In 2013, we mark the 1,150th anniversary since the start of the mission of Saints Cyril and Methodius to Great Moravia. Bulgarian Memory Foundation organized a press conference on the national and European significance of the mission in which a number of Bulgarian and foreign scientists took part. On February 27th an exhibition dedicated to Bulgaria as treasury of culture and words will be opened in the European Parliament, too. 

In the middle of the 9th century, Rostislav was the ruler of Great Moravia. In order to reduce the influence of the German kingdom and to protect the independence of the Slavic population, Rostislav asked the Byzantine emperor Michael III to send missionaries who were to stop the German influence and to spread Christianity in the Slavic language. The Emperor sent the highly educated brothers Cyril and Methodius to become Christian missionaries. This way a new alphabet to serve the Slavs was created.

The Great Moravian mission was the culmination of the work of the brothers. There are data showing that Cyril and Methodius worked on the creation of the Slavonic alphabet long before the start of the mission, says Professor Svetlina Nikolova, who took part in the conference. Saints Cyril and Methodius went to Great Moravia with rready translations of major Christian books. That was how the alphabet started to spread. After the death of Methodius in 885 the process was stopped and those who continued the work of the brothers were later expelled from Great Moravia. At that moment Bulgarian King Boris knowing that a state cannot be independent without developing its own culture welcomed the students of Cyril and Methodius to Bulgaria and provided them with conditions to work. That is how the Slavonic alphabet survived.

Here is what professor Prof. Heinz Miklas from the Slavic Studies Department of the Vienna University told Radio Bulgaria.

“First this is the creation of Slavonic literature and church. Second there is something scientists call today the Third Road. This is a way to maneuver between Constantinople and Rome. But let’s focus on the alphabet. At that time Europe had the Greek and Latin letters and Cyril and Methodius wanted to create something new, which is totally different from both alphabets and would provide Slavs with Christian identity. The symbols they created give the impression of sacred letters which is something unique and Rome and some Constantinople leaders did not approve of this and viewed it as heresy. Actually Cyril agreed to take part in the Great Moravia mission only if he was not to be accused of heresy after that. This man knew perfectly well what could happen if he created a new alphabet.”

Later, the Glagolitic alphabet created by Saints Cyril and Methodius was transformed in Bulgaria into the Cyrillic alphabet and from here it spread to the rest of the Slavic people. This way the role of the Byzantine Empire as a civilizer gradually shifted towards Bulgaria, Prof. Igor Kaliganov of the Slavonic Institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences says and adds.

“The missionary role of the Byzantine Empire shifted towards Bulgaria which became the biggest missionary in the eastern Slavic world. In Bulgarian apocryphal texts from the time it can be read that Bulgarians were “God-chosen people,” and keeping in mind the historical role Bulgaria played I can agree with the author of the text,” the professor says.

Some 300 million people across the globe use the Cyrillic alphabet today.

English version: Alexander Markov