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Arseniy Palievsky
THE ELECTRONIC MULTIMEDIA ENCYCLOPEDIA

THE ALPHABET

Letters are
Everywhere

Greek letters, gracefully adorned,

gave origin to our penmanship.
The letters birthday fused and sealed forever
the tenets of the faith
with the impression of thought.
Constantine SLUCHEVSKY

Greek Alphabet

etters are everywhere. They shine on billboards,

flicker in neon signs, tell us all sorts of things from
newspaper and magazine pages. One thing is fair

ly clear: written word is absolutely indispensable
for the modern human society. A recorded thought belongs
not only to this day, but to the generations to come. Letters,
written words, are no less than a true time machine: they
allow us to travel everywhere, to see everything, to go
back or forward in time by thousands of years. Written
word is limited neither by time, nor by space.
But that was not always the case. The track of penmanship
has been long and uneven: When did the letters first appear?
Who invented them? Which writing system is the oldest?
Why our Russian alphabet is called Cyrillic?

Four Gospels with prefaces by St. Jerome. VIII
IX cnt.

Purple parchment

It was long ago, in the IX century. A Bulgarian writer, a

monk named Khrabr wrote a short but quite valuable for us
today piece on the origin of the Slavic writing A Treatise on
Letters.
In the years of yore, when the Slavs were still Pagan, they
had no letters and used strokes and slashes for recording
and reading. These were kind of a primitive writing system
by pictures and notches on wood, not unlike those known in
other cultures on early stages of their development. And
when the Slavs converted to Christianity, they would attempt
to record their speech by means of Roman and Greek letters,
but without any definite order or system. Such attempts were
doomed from the start, since neither Greek, nor Roman
alphabet was suited to convey certain specific sounds of
Slavic speech.
And thats how it was for years. Thats how it was until
Cyril and Methodius.

The Life of Ss. Cyril

and Methodius

Undolsky Gospel pages, late XI cnt. Fragments of the

Gospel for weekly reading

Cover of an Old Russian

manuscript Service Book. XIV cnt.

Ss. Cyril and Methodius. An icon of the XIX cnt.

n the IX century, in the Byzantian city of

Thessalonika (Slavic name Solun, modern Saloniki
in Greece), there were two brothers Constantine
and Methodius. An ancient book, The Life of Cyril
(this name Constantine took in monasticism), written by
someone who knew both of them very well, tells us of these
great teachers, of how the Slavic writing emerged and devel

oped.
Once, on their way to Khazaria, the two brothers made a
stop in the city of Chersones (modern Sevastopol), center of
Byzantian colonies in the Crimea. Someone whose name
remains unknown, he is said to be their neighbour, a
Samaritan, brought them the Book of Psalms and Gospel
written in the Rus characters, and Constantine promptly
mastered the language of the Rus.
And he spoke to them, and comprehended their
speech, and having compared it with his own tongue, dis

tinguished vowels and consonants, and, with the prayer to
the Lord, soon began to read and interpret them, and
many marveled at him, praising the Almighty
The astounded Samaritan is reported to have exclaimed:
Truly those who believe in Christ receive also the
Grace of the Holy Spirit!

This mysterious passage in the Life has given origin to a

variety of scholarly speculations. The Rus characters were
assumed to be the writings of Eastern Slavic tribes, later said
to be used by Constantine in his development of the Slavonic
alphabet. It is most likely, however, that in the original text of
the Life it was Sur, that is, Syrian characters, mistakenly ren

dered by a later copyist as Rus.

City of Constantinople

Coming of Constantine and Methodius to Moravia

In the year 862 the envoys of Rostislav, Prince of Great

Moravia, arrived at the imperial capital city of
Constantinople. They brought complaints against the
Eastern Franks who were forcing upon them German educa

tion and Latin liturgical services. Prince Rostislav appealed
to Emperor Michael III in the following words:
Our land has been baptized, but even though our peo

ple have renounced the Pagan worship and follow the
Christian way, we have no such teacher who would explain
the right Christian faith to us in our own tongue, who
would edify and instruct us We know neither Greek, nor
Latin language; some teach us one way, others another,
and from that we cannot learn penmanship and the mean

ing of letters. So we implore your Majesty, send to us such
a bishop and teacher who can convey the word of God in
our language, introduce us to the Holy Christian

Map of Moravia

Scripture, scholarly words, thus far unknown to us, and

their meaning
The Emperor called for Constantine who had been study

ing Slavonic language for many years. The Life of Cyril cites a
remarkable dialog between the two:
I know, O Philosopher, that you are weary, but you
ought to go, for no one but you can accomplish this task.
Behold, I give you many gifts, so go forth, and let your
brother, Abbot Methodius, go with you. For both of you
are from Thessalonika, and people in your city all speak
Slavonic well.
My body is weary, and I feel unwell, but I will go with
joy, if only they have letters for their language
My Grandfather and my Father and many others
sought for them but did not find
Teaching without an alphabet and books is like writ

ing a discourse on water.
If you desire, God will give them to you, just as He
gives to all who ask without doubt, as He opens to all who
knock.

Ss. Cyril and Methodius

So he created thirty eight letters for them some

according to Greek letters, others from the Slavic speech.
And he started off like the Greeks: they begin with the
Alpha, he began with the Az. Both alphabets begin with
this letter. Just as the Greeks had made the likeness of
the Hebrew letters, so also he did with the Greek. The
Hebrews have the Alef as their first letter which is called

Letter Az corresponds to the personal pronoun I.

Beginning, existence

Letter Buki. Letter, future

Letter Vedi. Know, be aware, comprehend, possess

Letter Glagol. rational speech, action

Letter Dobro. Good, virtue

Inside view of the Cathedral of St. Peter in Rome

learning. When a child comes in for instruction, they

say: Come, learn, behold the Alef. And the Greeks say
the same thing about the Alpha, so that the Hebrew word
has made its way into the Greek tongue. Thus, they say to
a child, instead of learn, seek! for Alpha means
seek in Greek. And following them, St. Cyril created
the first letter Az. This first letter Az, given by the Lord to
the Slavic people for opening their mouth which learns
the letters to knowledge, is pronounced by a great open

ing of the mouth. Other letters are pronounced and
uttered by a small opening of the mouth. Here go the
Slavic letters, as they ought to be written and pro

nounced: Az, Buki, Vedi, Glagol, Dobro all the way to Yus.
There are altogether twenty four letters similar to the
Greek letters, and fourteen according to the Slavic
speech. And to Constantine the Philosopher is due glory
and honor, dominion and veneration now and ever and
unto the countless ages.
Thus, the brothers served in Moravia churches in Slavonic
language. They made disciples there, taught them read and
write in Slavonic, instructed the clergy capable of conducting
Slavonic church service.
By doing so they stirred up resistance on the part of some
clergy and the triglots (that is, followers of the doctrine of

Gospel according to St. Luke, in Latin. VIII cnt.

three languages) who tried to ban church services in

Slavonic. As the reason for that the Roman Catholic bishops
cited the inscription on the Cross of Christ written only in
Latin, Greek and Hebrew. Constantine replied:
Does not the sun shine for all nations? Does not the
rain fall for all people? Are not all mortals equal before
the Lord? Remember the words of the Psalmist King
David: Hymn the Lord, all the lands, praise the Lord, all
the nations, let every breath praise the Lord. And the
Holy Gospel says: Go ye and teach all the nations.

St. Nahum of Ochrid, a disciple of

Ss. Cyril and Methodius

Defeated in the dispute, the bishops complained to the

Vatican. Constantine and Methodius were forced to take a
journey to Pope Nicholas I who had jurisdiction over that
land to secure a permission for the Slavonic services. That
Pope, however, unexpectedly died and was succeeded by
Hadrian II who, unlike his predecessor, received the broth

ers with great honor. The reason why? As the skilled diplo

mats, they have brought with them the relics of St. Clement,
St. Peters disciple and the third Bishop of Rome. He had
been drowned in the Black Sea by the Pagans at the time of
anti
Christian persecutions, and Constantine found his relics
in Chersones, Crimea, on his way to Khasaria. The Pope
Hadrian II, willing to strengthen his influence in Moravia
and Blaten Principality, came out to greet Constantine and
Methodius, followed by his entire retinue.
The decisive hour arrived: Constantine, arguing brilliant

ly against the triglots, successfully defended the right for
Slavonic church service and secured the admission of the

Slavonic tongue on par among other sacred languages by

Rome. Pope Hadrian II accepted Slavonic service books,
sanctified them and placed upon the Altar in the Church of
St. Mary. Moreover, he approved of the services in Slavonic,
and soon certain churches in Rome with predominantly
Slavic flock started services by the books which the brothers
had brought with them. The Slavonic words of the Divine
Liturgy sounded where prior to that only Latin had been
heard.

Mosaic piece showing St. Cyril in

St. Clement Basilica in Rome

St. Cyril, Equal
to
the Apostles,

the Teacher of the Slavs

Nearly two years spent the brothers in Rome. One of the

reasons for their prolonged stay there was Constantines fail

ing health. His whole life was that of continual difficult jour

neys, privations and hard work. That undermined his
strength, and at the age of only 42 he succumbed to illness,
took monastic vows with the new name of Cyril, and 50 days
later, on February 14th, 869, reposed in the Lord, having
made Methodius promise him to continue what they have
started in Moravia:
You and I like a pair of oxen were plowing one furrow.
Exhausted, I am falling down on the side: my day is over.
But you do not abandon this missionary work, do not
retire to your monastery in the mountains. Dont even
think about it! Toil this field, and you will find salvation.
St. Methodius survived his brother by 16 years. Suffering
hardships and offences, he kept doing the great work trans

lating holy books into Slavonic, preaching the Orthodox
faith, baptizing the Slavic people.
However upon the death of St. Methodius which fol

lowed on April 6, 885, his adversaries made Pope Stephen V
ban Slavonic language in Church. A message was sent to
Prince Sviatopolk of Great Moravia with the order:
Henceforth let no one dare to celebrate Divine
Services, Holy Mass and Sacraments in the Slavonic
tongue, as that Methodius did Let perversions he made
up out of contempt of the Catholic faith fall upon his
head.
Unlike his uncle Prince Rostislav who had been an inde

pendent leader, Sviatopolk opposed Slavonic liturgy and
supported Latin clergy. He ordered the banishment of the
disciples of Ss. Cyril and Methodius from Great Moravia.
Consequently, by the XII century the Slavonic alphabet in the
area of its origin was completely suppressed by the Latin.
However, ax is powerless against handwriting! The work
of the Thessalonian brothers has not perished with their
death: Slavonic literature kept growing in other Slavic lands.
Their disciples, banished from Moravia, headed to the
South, to Croatia, and South
East, to Bulgaria. Bulgarian
Prince Boris, who just recently had his land baptized in the
Orthodox Church, created favorable conditions for the
development of the Slavonic literature.

The Birth of the

Alphabet

Both the two brothers and their followers firmly believed

that they were working for the benefit of the entire Slavic
people, enlightened by one faith and united by one com

monly known literary language. In the Preface to the Gospel,
the most ancient piece of poetry in Slavonic, Bishop
Constantine of Preslav, a disciple of Methodius, addressed
the whole Slavic world:
Hearken, all the Slavs,
This gift from God is given unto us
Hear, O Slavic people!
Hear the Word, for it is from God.

o, which alphabet did Ss. Cyril and Methodius cre

ate? There is yet another mystery hidden here.
Manuscripts of the X and XI centuries are written
in two different alphabets: one is called Cyrillic,
the other, Glagolitic.
Cyrillic alphabet has a simpler, clearer for us form of let

ters. We do not know for sure which alphabet was invented by
Constantine, but it was Cyrillic which has become the basis
for our modern Russian letters. And the Russian word for
alphabet, azbuka, is made of the names of the first two letters
of the Cyrillic alphabet, Az and Buki.
Without much change, Cyrillic survived until the time of
Czar Peter the Great. In a slightly simplified form it is still in
use among the Russians, Belorussians, Ukrainians, Serbs,
Bulgarians, Macedonians and other nations.
Thus, Ss. Cyril and Methodius stood at the very origin of
the Slavic literature, and they should be credited for the
enlightenment of the Slavic nations.

Page from the Gospel manuscript of Ostromir

Alexander S. Pushkin

Here is what Alexander S. Pushkin had to say regarding

the merits of the Slavonic language:
As a literary material, the Slavonic
Russian language
has a clear advantage over all other European languages:
its history has been exceptionally fortunate. In the XI
century it was suddenly opened to the Classic Greek with
its vocabulary, its treasury of harmony, inherited the rules
and clauses of the developed Greek grammar, the majes

tic flow of Greek speech, having been, so to speak,
adopted by Greek, it has avoided the long route of grad

ual improvements in the course of history. By itself har

monious and vivid, Slavonic borrows from Classic Greek
its flexibility and order.
But the most significant part of the spiritual, scholarly, lit

erary and philosophical legacy of Ss. Cyril and Methodius
belongs to their translation works. According to historical
sources, Constantine the Philosopher started off with the
translation of the Gospel according to St. John. The first
words ever written in Slavonic letters were the Gospel verses
traditionally read in church at Easter night, translated from

The Alphabetic Prayer

D.S. Lihachev, 1980
es

Greek: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. Through the Slavonic translation of
this Gospel and other texts performed by Ss. Cyril and
Methodius, Slavic philology and philosophy gained some of
the most important terms and concepts.
Academician Dimitry S. Lihachev paid special tribute to
Ss. Cyril and Methodius for their place in the historical her

itage of the Slavs:
A characteristic feature of the literary legacy of all East
Slavic nations has been their view of the Russian history
in close connection with the global one, as well as the
sense of responsibility for the whole world. They inherit

ed that view, at least in part, through the common litera

ture of the ancient Rus from the enlighteners of the Slavs,
Cyril and Methodius. It were they who coined the idea of
the global unity, of the responsibility of each land, each
people in the well
being and illumination of the world as
a whole, of the ministry of each nation to the entire
mankind.
The books, translated, compiled and written by Ss. Cyril
and Methodius have become a solid foundation for the mag

nificent edifice of the Slavic culture to be built upon it in the
course of the centuries to come.
In the original Slavonic text of the alphabetic prayer
which belongs to St. Cyril each verse begins with a given let

ter. Read it and see how much meaning is conveyed by every
Slavonic letter:

Page from the Radzivill manuscript. XIII cnt.

pray with this word to God:

O God, Maker of all creatures,
Visible and invisible!
Let Thy Word inspire my heart
With the Lord, the ever
living Spirit!
And His Word shall be the salvation for all
Who live by Thy commandments.
Thy Law is the light of my path,
It has lit the lamp of Life.
And the Slavic tribe is seeking Thy Gospel
And offering Thee our gifts.
For we all have sought the Baptism,
Willing to be called Thy people,
Seeking Thy mercy, O God!
Give me now Thy embracing Word,
O Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
Spread out Thy hands,
Bestow upon us Thy power and wisdom forever.
For Thou givest power to the able,
Thou healest the sick,
Protectest me from the malice of the Pharaoh,

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I Know the Letters

Maxim Gorky

Guidest me with the mind and thought of the

Cherubim.
O Most Holy and Honorable Trinity,
Turn my sorrow into joy!
I will expound with meekness
On Thy wondrous miracles,
In the image of six
winged Seraphim,
In the footsteps of my Teacher,
Following His Name and His deeds.
I will reveal the word of the Gospel,
With praises to Holy Trinity in One God.
Every mind, young and old, worship Thee.
Thy new people give praise
To the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
To Whom is due honor and glory from every crea

ture
And every breath unto the ages of ages.
Amen.

he name of each letter of the Russian alphabet, by

a grand design of its makers, is a word with a given
meaning. Taken together, from the beginning of
the alphabet to its end, they make up certain mes

sage to the Slavs, a poetical synopsis of the whole Russian
alphabet and its letters. Take the first few: Az buki vedi.
Glagol dobro est means I know [the] letters. [The] word is
good
I know the letters. Penmanship is our heritage. Work
hard, ye people of the Earth. Explore the universe, as the
rational beings should do. Carry the word with convic

tion, for the knowledge is a gift of God! Be bold, be inquis

itive discover the light in the creation!
Just read the unique Russian alphabet, and you will
acquire the basics of culture: such is the scope and poetic
power of our roots!
Maxim Gorky in his autobiography Childhood recalls the
fervour of his first encounter with the alphabet. As a tutor he
had his rigorous grandfather:
See this figure? This is Az. Say: Az! Buki! Vedi! Whats
this?
Buki.
Right! And this?
Vedi.
Wrong! Thats Az. Look here: Glagol, dobro, est,
whats this?
Dobro.
Right! Howbout this?
Glagol.
Right!
He embraced my neck with his warm, sweaty arm, and
kept pointing over my shoulder at the letters in the book
before me, shouting into my ear:

11

 Zemlia! Liudi!
He tested me thoroughly, asking the names of the let

ters both in the natural and random order; he ignited me
with his hot zeal, I panted and shouted as loud as I could.
That amused him; he coughed heavily, choking, squeez

ing the book, rattling:
Just look at him, Ma! Great job Son of a gun! Well,
enough, enough. Hold your book. Tomorrow youll tell
me the whole alphabet, start to end, and Ill give you a five
kopeck coin for that
What a marvel our alphabet is! There are only 33 letters in
it, yet how many books are composed of them. We are grate

ful to Ss. Cyril and Methodius for this magnificent tool which
gives our speech its power, accuracy and beauty. The order
of letters is the music of the universe.
Glory to you, brothers, teachers of the Slavs,
The Holy Fathers of the Slavic Church!
Glory to you, preachers of Christs righteousness,
Glory to you, creators of our literature!
We need you, Ss. Methodius and Cyril,
As a link of unity for all the Slavic nations:
May the spirit of peace descend upon us
By your prayer before the Lord of Hosts!
Monument to Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Moscow

As an ancient Russian chronographer observed, when we

study various disciplines in our own language, we reap the
fruit once planted by the early enlighteners of our land who
received the gift of penmanship from Ss. Cyril and
Methodius, the first teachers of the Slavic tribes.
Let us hearken to the harmony of the Slavonic speech, let
us comprehend this ancient tribute to the two brothers of
Thessalonika:
For by them has the Holy Eucharist and Church
Divine Services in our befitting Slavonic language been
instituted, whereby a wellspring of water running into the
life everlasting opened

Monument to Ss. Cyril and Methodius in the city of

Murmansk

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