Celebrations of May 24, Day of the Bulgarian (Cyrillic) Alphabet and Bulgarian Culture at the Monument of St. Cyril and St. Methodius in front of the National Library in the Bulgarian capital Sofia. Photo: TV grab from bTV
Bulgaria and Bulgarians around the world have celebrated on May 24, 2015, the Day of St. Cyril and St. Methodius, i.e. the Day of the Bulgarian Alphabet (more widely known internationally as Cyrillic) and Bulgarian Culture.
The Bulgarian alphabet, or the Cyrillic, as it is more known internationally, was developed at the end of the 9th century AD for the Old Bulgarian language, also known today as Church Slavonic, possibly at the Preslav Literary School and/or the Ohrid Literary School in the First Bulgarian Empire by St. Kliment Ohridski and St. Naum Preslavski. St. Kliment Ohridski (St. Clement of Ohrid) and St. Naum Preslavski are two of the five major disciples of St. Cyril and St. Methodius, the Byzantine diplomats and civil servants of Slavic (i.e. Bulgarian) origin who invented the first Slavic alphabet, the Glagolitic, in 855 AD or 862 AD.
In 886 AD, The Glagolitic alphabet was brought to the First Bulgarian Empire by their disciples after they were chased away from the Central European kingdom of Great Moravia by the Catholic Germanic clergy. In Bulgaria, the disciples of the great Byzantine scholars, themselves Bulgarians, likely developed the new Bulgarian alphabet based on the Glagolitic, and allegedly called it Cyrillic in honor of their master, St. Cyril. Later Bulgarian clergymen, scholars, and missionaries spread their alphabet to other Slavic nations such as Russia and Serbia.
The Cyrillic (Bulgarian) alphabet is used today by some 300 million people in 12 countries in Eastern Europe and Northern and Central Asia, which are Slavic countries or non-Slavic countries that have been Russian cultural influence, such as Mongolia which adopted the Cyrillic alphabet in the 1940s.
The Glagolitic letters based on the three sacred Christian signs – the cross, the circle, and the triangle (above) – compared with the Bulgarian (Cyrillic) letters corresponding to the same sounds. Photo: Rovas.info
In a special statement on the occasion of May 24, the Institute for Bulgarian Language at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences summarizes the history of the Glagolitic and the Cyrillic as “two Bulgarian alphabets”.
It points out that there is no consensus among historians whether the first Bulgarian alphabet, the Glagolitic, was invented in 855 AD or in 862 AD. However, it is a known historical fact that it was invented by St. Cyril (also known as Constantine-Cyril the Philosopher), and that in 862 AD, the then Byzantine Emperor asked the two brothers, St. Cyril and St. Methodius, to translate the Christian literature into the Slavic language for their mission to the Central European state of Great Moravia (in today’s Czech Republic and Slovakia).
“The Glagolitic was the work of genius philologist Constantine-Cyril, and is a completely original graphic system in which every letter stands for one sound. What is more, in it, the letters for close sounds have similar depictions,” explains the Institute for Bulgarian Language.
It adds that irrefutable evidence that St. Cyril was the author of the first Bulgarian alphabet, the Glagolitic, is found in a Latin document called the Salzburg Memorandum of 871 AD which says that St. Methodius came to Pannonia with the “newly invented Slavic letters”.
St. Constantine-Cyril the Philosopher created the Glagolitic alphabet based on the Slavic dialect spoken around Salonica, today’s Thessaloniki, which belongs to the East Bulgarian Rupi Dialects. This is taken as evidence that the saintly brothers were ethnic Bulgarians. The Glagolitic letters used the three holy signs of Christianity – the cross, the circle, and the triangle (i.e. the Trinity) – for its letters.
The literary language created by St. Cyril and St. Methodius in the middle of the 9th century AD was Bulgarian – the so called Old Bulgarian, also known today as Church Slavonic. It was first spread in Moravia and Pannonia in Central Europe, albeit only for a brief period of time, before the Germanic Catholic clergy supplanted it with Latin.
After the death of St. Methodius in 885 AD, the five disciples of St. Cyril and St. Methodius were chased away from Great Moravia by the Germanic Catholic clergy, and three of them found shelter in the court of Knyaz Boris I Mihail, ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire (r. 852-889; 893 AD).
Thus, the second Old Bulgarian alphabet known today internationally as the Cyrillic was created at the end of the 9th century AD, possibly in the Bulgarian capital Veliki Preslav (“Great Preslav”). Unlike the Glagolitic, it contained 24 letters based on the letters of the Ancient Greek alphabet plus 14 letters similar to some of the Glagolitic letters which stand for the purely Bulgarian (Slavic) sounds: Б, Ж, З, Ш, Щ, Ч, Ц, Ъ, Ь, İ, ť, ™, Ю, Ы.
The statement of the Institute for Bulgarian Language says that the author of the Cyrillic alphabet is technically unknown even though some scholars believe that it was St. Kliment Ohridski (St. Clement of Ohrid). However, the Institute says it was more likely that he perfected the Glagolitic which was created by his revered teachers, St. Cyril and St. Methodius.
The statement further says that the Bulgarian alphabet (Cyrillic) is more likely to have originated with the early medieval scholars from the Preslav Literary School because the incorporation of Greek letters appears to be connected with the old tradition in which government documents in the First Bulgarian Empire prior to the invention of the Glagolitic were recorded with Greek letters. However, in the Cyrillic alphabet they were adapted with the adding of the Glagolitic letters that were used for the specific Bulgarian (Slavic) sounds.
The Bulgarian alphabet is a unique cultural invention that paved the way for the progress and development not just of medieval Bulgaria but also of much of the rest of Europe. Many believe that its proper name must be “Bulgarian” or “Bulgaric alphabet”, and that the name “Cyrillic” was promoted internationally during the Modern Age by Russia as the Russian Empire and later the Soviet Union would not admit under any circumstances that their powerful empire uses an alphabet created by a nation which, regardless of its medieval glory, is much smaller and less influential in modern times.
Celebrations of May 24, Day of the Bulgarian (Cyrillic) Alphabet and Bulgarian Culture at the Monument of St. Cyril and St. Methodius in front of the National Library in the Bulgarian capital Sofia. Photo: TV grab from bTV
All of the major Bulgarian cities have organized celebratory processions on the occasion of May 24 with various events celebrating the alphabet, the work of the Holy Brothers St. Cyril and St. Methodius and their disciples, as well as education, culture, and the magic and sanctity of the written word. The procession in Sofia has been led by Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev culminating into an official ceremony at the Monument of St. Cyril and St. Methodius in front of the National Library named after the Holy Brothers.
Celebrations for May 24, Day of the Bulgarian (Cyrillic) Alphabet and Bulgarian Culture, in the Black Sea city of Varna. Photo: BGNES
Celebrations have also been held by the Bulgarians in the Italian capital Rome where St. Cyril is buried in the Basilica San Clemente, after the Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov was granted an audience with Pope Francis.
On the occasion of May 24, Bulgaria’s Presidency has displayed for visitors several major early modern Bulgarian books, including Istoriya Slavyanobolgarskaya (Slavonic-Bulgarian History) written in 1762 by Bulgarian scholar and clergyman Paisius of Hilendar (Paisiy Hilendarski) which gave the start of Bulgaria’s National Revival leading eventually to Bulgaria’s Liberation from the Ottoman Turkish Empire in 1878/1908 (the Presidency displayed the oldest handwritten transcript of the book made by Stoyko Vladislavov, later bishop St. Sophronius of Vratsa (Sofroniy Vrachanski) as the original book is kept in the Hilendar Monastery in Mount Athos in Greece); the book “Chasoslovets” printed in Venice in 1566 AD by the first Bulgarian printer Jakov Krajkov; and the book “Stematography” printed in Vienna in 1741 by Hristofor Zhefarovich.
Background Infonotes:
The Bulgarian alphabet, or the Cyrillic, as it is more known internationally, was developed at the end of the 9th century AD for the Old Bulgarian language, also known today as Church Slavonic, possibly at the Preslav Literary School and/or the Ohrid Literary School in the First Bulgarian Empire by St. Kliment Ohridski and St. Naum Preslavski. St. Kliment Ohridski (St. Clement of Ohrid) and St. Naum Preslavski are two of the five major disciples of St. Cyril and St. Methodius, the Byzantine diplomats and civil servants of Slavic (i.e. Bulgarian) origin who invented the first Slavic alphabet, the Glagolitic, in 855 AD or 862 AD). Among other reasons connected with the foreign policy goals of the Byzantine Empire, St. Cyril and St. Methodius invented the Glagolitic to help convert Slavs all over Eastern Europe to Christianity.
The Glagolitic alphabet was brought to the First Bulgarian Empire by St. Cyril and St. Methodius’s disciples (St. Kliment Orhidski, St. Naum Preslavski, St. Angelarius, St. Gorazd, and St. Sava) in 886 AD, after they were chased away from the Central European kingdom of Great Moravia by the Catholic Germanic clergy. In Bulgaria, the disciples, who were themselves Bulgarians, likely developed the new Bulgarian alphabet based on the Glagolitic script and allegedly called it Cyrillic in honor of their master, St. Cyril. Later Bulgarian clergymen, scholars, and missionaries spread this alphabet to other Slavic nations such as Russia and Serbia.
The Cyrillic (Bulgarian) alphabet is used today by about 300 million people in 12 countries in Eastern Europe and Northern and Central Asia; these are Slavic countries or non-Slavic countries that have been under Russian cultural influence, such as Mongolia which adopted the Cyrillic alphabet in the 1940s. With Bulgaria’s accession to the European Union in 2007, the Bulgarian alphabet (the Cyrillic) became the EU’s third official script, after the Latin and Greek alphabets.
Bulgaria and Bulgarians around the world celebrate the Day of the Bulgarian Alphabet (the Cyrillic) and Bulgarian Culture on May 24, the Day of St. Cyril and St. Methodius, a tradition which started during Bulgaria’s National Revival Period in the 19th century.
Archaeology in Bulgaria 