Slavic writing: theory of origin

In modern Russia, the Day of Slavic writing and culture is timed to the day of respect for the memory of church saints - Cyril and Methodius. Traditional historiography closely connects the first native letter of medieval Russians with the names of these brothers. According to the accustomed historical version, the Slavonic script was introduced here by Christian preachers in the second Half of IX century. Written documents of the Middle Ages confirm that in 863 the Moravian prince Rostislav arrived to the Byzantine emperor Michael III with the request to send missionaries to his lands who could bring the word of God to the Western Slavs in a language they understand. While German Catholics tried to impose their version of Christianity exclusively in Latin.

Over time, this issue will become one of the main stumbling blocks between religions. However, already then, between the Western and Eastern Christianity, theological controversy and political discord burned hotly. Wishing to lead the Slavs into the bosom of his own church, Michael III sent the missionaries Cyril and Methodius to Moravia. It was from this moment that the Slavonic writing begins.

For successful religious consolidation in these lands, the Greeks needed to communicate their worldview to the masses, not only orally, but also in writing, in the form of books. It was also necessary to create a local layer of the clergy. For these purposes, based on Greek letters for Slavic language was adapted two ABCs: Cyrillic and Glagolitic. At the dawn of their existence, they differed only in the inscription of certain letters. Contemporary historians are still arguing which of them is primary. However, most of the evidence indicates that the first was the Glagolitic. The Cyrillic alphabet was created somewhat later on the basis of the Greek alphabet and the Glagolitic alphabet.

The newly baked Slavonic script significantly contributed to the establishment of the Christianity of the Greek rite in Moravia, later in Bulgaria. And from there it reached Balkan preachers to Kievan Rus, which became a state religion a century later. In the same way, Cyrillic script also fell into our lands, which became the basis for the further development of Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian languages. But many Western Slavs were unable to withhold the cultural gifts of the Greeks. In the same Moravia, Catholic Christianity was later approved, and the local population was forced to abandon the Glagolitic alphabet in favor of the Latin alphabet.

It should also be mentioned that for quite a long time historians and archaeologists have been discussing the so-called Slavic runes. A number of researchers believe that the emergence of Slavic writing occurred much earlier than the appearance of preachers Cyril and Methodius. And this point of view has some evidence. Indirectly Slavic writing is mentioned by Arab travelers, some researchers see runic letters on archaeological finds. However, no system in these signs has yet been identified, and Arab sources dating back to the 10th century could have had in mind the Cyrillic alphabet.