L. V. SAVELIEVA
Karelian State Pedagogical Institute
SLAVIC ABC:
DECODING AND INTERPRETATION
FIRST SLAVIC POETIC TEXT
From time immemorial, the Church Slavonic tradition has brought to us a list of the letter names of the ancient Slavic alphabet, which was originally called the "alphabet". The first ( X century) and the most important historical source - the treatise "On the Writings", the author of which, the monk Brave, proudly wrote that, in contrast to the Greek writing composed by many pagan scribes who remained unknown, our writings were created by "the holy husband Constantine the Philosopher ( in the tonsure of Cyril) ", which every Slavic" bukar "knows, well remembering not only the name of the creator, but also the time of the appearance of the alphabet (863) and the reigning persons of the Greek, Bulgarian, Moravian states, in which the activity of the First Teacher 1 proceeded.
Contemporary science is well aware of the concrete historical conditions for the emergence of Slavic writing and the great humanistic mission of the "fraternal twin" Cyril and Methodius. In their courageous struggle against the orthodox doctrine of "trilinguals" who recognized the liturgical purpose of only the Hebrew, Greek and Latin languages, the Solun brothers selflessly defended the right of the Slavs to join Christianity as the pinnacle of the spiritual culture of European civilization.
Butdespite the steady interest of researchers in the origins of Slavic writing and the creative activity of the First Teacher, despite the extensive specialized literature on many European languages, especially increased in connection with the last, 1100th anniversary of the Slavic written culture,
________
1 The Legend of the Montenegrin Khrabra "On the Writings" // Legends about the beginning of Slavic writing / P od ed. Z. V. Udaltsova. Moscow: Nauka, 1981.S. 104.
a number of problems associated with two graphics systems ‒ verb and cyrillic,‒ remains still unresolved.
First of all, the deep sacred, cultural, historical and moral meaning that Konstantin the Philosopher put into the primary elements of the writing he created did not receive proper coverage.
This article aims to propose and substantiate a hypothesis about the main principle of the nomination of letters and about the initial meaning of most of them as a kind of "atoms" of our written culture, which, according to their creator's intention, should lay the foundation for the everyday spiritual practice of the Slavs.
Of course, over eleven centuries of using the alphabet, the original meaning of most letter names has greatly faded or darkened. Natural objectification of a word-name (compare, for example, old expressions write live, eat, from the basics to the verb etc.) contributed to the destruction of living word-formative connections and the loss of the internal motivation of letter names, that is, their de-etymologization. However, one cannot fail to notice that in the key words of the alphabet - names of a subject nature - familiar, traditional symbols are easily recognized Christian culture representing "eternal truths": goodness, peace, word(remember the beginning evangelism from John: From time immemorial ѣ Word and Word b ѣ from God and God b ѣ Word‒ John.I, 1.Ostromir Gospel of 1057).
Meanwhile, the names of the Slavic letters were and seem to a great many people to be arbitrary, random, devoid of the slightest internal connection with each other. When the Russian philologist N.F. Grammatin made an attempt (1822) to find in them some "apothegms" (sayings), A.S. the alphabet do not make any sense. Az, beeches, lead, verb, good are separate words, taken only for their initial sound. "2 Of course, this statement by A. Pushkin was provoked by a very clumsy and unconvincing transcript of N. F. Grammatin, reflecting, in particular, the imperfection of philological science of that time.
You can only solve the riddle of the letter names by referring more closely to the ancient Slavic alphabet.‒ Glagolitic, since at present it is she who is recognized by historical Slavic studies as the creation of Cyril.
_________
2 Pushkin A.S.Full collection cit .: In 10 volumes. T. Vii. M .; L., 1949.S. 521.
Explicit Christian symbolism is noted in the outlines of at least three very important letters of the Glagolic alphabet: "az" (the first letter representing one of the modifications of the cross as a Christian symbol), as well as "like" and "word"‒ the beginning and end of the subtitle abbreviation of the sacred name Jesus (the outlines of these two letters are two vertical combinations of a triangle (the symbol of the Trinity) and a circle (the symbol of the all-seeing eye)).The secret sacred meaning of these graphic signs fully corresponded to the spirit of the Middle Ages, when the main goal of human knowledge, including science and art, was recognized to reveal the symbolic relationship between the visible and invisible (spiritual) worlds 3. Thus, there is no doubt that the alphabet of Cyril, as it were, set an a priori system, permeated with Christian symbolism of Holy Scripture and proclaiming the primacy of the spiritual over the material. It was for the glagolic signs that the Primary Teacher compiled an alphabetic namebook, which then passed into the alphabet named after him.- Cyrillic - and borrowed the main thing from the Glagolitic alphabet: the ratio of sound types and descriptive signs. It is very characteristic at the same time that strict ordering is revealed not by the Cyrillic, but by the glagolic names of the letters before wicked inclusive, since each alphabetic character could represent a certain number in a natural series of units, tens and hundreds. Letter wicked completed this series, corresponding to 1000, and all subsequent alphabetic characters did not have a digital function.
In modern times, when the range of facts related to the emergence of Slavic writing has expanded significantly, there has been a certain turning point in relation to the semiotics of the alphabet. Thus, numerous lists of the Alphabet Prayer, which are popular in Bulgaria and Russia, have become the subject of active research interest.‒ an outstanding poetic work of Old Bulgarian literature, in which each verse began with a letter in the order of its alphabetical sequence. In the works of the famous Bulgarian philologist E. Georgiev, a hypothesis was put forward, according to which the traditional alphabetical name‒ this is a ruined acrostic of the Alphabet Prayer IX century, belonging to the pen of the First Teacher of the Slavs Cyril. At the same time, he postulated a special type of acrostic, in which not the initial letters, but the initial words are read vertically 4. A similar opinion, albeit with some clarifications, was held by
_________
3 Likhachev D.S.Poetics of Old Russian Literature. M., 1979.S. 162.
4 Georgiev E. Cyril and Methodius‒ founding in Slavic literature. Sofia, 1956, p. 124.
the outstanding linguist NS Trubetskoy 5, as well as the Czech researcher F. Mareš 6.
However, this hypothesis, which is widespread at the present time, which has penetrated into some textbooks on the Old Church Slavonic language, raises certain objections.
1. The supposed secondary character of the letter name in relation to the whole - the postulated Alphabet Prayer - means that the author of the Glagolic alphabet, who built its main part in the order of the Greek alphabet and rejected the Greek names ("alpha", "beta", etc.), did not initially envisage Slavic names, relying on more or less random beginnings of individual verses of his prayer. It seems that the creator of the Glagolitic alphabet‒ a highly educated person who received not only a deep church, but also a secular education, awareness of the creative role of the alphabet, created for centuries, gave birth to other priorities.
2. Those authors who specially studied the lists (over 70) and editions of the Alphabet Prayer that have come down to us, came to a unified and well-reasoned conclusion that it was written later than the period of the Solun brothers' activity and belongs to the pen of their disciple and follower Constantine, Presbyter of Preslav (Bulgarian) 7. Thus, if the Alphabet Prayer of the First Teacher of the Slavs Cyril once existed, then it did not reach us, and therefore one unknown (the principle and meaning of the alphabetical names) cannot be explained through another unknown (supposed prayer).
3. Understanding the letter names as rudiments of the acrostic does not satisfy, and because if it does not exclude, then it leaves them in the shadow text-forming a role that, as we see it, can be proved by the undoubted grammatical and lexical compatibility of the homonymous words of the Old Church Slavonic language.
The following grammatical arguments testify in favor of a single text encoded by the alphabet:
1) the presence in the list of literal glagolitic names not only of nouns as ordinary subject names, but also of other parts of speech: verbs ( vѣ dѣ , verbs, eat, alive ѣ those,
_________
5 Trubetskoy N. S.Altkirchenslavische Grammatik. Wien, 1954, S. 18.
6 Mareš F. V.Azbučna báseň z rukopisi státni veřejne Knihovny Saltykova-Ščedrina v Leningradě (Sign.Q I 1202) ( Původni text abecedni basně?)// Slovo, 14. Zagreb, 1964. S. 19-48.
7 About this cm .:Zykov NS. G. The Fate of the Alphabet Prayer in Old Russian Writing // TODRL. T. XXVI ... L., 1971. S. 177-191; Kuev K. M. Alphabet prayer in Slavic literature. Sofia, 1974.S. 32-33.
think, rtsi), pronouns (az, nash, on), adverbs ( sѣ lo , how), adjectives (firmly), unions (and, others like), pretext (off) ‒ just as it happens in a coherent speech stream;
2) selection of verb forms not in an abstract indefinite mood, but in other‒ personal and modal‒ forms, moreover, mainly in the imperative mood of the 2nd person: verbs(from "verb"), aliveѣ those (from "life"), think(from "think"), rtsi (from "reshti"),‒ which testifies to the preaching, teaching sense of the alphabet;
3) a combination of adjacent words according to the laws of the syntax of the "Slovenian language" IX century: a) agreement in gender and number: our he rooms, the word is firm, similarly oak ferth, about which below; b) patterns of use of numerical forms: people think alive ѣ those... Earth(word Earth in a collective sense, like other words like guards, herd, people, in the Old Slavonic language, not without the influence of Greek, they often had a semantic agreement with the plural form. numbers); c) the natural use of personal forms of the verb with the subject: there is good, az ... in ѣ dѣ, where vѣ dѣ ‒ the remainder of the Indo-European perfect with the medial ending of the 1st person unit. the number 8, and the ancient medial meaning (the expression that the subject of the verb is personally interested in the action) has been erased: az v ѣ dѣ ‒ "I know", "I am aware", or "I know"; d) the usual verb control of the case form of a noun: rtsi word(blames. n hell.), bowkies v ѣ dѣ, where bowkies ‒ blames pad. units numbers (option brochure ). Possibility of homonymy of names. and blames. cases in the Proto-Slavic type of declension on * d is proved, for example, by a similar form of controlled case: not pr ѣ any (blame pad.) beauties (Matt.XIX, 18.Mariinsky Gospel).
To make sure of the lexical compatibility of the alphabetical names, let us consider in more detail the meanings of the corresponding words. old Slavic language... In addition to well-known words and forms, in the alphabetical text there are words with little-known meanings or completely incomprehensible ones that need etymologization.
S Ѣ LO ‒ not only "strong", "very", but also "perfect", "supremely", "good". For example: s ѣ lovѣ d ѣ‒ "I am well aware" (Grigory Nazianzin, XI century).
EARTH - not only "opposite to heaven", but also "world". For example: Give the Lord a drink of the earth (Gregory of Nazianzus,
_________
8 Fasmer M.Etymological dictionary of the Russian language: In 4 volumes. M .: Progress, 1964-1973. T. I. P. 283.
XI century).In this case, note the same nature of the agreement in the number as in the alphabet: aliveѣ those ... Earth.
IZHE - was used, in particular, as opposing alliance: Create others like that reign for the sake of power (Epistle of Metropolitan Nicephorus, XII century).
ON (this) - demonstrative pronoun with the meaning "that opposite", "otherworldly", "beyond the grave": from this sv ѣ ta on on sv ѣ тъ; And do not boudie emo from the god of the world ouzr ѣ ti to onom sv ѣ tѣ dushi it (Diploma of Vladimir Monomakh 1096).
REST - "tranquility, rest": Peace of the soul (Gregory Nazianzin, XI V., 358); "death, repose": at the end of the life pr ѣ shd etc. ѣ same ouv ѣ дѣ въ hedgehog to God his departure and the day of his peace, the truth is that there is peace (Nestor. Life of Theodosius, 27); "abode, light, peace": Coming closer to pokoevin (e) b (e) snoumou (Menaion 1096, fol. 23); And such a cleansing dousha is his own from sinful repentance and tears, leaving this saint to his chambers (Novg. Chronicle IV, 6860).
WORD - "word, speech": Mary ... sdshi with the foot of Ii (sow) sovou, having heard his word (Luke.X, 39. The Ostrom World Gospel); "teaching": the word krst'yansko (Sinai patericon, XI century); The Word of God - "Holy Scripture": Nobody else preached the word B (o) zhie (Nestor. The Legend of Boris and Gleb. Ch. 5); "one of the names of the Son of God": God bѣ The Word (John.I, 1.The Ostrom World Gospel); "law, commandment": ten words, like G (ospod) b g (lago) la k nam (Deut. Zak.X, 4 to cn.XIV century).
TVREDO - form Wed kind units. the number of the adjective tvrd in the meaning of "true", "true", "immutable": Nevsyaki k'nigy tvrdy or purely the name of the spelling sot ѣ zhavsha(Ephraim. to march., l. 246, XI century).
ОУКЪ - "teaching, learning, science": Not oukm h (elovѣ) com, B (o) zhieu bl (a) g (o) datie cleans the ailments of ch (e) l (o) v (ѣ) ch'ski (Menaion 1097 BC) , l. 1).
FRT , or, according to some sources, FERT. The original meaning of the name has not yet been established. The version of M. Vasmer's etymological dictionary, according to which rus. f ert ‒ the new Slavic name of onomatopoietic origin (about this E. Shvitser, A. Vaian 9) seems to us doubtful. But one cannot but agree with M. Vasmer that two other etymological interpretations should be rejected: 1) the word is based on Middle Greek
________
9 T am the same. T. IV. S. 190.
19
φύρτηζ "troublemaker, restless man" (Maczenauer, 1870); 2)the word is associated with the Gothic name of the runepertra (Miklosich, 1876). Both versions are controversial both phonetically and semantic. In our opinion, since the Slavic speech sound [f] was alien and the corresponding letter was needed for use only in borrowed (primarily‒ Greek) words, it is natural to look for the Greek source of the name. Apparently Slavic ferth should be associated with the Greek φερτόζ (a form of a verbal adjective denoting the possibility of action, which has a passive-passive meaning) from the verb φέρω with broad semantics, including "to receive", "to choose", "to direct" 10. Thus, the most accurate etymological meaning of the Slavic word ferth taking into account the meaning of the grammatical form should be defined as "select", "selective", while the Greek verbal adjective Cyril gave the Slavic ending husband. R . units numbers to reconcile with oak .
X ѢРЪ - name of the letter X , which, following A. Wayan and M. Vasmer 11, should be recognized as an abbreviation of the word hѣrouvim (damn, heroin), borrowed from the Greek language (the source for Greek was the Hebrew word with the same meaning).To the argumentation of such an etymology, we add the amazing constancy of all the lists of the Alphabet Prayer of Konstantin Preslavsky, in which the verse for this letter is always associated with the root "cherub": Herouwimskow thought and ohm podazh (Sn. II ed.), while in one of the lists ( V 1 ) in the letter row X omitted, merging with the first word of the verse, and in another list, the reduction is very indicative fuckin ' instead of herowimskow (Sn.I ed.) 12 ... In the Christian tradition, the cherub‒ the angelic rank, symbolizing the abode and chanting of the "glory of God", the eternal spirit created by the creator to guard the path to the "tree of life". Wed relevant contexts: Create more diverse douhy eternal ... and the first heroin (Life of Andr. Yurod. X century. I, 159); Fear B (og) a sѣdѧ scha on Hirowimѣh (Serg. Serg., fol. 112); Herowski (!) (that is, following the example of the cherubim. ‒ L. S.) praiseѧ em t ѧ, trinimal b (o) life (Menaion 1097, fol. 112).
OT - the name of the second (according to the Greek model) letter with the sound value [o]. According to the numerical value of the verbal letters, after хѣръ , denoting 600, followed by the letter off (700) ff. A mysterious letter ne (n ѣ), denoting
_________
10 Ancient greek-Russian dictionary: In 2 volumes. M., 1958. II. S. 1719.
11 Fasmer M. Decree ... with very good T. IV. P. 233.
12 Zykov E. G. Decree ... with very good P. 188.
800. The mystery of this grapheme, named in the Moscow list of the legend "On the Writings" of Brave and reflected in the Munich Abesedarium, is that the Old Church Slavonic texts did not record its use, which means that the glagolic sign under this name has not been preserved. A number of researchers sound value ne associated with variable transmission of lat. f and Greek. ph 13 , however, this is largely contradicted by regular implementations of the corresponding alphabetical verse with the words sadness, less often‒ NS ѣsn . Wed: Apply my sorrow to joy‒ 26 verse of the Alphabet Prayer 14. With a high degree of hypotheticalness, we can assume the name of this letter by word form sorrow. Word sadness in the Old Church Slavonic language, it was not only "grief, grief" that mattered, but also "concern". Wed: from ѧ gotѣut your heart ... with the sorrows of life (Lu.XXI, 34.The Ostrom World Gospel); and you will be happy to do it (Assemane's Gospel, l. 14); By (from) v very muchѧ worldlysorrow (Nestor. Life of Theodosius). Wed data of O. A. Sedakova: sad ‒ "not having worries ": hoshchѧ same you are sad to be (1 Cor. 7, 37). Hence the term asceticism carelessness ‒ "detachment from worldly concerns" 15. Alphabet neighborhood off ‒ pretext that has the meaning of deliverance, liberation (compare: to deliver ...ѧ moks- Cerk. mouth Vlad; redemption from the vanity of living- Right ... m etr. Kir.), And ne allow you to reconstruct a fragment of the alphabet text "from sadness".
QI - was used as an interrogative particle "raz", "li": Qi is not possible from B (o) ha vsyak g (lago) l (Gen.XVIII, 14th cn. XIV century.); Yes qi the devil has created a wife, but God (Life of Andr. Yurod. XXXI , 119), and also as a separating conjunction "or", "or": Food (if.‒ L. S.) there is a piece of qi lѫkavi bѣs (Life of Niphont. XIII century eighteen); Something groaning, envious: about your misfortune qi about chyuzhe(m) blazѣ (Bee. Imp. Publ. b., l. 104).
CHRIV - "worm", "worm": Do not hide your treasure on the ground, where the worm and darkness are (Matt. VI , 19. Ostromir Gospel); The Lord speaks: take revenge to those who hold back untruths into the mind, the fire cannot be extinguished, and their worm cannot grow dead (Church mouth. Vlad. Synod. Sp.). In the context of Christian culture worm ‒ a symbol of the creator's most insignificant creation, still fully alive for man
_________
13 cm .: Ivanova T.A. Old Slavonic language. M., 1977.S. 22.
14 The Alphabet Prayer of Constantine of Bulgaria // Notes of the Russian Academic Group in the USA. T. XXI. New York, 1988, p. 298.
15 Sedakova O. A.Church Slavonic-Russian paronyms // Slavic studies. 1992. No. 5.P. 99.
Xviii v. (Compare the well-known lines of G. Derzhavin: I- king, I am a slave, I am a worm, I am god), as well as a symbol of the frailty of the carnal principle, earthly incarnation.
So, when designating the letters of the Slavic alphabet, Old Slavonic words and word forms were used in the following meanings: az ("i")‒ beech ("letter, letter")‒ vādā ("realize")‒ verbs ("speak")‒ good ("good, good")‒ is ("exists")‒ live ("live")- s ѣlo("perfectly, to the highest degree")‒ earth ("peace, earthlings")- like (and) ("but, a") - how ("how?")‒ people ("people, children of men")‒ think ("think")‒ our("ours, we have" ") - On ("this, otherworldly, unearthly")‒ rest ("rest, refuge")‒ rtsi ("say")‒ word ("speech, commandment")‒ hard ("firm, immutable, true")‒ ouk ("learning")‒ fert ("selectively, selectively")‒ хѣръ ("cherubim")‒ from ("from")‒ ne ("sorrow")‒ qi ("or")‒ worm ("worm").
I am literate. Speak: Good exists!
Live perfectly, Earth! But how?
People, think! We have an otherworldly refuge.
Say the true word. Learning selectively:
Cherub, - detachment of sorrow,- or a worm.
Despite the strict limiting scheme set by the number of words (26), their initial letters and the order of most of them in the Greek alphabet, Cyril's alphabetical text reveals not only a deep conceptual and philosophical content, but also an amazing perfection of the artistic solution.
Creatively transforming the traditions of Byzantine homiletics, Cyril gives his interpretation of the foundations of the Christian doctrine, most of all in the genre of a preaching word, addressed to everyone and everyone who is introduced to the new written culture. Multiple switching of modal and subjective plans in each of the intonational and semantic segments creates the effect of a kind of dialogue: az vѣdѣ ‒ narrate... plan, 1st person; verbs ‒ induce / plan, 2nd person; there is good ‒ narrate... plan, 3rd person; live sѣlo Earth‒ will induce. plan, 2nd person; like (and) kako ‒ will ask. plan 16, outside the face;
_________
16 The use of the interrogative modal plan traces the creative development of the genre tradition of the Byzantine catechisms, where the foundations of the Christian doctrine were given in the form of questions and answers.
people think‒ will induce. plan, 2nd person; our he chambers ‒ narrate... plan, 1st person; rtsi word tvrdo ‒ will induce. plan, 2nd person; oak ferth: hѣrouvim from sadness qi chrv ‒ narrate... plan, 3rd person. Thus, the alphabetical "prologue" of the First Teacher acquires the inner dynamism and tension of a lively oratorical address to the flock entering the church for the first time.
The composition of this peculiar " evangelism"Cyril is maximally subordinated to his artistic idea‒ awareness of familiarization with literacy as the first step in the essential knowledge of the world.
The beginning of the alphabet - the concept of "I", which is logically accentuated already by virtue of the grammatical laws of the Old Church Slavonic IX century, since the personal pronoun rarely functioned as a subject. Az ("I") acts as a subject of cognition and self-knowledge, as a starting point in the development of symbolic constructions. Already in the exposition (the first verse), Kirill formulates his "good news" in a laconic phrase There is good! affirming the highest value of Christian culture to which knowledge should be directed. Moreover, in the context of the alphabet word good acts in an extremely expanded, conceptual meaning: "absolute good", "good coming from God", an obligatory attribute of the divine principle (Greek correspondence‒ ἀγ αθόυ ).
Developing the theme of the individual spiritual path, Kirill outlines the sacred model of the universe and at the same time sets the philosophical scope of human thought and spiritual search. Motive for death ("rest"), undoubtedly exalts life, as if opening the earthly space. "Nerve knots" of artistic tissue on the way Cyril's words become extremely condensed images of sacred poetics, which constituted a global antithesis Earth(as a material world, "living", changeable)‒ He chambers(as an ideal world, otherworldly, eternal). These poles of the macrocosm, in which the individual human personality dwells, are called upon to form in it a sense of the universe as the basis for moral choice.
In harmony with the philosophical content, the lyrical plot of the poetic text develops in complete abstraction from the spatio-temporal and socio-ethnic coordinates: good, live, evil, earth, rooms ‒ the well-known colloquial and everyday vocabulary of the hitherto unwritten Slavic language is saturated with the extremely abstract content of the basic concepts of the Christian doctrine. So, for example, even the word Earth in the phrase live evil Earth means not what
23
what is given in physical sensation: Earth acts here as the material hypostasis of the divine world order.
According to the epistemological aspect of Christian doctrine, Cyril does not unify the lifestyle and structure of the soul of the individual (Soul thoughtful the same and reasonable‒ John, Exarch of Bulgaria): the pathos of an individual search for one's own path to truth grows, so that at the end of the alphabet word it will be resolved with an amazingly clear designation of the poles of the microcosm (the inner world of a person). They are given in a new and metaphorically brighter antithesis of plastic images hѣrouvim ‒ wicked. It is impossible to overestimate the power and strength of symbolic generalization, which the First Teacher put into these images, selected by him from many other poetic symbols of Byzantine homiletics and liturgists to express the contrast of high, ideal, eternal and low, carnal, perishable. The author's artistic flair allows you to finish an extremely abstract series of vocabulary with a word wicked from a concrete-sensual material field with an anti-aesthetic associative halo as a symbol of any end opposing eternity.
At the same time, the openness of the finale, which leaves freedom of choice to the human mind and soul, not only sharpens the self-awareness of the individual (each "aza"), but also corresponds to the historical meaning of the alphabet text as on the way glory of the First Teacher to the "Slovenian tribe", before which the world of written culture only opens up.
Reconstruction of a verbal elementary excerpt off sorrow, absent in the Cyrillic alphabet name-list, allows us to conclude that in the mean words of the alphabet, its creator was able to poetically outline the path of approaching the highest principle of human existence. "By the renunciation (rejection) of sorrow" (Greek. λύ πη) ‒ a very capacious sacred image, signifying the overcoming of earthly concerns and thoughts by the power of the human spirit. In the gospel, worldly sorrow is opposed to the joy of communion with the eternal, divine principle: your sorrow into joy will(The Ostrom World Gospel. 10.Xvi, twenty). See also: Ashte whether yes weaken thought off, abie start sadness eat(Pandects of AntiochusXIin., l. 62).
Thus, in his sacred-poetic text, designed to give names to the primary elements of a new written culture, Cyril selected the most capacious images-concepts of the Christian doctrine: earth, rooms, hѣrouvim, sadness, wicked, ‒ influencing not only the mind, but also the feelings of a person 17 and stimulating
_________
17 Note that in the deciphering of N.F. Grammatin the complete absence of a poetic stream most of all did not satisfy
24
the awakening of the personality in its pursuit of the ideal. Borrowing from the Greek the system of figurative, metaphorical meanings of these words, Cyril outlined and defined the principles of the translation technique of liturgical texts.
To prove the poetic nature of the alphabetical text, it is also very important that the literal names of the older Glagolitic alphabet 18 easily line up in structurally and rhythmically organized rows, and it is difficult to see an accident in this cyclicality of intonational-semantic segments (as it would follow from a recognition in the alphabet name-list word-for-word acrostic of the famous Alphabet Prayer). Let's compare:
Az bowkies vѣdѣ/ There are good verbs // 101010/0100110
Livesѣloland / Izhe (s) kako //0100110 / 10010
Peoplethink / Our he rooms // 100010/1010010
Rqiword firmly / Oak ferth //011010 / 1010
Khurouvim off sadness / Qi wicked //001010010 / 10
An analysis of the formal (sound) side of this first book-Slavic text forces us to admit that its author creatively used not only Christian poetic imagery, but also the verse traditions of Byzantine liturgical poetry.
The intonational-semantic segments that we have identified in the alphabetical text are, as a rule, marked with the grammatical forms of the imperative and vocative. Called to establish contact between the subject of speech and the interlocutor, they possess initiatory function when constructing speech. As more expressive in their grammatical nature, they were accompanied by stronger stresses (ictuses) and were a convenient means of emphasizing the beginning of a verse. This choice of grammatical forms was familiar to Cyril as the traditional principle of non-syllabic versification of Byzantine chants and praises, as a tradition of free prayer- word verse. It is this "system of rhythmic signals,
_________
A. S. Pushkin, hence the "tragic" interpretation of the French alphabet given by him in contrast.
18 The difference between the major and minor Glagolitic in the main part (before wicked ) only concerns the interpolation of the letter named drv , which we do not take into account when decrypting.
25
marking the beginning of lines ", established in Church Slavonic and Old Russian prayer book verse by the American researcher Kirill Taranovsky 19. However, the first experience of transferring it to Slavic soil, of course, was the alphabet of Cyril. The initial accents in his poems and hemistichs are indirectly proved by the presence of "strong" shock banners in similar grammatical principles of the Irmos and Troparia, noted by musicologists when analyzing the most ancient singing manuscripts, in contrast to the article‒ the longest character used to mark the recitative endings of lines 20. In this regard, it is very characteristic that to this day, in Russian folk culture, some confessional groups retain the tradition of teaching the alphabet by singing it 21.
On the other hand, the obvious "rhythmic breathing" of Cyril's poetic text is undoubtedly connected with the tradition of Byzantine syllabic versification. Taking into account the syllabic role of the reduced, smooth sonorant and final and, usual for the Slavic phonetic systemIXcentury, the alphabet text gravitates towards the 13-compound with a sedentary (after 6-7 syllables) caesura and a constant female clause in all hemistichs (note that the word Earth previously stressed on the first syllable 22). Syllabic structure of Cyril's text: 1 verse‒ 13 syllables (semi-verses 6 and 7); 2 verse‒ 12 syllables (7 and 5); Verse 3‒ 13 (6 & 7); Verse 4 - 10 (6 and 4); 5 verse‒ 12 (9 and 3) - represents the first creative use of the syllabic tradition of Byzantine spiritual lyrics on Slavic linguistic material. Roman Yakobson notes a similar structure of the verse in the Slavic revisions of the Greek irmos, establishing in them a stricter "alternation of unequal
_________
19 Taranovsky TO. Forms of common Slavic and Church Slavonic verse in Old Russian literatureXI- XIIIcenturies //AmericanContributiontotheSixthInternationalCongressofSlavists. Vol.I: Linguistic Contributions. The Hague-Paris, 1968. P. 377.
20 Keldysh Yu.V. History of Russian music. T. 1. Ancient RussiaXI- XVIIcenturies M .: Music, 1983.S. 95.
21 Nikitina E.S. Oral folk culture and linguistic consciousness. Moscow: Nauka, 1993.. 29.
22 Kolesov V. V. History of Russian stress. L., 1972. WITH. 51.
23 Jakobson R. The slavic response to Byzantic Poetry // XII-e congress des études byzantines. RapporteVIII. Belgrade- Ochride, 1961. P. 252.
26
the measure is often sacrificed to the symmetrical arrangement of accents in verse "24.
Noticed by R.Jacobson, for the first time, as a conscious syllabo-tonic principle, carried the tendency towards pairwise unification of non-simple verses in combination with a consistent accent norm in the alphabet word of Cyril: for example, an accent grid is imposed on the syllabic structure of his poems (13-12-13-10-12), in which the sum of the icts of two hemistichs is usually 5‒ more precisely: 6 (3 + 3); 5 (3 + 2); 5 (2 + 3); 5 (3 + 2); 5 (3 + 2). Violations isosyllabism in the 4, 8, 9 and 10 hemistichs, compensated by their consistent accent structure, can be explained by "semantic expressive italics", in the words of P.A. pathos.
Thus, the appeal to the primordial literal birthday our alphabet, which, fortunately, has been conveyed to us uninterrupted Church Slavonic tradition primary education literacy, made it possible to decipher the deep historical and cultural meaning of the first Slavic book-poetic text. This made it possible, more than eleven centuries later, to hear the voice of the greatest scientist, philosopher, enlightener and missionary, whose ascetic life is crowned with the creation of Slavic writing.
The thought and feeling of Cyril, compressed into only 26 words of the letter row, presented the first poetic version of the Christian theory of knowledge, opening up unexplored paths for a new written culture. Its solid foundations were laid by the First Teacher during the translation of the Gospel ( aprakos), psalms and the apostle. The alphabetical "prologue" to reading and writing directed human activity in accordance with clearly defined moral guidelines, considering the introduction to literacy as the awakening of a person who is aware of himself in this world.
It is the inner content of the letter nameplate appears to have inspired student and follower Solunsky brothers Constantine Preslavsky(Bulgarian) to the Alphabet Prayer, which is so popular throughout Slavia... Different versions of this prayer developed the main motives in their own way. " on the way the words "Cyril, but at the same time invariably introduced a new motive for following the First Teacher:
_________
24 In the same place. R. 254.
25 Rudnev P.A. Meter and meaning //Metrykaslowianska. Wroclaw- Warszawa, 1971. C . 77.
27
I sew now on slѣdow teacher
Name (his) and dѣlow after the blow
(Ied., State Historical Museum, Synod, sobr., No. 262);
Procession creatureѧ , poslouzh(and) teacher
His name and dѣlow followѧ
(IIed. Sobr. Tr.-Serg. Lavra, No. 103).
The range of texts attributed to the oldest tradition First teacher. Among them is the "Alphabet Prayer" (in the manuscript it is called "The Prologue of Christ oumѣrn") and" Writing about the right vѣrѣ", which modern Slavists are unambiguously attributed as later works, created by the students of Cyril and Methodius, and " Proglas to the gospel "‒ that is, all those original Old Slavic writings in which a clear understanding of the meaning of writing is revealed (" literal words ") as a powerful impetus to spiritual rebirth and to the cultural life of the" Slovenian tribe. "Apparently, the original meaning of the alphabet text of Cyril was well understood by the first scribes, who considered it an honorable and necessary task to popularize and develop the ideas outlined by the First Teacher, that is, "slovenian" To"literal, evangelical word " ‒ the kinship and consonance of these words, as V.N.Toporov showed, became the impetus for the mythologeme Slovenia v " Proglance" ‒ apotheosis " literal the words", attributable to the First Teacher 26.
As the Christian culture of the Slavs developed, as it was apparently conceived by the genius of Cyril, the emblematic function of the alphabet nameplate... That is why the revival of the historical roots of our memory is impossible without understanding it. Forgetting the original, etymological meaning of the "basics" of our everyday writing would mean the rejection of Slavic culture from its historically determined moral fundamental principle.
The holistic image of the endless world, succinctly presented by Cyril, was intended to form not only the attitude to the world, but also the socio-cultural stereotype of behavior. This stereotype comes from the Christian idea of truth as a process of movement towards it within the framework of individual human existence.
It is the sacred meaning that opens up in the course of the historical and philological study of the alphabetical text that allows
_________
26 Toporov V.N. "Proglas"Constantine the Philosopher as an example of Old Slavic poetry // Slavic and Balkan linguistics. History of literary languages and writing. M .: Nauka, 1979.
28
to reveal much more fully and deeper the author's intention in the outline of the initial grapheme of the Glagolitic alphabet. Letter az demanded special attention from the creator of writing, both because of the most important sacred meaning of the beginning of the alphabet 27, and in connection with the complexity of the ideographic transmission of the deictic (indicative) word from his generalizing type of nomination.
Glagolic image aza in historical Slavic studies it is usually interpreted as a direct and immediate symbol of Jesus Christ 28, although some researchers do not find in it a clear resemblance to the Christian cross, paying attention to the low crossbar and the obligatory limiting folds on it. According to I.V. Yagicha, style aza researchers tried to connect with Greek (I. Dobrovsky), Jewish Samaritan(NS. Shafarik), Phoenician (Fr. Rač ki), Latin-Albanian (Leopold Geytler) sources 29. Following M. Moskov acad. Yu.S. Stepanov sees in this letter a pagan fundamental principle‒ the symbol of the deity Tengri in the Türkic runic scripts, which originally represented a fork-shaped sign, but gradually it was allegedly transformed into a kind of cross 30.
In our opinion, the graphic representation of the first letter of the Glagolitic alphabet‒ it is not only a symbol of Christ (it makes no sense to dispute such an understanding, given that all the Byzantine manuscripts with which Cyril dealt usually began with a cross having at least 5-6 variants), but also an undoubted ideogram, depicting the Christian doctrine of the universe and spiritual development of the individual (aza). The cosmogonic model-scheme here is naturally associated with spatial orientation, with the concept of the top‒ bottom: the transverse bar, bounded by bends down, symbolizes the material, earthly beginning, and an open vertical line‒ the beginning is ideal, spiritual; their intersection point is the symbol of the cognizing subject (az), likened to God himself, and at the same time the starting point in spiritual development person. Characteristically
_________
27 Georgiev E. Decree. Op. P. 124.
28 More fully about this see:Kiparsky V . TschernochvostoffsTheorieü berdenUrsprungdesglagolitischenAlphabets // Cyrillo- Methodiana. Zur Trühgeschichte des Christentums bei den Slaven 863-1963. Köln: Craz... S.393 -4 00.
29 Yagich I. V. Encyclopedia of Slavic Philology.T. III... SPb., 1911.S. 56-95.
30 Stepanov Yu.S. Several hypotheses about the names of the letters of the Slavic alphabets in connection with the history of culture // Questions of linguistics. 1991. No. 3. P. 35.
29
at the same time, that the upper part of the vertical does not know any restrictions, corresponding to the infinity (openness) of spiritual space, and Bottom part verticals could have a variant with a limiting dash‒ as a sign of the finiteness of the earthly, carnal principle. The cosmogonic scheme of an ideogram az , thus contains the idea of the unity of opposites‒ material and spiritual, earth and sky, man and God. The static image of this unity converges in the subject knowing the truth. (az), for the sake of which the vectors of the spiritual space are clearly arranged in the alphabet of Cyril.
So, we understand the outline of the first and, of course, the sacred letter of the Glagolitic not only as a symbol of Christ, but also as a graphic projection of the concept of the divine world order, which was laid down by the creator of writing in the alphabetical text.
The study of the semiotics of the Slavic alphabet in isolation from the goals and objectives facing Cyril can hardly be fruitful. In this respect, it seems to us a very artificial hypothesis of Yu.S. Stepanov regarding the pagan fundamental principle of the initial verbal letter az ‒ both in its cruciform outline (the complex transformation of the pitchfork symbol of the Turkic deity Tengri into a cross is completely unconvincing), and in the original meaning of its name. Instead of the generally accepted and well-argued etymology of the pronoun, which goes back to the Indo-European rootego("I"), Yu. S. Stepanov raises the word az to the name of a gothic deity‒ the mythical inventor of the runes 31. The very mission of Cyril, not to mention the dogmas of his faith, excludes the "common semantic background" of the Gothic (pagan) alphabet and the Slavic alphabet, which was created for the needs of the Christian Church in the first place, as suggested by the researcher.
A consistently historical look at the mission of the First Teacher of the Slavs, Cyril, should have long ago led to the recognition of the conceptual and philosophical roots of his alphabet. The fact that this has not happened so far can be explained, perhaps, by the fact that historical Slavic studies as a secular science and theological hermeneutics have too "entrusted" each other with an adjacent field of knowledge.
Thus, thanks to the established syntagmatics of the alphabetic nameplate, linguistic source studies are replenished with the oldest dated text, which opens up the opportunity to correct many issues of vocabulary, grammar, phonetics and even, possibly, the graphics of Old Bulgarian
_________
31 Stepanov Yu.S. Decree. Op. S. 32-34.
languageIXcentury‒ the first written literary language of the Slavs. At the same time, our proofs of the poetic nature of the alphabetical word of Cyril expand the corpus of book and literary works due to a text of an original nature that is unique for this era, which not only makes it possible to clarify and expand the ideas of historical Slavic studies about the composition of the early Glagolitic alphabet, but also sheds light on the origins of Slavic spiritual poetry and the birth of traditions of sacred imagery and prayer book verse.
In conclusion, we emphasize pan-European the significance of the great educational activity of Cyril, so vividly embodied in his alphabet. Breaking through the dogma of the "dead" trilingualism The first teacher of the Slavs became, 5 centuries before the European Renaissance, the creator of the first independent national church in the history of Christianity, thereby opening his own paths to Christianity, and hence to written culture for all European ethnic groups.
31
It is extremely difficult for a modern person to imagine a time when there was no alphabet. All these letters, which we are taught at school desks, appeared a long time ago. So in what year did the first alphabet appear, which, I'm not afraid of this phrase, changed our lives?
In what year did the Slavic alphabet appear?
Let's start with the fact that 863 is recognized as the year when the Slavic alphabet appeared. She owes her "birth" to two brothers: Cyril and Methodius. Once the ruler Rostislav, who owns the throne of Great Moravia, turned for help to Michael - the emperor of Byzantium. His request was simple: send preachers who spoke Slavic and thus promote Christianity among the people. The emperor took into account his request and sent two outstanding scientists at that time! 
Their arrival coincides with the year when the alphabet appeared, because the brothers faced the problem of translating the Holy Scriptures into the language of the Slavs. By the way, there was no ABC then. This means that the basis for the entire attempt to translate holy speeches to ordinary people was missing.
The time when the first alphabet appeared can be safely called the moment of the birth of the modern language and alphabet, the development of the culture and history of the Slavs themselves. The creation of the Slavic alphabet in 863 became a significant day!
An interesting fact about the paragraphs in general: Louis Braille invented almost 1000 years later. When they ask you, they say, the creation of the Slavic alphabet in what year began, then you may well be able to answer! And also read ,. It's also educational!
And it is written in all history textbooks who were the first to create the alphabet for the Russian language - these are the brothers Cyril (Constantine) the Philosopher and Methodius (Michael) Thessaloniki, Greek missionaries later recognized as equal to the apostles saints. In 862, at the behest of the Byzantine emperor Michael III, they went on a mission to Great Moravia. This early feudal Slavic state occupied the territory where Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and part of Ukraine are located today. The main task set before the brothers by the Patriarch of Constantinople Photius was the translation of sacred texts from Greek into Slavic dialects. However, in order for the notes not to be forgotten, it was necessary to fix them on paper, and this cannot be done in the absence of our own Slavic alphabet.
The basis for its creation was Greek alphabet... However, phonetically, the ancient Slavic dialects were much richer than Greek speech. Because of this, the enlightened missionaries of this country were forced to come up with 19 new letters to display on paper sounds and phonetic combinations that were absent in their language. Therefore, the first alphabet (alphabet), with minor changes, which has survived to this day among Belarusians, Bulgarians, Russians, Serbs and Ukrainians, included 43 letters. Today it is known under the name "Cyrillic", and the writing of these peoples belongs to the Cyrillic alphabet.
Who was the first to create the alphabet of the Russian language
However, when considering the question of who was the first to create the alphabet of the Slavs, it must be borne in mind that in the 9th century there were two alphabets (two alphabets) - Cyrillic and Glagolitic, and which of them appeared earlier, it is impossible to answer. Unfortunately, the original texts written during the time of Cyril and Methodius have not survived. According to most researchers, more ancient history has 38-letter, but more difficult to write signs, glagolitic. It was called in the Old Slavic language "korillovitsa", and its authorship is attributed to the "creative team" headed by Cyril and Methodius, which included their students Clement, Naum and Angelarius. The alphabet was created starting in 856, before the first educational campaign of Cyril to the Khazar Kaganate.
Palimpsests also speak in favor of the originality of the Glagolitic alphabet - texts written in it, later scraped off of parchment and replaced by Cyrillic writing. In addition, its ancient spelling is quite close in its own way. appearance with the Georgian church alphabet - "Khutsuri", which was used until the 9th century.
According to the supporters of the above hypothesis, the first Russian alphabet - Cyrillic - was developed by Cyril's student, Clement Okhritsky and named after the teacher. By the name of its first two letters - "az" and "beeches" - the alphabet got its name.
The oldest Slavic alphabets
However, the question of who was the first to create the alphabet is not so simple, and Cyril and Methodius were only the first enlighteners who brought writing to the early Slavic states, the historicity of which is not questioned. The same Cyril, describing his journey to the Great Kaganate, indicates the presence in the churches of Chersonesos (Korsun) "The Gospel and Psalms are written in Russian letters." It was the acquaintance with these texts that led the Greek educator to the idea of dividing the letters of his alphabet into vowels and consonants.
Until now, Velesov's book is controversial, written in "strange" letters, called "v (e) lesovitsa". According to the discoverers (mystifiers) of this book, they were carved on wooden plates before the widespread use of both the Glagolitic and Cyrillic scripts.
Unfortunately, today it is impossible to establish the alphabet for the Russian language, "v (e) lesovitsy", authorship of "roussky letters".
Modern Russian is based on Old Church Slavonic, which, in turn, was previously used for both writing and speech. Many scrolls and paintings have survived to this day.
Culture of Ancient Russia: writing
Many scholars argue that there was no written language at all until the ninth century. This means that at the time of Kievan Rus, writing did not exist as such.
However, this assumption is erroneous, because if you look at the history of others developed countries and states, you can see that each strong state had its own written language. Since it was also part of a number of rather strong countries, writing was also necessary for Russia.
Another group of scholars and researchers proved that there was a written language, and this conclusion was supported by a number of historical documents and facts: Brave wrote the legends "On the Writings". Also "in the Lives of Methodius and Constantine" it is mentioned that Eastern Slavs writing. Ibn Fadlan's notes are also cited as evidence.
So when did writing appear in Russia? The answer to this question is still controversial. But the main argument for society confirming the emergence of writing in Russia is the treaties between Russia and Byzantium, which were written in 911 and 945.
Cyril and Methodius: a huge contribution to the Slavic writing
The contribution of Slavic educators is invaluable. It was with the beginning of their work that they had their own alphabet, which was much simpler in its pronunciation and spelling than the previous version of the language.
It is known that the enlighteners with their students did not preach among the East Slavic peoples, but the researchers say that, perhaps, Methodius and Cyril set themselves such a goal. Accession to their views would allow not only to expand the range of their interests, but would also simplify the introduction of a simplified language into the East Slavic culture.
In the tenth century, the books and lives of the great enlighteners came to the territory of Russia, where they began to enjoy real success. It is to this moment that researchers attribute the emergence of writing in Russia, the Slavic alphabet.
Russia since the appearance of its language alphabet
Despite all these facts, some researchers are trying to prove that the alphabet of the Enlighteners appeared in the days of Kievan Rus, that is, even before baptism, when Rus was a pagan land. Although most of historical documents are written in Cyrillic, there are papers that contain information written in verb. Researchers say that it is likely that the Glagolitic alphabet was also used in Ancient Rus precisely in the period of the ninth-tenth centuries - before the adoption of Christianity by Russia.
More recently, this assumption has been proven. Researchers found a document that contained the records of a certain priest Upir. In turn, Upir wrote that in 1044 the Glagolitic alphabet was used in Russia, but the Slavic people perceived it as the work of the enlightener Cyril and began to call it "Cyrillic".
It is difficult to say how much the culture of Ancient Rus was different at that time. The emergence of writing in Russia, as is commonly believed, began precisely from the moment the books of the enlighteners were widely disseminated, despite the facts suggesting that writing was an important element for pagan Russia.
The rapid development of Slavic writing: the baptism of the pagan land
The rapid pace of development of the writing of the East Slavic peoples began after the baptism of Russia, when writing appeared in Russia. In 988, when Prince Vladimir converted to Christianity in Russia, children, who were considered the social elite, began to be taught by letter books. It was at the same time that church books appeared in writing, inscriptions on cylinder locks, there were also written expressions that blacksmiths knocked out on order on swords. Texts appear on princely seals.
Also, it is important to note that there are legends about coins with inscriptions used by princes Vladimir, Svyatopolk and Yaroslav.
And in 1030, birch bark letters became widely used.
The first written records: birch bark letters and books
The first written records were notes on birch bark letters. Such a letter is a written record on a small fragment of birch bark.
Their uniqueness is that today they are perfectly preserved. For researchers, such a find is very important: in addition to the fact that thanks to these letters one can learn the features of the Slavic language, the writing on the birch bark can tell about important events that took place during the eleventh to fifteenth centuries. Such records became an important element for the study of the history of Ancient Rus.
In addition to Slavic culture, birch bark letters were also used among the cultures of other countries.
At the moment, the archives contain a lot of birch bark documents, the authors of which are the Old Believers. In addition, with the advent of birch bark "paper", people were taught to exfoliate birch bark. This discovery was the impetus for writing books on Slavic writing in Russia began to develop more and more.
A find for researchers and historians
The first letters made on birch bark paper, which were found in Russia, were located in the city of Veliky Novgorod. Everyone who has studied history knows that this city was of no small importance for the development of Rus.
A new stage in the development of writing: translation as a major achievement
The southern Slavs had a huge influence on writing in Russia.
Under Prince Vladimir in Russia, books and documents were translated from the South Slavic language. And under Prince Yaroslav the Wise, a literary language began to develop, thanks to which such a literary genre as church literature appeared.
The ability to translate texts from foreign languages... The first translations (of books) that came from the Western European side were translations from Greek. It was the Greek language that largely changed the culture of the Russian language. Many loan words were used more and more in literary works, even in the same church writings.
It was at this stage that the culture of Russia began to change, the writing of which became more and more complicated.
Reforms of Peter the Great: Towards a Simple Language
With the arrival of Peter I, who reformed all the structures of the Russian people, even significant amendments were made to the culture of the language. The appearance of writing in Russia in antiquity immediately complicated an already complicated one. In 1708, Peter the Great introduced the so-called "civil script". Already in 1710, Peter the Great personally revised every letter of the Russian language, after which it was created new alphabet... The ABC was distinguished by its simplicity and ease of use. Russian ruler wanted to simplify the Russian language. Many letters were simply excluded from the alphabet, thereby simplifying not only Speaking, but also written.
Significant changes in the 18th century: the introduction of new symbols
The main change during this period was the introduction of such a letter as “and short”. This letter was introduced in 1735. Already in 1797, Karamzin used a new sign to denote the sound "yo".
By the end of the 18th century, the letter "yat" lost its meaning, because its sound coincided with the sound of "e". It was at this time that the letter "yat" was no longer used. Soon it also ceased to be a part of the Russian alphabet.
The last stage in the development of the Russian language: small changes
The final reform that changed the writing system in Russia was the reform of 1917, which lasted until 1918. It meant the exclusion of all letters, the sound of which was either too similar or even repeated. It is thanks to this reform that today the hard sign (b) is separative, and the soft (b) became separative when denoting a soft consonant sound.
It is important to note that this reform caused great discontent on the part of many prominent literary figures. For example, Ivan Bunin strongly criticized this change in his native language.
The alphabet of the Old Church Slavonic is a collection of written signs in a certain order, expressing specific sounds. This system developed quite independently on the territory of peoples' residence.
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 would receive the name Cyril later in 869 when taking monasticism) and Methodius (his older brother). This choice was not accidental. The brothers were from Thessaloniki (Thessaloniki in Greek), from the family of a military leader. Both got a good education... Constantine was trained at the court of Emperor Michael III, he was a good master of different languages, including Arabic, Jewish, Greek, Slavic. In addition, he taught philosophy, for which he was called - Constantine the Philosopher. Methodius was at first in military service, and then ruled for several years one of the regions in which the Slavs lived. Subsequently, the elder brother went to the monastery. This was not their first trip - in the 860th year, the brothers made a campaign with a diplomatic and missionary purpose to the Khazars.
How was the system of written signs created?
In order to preach it was necessary to translate Holy Bible... 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 signs existed in two forms: Glagolitic and Cyrillic. To this day, scientists disagree about which of these options was created by Cyril. With the participation of Methodius, some of the Greek liturgical books were translated. So the Slavs got the opportunity to write and read in their own language. In addition, the people received not only a system of written signs. The Old Church 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 Church Slavonic alphabet - "az" and "beeches" - actually added the name. They corresponded to "A" and "B" and began the sign system. What did the Old Church Slavonic alphabet look like? The graffiti pictures were first scrawled right on the walls. The first signs appeared around 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 Kiev, an event that took place in 1574 contributed to the new round of development of writing. Then the first printed "Old Slavonic Alphabet" appeared. Its creator was Ivan Fedorov.
The connection of times and events
If you look back, you can note, not without interest, that the Old Church Slavonic alphabet was not just an ordered set written characters... This system of signs opened to the people a new path leading to perfection of man on earth 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 Slavic alphabet, as mentioned above, was created in 863, and in 988 Vladimir officially announced the introduction of a new faith and the destruction of a primitive cult.
The mystery of the sign system
Many scientists, studying the history of writing, come to the conclusion that the letters of the Old Church Slavonic alphabet were a kind of secret writing. It had not only a deep religious, but also a philosophical meaning. At the same time, Old Church Slavonic letters make up a complex logical and mathematical system. Comparing the findings, the researchers come to the conclusion that the first collection of written symbols was created as a kind of integral invention, and not as a structure that was formed in parts by adding new forms. Interesting signs, which consisted of the Old Church Slavonic alphabet. Most of them are numeric characters. The Cyrillic alphabet is based on the Greek uncial writing system. The Old Church Slavonic alphabet had 43 letters. 24 characters were borrowed from the Greek uncial, 19 were new. The fact is that there were not some of the sounds that the Slavs had at that time. Accordingly, there was no lettering of them either. Therefore, some of the symbols from the new, 19, were borrowed from other writing systems, and some were created by Constantine on purpose.
"Higher" and "lower" part
If you look at this entire writing system, then you can quite clearly distinguish two of its parts, radically different from each other. Conventionally, the first part is called "higher", and the second, respectively, "lower". The 1st group includes letters A-F("az" - "ferth"). 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 had no numerical meaning and carried a negative connotation in themselves. To understand the cryptography, it is not enough just to skim it. You should read the symbols - after all, in each 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 symbols stood at the very beginning of the system of written signs. The first letter was "az". It was used in "I". But the root meaning of this symbol is such words as "beginning", "to begin", "initially". In some letters, one can find "az", meaning the number "one": "I will go az to Vladimir". Or this symbol was interpreted as "start from scratch" (from the beginning). Thus, the Slavs designated the philosophical meaning of their existence with this letter, indicating that there is no end without 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 Church Slavonic alphabet itself, in fact, is composed 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 all that is beautiful. Studying the numerology of the people, researchers say that even then all numbers were 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 letter followed "az". "Buki" had no digital meaning. Nevertheless, the philosophical meaning of this symbol was no less deep. "Buki" is "to be", "to be". As a rule, it was used in turnovers in the future tense. So, for example, "bowdy" is "let it be", "future" - "upcoming", "future". By this, the Slavs expressed the inevitability of the upcoming events. At the same time, they could be both terrible and gloomy, and rainbow and good. It is not known exactly why Konstantin did not give a numerical value to the second letter. Many researchers believe that this may be due to the ambiguity of the meaning of the letter itself.
"Lead"
This symbol is of particular interest. "Lead" corresponds to the number 2. The symbol is translated as "possess", "know", "know". In investing such a meaning in "vedi," Constantine meant knowledge as a divine supreme gift. And if you add up the first three characters, you get the phrase "I will know." By this, Constantine wanted to show that a person who opens the alphabet will subsequently receive knowledge. It should be said about the semantic load of "lead". Number "2" - deuce, the couple took part in various magic rituals, but 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" is a constant confrontation between the parties. It should also be noted that "two" was considered the number of the devil - many negative properties were attributed to it. It was believed that it was she who opened the row negative numbers bringing death to man. In this regard, the birth of twins, for example, was considered a bad sign, bringing illness and misfortune to the whole family. Bad omen it was considered to rock the cradle together, to dry with one towel for two people, and indeed to do something together. However, even with all the negative qualities of the "deuce", people recognized it magical properties... And in many rituals, twins took part or the same objects were used to drive out evil spirits.
Symbols as a secret message to descendants
All Old Church Slavonic letters are capitalized. 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 Church Slavonic alphabet - the meaning of letters and words, in particular, you can understand that Constantine did not just compose a written system, but tried to convey a special meaning to descendants. So, for example, if you add certain symbols, you can get edifying phrases:
"Lead the Verb" - know the teaching;
"Firmly Oak" - strengthen the law;
"Rtsy Word Firmly" - utter the true words, etc.
Inscription order and style
Researchers studying the alphabet consider the order of the first, "higher" part from two positions. First of all, each character is folded with the subsequent 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 signs can be viewed 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 further up to ten. Dozens 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 with patterns were written, they were convenient and simple. All characters were perfect for cursive writing. As a rule, people had no difficulty in depicting letters.
Development of the system of written signs
If you compare the Old Church Slavonic and the modern alphabet, you can see that 16 letters are lost. The Cyrillic alphabet still corresponds to the sound composition of the Russian vocabulary. This is primarily due to the not so sharp discrepancy between the very structure of the Slavic and Russian languages. It is also important that when composing the Cyrillic alphabet, Constantine carefully took into account the phonemic (sound) composition of speech. In the Old Church Slavonic alphabet there were seven Greek written symbols, initially unnecessary for the transmission of the sounds of the Old Church 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 - "zelo" and "earth", for the first - "and" and "ilk". 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 the words borrowed from it. But the sounds were pronounced in the old Russian way. Therefore, the need to use these written symbols has disappeared over time. It was also important to change the use and meaning of the letters "ep" ("b") and "er" (b). Initially, they were used to designate a weakened (reduced) voiceless vowel: "ъ" - close to "o", "b" - close to "e". Over time, the weak deaf vowels began to disappear (this process was called "the fall of the deaf"), and these symbols 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, good. Studying the alphabet from its very beginnings, many researchers conclude that Constantine left to descendants a priceless creation calling for self-improvement, wisdom and love, learning, bypassing the dark paths of enmity, envy, anger, evil.