May 24 is one of Bulgaria's best loved holidays. On this day the Bulgarian nation pays tribute to the Holy Brothers Cyril and Methodius, the men who created the Slavonic alphabet. In 1980 Pope John Paul ІІ proclaimed Cyril and Methodius spiritual co-patrons of Europe. May 24 is the Day of the Slavonic script and Bulgarian education and culture. The history of the new alphabet goes back to the 9th century AD, when Rome and Constantinople were contending for the right to Christianize the numerous Slavic communities in Europe. At that time Bulgaria was in the process of Slavisation, with the country neighboring on the Serbian Principality to the West and the Croatian Principality to the Northwest. It was the time of the emergence of Kievan Rus and Great Moravia (Great Moravian Empire) - the biggest Slavic state in Central Europe - and the rudiments of principalities  in Poland, says historian Professor Hristo Matanov. How did it come about that Sts. Cyril and Methodius were chosen to create an alphabet, suitable for the Slavic people?

“Cyril was a brilliant philologist who graduated the Magnaur Academy - the Imperial College in Constantinople. He participated in various diplomatic missions early on and spoke the Slavic language fluently because he was from Thessalonica, a town with a large Slavic population. Methodius had the same skills, although he was more an administrator than a man of letters. He devoted himself to converting the Slavs in the geographic region of Macedonia to Christianity. That is why both Cyril and Methodius were perfectly prepared for this mission that was to be accomplished in the heart of the Byzantine Empire - through divine service in the Slavic language to draw the Slavic population into Byzantium's political and cultural sphere of influence. Cyril and Methodius were brilliant Slav-Byzantine missionaries who accomplished the mission they were entrusted with by the political circles in Constantinople. Yet the importance of their mission acquired such magnitude for the Slavic community that with the passage of time, this political motive seems to have receded into oblivion with the cultural and religious aspect of their work taking precedence.”

What was the role of the brothers Cyril and Methodius in the translation of the holy books and the creation of a language for divine service?

“They played a key role in this process. I will start with the liturgical language, because this was their main task during their mission in Great Moravia. Those who planned and accomplished this mission were driven by the idea that the Slavic people could be converted to Christianity and drawn to a Byzantine-type Christianity more easily if the process was carried out in a liturgical language they could understand and speak. For the purpose, a new alphabet was created - i.e. the Slavonic script. The new alphabet gave the start to translation work on a massive scale. Some of the most important liturgical texts were translated shortly after the launch of the new script so that the religious services could be held in Slavic.”

In Professor Matanov's view, the biggest challenge in the work of Cyril and Methodius was precisely the translation, the instrument with which the religious and later the literary Slav-Bulgarian language was forged. In Hristo Matanov's words, this was an epic effort, because it was extremely difficult to translate complicated liturgical texts into a language which lacked basic concepts in this sphere. Moreover, it was up to Methodius to train students who had to carry on religious services in Slavic and continue to assert the new script - first in Great Moravia, later in other Slavic states, including Bulgaria. In 886 Bulgarian Prince Boris I welcomed to Bulgaria the disciples of Cyril and Methodius: Kliment, Naum, Gorazd, Sava and Angelariy. Two literary schools were established in this country - the Pliska-Preslav and the Ohrid Literary Schools. These schools were seething with activity, which turned the country into the cradle of the Slavonic script and culture.

“The main task of these literary centers was to train as many students as possible, because Bulgaria was about to adopt the Slavic language officially, and this required a large number of priests to serve in churches in the Slavic language”, Professor Matanov specifies. “Secondly, the Ohrid Literary School created a simpler alphabet - the Cyrillic alphabet. This is associated with the founder of the Ohrid literary school Saint Kliment of Ohrida. Inspired by the deed of the Brothers Cyril and Methodius, Kliment realized there was need of a shorthand alphabet, so that books could be written quicker. The Glagolitic alphabet created by the brothers Cyril and Methodius is a fantastic alphabet, but it is very hard to write in and learn. That was how the prototype of the Cyrillic alphabet, used in Bulgaria to this day, was created. As to the Pliska-Preslav Literary School, it remained in the shadow of the Ohrid Literary School, but perhaps contributed to the establishment of an elite literary circle. Later, during the so called Golden Age of Bulgarian culture, this circle started to create elite literature, which made Bulgaria popular with the well-educated society of the old Slavic world.”

English version: Kostadin Atanasov

Edited in English by Milena Daynova