Cyril and Methodius, Slavic educators, creators of the Slavic alphabet, preachers of Christianity, the first translators of liturgical books from Greek into Slavic. Cyril (before accepting monasticism in early 869 - Constantine) (827 - 02/14/869) and his older brother Methodius (815 - 04/06/885) were born in Thessaloniki (Thessaloniki) in the family of a military leader.
Cyril was educated at the court of the Byzantine Emperor Michael III in Constantinople, where Photius was one of his teachers. Knew Slavic, Greek, Latin, Hebrew and Arabic languages. Refusing the administrative career offered to him by the emperor, Kirill became a patriarchal librarian, then taught philosophy (received the nickname “Philosopher”).
In the 40s successfully participated in disputes with iconoclasts; in the 50s was in Syria, where he won a victory in theological disputes with Muslims. Around 860 he made a diplomatic trip to the Khazars. Methodius entered early military service. For 10 years he was the manager of one of the regions inhabited by the Slavs. Then he retired to a monastery. In the 60s, having renounced the rank of archbishop, he became abbot of the Polychron monastery on the Asian shore of the Sea of Marmara.
In 863, Cyril and Methodius were sent by the Byzantine emperor to Moravia in order to preach Christianity in the Slavic language and assist the Moravian prince Rostislav in the fight against the German feudal lords. Before leaving, Kirill created Slavic alphabet and with the help of Methodius, he translated several liturgical books from Greek into Slavic (selected readings from the Gospel, apostolic epistles, psalms, etc.).
There is no consensus in science on the question of which alphabet Kirill created - Glagolitic or Cyrillic (most scientists believe that Glagolitic). The preaching of the brothers in the Slavic language, understandable to the Moravian population, laid the foundation of the national church, but caused discontent among the German Catholic clergy. Cyril and Methodius were accused of heresy.
In 866 (or 867), Cyril and Methodius, at the call of Pope Nicholas I, headed to Rome, and along the way they visited the Principality of Blaten (Pannonia), where they also distributed Slavic literacy and Slavic liturgical rites. Pope Adrian II, in a special message, allowed them to distribute Slavic books and Slavic worship. After arriving in Rome, Kirill became seriously ill and died. Methodius was consecrated to the rank of Archbishop of Moravia and Pannonia and in 870 returned from Rome to Pannonia. The German clergy, who sought to deal with Methodius, through intrigue, achieved his imprisonment; After his release from prison, Methodius continued his activities in Moravia.
In 882-884 he lived in Byzantium. In mid-884, Methodius returned to Moravia and worked on translating the Bible into Slavic. With their activities, Cyril and Methodius laid the foundation Slavic writing and literature. This activity was continued in the South Slavic countries by the disciples of Cyril and Methodius, expelled from Moravia in 886.
Lit.: Lavrov P. A., Materials on the history of the origin of ancient Slavic writing, Leningrad, 1930; Ilyinsky G. A., Experience of systematic Cyrillic and Methodological bibliography, Sofia, 1934; Popruzhenko M. G., Romanski S., Kirilo-matodievsk bibliography for 1934-1940, Sofia, 1942; Gratsiansky N., Activities of Constantine and Methodius in the Great Moravian Principality, "Questions of History", 1945, No. 1; Chernykh P. Ya., On the history of the issue of “Russian writings” in the life of Constantine the Philosopher, “Educational journal of Yaroslavl State University”, 1947, century. 9 (19); Teodorov-Balan A., Kiril and Metodi, V. 1 - 2, Sofia, 1920 - 34; Georgiev E., Kiril and Methodius, founders of Slavic literature, Sofia, 1956; him, Cyril and Methodius. Istinata za zzdatetelite na bulgarskata i slavyanska pismenost, Sofia, 1969; K u ev K. M., Question for the beginning of the Slavic writings, "Godishnik at Sofia University", 1960, vol. 54, book 1. his, Otnovo for Godinata, Kogato e beat the Slavic alphabet, “Historically Pregled”, Sofia, 1960, book. 3; Konstantin Kiril philosopher. Anniversary collection on the occasion of 1100 - the anniversary of smarta mu, Sofia, 1969.
Its sound means of expression And artistic possibilities many sang famous people. It was spoken by Pushkin, Turgenev, Tolstoy, Dobrolyubov, Chernyshevsky... and more than 260 million people continue to speak it. It arose not so long ago as the rest of its “brothers”, but has already rich history. It's about, of course, about the Russian language, the history of the emergence and development of which we will tell today.
Origin: versions of several scientists
According to a legend that exists in India, seven white teachers can be considered the “fathers” of the Russian language. In ancient times, they came from the cold North (the Himalaya region) and gave people Sanskrit, an ancient literary language that became widespread in India from the 1st century. BC - thereby laying the foundation of Brahmanism, from which Buddhism was later born. Many believe that this North at that time was one of the regions of Russia, which is why modern Hindus often go there as pilgrims .
However, what does Sanskrit have to do with the Russian language?
According to the theory of ethnographer Natalya Guseva, who wrote more than 150 scientific works According to the history and religion of India, many Sanskrit words completely coincide with Russian ones. But why did she even come to this conclusion? Once upon a time on a tourist trip northern rivers Russia Guseva accompanied a respected scientist from India. While communicating with residents of local villages, the Indian suddenly burst into tears and refused the services of an interpreter. Seeing the puzzled looks, he replied that he was very happy to hear his native Sanskrit. Natalya Guseva was very interested in this case, so she decided to devote her whole life to studying the Russian language and Sanskrit.
By the way, the famous philologist Alexander Dragunkin fully supports his colleague and claims that great language The Russian people actually come from a simpler one - Sanskrit, which has fewer word-formation forms, and its writing is nothing more than Slavic runes slightly modified by the Hindus.
Text in Sanskrit.
Source: Wikimedia.org
According to another version, which is approved and accepted by most philologists, people about 2.6 million years ago (the time of the appearance of the first man) were simply forced to learn to communicate with each other during teamwork. However, in those days the population was extremely small, so individuals spoke the same language. Thousands of years later, a migration of peoples occurred: the DNA got mixed up and changed, and the tribes became isolated from each other, and so many appeared different languages, which differed from each other in form and word formation. Later, there was a need for science that described new achievements and things invented by man.
As a result of this evolution, so-called matrices - linguistic pictures of the world - arose in people's heads. The linguist Georgy Gachev studied these matrices; at one time he studied more than 30 of them. According to his theory, the Germans were very attached to their home, and this is how the image of a typical German-speaking person was formed - organized and thrifty. And the mentality of the Russian speaker came from the image of the road and the path, because V ancient times Russian-speaking people traveled a lot.
The birth and development of the Russian language
Let's bring a little specificity to our article and talk in more detail about the birth and formation of our native and great Russian language. Let's go back to India for this. III millennium BC Then among Indo-European languages the Proto-Slavic dialect stood out, which a thousand years later became the Proto-Slavic language. In the VI-VII centuries. already n. e. it was divided into several groups: eastern, western and southern (the Russian language is usually classified as eastern). In the 9th century. (the moment of the formation of Kievan Rus) the Old Russian language reached its maximum development. At the same time, two brothers, Cyril and Methodius, invented the first Slavic alphabet and alphabet based on the Greek letter.
However, the creators of Slavic writing did not limit themselves only to the alphabet: they translated and wrote down gospel sermons, parables, liturgical texts and apostolic epistles; and also spent about three and a half years educating the Slavs in Moravia ( historical region Czech Republic).
Thanks to the work and knowledge of the enlightenment brothers, the Slavic language began to develop rapidly. By that time, in terms of popularity, it could already be compared with Greek and Latin, which, by the way, also belong to the Indo-European language family.
Division of language and normalization of writing
Then came the era of feudalism, and the Polish-Lithuanian conquests in the XIII-XIV centuries. divided the language into three groups: Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian, as well as some intermediate dialects. By the way, until the 16th century. Russian was greatly influenced by the other two – Belarusian and Ukrainian and was called “prosta mova”.
In the 16th century Muscovite Rus' decided to normalize the written language of the Russian language, and it was then that they introduced the predominance of coordinating connections in sentences and the frequent use of conjunctions “yes”, “and”, “a”. Also, the declension of nouns became similar to the modern one, and the basis literary language The following features became characteristic of modern Moscow speech: “akanie”, the consonant “g”, the endings “ovo” and “evo”.
Russian language in the 18th century.
The Petrine era greatly influenced Russian speech. It was at this time that our language freed itself from the tutelage of the church, and in 1708 the alphabet was reformed and made similar to the European one.
“Geometry Slavonic Land Measurement” is the first secular publication printed after the reform of the Russian alphabet in 1708.
Russia has seen a lot before forming its culture, rebuilding majestic cities and create a mighty Russian language. Before becoming what it is today, the Russian language went through many metamorphoses, overcame barriers and obstacles. The history of how the Russian language originated is quite rich. But there are key points thanks to which you can consider in detail, but briefly, all the nuances of the formation and development of the Russian language.
First steps
The history of the emergence of the Russian language began even before our era. In the 2nd - 1st millennium BC from the Indo-European language family a Proto-Slavic dialect appeared, and in the 1st millennium AD. e. it turned into a Proto-Slavic language. Proto-Slavic language in the VI-VII centuries. n. e. split into three branches: western, eastern and southern. The East Slavic branch includes the Old Russian language, which was spoken in Kievan Rus. During the formation of Kievan Rus, the Russian language was the main means of communication for many principalities.
Since the times Tatar-Mongol yoke, wars with the Principality of Lithuania, changes occurred in the language. In the XIV-XV centuries. Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian languages. The Old Russian language disappeared, and a more modern northeastern dialect began to form, which can be considered the forefather of modern Russian.
Where did the Russian language come from? The correct answer is Kievan Rus, after the collapse of which a more modern Russian language began to form. From the beginning of the 15th century to the end XVII Russian language is formed quite quickly. The center of development is Moscow, where the modern dialect originated. There were many dialects outside the city, but the Moscow dialect became the main one. Clear endings of words appear, cases are formed, spelling develops, words change according to gender, cases and numbers.
Dawn
At the end of the 17th century, the history of the development of the Russian language was experiencing a period of complete formation. Writing is developing, new words, rules, and a modern church language appear in which religious literature is written. In the 19th century, the church language was clearly distinguished from the literary language, which was used by all residents of Muscovite Rus'. The language is becoming even more modern, similar to today. A lot of literature written in the new Russian language is published.
With the development of military, technical, scientific and political spheres activities in the Russian language, modern terminology appears, words that are taken from foreign languages(French, German). The vocabulary changes a little and becomes richer in French words. Since the language began to be “clogged” with foreign words and speech patterns, the question has arisen of assigning the status of a national language to the Russian language. Until Peter I decided to give status Russian state Muscovite Rus', there were disputes over the national status of the Russian language. The emperor assigned a new name to the state and issued a decree on the adoption of Russian as the national language.
At the beginning of the 20th century, when the scientific field of activity was actively developing, English words began to be used, which were tightly intertwined with the Russian language and became inseparable from it. The Church, as well as many politicians in the period of the 18th-20th centuries, fought for the preservation of the pure Russian-Slovenian language as the national language. But the study of foreign speech made its mark: a fashion for words developed foreign origin.
Modern Russian language
Since the Russian language appeared, it has undergone many metamorphoses from the basics to the modern rich and rich language with complex rules and huge vocabulary. History shows that the Russian language was formed gradually, but purposefully. In the mid-twenties, the peak of popularity and mastery of the Russian language by many countries around the world began. In the seventies, almost all major educational institutions peace. The number of countries that mastered the Russian language exceeded 90. The language is experiencing its ascent, acquiring new rules, and being brought to perfection. Learning a language, drawing up rules, exceptions, finding new examples continues to form to this day. The Slavic language with an admixture of foreign words became modern Russian and national language all over Russia. It is also a staple in some countries of the former Soviet Union.
It is probably very difficult to imagine your life without electricity. But before, people wrote and read by candlelight. But imagining your life without writing is even more difficult. Maybe someone will think that it would be great and you wouldn’t have to write dictations and essays. But in that case there would be no books, no libraries, no SMS, and even email. Language, like a mirror, reflects the whole world and a person’s whole life.
But man did not always know how. The art of writing evolved long time, many millennia. But there is someone who is the creator of the alphabet, someone whom a person should thank for such an invaluable opportunity. Many people have probably wondered more than once about who created the alphabet of the Russian language.
Cyril and Methodius - creators of the Russian alphabet
Once upon a time there lived two Byzantine brothers - Cyril and Methodius. It was thanks to them that the Russian alphabet was created, they became the first creators.
Methodius, the eldest son, who chose the military path, went to serve in one of Slavic regions. His younger brother Kirill was partial to science even as a child; teachers were amazed by his knowledge. At the age of 14, his parents sent him to Constantinople, where he managed to master many knowledge in a short period of time: grammar, geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, medicine, Arabic, Greek, Hebrew, Slavic.
In 863, ambassadors from Moravia visited Constantinople. They arrived with a request to provide a preacher to their country to study the Christian population. The emperor decided that the brothers, Cyril and Methodius, should go to Moravia. Before setting off, Cyril asked the Moravians if they had an alphabet. The answer was negative. The Moravians did not have an alphabet. The brothers didn't have much time. Cyril and Methodius worked hard from early morning until late evening. And so they succeeded in as soon as possible create a Moravian alphabet named after younger brother– Cyrillic.
Thanks to the created Slavic alphabet, it was not difficult for the brothers to translate the main liturgical books from Greek to Slavic. Now we know who first created the alphabet.
What happened next?After Methodius died in 885, the disciples and followers of the brothers began to continue the work. They defended services in the Slavic language. Somewhere around this time, the students created another Slavic alphabet. Today there is no certainty about which alphabet was developed by Kirill and which by his students and successors. There is an assumption that Kirill composed the Glagolitic alphabet, after which, on its basis, he developed the Cyrillic alphabet, which was named after the first creator of the Russian alphabet. Perhaps Kirill himself was involved in improving the primary alphabet, but all his students completed it.
PeculiaritiesThe Russian alphabet was created on the basis of the Cyrillic alphabet, which is a reworking Greek alphabet. The creators of the Russian alphabet took into account phonetic features Old Slavonic language and them 
19 letters were introduced into it that were absent in the Greek letter.
The originality of the alphabet created by Cyril and Methodius was manifested in the fact that in order to indicate one sound, one letter had to be used.
As for writing in Cyrillic letters, they were used only at the beginning of a paragraph. The large capital letter was beautifully painted, so the first line was called “red”, that is, a beautiful line.
Thanks to the first creator of the alphabet of the Russian language, today people can write. And if it weren’t for the brothers Cyril and Methodius, we wouldn’t be able to do anything.
