The alphabet of the Old Slavonic language is a collection of written characters in a certain order, expressing specific sounds. This system developed quite independently on the territory of the ancient Russian peoples.
Brief historical background
At the end of 862, Prince Rostislav turned to Michael (the Byzantine emperor) with a request to send preachers to his principality (Great Moravia) in order to spread Christianity in the Slavic language. The fact is that it was read at that time in Latin, which was unfamiliar and incomprehensible to the people. Michael sent two Greeks - Constantine (he will receive the name Cyril later in 869 when he became a monk) and Methodius (his older brother). This choice was not accidental. The brothers were from Thessalonica (Thessaloniki in Greek), from the family of a military leader. Both received a good education. Konstantin was trained at the court of Emperor Michael the Third, was fluent in various languages, including Arabic, Jewish, Greek, Slavonic. In addition, he taught philosophy, for which he was called - Konstantin the Philosopher. Methodiusat first he was in military service, and then for several years he ruled one of the regions in which the Slavs lived. Subsequently, the older brother went to the monastery. This was not their first trip - in 860, the brothers made a trip with a diplomatic and missionary purpose to the Khazars.
How was the writing system created?
In order to preach in the Slavic language, it was necessary to translate the Holy Scriptures. But the system of written signs did not exist at that time. Konstantin set about creating the alphabet. Methodius actively helped him. As a result, in 863, the Old Slavonic alphabet (the meaning of the letters from it will be given below) was created. The system of written characters existed in two forms: Glagolitic and Cyrillic. To this day, scientists disagree on which of these options was created by Cyril. With the participation of Methodius, some Greek liturgical books were translated. So the Slavs had the opportunity to write and read in their own language. In addition, the people received not only a system of written signs. The Old Slavonic alphabet became the basis for the literary vocabulary. Some words can still be found in the Ukrainian, Russian, Bulgarian dialects.
First characters - first word
The first letters of the Old Slavonic alphabet - "az" and "beeches" - formed, in fact, the name. They corresponded to "A" and "B" and began the sign system. What did the Old Slavonic alphabet look like? Graffiti pictures were first scrawled directly on the walls. The first signs appearedapproximately in the 9th century, on the walls in the churches of Pereslavl. And in the 11th century, the Old Slavonic alphabet, the translation of some signs and their interpretation appeared in Kyiv, in St. Sophia Cathedral. A new round in the development of writing was facilitated by an event that occurred in 1574. Then the first printed "Old Slavic alphabet" appeared. Its creator was Ivan Fedorov.
Connection of times and events
If you look back, you can note with some interest that the Old Slavonic alphabet was not just an ordered set of written characters. This system of signs opened to the people a new path of man on earth leading to perfection and to a new faith. Researchers, looking at the chronology of events, the difference between which is only 125 years, suggest a direct connection between the establishment of Christianity and the creation of written symbols. In one century, practically the people were able to eradicate the old archaic culture and adopt a new faith. Most historians have no doubt that the emergence of a new writing system is directly related to the subsequent adoption and spread of Christianity. The Old Slavonic alphabet, as mentioned above, was created in 863, and in 988 Vladimir officially announced the introduction of a new faith and the destruction of the primitive cult.
The secret of the sign system
Many scientists, studying the history of the creation of writing, come to the conclusion that the letters of the Old Slavonic alphabet were a kind of cryptography. It had not only deep religious, but also philosophical meaning. At the same time, Old Church Slavonic lettersconstitute a complex logical and mathematical system. Comparing the finds, the researchers come to the conclusion that the first collection of written symbols was created as a kind of holistic invention, and not as a structure that was formed in parts by adding new forms. The signs that made up the Old Slavonic alphabet are interesting. Most of them are symbols-numbers. The Cyrillic alphabet is based on the Greek uncial writing system. There were 43 letters in the Old Slavonic alphabet. 24 characters were borrowed from the Greek uncial, 19 were new. The fact is that in the Greek language there were no some sounds that the Slavs had at that time. Accordingly, there was no literal inscription either. Therefore, some of the new characters, 19, were borrowed from other writing systems, and some were specially created by Konstantin.
"Higher" and "lower" part
If you look at this entire writing system, you can clearly distinguish two of its parts, which are fundamentally different from each other. Conventionally, the first part is called "higher", and the second, respectively, "lower". The 1st group includes the letters A-F ("az" - "fert"). They are a list of character-words. Their meaning was clear to any Slav. The "lower" part began with "sha" and ended with "izhitsa". These symbols did not have a numerical value and carried a negative connotation in themselves. To understand cryptography, it is not enough just to skim it. You should read the symbols - after all, ineach of them Konstantin put a semantic core. What did the signs that made up the Old Slavonic alphabet symbolize?
Meaning of letters
"Az", "beeches", "lead" - these three characters stood at the very beginning of the system of written characters. The first letter was "az". It was used in the form of the pronoun "I". But the root meaning of this symbol is such words as "beginning", "beginning", "originally". In some letters you can find "az", which denoted the number "one": "I'll go to Vladimir". Or this symbol was interpreted as "starting with the basics" (at first). Thus, the Slavs denoted the philosophical meaning of their existence with this letter, indicating that there is no end without a beginning, there is no light without darkness, there is no evil without good. At the same time, the main emphasis was placed on the duality of the structure of the world. But the Old Slavonic alphabet itself, in fact, is compiled according to the same principle and is divided into 2 parts, as already mentioned above, "higher" (positive) and "lower" (negative). "Az" corresponded to the number "1", which, in turn, symbolized the beginning of everything beautiful. Studying the numerology of the people, researchers say that all numbers were already divided by people into even and odd. Moreover, the former were associated with something negative, while the latter symbolized something good, bright, positive.
Buki
This letterfollowed the "az". "Buki" had no numerical value. However, the philosophical meaning of this symbol was no less profound. "Buki" is "to be", "will be". As a rule, it was used in revolutions in the future tense. So, for example, "bodie" is "let it be", "future" is "upcoming", "future". With this word, the ancient Slavs expressed the inevitability of upcoming events. At the same time, they could be both terrible and gloomy, and iridescent and good. It is not known exactly why Konstantin did not give a digital value to the second letter. Many researchers believe that this may be due to the dual meaning of the letter itself.
Lead
This symbol is of particular interest. "Lead" corresponds to the number 2. The symbol is translated as "own", "know", "know". By investing such a meaning in "lead", Constantine meant knowledge as a divine highest gift. And if you add the first three characters, then the phrase "I will know" will come out. By this, Constantine wanted to show that the person who discovers the alphabet will subsequently receive knowledge. It should be said about the semantic load "lead". The number "2" is a deuce, the couple took part in various magical rituals, and in general indicated the duality of everything earthly and heavenly. "Two" among the Slavs meant the union of earth and sky. In addition, this figure symbolized the duality of the person himself - the presence of good and evil in him. In other words, "2" -This is a constant confrontation of the parties. It should also be noted that the "two" was considered the number of the devil - many negative properties were attributed to it. It was believed that it was she who opened a series of negative numbers that bring death to a person. In this regard, the birth of twins, for example, was considered a bad sign, bringing illness and misfortune to the whole family. It was considered a bad omen to rock the cradle together, to dry oneself with one towel for two people, and indeed to do something together. However, even with all the negative qualities of the "two", people recognized its magical properties. And many rituals involved twins or used the same items to exorcise evil spirits.
Symbols as a secret message to posterity
All Old Church Slavonic letters are capital. For the first time, two types of written characters - lowercase and uppercase - were introduced by Peter the Great in 1710. If you look at the Old Slavonic alphabet - the meaning of letters-words, in particular - you can understand that Constantine did not just make up a written system, but tried to convey a special meaning to his descendants. So, for example, if you add certain symbols, you can get phrases of an instructive nature:
"Lead the Verb" - lead the doctrine;
"Firmly Ok" - strengthen the law;
"Rtsy Word Firmly" - speak true words, etc.
Order and style
Researchers involved in the study of the alphabet consider the order of the first, "highest" part from twopositions. First of all, each character is added with the next one into a meaningful phrase. This can be considered a non-random pattern, which was probably invented for easier and faster memorization of the alphabet. In addition, the system of written characters can be considered from the point of view of numerology. After all, the letters corresponded to the numbers, which were arranged in ascending order. So, "az" - A - 1, B - 2, then G - 3, then D - 4 and then up to ten. Tens started with "K". They were listed in the same order of units: 10, 20, then 30, etc. up to 100. Despite the fact that Old Slavonic letters were written with patterns, they were convenient and simple. All characters were excellent for cursive writing. As a rule, people had no difficulty in depicting letters.
Development of the system of written characters
If we compare the Old Slavonic and the modern alphabet, we can see that 16 letters are lost. Cyrillic and today corresponds to the sound composition of Russian vocabulary. This is primarily due to the not so sharp divergence in the very structure of the Slavic and Russian languages. It is also important that when compiling the Cyrillic alphabet, Konstantin carefully took into account the phonemic (sound) composition of speech. The Old Slavonic alphabet contained seven Greek written characters that were originally unnecessary for transmitting the sounds of the Old Slavonic language: "omega", "xi", "psi", "fita", "izhitsa". In addition, the system included two characters each, to designate the sound "and" and"z": for the second - "green" and "earth", for the first - "and" and "like". This designation was somewhat redundant. The inclusion of these letters in the alphabet was supposed to ensure the correct pronunciation of the sounds of Greek speech in words borrowed from it. But the sounds were pronounced in the old Russian way. Therefore, the need to use these written symbols eventually disappeared. It was important to change the use and meaning of the letters "er" ("b") and "er" (b). Initially, they were used to denote a weakened (reduced) voiceless vowel: "b" - close to "o", "b" - close to "e". Over time, weak voiceless vowels began to disappear (a process called "falling voiceless"), and these characters received other tasks.
Conclusion
Many thinkers saw in the digital correspondence of written symbols the principle of the triad, the spiritual balance that a person achieves in his striving for truth, light, goodness. Studying the alphabet from its very beginnings, many researchers conclude that Constantine left to his descendants an invaluable creation, calling for self-improvement, wisdom and love, teaching, bypassing the dark paths of enmity, envy, malice, evil.
