “grace”, “life” (“belly”), “ peace", "testimony", "power", "darkness", "fullness", "knowledge", "faith", "glory", "eternity" and many others. Most of these terms are firmly entrenched in the language and literature of the Slavic peoples.
The creation of Slavic writing was not only the invention of the alphabet with all the signs characteristic of the written expression of speech, and the creation of terminology. Colossal work was also done to create a new toolkit for Slavic writing. The books that Cyril and Methodius translated from Greek and wrote in Slavic contained examples of a number of literary genres. For example, biblical texts included historical and biographical genres, monologues and dialogues, as well as examples of the most exquisite poetry. Liturgical Slavic texts from the pens of the first teachers mostly intended to be chanted or even choral performance and thereby served the development musical culture Slavs The first translations of patristic texts (works of the holy fathers) into the Slavic language included works of a philosophical nature. The first church-canonical Slavic collections contained translations of monuments of Byzantine legislation, that is, they laid the foundation for the legal literature of the Slavs.
Every literary genre has its own characteristics and requires its own verbal forms and visual arts. To create a full-fledged toolkit of Slavic writing, which, on the one hand, would preserve the natural beauty of the Slavic language, and on the other, convey all the literary merits and subtleties of the Greek originals, is truly a task for several generations. But historical sources indicate that this enormous philological work was done by the Thessaloniki brothers and their immediate students in an amazingly short time. This is all the more surprising because the Orthodox missionaries Cyril and Methodius, although they had an excellent knowledge of the Slavic dialect, had neither scientific grammar, nor dictionaries, nor examples of highly artistic Slavic writing.
Here is what is said in one of the many reviews of modern scientists about the philological feat of Cyril and Methodius: “Unlike other methods of recording Slavic speech practiced in that era, the Slavic letter of Constantine-Cyril was a special complete system, created with careful consideration of the specific features of the Slavic language. Translations of works in which Constantine and Methodius tried to find adequate expression for all the features of these monuments meant not just the emergence literary language medieval Slavs, but its composition is already immediately in those mature, developed forms that were developed in the original Greek text as a result of centuries-old literary development.”
Maybe someone before Cyril and Methodius did experiments on creating Slavic writing, but there are only hypotheses on this matter. And numerous historical sources testify specifically to Cyril and Methodius as the creators of the Slavic alphabet, writing and literature. However, the history of the creation of Slavic writing has one very interesting riddle. In the 9th century, the Slavs developed almost simultaneously two writing systems: one was called the Glagolitic alphabet, and the other, the Cyrillic alphabet. Which alphabet - Cyrillic or Glagolitic - was invented by Constantine the Philosopher? Many scientists are inclined to believe that the first Slavic alphabet was the Glagolitic alphabet. Others believe that Saint Cyril invented the Cyrillic alphabet. Perhaps the first teachers of the Slavs created both of these writing systems, but later the Cyrillic alphabet became most widespread, which became the basis of the modern Russian alphabet. But no matter how science subsequently resolves these questions, evidence historical sources about the brothers Cyril and Methodius as the creators of Slavic writing and book culture remains unchanged. The Orthodox mission of Cyril and Methodius also became a decisive factor for the formation of a single cultural space Slavic peoples. In the 19th century, the famous Russian archaeographer Archimandrite Leonid Kavelin found and published the manuscript “The Word of our teacher Constantine the Philosopher” in the book depository of the Hilendar (Serbian) monastery on Mount Athos. In it, Constantine the Philosopher addresses all Slavic peoples: “In the same way, hear the Slovenes of all... Hear, Slovenian the whole people... Behold, all of us, brothers of Slovenia, conspiring, speak light appropriately.”
To whom was the word of the enlighteners Cyril and Methodius addressed? To all the peoples of the Slavic world, which in the 9th century was not as divided linguistically as in subsequent centuries. From Baltic Sea in the north to the Aegean Sea and the Adriatic in the south, from the Laba (Elbe) and the Alps in the west and to the Volga in the east they settled Slavic tribes, the names of which were reported by our “initial chronicle”: Moravians, Czechs, Croats, Serbs, Horutans, Polyans, Drevlyans, Mazovshans, Pomorians, Dregovichi, Polochans, Buzhans, Volynians, Novgorodians, Dulebs, Tivertsy, Radimichi, Vyatichi. They all spoke the “Slovenian language” and all received education and native literature from their first teachers.
Constantine the Philosopher, having accepted monasticism with the name Cyril shortly before his death, died in 869. Methodius outlived his younger brother by 16 years. Before his death, Kirill bequeathed to his brother: “You and I, like two oxen, plowed the same furrow. I am exhausted, but don’t think about leaving the work of teaching and retiring to the mountain (to the monastery) again.” Saint Methodius fulfilled his brother’s order and until the end of his earthly life he worked on translating the Bible, liturgical books and collections of church law. Methodius died in 885, leaving behind many successors who knew and loved Church Slavonic books.
“Translating a Byzantine text into Russian is a grateful and joyful task, because the modern translator is energetically assisted by his ancient predecessors; The historical fate of the Russian language opened it up to opportunities specific to Byzantium to link and weave words. In English or French, the same text can only be retold, recklessly sacrificing its verbal fabric, and even German translation it is possible to approach the true warehouse of Hellenic orbit only at a respectful distance. The tradition of Russian culture embodied in language is connected with the Byzantine heritage in a very tenacious, very real and concrete connection. We shouldn’t forget about this.”
The greatest merit of Cyril and Methodius to Slavic world It also consisted in the fact that they tried to leave their students everywhere - continuers of the work of enlightening the Slavic peoples. Their disciples continued the Orthodox mission in Moravia and Panonia, and through the next line of successors, the Cyril and Methodius book traditions reached southern Poland, Slovenia, Croatia and Bulgaria.
The Cyril and Methodius Orthodox missionary tradition, in contrast to the Western Catholic one, was characterized by the fact that the oral preaching of the Gospel, church service and schooling - all this was done in the native language of those peoples to whom the followers of Cyril and Methodius brought Orthodoxy and Orthodox culture. Especially important had the introduction of the Slavic language into liturgy, because at that time the liturgical language was also the language of literature. With the Baptism of Rus', books in the Slavic language began to spread very quickly on Russian soil. “In The Tale of Bygone Years, which is attentive to all the events of Russian culture, there are neither names nor dates associated with Russian writing itself. And this, undoubtedly, is because Cyril and Methodius were in the minds of the scribes of Rus' the true creators of a single writing system for all eastern and southern Slavs. The Russian “Tale of the Translation of Books into the Slavic Language,” placed in the “Tale of Bygone Years,” begins with the words: “There is no single Slovenian language.” Further in this “Legend” it is said: “And the Slovenian language and the Russian language are one,” and a little lower it is repeated again: “... and the Slovenian language is one.”
Currently in Russian culture Church Slavonic is most often perceived as the language of prayer and Orthodox worship. But its significance does not end there. “In general, the significance of the Church Slavonic language for Russian is that it represents the entire history of the Russian language placed on one plane, for in Church Slavonic at the same time there are monuments that go back to the activities of the Slavic first teachers - St. Nestor, Metropolitan Hilarion, Cyril of Turov, St. Maximus Greek and further to the present day." On the fateful significance of the Church Slavonic language and Church Slavonic writing for national culture wrote in his “Preface on the benefits of church books in the Russian language” M.V. Lomonosov: “The Russian language in full force, beauty and wealth are not subject to change and decline, it will be established as long as the Russian Church continues to adorn itself with the praise of God in the Slovenian language.”
Russian Orthodox Church to this day he sacredly preserves the Church Slavonic language as the language of his worship. Consequently, the Russian language, despite all the trials, is not in danger of decline. The high cultural standard maintained by the Church Slavonic language will help preserve the beauty, richness and strength of the Russian language and native literature.
