One of the most interesting is the Old Church Slavonic language. The words that were part of his vocabulary, grammar rules, even some phonetic features and the alphabet became the basis of the modern Russian language. Let's take a look at what kind of language it is, when and how it originated, and whether it is used today and in what areas.
We will also talk about why it is studied at universities, as well as mention the most famous and significant works on the Cyrillic alphabet and Old Church Slavonic grammar. Let us also remember Cyril and Methodius, the world-famous Thessalonica brothers.
General information
That for more than one century scientists have been paying attention to this language, studying the Old Slavonic alphabet and the history of its development, there is not so much information about it. If the grammatical and phonetic structure of the language, the lexical composition is more or less studied, then everything related to its origin is still in question.
The reason for this is that the creators of writing themselves either did not keep records of their work, or these records were completely lost over time. A detailed study of the writing itself began only a few centuries later, when no one could say with certainty what kind of dialect became the basis of this writing.
It is believed that this language was artificially created on the basis of dialects in the 9th century and was used on the territory of Russia for several centuries.
It is also worth noting that in some sources you can find a synonymous name for the language - Church Slavonic. This is due to the fact that the birth of literature in Russia is connected directly with the church. At first, literature was church: books, prayers, parables were translated, and original scriptures were also created. In addition, in general, only people serving the church spoke this language.
Later, with culture, Old Slavonic was replaced by the Old Russian language, which largely relied on its predecessor. It happened around the 12th century.
Nevertheless, the Old Slavonic initial letter has come down to us practically unchanged, and we use it to this day. We also use the grammatical system, which began to emerge even before the emergence of the Old Russian language.
Creation versions
It is believed that the Old Slavonic language owes its appearance to Cyril and Methodius. And it is this information that we find in all textbooks on the history of language and writing.
The brothers created a new script based on one of the Thessalonica dialects of the Slavs. This was done primarily in order to translate biblical texts and church prayers into the Slavic language.
But there are other versions of the origin of the language. So, I. Yagich believed that one of the dialects of the Macedonian language became the basis of Old Church Slavonic.
There is also a theory according to which the Bulgarian language was the basis of the new written language. She will be nominated by P. Safarik. He also believed that this language should be called Old Bulgarian, and not Old Slavonic. Until now, some researchers are arguing about this issue.
By the way, Bulgarian linguists still believe that the language we are considering is precisely Old Bulgarian, and not Slavic.
We can even assume that there are other, less well-known theories of the origin of the language, but they have either not been considered in scientific circles, or their complete failure has been proven.
In any case, Old Church Slavonic words can be found not only in Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian, but also in Polish, Macedonian, Bulgarian and other Slavic dialects. Therefore, discussions about which of the languages is closest to Old Church Slavonic are unlikely to ever be completed.
Thessalonica Brothers
The creators - Cyril and Methodius - come from the city of Thessalonica, in Greece. The brothers were born into a fairly wealthy family, so they were able to get an excellent education.
The elder brother - Michael - was born around 815. When he was ordained a monk, he received the name Methodius.
Constantine was the youngest in the family and was born around 826. He knew foreign languages, understood the exact sciences. Despite the fact that many predicted success and a great future for him, Konstantin decided to follow in the footsteps of his older brother and also became a monk, receiving the name Cyril. He died in 869.
The brothers were actively engaged in the dissemination of Christianity and sacred writings. They visited different countries, trying to convey the word of God to people. But nevertheless, it was the Old Slavonic alphabet that brought them world fame.
Both brothers were canonized. In some Slavic countries, cultures are also celebrated on May 24 (Russia and Bulgaria). In Macedonia, Cyril and Methodius are venerated on this day. Two more Slavic countries - the Czech Republic and Slovakia - moved this holiday to July 5th.
Two alphabets
It is believed that the Old Slavonic letter was created precisely by the Greek enlighteners. In addition, initially there were two alphabets - Glagolitic and Cyrillic. Let's look at them briefly.
The first is a verb. It is believed that Cyril and Methodius were its creator. It is believed that this alphabet has no basis and was created from scratch. In Old Russia, it was used quite rarely, in some cases.
The second is Cyrillic. Its creation is also attributed to the Thessalonica brothers. It is believed that the statutory Byzantine letter was taken as the basis of the alphabet. At the moment - Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians - use the letters of the Old Slavonic alphabet, or rather, the Cyrillic alphabet.
As for the question of which one, there is also no unambiguous answer to it. In any case, if we proceed from the fact that both Cyrillic and Glagolitic were created by the Solunsky brothers, then the difference between the time of their creation was unlikely to exceed ten to fifteen years.
Was there a written language before Cyrillic?
An interesting fact is that some researchers of the history of the language believe that there was a written language in Russia even before Cyril and Methodius. The “Book of Veles”, which was written by the ancient Russian Magi before the adoption of Christianity, is considered a confirmation of this theory. At the same time, it has not been proven in which century this literary monument was created.
In addition, scientists argue that in various records of ancient Greek travelers and scientists there are references to the presence of writing among the Slavs. It also mentions the agreements that the princes signed with Byzantine merchants.
Unfortunately, it has not yet been definitely established whether this is true, and if so, what kind of writing was in Russia before the spread of Christianity.
Learning Old Church Slavonic
Regarding the study of the Old Church Slavonic language, it was of interest not only to scientists studying the history of the language, dialectology, but also to Slavic scientists.
Its study began in the 19th century with the development of the comparative historical method. We will not dwell on this issue in detail, since, in fact, a person who is not closely familiar with linguistics will not be interested and familiar with the names and surnames of scientists. Let's just say that more than one textbook was compiled on the basis of research, many of them are used to study the history of language and dialectology.
In the course of the research, theories of the development of the Old Church Slavonic language were developed, dictionaries of Old Church Slavonic vocabulary were compiled, grammar and phonetics were studied. But at the same time, there are still unsolved mysteries and mysteries of the Old Slavonic dialect.
We also allow ourselves to give a list of the most famous dictionaries and textbooks of the Old Church Slavonic language. Perhaps these books will be of interest to you and help you delve into the history of our culture and writing.
The most famous textbooks were published by such scientists as Khabugraev, Remneva, Elkina. All three textbooks are called "Old Church Slavonic".
A rather impressive scientific work was published by A. Selishchev. He prepared a textbook, consisting of two parts and covering the entire system of the Old Slavonic language, containing not only theoretical material, but also texts, a dictionary, and also some articles on the morphology of the language.
The materials devoted to the Thessalonica brothers, the history of the origin of the alphabet are also interesting. So, in 1930, the work "Materials on the History of the Origin of Writing", written by P. Lavrov, was published.
No less valuable is the work of A. Shakhmatov, which was published in Berlin in 1908 - "The Legend of the Translation of Books into Slovenian". In 1855, O. Bodiansky's monograph "On the time of origin of Slavic writings" saw the light of day.
Also, the "Old Slavonic Dictionary" was compiled, based on the manuscripts of the 10th - 11th centuries, which was edited by R. Zeitlin and R. Vecherka.
All these books are widely known. On their basis, not only write essays and reports on the history of the language, but also prepare more serious work.
Old Slavonic layer of vocabulary
A rather large layer of Old Slavonic vocabulary was inherited by the Russian language. Old Slavonic words are quite firmly entrenched in our dialect, and today we will not even be able to distinguish them from native Russian words.
Let's consider a few examples in order for you to understand how deeply Old Church Slavonicism has penetrated into our language.
Such church terms as "priest", "sacrifice", "rod" came to us precisely from the Old Slavonic language, abstract concepts such as "power", "disaster", "consent" also belong here.
Of course, there are much more Old Slavonicisms themselves. We will give you a few signs that indicate that the word is Old Slavonicism.
1. The presence of prefixes in and through. For example: return, excessive.
2. Compound lexemes with the words god-, good-, sin-, evil- and others. For example: malevolence, fall into sin.
2. The presence of suffixes -stv-, -zn-, -usch-, -yushch-, -ash- -yashch-. For example: burning, melting.
It would seem that we have listed only a few signs by which Old Slavonicisms can be identified, but you probably already remembered more than one word that came to us from Old Slavonic.
If you want to know the meaning of Old Slavonic words, we can advise you to look into any explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. Almost all of them have retained their original meaning, despite the fact that more than one decade has passed.
Use at the present stage
At the moment, Old Church Slavonic is studied at universities in separate faculties and specialties, and is also used in churches.
This is due to the fact that at this stage of development, this language is considered dead. Its use is possible only in the church, since many prayers are written in this language. In addition, it is worth noting the fact that the first sacred writings were translated into the Old Slavonic language and are still used by the church in the same form as centuries ago.
Regarding the world of science, we note the fact that Old Church Slavonic words and their individual forms are often found in dialects. This attracts the attention of dialectologists, allowing them to study the development of the language, its individual forms and dialects.
Researchers of culture and history also know this language, since their work is directly related to the study of old memos.
Despite this, at this stage, this language is considered dead, since no one has been communicating in it, like in Latin, ancient Greek, and only a few know it.
Use in the church
This language is most widely used in the church. So, Old Slavonic prayers can be heard in any Orthodox church. In addition, excerpts from church books, the Bible are also read on it.
At the same time, we also note that church employees, young seminarians also study this dialect, its features, phonetics and graphics. Today, Old Church Slavonic is rightfully considered the language of the Orthodox Church.
The most famous prayer, which is often read in this particular dialect, is “Our Father”. But there are still many prayers in the Old Slavonic language that are less known. You can find them in any old prayer book, or you can hear them by visiting the same church.
Studying at universities
The Old Church Slavonic language is today quite widely studied at universities. Pass it at the philological faculties, historical, legal. In some universities, it is also possible to study for philosophy students.
The program includes the history of origin, the Old Slavonic alphabet, features of phonetics, vocabulary, and grammar. Basics of syntax.
Students not only study the rules, learn how to decline words, parse them as part of speech, but also read texts written in a given language, try to translate them and understand the meaning.
All this is done so that philologists can further apply their knowledge to study ancient literary memoirs, features of the development of the Russian language, its dialects.
It is worth noting that it is quite difficult to learn Old Church Slavonic. The text written on it is difficult to read, since it contains not only many archaisms, but also the very rules for reading the letters "yat", "er" and "er" are at first difficult to remember.
Thanks to the acquired knowledge, history students will be able to study ancient monuments of culture and writing, read historical documents and annals, and understand their essence.
The same applies to those who study at the faculties of philosophy, law.
Despite the fact that today Old Church Slavonic is a dead language, interest in it has not subsided so far.
findings
It was Old Church Slavonic that became the basis of the Old Russian language, which, in turn, replaced the Russian language. Words of Old Slavonic origin are perceived by us as primordially Russian.
A significant layer of vocabulary, phonetic features, grammar of the East Slavic languages - all this was laid down during the development and use of the Old Church Slavonic language.
Old Church Slavonic is a formally dead language, which at the moment is spoken only by church ministers. It was created back in the 9th century by the brothers Cyril and Methodius and was originally used to translate and record church literature. In fact, Old Church Slavonic has always been a written language that was not spoken among the people.
Today we no longer use it, but at the same time it is widely studied at the philological and historical faculties, as well as in theological seminaries. Today, Old Slavonic words and this ancient language can be heard by visiting, since all prayers in Orthodox churches are read in it.
Textbook on OLD SLAVIC LANGUAGE
http://linguistica.spb.ru/
OLD SLAVONIC LANGUAGE
TUTORIAL
(didactic units)
The concept of the Old Slavonic language. Old Church Slavonic as a written and literary language common to the Slavs. Grouping the languages of the Slavic peoples according to their origin. The place of the Old Church Slavonic language among other Slavic languages.
Old Slavonic letter. Glagolitic and Cyrillic: the question of their origin. Characteristics of Cyrillic writing.
The most important monuments of Glagolitic and Cyrillic writing. Brief description of them.
Sound processes that took place in the early and late periods of the development of the Proto-Slavic language: a) associated with a tendency towards openness of the syllable; b) associated with the operation of the law of syllabic synharmonism; c) alternation of vowel sounds.
Phonetic system of the Old Slavonic language (IX-XI centuries).
1. The sound system of the Old Church Slavonic language of the second half of the 9th century: the phonetic structure of the syllable; vowel sounds, their classification; reduced vowels, their positions; consonant sounds, their classification by deafness/voicedness, hardness/softness;
2. Later sound processes, reflected in the monuments of the 9th and partly the 10th centuries: the fall of reduced vowels and changes in the phonetic system of the language associated with the loss of reduced vowels.
Morphology. Grammatical categories of words in the Old Slavonic language. Noun. Basic grammatical categories: gender, number,
case, types of declension.
Pronoun. Personal pronouns 1 and 2 persons and reflexive pronoun. Expression of 3 persons by forms of demonstrative pronouns. Impersonal pronouns. Their classification by value. Features of the declension of personal and impersonal pronouns.
Adjective. Discharges, nominal and full forms, declension. Numeral. Quantitative, complex and ordinal numerators
Verb. Conjugated and non-conjugated verb forms. Verb classes. Forms of verb tense, their formation and conjugation. Inclinations of the verb, their formation. Nominal forms of the verb, their formation.
Syntax. Simple sentence. Ways of expressing the subject and predicate. Features in the use of case forms. Complex sentences. Negative expression.
Questions to prepare for the test and exam:
The examination ticket includes two theoretical questions: 1) on general issues related to the origin of Old Slavonic writing, the characteristics of the alphabet, written monuments and the phonetic structure of the Old Slavonic language; 2) in morphology - and a practical task: reading, translating an excerpt from the text of Old Slavonic written monuments; its phonetic and morphological analysis (4 - 6 lines).
1. Slavic languages, a place among them is the Old Church Slavonic language.
2. Slavs and Slavic languages. The question of the ancestral home of the Slavs.
3. Common Slavic language, its relation to the Indo-European proto-language. Comparative-historical method of linguistics.
4. The question of the beginning of Slavic writing. Activities of Constantine and Methodius. Folk colloquial basis of the Old Slavonic language.
5. Slavic alphabets, their origin.
6. Glagolitic and Cyrillic monuments of Old Slavonic writing.
7. Characteristics of the Cyrillic alphabet from the side of the alphabetic composition (compared with modern Russian writing).
8. Vowels at the beginning of a word. The system of Indo-European vowels, their quality and quantity.
9. Basic phonetic laws of the Proto-Slavic language.
10. Diphthongs of the Proto-Slavic language and their fate.
11. Diphthongic combinations of vowels with nasal consonants and their transformation in the Proto-Slavic language.
12. Diphthongic combinations *tort, *tolt, *tert, *telt in the Proto-Slavic language and their fate.
13. Diphthongic combinations *ort, *olt in the Proto-Slavic language and their fate.
14. The fate of the combinations *dt, *tt in the Proto-Slavic language.
15. The fate of combinations *tl, *dl in the Proto-Slavic language.
16. Qualitative and quantitative alternations of vowel sounds.
17. Diphthong and positional alternations of sounds.
18. The first and second palatalizations of back-lingual consonants. 19. Change of back-lingual consonants *g, *k, *ch and whistling consonants
*z, *s combined with *j .
20. Change of labial consonants *b, *p, *w, *m in combination with *j. 21.Change of front lingual consonants *d, *t in combination with *j. 22. Changing consonant combinations ( *kw, *gw, *kt, *gt, *st, *sk, *zd),
associated with the operation of the law of syllabic synharmonism. 23. The system of vowels of the Old Church Slavonic language. Vowels at the beginning of a word.
24. Reduced sounds b and b. Strong and weak positions. The fall of the reduced and the consequences of their loss.
25. Reduced sounds s ii. Strong and weak positions. The loss of the reduced and its consequences.
26. The system of consonant sounds in the Old Slavonic language. Their classification.
27. The main grammatical categories of the noun in the Old Slavonic language.
28. Declination with an ancient basis on *-a, -ja and its history. 29. Declination with an ancient basis on *-o, -jo and its history. 30. Declination from an ancient stem to a consonant sound and its history. 31. Declination with ancient stems in *-ŭ and *-ū and their history. 32. Declination with an ancient basis on *-ĭ and its history. 33. Pronouns in the Old Slavonic language. Ranks by value. Oso-
declensions of personal pronouns.
34. Characteristics of demonstrative pronouns and their declension. The origin of n is based on indirect cases of pronouns.
35. Adjective. Ranks of adjectives by meaning. Nominal and member forms of adjectives. Formation of full adjectives and features of their declension.
36. Degrees of comparison of adjectives.
37. The main grammatical categories of the verb in the Old Slavonic language.
38. Two bases of the verb. Verb classes.
39. Present tense of verbs. Features of conjugation of thematic and non-thematic verbs.
40. Aorist, its grammatical meaning. Types of aorist, their formation and conjugation.
41. Imperfect, its grammatical meaning. Formation of the imperfect and features of conjugation.
42. Perfect, its meaning. Formation and conjugation of the perfect. 43. Plyuskvamperfekt, its meaning and education. Features
pluperfect.
44. Forms of the future tense of the verb, their formation and conjugation. 45. Conditional mood of the verb. His education and conjugation.
46. Imperative mood in Old Church Slavonic. His education and conjugation.
47. Infinitive and supin in Old Church Slavonic. Their meaning and education.
48. Participles of the Old Church Slavonic language. Their education and conjugation. 49. Features of the use of the predicate in the Old Slavonic language. 50. Turnover "dative independent" in Old Church Slavonic.
Abstract topics:
1. From the Indo-European language to the Slavic languages.
2. The activities of Constantine and Methodius to create the Slavic alphabet
3. Characteristics of the Slavic alphabets - Glagolitic and Cyrillic.
4. Monuments of Old Slavonic writing.
5. linguistic, historical, cultural and pedagogical significance of the study of the Old Church Slavonic language.
6. The development of Slavic linguistics and comparative historical method.
7. Slavic languages, their relationship.
8. History of views on the folk basis of the Old Church Slavonic language.
9. Words denoting number in Old Church Slavonic.
10. Syntactic features of the Old Slavonic language.
LITERATURE
1. *Gorshkov A.I. Old Slavonic language. Moscow: Higher school, 1963 1 .
2. Gorshkova O.V., Khmelevskaya T.A. Collection of exercises in the Old Slavonic language. M., 1960.
3. Dementiev A.A. Collection of problems and exercises in the Old Slavonic language. Samara: SGPU, 2001
4. Elkina N.M. Old Slavonic language. M., 1963.
5. *Istrin V.A. 1100 years of the Slavic alphabet. M., 1963.
6. *Krivchik V.F., Mozheiko N.S. Old Slavonic language. Minsk: Publishing House "Higher School", 1970.
7. Nikiforov S.D. Old Slavonic language. Ed. 2nd. Moscow: Uchpedgiz, 1955.
8. *Tikhonova R.I. Old Slavonic language. Samara, 1993.
9. *Tikhonova R.I. Old Slavonic language. M., 1995.
10. Khaburgaev G.A. Old Slavonic language. Moscow: Education, 1974.
1 Note: * marks the works, excerpts from which formed a file of materials for study.
THE CONCEPT OF THE OLD SLAVIC LANGUAGE
Old Church Slavonic is the oldest literary language of the Slavs. This is the earliest written processing that has come down to us, the written consolidation of Slavic speech. The first monuments of Old Slavonic writing date back to the 2nd half of the 9th century. (60s of the 9th century). They are both translations from Greek of liturgical books, and later untranslated, original works. Since the Old Church Slavonic language had a sound system, grammatical structure and vocabulary close to other Slavic languages, it very quickly spread in the Slavic countries as the language of church, scientific and partly fiction. All other Slavic languages were fixed in writing much later (the oldest surviving Russian written monuments date back to the second half of the 11th century; Old Czech - to the 13th century; among the surviving Polish monuments, the oldest belong to the 14th century). Thus, the Old Church Slavonic language in a number of cases makes it possible to present Slavic sounds and forms at their most ancient stage of development.
The Old Church Slavonic language came to Russia at the end of the 10th century (988) in connection with the adoption of Christianity as the language of church writing.
At present, the Old Church Slavonic language is dead: it is not spoken or written. The disappearance of the Old Church Slavonic as a living language passed early, no later than the 11th century, and is explained by the fact that, being close to the languages of those Slavic peoples among whom it was widespread, it itself was so exposed to the vernacular languages of these peoples that it lost its original quality and finally disappeared as a language. However, his disappearance did not happen instantly. More and more elements of folk colloquial Slavic speech penetrated into church-religious literature. The type of Russian literary language, which was based on the Old Church Slavonic language, is called Church Slavonic the language of the Russian version.
Church Slavonic has long been a supra-ethnic language, performing the functions of a church-religious language. In Russia they knew him, they studied him, but for the Russians he was not native. Scientists explain the preservation of the Church Slavonic language in Russia until the time of Peter the Great by the needs of the church and cultural traditions.
All Slavic languages of our time are united into three groups: eastern, western and southern2.
2 Old Church Slavonic was part of the South Slavic family of languages.
East Slavic | West Slavic | South Slavic |
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Polish | Bulgarian |
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Macedonian |
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Ukrainian | Slovak |
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Serbo-Croatian |
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Belorussian | Upper Lusatian |
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Slovenian |
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Lower Lusatian |
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All Slavic languages are related in origin. Their common source is the Proto-Slavic, or common Slavic language. Proto-Slavic, or common Slavic, is a language system that summarizes the living speech of the Slavic tribes from the time of their formation (the ancestor of a group of tribes was one tribe) until the time when the early Slavic peoples appeared on their basis, that scientifically restored language that served as a means of communication among the Slavs in the early period their stories 3. Most modern linguists believe that the formation of the Slavs should be attributed to the turn of the III-II millennium BC. This is the stage of tribal life when cattle breeding is already widely developed and agriculture is known.
The collapse of the Slavic unity began with the advent of the "iron" age, i.e. before the dawn of a new era. The final disintegration of the Slavic unity and the formation of three groups of Slavs: eastern, western and southern - coincides with the period of decomposition of the primitive communal classless system. The end of the Proto-Slavic language can be attributed to the second half of the first millennium AD. (VI-VII centuries AD).
The Proto-Slavic language itself is an offshoot of a more ancient linguistic unity - Indo-European. An Indo-European proto-language that existed from the 4th-3rd millennium BC. and further into the depths of centuries, is the common source of all languages called European. Indo-European languages include most of the original languages of Europe and some of the languages of Asia. Later, Indo-European languages spread to the other three continents.
THE HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN OF WRITING AMONG THE SLAVES
In 862 or 863, the Moravian prince Rostislav sent an embassy to the Byzantine emperor Michael III with a request to send preachers to Moravia who would teach the Moravians the Christian faith in their native language. Apparently, the request of the Moravian prince was due to the fact that he, fighting against the Latin-German clergy, who was the conductor
3 It is generally accepted to write Proto-Slavic forms under the sign* and in Latin letters: *woda, *sestra, *stolos, etc.
4 The Moravian Principality included the regions of present-day Slovakia.
influence of the German emperor Louis, wanted to get political and ecclesiastical support from Byzantium for his power. In Byzantium, the ambassadors were favorably treated, as this opened the prospect for the spread
and strengthening the influence of Byzantium in the west, in the regions of the Moravian Principality. It was decided to send a mission to Moravia, headed by two Greek brother Constantine and Methodius. The first of them, who devoted himself to the church service, was known for his scholarship and missionary work. His name in the sources is usually used with the epithet "philosopher". Methodius was for some time the ruler of one of the Slavic regions. Both of them are natives of the city of Thessalonica (Thessaloniki), which at that time was a Greek colony on Slavic territory and was surrounded by Slavic settlements. Constantine and Methodius knew the language of the Slavs well, who lived both in the city itself and in its environs. According to the testimony of the Life of Methodius, the Byzantine emperor said to the brothers about this: "You are both Thessalonians, and the Thessalonians all speak Slavic well."
According to the "Lives" of Constantine and Methodius, even before leaving for Moravia, Constantine compiled the Slavic alphabet and began to translate the gospel into Slavic.
The brothers spent more than three years in Moravia, where they trained cadres of Slavic "book people", future ministers of the church, and translated Greek liturgical books into Slavonic. From the very first days, the Slavic language in writing and church ritual was met with hostility by the German clergy, who saw in the activities of Constantine and Methodius a great danger to themselves. To get support, Konstantin
and Methodius with a group of his disciples went to Rome, to the pope. On the way they stopped in Pannonia 5, a Slavic principality inhabited by the ancestors of today's Slovenes. There they were warmly welcomed by Prince Kotsel, who gave them about 50 students to teach Slavic writing.
AT Rome, Constantine and Methodius was received by Pope Adrian II, who,
trying to strengthen his influence in Moravia and Pannonia, he recognized the Slavic language in writing and liturgy6. There, Constantine fell ill and died in 869, shortly before his death, taking the vows as a monk under the name of Cyril. After the death of Constantine, Methodius and his disciples first returned to Pannonia. In Moravia, at that time, Svyatopolk, the nephew of Rostislav, came to the throne, changing his political orientation to Latin-German. In order to assert his influence in Moravia and Pannonia, Pope Adrian II founded a special Slavic bishopric for these areas, and Methodius was appointed
5 The territory of Pannonia was located between the upper Danube, Drava and Mur.
6 In the Middle Ages, worship was allowed only in three languages: Latin, Greek and Hebrew (according to the gospel legend, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin were inscribed on the cross on which Jesus was crucified). Constantine and Methodius obtained from the Pope the recognition of Old Church Slavonic as the fourth language of the church, which was a major victory in their struggle for the rights of the Slavs to worship in their native language.
Appointed Bishop of Pannonia. But he soon fell into the hands of the German clergy and was imprisoned in Bavaria. Methodius stayed there for more than two years. After his release, he returns to Moravia, where great changes have taken place during this time. After the uprising against the Franks, Svyatopolk became the independent ruler of this country. Increasingly subject to German influence, he was not a supporter of Slavic writing. Therefore, the activities of Methodius and his students took place in extremely difficult conditions.
In 885 Methodius died. After his death, the opponents of Slavic writing obtained from Pope Stephen V the prohibition of the Slavic language in the church liturgy. The disciples of Methodius were expelled from Moravia. Leaving its borders, some of them headed south, to the Croats, and others to the southeast, to Bulgaria, where they continued the work of Slavic writing.
Particularly favorable conditions for Slavic writing were created in Bulgaria. The most talented student of Methodius was Clement, whose activities took place in Macedonia and southeastern Albania. In Macedonia, he and his disciples copied Cyril and Methodius originals of liturgical books and made new translations from the Greek language.
The heyday of Slavic writing falls during the reign of Tsar Simeon (893-927), when the capital of Bulgaria, Preslav, becomes not only a state center, but also the center of Slavic writing in eastern Bulgaria. Preslav scribes used the same language as they wrote in Macedonia, but in their manuscripts deviations from the previous linguistic book norms were reflected more significantly than in the west.
In Moravia and Bohemia, after the expulsion of the disciples of Methodius, Slavic writing continued until the end of the 11th century, when in the Czech Sazava monastery, where it was still preserved, Slavonic books were either destroyed by supporters of the Latin script, or so corrupted that they could no longer be read.
Slavic alphabets
The oldest Old Slavonic alphabets that have come down to us are written in two alphabets - Glagolitic and Cyrillic.
Cyrillic later formed the basis of the Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Macedonian, Bulgarian and Serbian alphabets. The Glagolitic alphabet fell into disuse and was preserved only in Croatia in church use (until the 17th century it was used there for secular purposes).
The question of the origin of two Slavic alphabets and their mutual relationship has long occupied scientists. Old Slavonic monuments testify that two alphabets that were very different from each other already existed in ancient times.
The Czech scientist I. Dobrovsky believed that the Cyrillic alphabet was more ancient and that it was compiled by Konstantin. As for the Glagolitic alphabet, in his opinion, it arose around the 14th century. in Croatia. He explains its emergence as follows: the Roman Church in the areas that were under its subordination pursued everything that testified to a connection with Byzantium, i.e. with the Greek Church. And since the Cyrillic alphabet, based on the Greek script, clearly spoke of this connection, it was replaced by the Glagolitic alphabet in order to preserve the service in the Slavic language.
In 1836, the Slavic philologist V. Kopitar discovered an ancient manuscript written in Glagolitic in the library of Count Klots. According to paleographic data, it was much older than those manuscripts that were still known and dated no earlier than the 14th century. This discovery led to a revision of the previous point of view on the origin of the Slavic alphabets. V. Kopitar put forward a hypothesis about the comparative antiquity of the Glagolitic alphabet compared to the Cyrillic alphabet.
Further discoveries in this area confirmed the point of view of V. Kopitar.
About the greater antiquity of the Glagolitic says the following:
1. The Glagolitic alphabet is poorer in terms of the number of letters, and, consequently, the Cyrillic alphabet is a more perfect alphabet.
2. Linguistically, the most ancient monuments are written in the Glagolitic alphabet (for example, the Kiev leaflets, the Zograf and Mariinsky gospels).
3. There are many manuscripts written in Cyrillic on parchment with
in washed out Glagolitic, but there are no manuscripts written in Glagolitic in washed out Cyrillic.
All this gave reason to believe that the more ancient alphabet created by Constantine was the Glagolitic alphabet. Cyrillic, on the other hand, originated in eastern Bulgaria during the reign of Tsar Simeon (893-927), i.e. then, when the Christian religion had long been accepted there, but the service was performed by the Greek priests in the Greek language. Tsar Simeon wanted to oppose Byzantium not only state power, but also cultural power. In order to protect the independence of Bulgarian culture from unnecessary encroachments of Byzantium, it was necessary to introduce worship in the Slavic language. But the Greek priests had difficulty mastering the Glagolitic alphabet. Therefore, it was necessary to make a compromise solution: to replace the Glagolitic alphabet with another alphabet similar to Greek. It is assumed that, following the model of the Greek alphabet, this new Slavic alphabet was composed by the disciple of Methodius, Presbyter Constantine. Later, Slavic scribes began to identify presbyter Konstantin with the first teacher Konstantin - Cyril, and the alphabet invented by him began to be called by the name of the second - Cyrillic.
Section for students of Church Slavonic
Church Slavonic is the liturgical language of the Russian Orthodox Church.
It arose in the 9th century as the language of the gospel for the Slavic peoples: during the translation of the Holy Scriptures by Saints Cyril and Methodius Equal to the Apostles.
The alphabet of the Church Slavonic language consists of Slavic and Greek letters, many words used in it are also of Greek origin.
In comparison with the modern Russian language, Church Slavonic contains and conveys the subtlest shades of spiritual concepts and experiences.
How to learn to understand the liturgical language of the church:
1) Purchase an explanatory prayer book with a parallel translation, a dictionary and a textbook.
2) You can start readingprayer book(morning and evening rule, the rule for Communion) - in Russian transcription with parallel translation.
3) Use our resource on the Internet.
You can learn to read on CSL in a few hours. To do this, you need to study 2 tables:words with titleand rules for reading severallettersand their combinations.
Most of the words are consonant with the modern language, but you should pay attention to the fact that a number of words familiar to us have a different or even opposite ( paronyms ) meaning. It is also important to take into account that the liturgical texts are based on the Holy Scripture, without knowledge of which the translation will not give understanding.
4) Participate in worship services, referring to the text and commentaries.
1. Academic course of the Church Slavonic language.
2. Church Slavonic for high school students.
3. Church Slavonic for grades 6-8.Church Slavonic textbook(in developing)
4. The initial course of the Church Slavonic language (elementary school).Church Slavonic textbook(in developing)
5. A series of TV programs about the Church Slavonic language.Church Slavonic textbook
Church Slavonic is a language that has survived to our time as the language of worship. It goes back to the Old Church Slavonic language created by Cyril and Methodius on the basis of South Slavic dialects. The most ancient Slavic literary language spread first among the Western Slavs (Moravia), then among the southern Slavs (Bulgaria), and eventually becomes the common literary language of the Orthodox Slavs. This language also became widespread in Wallachia and some regions of Croatia and the Czech Republic. Thus, from the very beginning, Church Slavonic was the language of the church and culture, and not of any particular people.
Church Slavonic was the literary (bookish) language of the peoples inhabiting a vast territory. Since it was, first of all, the language of church culture, the same texts were read and copied throughout this territory. Monuments of the Church Slavonic language were influenced by local dialects (this was most strongly reflected in spelling), but the structure of the language did not change. It is customary to talk about editions (regional variants) of the Church Slavonic language - Russian, Bulgarian, Serbian, etc.
Church Slavonic has never been a spoken language. As a book, it was opposed to living national languages. As a literary language, it was a standardized language, and the standard was determined not only by the place where the text was rewritten, but also by the nature and purpose of the text itself. Elements of lively colloquial (Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian) could penetrate Church Slavonic texts in one quantity or another. The norm of each specific text was determined by the relationship between the elements of the book and the living spoken language. The more important the text was in the eyes of a medieval Christian scribe, the more archaic and stricter the language norm. Elements of spoken language almost did not penetrate into liturgical texts. The scribes followed tradition and focused on the most ancient texts. In parallel with the texts, there was also business writing and private correspondence. The language of business and private documents combines elements of the living national language (Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian, etc.) and separate Church Slavonic forms.
The active interaction of book cultures and the migration of manuscripts led to the fact that the same text was copied and read in different editions. By the XIV century. came the understanding that the texts contain errors. The existence of different editions did not allow us to decide which text is older, and therefore better. At the same time, the traditions of other peoples seemed more perfect. If the South Slavic scribes were guided by Russian manuscripts, then the Russian scribes, on the contrary, believed that the South Slavic tradition was more authoritative, since it was the South Slavs who preserved the features of the ancient language. They valued Bulgarian and Serbian manuscripts and imitated their orthography.
The first grammar of the Church Slavonic language, in the modern sense of the word, is the grammar of Lawrence Zizanias (1596). In 1619, the Church Slavonic grammar of Meletiy Smotrytsky appeared, which determined the later language norm. In their work, the scribes sought to correct the language and text of the books being copied. At the same time, the idea of what a correct text is has changed over time. Therefore, in different eras, books were corrected either from manuscripts that the editors considered ancient, or from books brought from other Slavic regions, or from Greek originals. As a result of the constant correction of liturgical books, the Church Slavonic language acquired its modern look. Basically, this process was completed at the end of the 17th century, when, at the initiative of Patriarch Nikon, the liturgical books were corrected. Since Russia supplied other Slavic countries with liturgical books, the post-Nikonian appearance of the Church Slavonic language became the general norm for all Orthodox Slavs.
In Russia, Church Slavonic was the language of the Church and culture until the 18th century. After the emergence of a new type of Russian literary language, Church Slavonic remains only the language of Orthodox worship. The corpus of Church Slavonic texts is constantly replenished: new church services, akathists and prayers are being compiled.
Being the direct heir of the Old Church Slavonic language, Church Slavonic has retained many archaic features of the morphological and syntactic structure to this day. It is characterized by four types of noun declension, has four past tense verbs and special nominative participle forms. The syntax preserves the tracing Greek turns (dative independent, double accusative, etc.). The spelling of the Church Slavonic language underwent the greatest changes, the final form of which was formed as a result of the "book right" of the 17th century.
Pletneva A.A., Kravetsky A.G. Church Slavonic
This textbook on the Church Slavonic language teaches to read and understand the texts used in Orthodox worship, introduces the history of Russian culture. Knowledge of the Church Slavonic language makes it possible to comprehend many phenomena of the Russian language in a different way. The book is an indispensable tool for those who want to study Church Slavonic on their own. It will be interesting and useful also to the widest range of readers.
Our modernity, and especially everyday life, are contradictory and complex. Overcoming difficulties and contradictions, we strive for a full-blooded spiritual and secular life, for renewal and, at the same time, for the return of many lost and almost forgotten values, without which our past would not exist and the longed-for future will hardly come true. We once again appreciate what has been tested by generations and what, despite all attempts to “destroy to the ground”, has been handed down to us as a legacy for centuries. Such values include the ancient bookish Church Slavonic language.
Its life-giving primary source - the Old Slavonic language, the language of the holy teachers of the Slavic Cyril and Methodius, called Equal-to-the-Apostles for their feat of creating and spreading Slavic letters and worship, was one of the oldest book languages in Europe. In addition to Greek and Latin, whose roots go back to ancient pre-Christian times, there are only three European languages that are not inferior in seniority to Old Slavonic: these are Gothic (IV century), Anglo-Saxon (VII century) and Old High German (VIII century). The Old Slavonic language, which arose in the 9th century, justifies its name, because, like its first alphabet, the Glagolitic alphabet, it was created by the holy Thessalonica brothers for all Slavs and first existed among the Slavs of the western and western parts of the southern Slavs - Moravan , Czechs, Slovaks, partly Poles, Pannonian and Alpine Slavs, and then the southern Slavs within the Dalmatian, Croatian, Macedonian, Bulgarian and Serbian and, finally, among the Eastern Slavs. In their midst, more than a thousand years ago, as a result of the Baptism of Russia, it took root, flourished “like a god of cleanliness” and gave amazing examples of inspired and chaste writing, which many generations of our grandfathers and fathers turned to.
Without Church Slavonic, which existed in Russia, it is difficult to imagine the development of the Russian literary language in all eras of its history. Church language, like Latin in Western Romance countries, has always been a support, a guarantee of purity and a source of enrichment for the Russian standardized language. Even now, sometimes subconsciously, we carry particles of the sacred common Slavic language and use it. Using the proverb “Truth speaks through the mouth of a baby”, we do not think about what “purely” in Russian should be said “Truth speaks through the mouth of a child”, but we feel only some archaism, bookishness of this wise saying. Our ancestors in the 18th century or at the beginning of the 19th century, using the French idiom trainer une miserable existence, they did not say “to drag a miserable life”, as one would think, but turned to the Church Slavonic tradition and ... in some cases began to drag out a miserable existence. Even Mikhailo Lomonosov, in his “Foreword on the Benefits of Church Books in the Russian Language” in 1757, wrote that “by diligent and careful use of the indigenous Slavic language, which is akin to us, together with Russian, wild and strange words of absurdity that come to us from foreign languages, borrowing for themselves, will turn away beauty from Greek, and then also through Latin,” and explained that “these obscenities now, by negligence in reading church books, sneak in upon us insensibly, distort the own beauty of our language, subject it to constant change and incline to decline. All this will be stopped in the way shown, and the Russian language, in full strength, beauty and wealth, will not be subject to change and decline, as long as the Russian Church will be adorned with the praise of God in the Slavic language. .
Thus, M. V. Lomonosov saw the favorable future of the Russian literary language in reliance on the “Slavonic language”, which was confirmed at the beginning of the 19th century. in the brilliant poetic style of Pushkin, and almost a century later, in the tragic days of the Second Russian Revolution, another servant of the Russian Muse, the poet Vyacheslav Ivanov, the author of a number of works in a language close to Church Slavonic, wrote in the article “Our Language”: “A language that has acquired such a blessed inheritance at birth itself was blessed a second time in his infancy by a mysterious baptism in the life-giving streams of the Church Slavonic language. They partially transformed his flesh and spiritually transformed his soul, his “inner form”. And now he is no longer just a gift of God to us, but, as it were, a gift of God purely and doubly, - full and multiplied. Church Slavonic speech became under the fingers of the inspired sculptors of the Slavic soul, Sts. Cyril and Methodius, a living cast of the “divine Hellenic speech”, the image and likeness of which was introduced into their sculpture by the ever-memorable Illuminators” . For many writers and poets, and simply zealots of the splendor of the Russian language, Church Slavonic was not only a source of inspiration and a model of harmonic completeness, stylistic rigor, but also a guardian, as Lomonosov believed, of the purity and correctness of the path of development of the Russian (“Russian- go") language. Has Church Slavonic lost this role even in our time? I believe that I have not lost that it is precisely this functional side of the ancient language, a language not detached from modernity, that should be recognized and perceived in our time. I know that in France, lovers and guardians of the purity of French speech have the same attitude towards Latin, studying and popularizing this medieval international European language and even striving to make it oral, colloquial in certain situations and conditions. They created a society of "living Latin" (le latin vivant) in no way to the detriment, but to the benefit of their native French.
The Church Slavonic language that we hear in churches and find in church books is now commonly called New Church Slavonic in science, new church texts are written in it: akathists, services to the newly glorified saints. This term was introduced by the famous Czech paleoslavist Vyacheslav Frantsevich Maresh (he calls himself that in Russian), who devoted several works to the New Church Slavonic language. In a report at a conference dedicated to the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Russia (Leningrad, January 31 - February 5, 1988), he said that “in our time there are three types of the New Church Slavonic language: 1) the Russian type, which is used as a liturgical language in the worship of the Byzantine rite (pronunciation adapts to the language environment); 2) the Croatian-Glagolic type, which is used in the worship of the Roman Rite among the Croats (from 1921 to 1972 also among the Czechs); 3) the Czech type, used since 1972 in the Roman rite by the Czechs (formulated scientifically in 1972).” The Roman Rite liturgies have recently been published in the New Church Slavonic language of the Croatian-Glagolic variant and the Czech variant. Like all liturgical books, they were published anonymously, but it is known that the Croatian version was prepared by I. L. Tandarich, and the Czech one by V. Tkadlich. Thus, the Church Slavonic language can be heard not only in Orthodox churches, but also in Catholic churches, although in the latter it sounds extremely rare, in exceptional cases and exceptional places.
In today's Russia, Church Slavonic is felt and perceived by many as a “dead” language, that is, preserved only in church books and services, in all other cases, even when reading Holy Scripture at home, the native Russian language is in use. It was not so in pre-revolutionary times. Numerous sources testify to this, and even my own memories of my childhood, adolescence and youth. This time passed in the conditions of a refugee life in Serbia, in Belgrade, where I studied at the “old-fashioned” Russian school, and then at the male Russian gymnasium. In the senior class, Archpriest Georgy Florovsky was my clergy teacher and spiritual father, and in total the Law of God was taught for at least ten years (complete secondary education lasted 12 years: four years in elementary school and eight in gymnasium). Prayers, the Creed and the Gospel (New Testament) were exclusively in Church Slavonic, and only the Catechism, as I remember, the Catechism of Metropolitan Filaret, which we selectively crammed word for word, was in Russian, and then very archaic (as I remember now an excerpt explaining why the Savior's death on the cross delivers us from sin, damnation and death: "So that we may more conveniently believe this mystery, the word of God instructs us about it, as much as we can, by comparing Jesus Christ with Adam. Adam is naturally the head of all mankind , which is one with him, by natural origin from him "- etc.) . At Sunday mass, which many of us knew almost by heart, we stood in formation in the gymnasium church, sometimes, before big holidays, defended vespers, part of the class (lucky ones!) Sang in the church choir, but went to the city Russian Trinity Church and to the cemetery to Iverskaya. The Church Slavonic language sounded constantly, Church Slavonic texts (the commandments of Moses and the Beatitudes, Prayers, troparia, small parables from the Gospel), as well as Latin texts or Turgenev's poems in prose, were memorized, individual gymnasium students served in the church, read hours, performed the duties of a psalmist. The Church Slavonic language sounded more often than was perceived visually.
To understand how deeply the Church Slavonic language was perceived by Russian people or people of Russian culture in times that now seem almost patriarchal, it is enough to read the short and unusually vivid story “The Memorial Service” by the Parisian Russian writer Gaito Gazdanov, who became an emigrant after the civil war in our country . The story describes how, during the German occupation of Paris in 1942, a Russian refugee died of consumption, how his few, largely casual acquaintances came to him, who called a Russian priest to bury the deceased right in the house and then take him to the cemetery: “Father, an old man with a voice hoarse from a cold, arrived in a quarter of an hour. He was wearing a worn cassock, he looked sad and tired. He entered, crossed himself<...>- Where is the deceased from? the priest asked. Volodya answered - such and such a district of the Oryol province. - Neighbor, then, - said the father. - I myself am from the same place, and there won't be thirty miles. That's the trouble, I didn't know that my countryman would have to be buried. What was your name? - Gregory. - The priest was silent for a while<...>- If there were other times, I would serve a real memorial service for him, as they serve in our monasteries. But my voice is hoarse, it’s hard for me alone, so maybe one of you will still help me, pull me up? support me? - I looked at Volodya. His facial expression was<...>tragic and solemn. - Serve, father, as in a monastery, - he said, - and we will support everything, we will not go astray. - He turned to his comrades, raised both hands in an imperious and habitual, as it seemed to me, gesture - the priest looked at him in surprise - and the memorial service began. Nowhere and never, neither before nor after that, have I heard such a choir. After some time, the whole staircase of the house where Grigory Timofeevich lived was full of people who came to listen to the singing.<...>“Truly, all vanity, life is shadow and sleep, for every earthly one is rushing about in vain, as the Scripture says: when we gain peace, then we will dwell in the grave, where kings and the poor are together.”<...>“We all disappear, we all die, kings and princes, judges and rapists, rich and poor, and all human nature.”<...>When the funeral was over, I asked Volodya: - Where did you get all this from? What a miracle it all turned out, how did you make such a choir? “Yeah, just like that,” he said. - Who once sang in the opera, who in the operetta, who just in a tavern. And everyone in the choir sang, of course. And we know the church service from childhood - to the last breath. “Then the coffin with the body of Grigory Timofeevich was closed”<...> .
In order to go to the study of the Church Slavonic language according to this textbook, click on the image of its cover.
In the 9th century, Saints Cyril and Methodius translated the Gospel into Slavonic. Old Slavonic was similar to the Old Russian language, it was understood in Russia without translation.
Here is a fragment of the Gospel in Old Slavonic and modern Russian. In Russian, a translation of the Gospel was published in the middle of the 19th century.
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Gospel of Mark Chapter 1 1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, 2 as it is written in the prophets: Behold, I am sending my angel before your face, who will prepare your way before you. 3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight his paths. 4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. 5 And all the land of Judah and Jerusalem went out to him, and they were all baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his loins, and ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And he preached, saying, The strongest of me is coming after me, of whom I am not worthy, stooping down to untie the strap of his sandals; 8 I baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. |
Slavic letters
Vertically:
1. The capital of Ancient Russia.
3. The name of the city in Macedonia, where the holy brothers Constantine and Methodius, the Enlighteners of the Slavs, were born.
5. Bread, which is consecrated in the church at Easter.
6. The name of the Patriarch of Constantinople during the life of the holy brothers Constantine and Methodius.
8. The head of the region in the Byzantine Empire during the life of the holy brothers.
9. What does the Greek word "sophia" mean?
Horizontally:
2. Type of painting on wet plaster.
4. Writing material used in the time of Saints Cyril and Methodius.
6. What was the name of Constantine among the people?
7. What was the name of St. Cyril before becoming a monk?
9. What was the name of the Byzantine emperor who sent Constantine to preach to the Slavs?
10. The name of the prince under whom Russia was baptized.
11. A set of rules.
Answers
38
(Materials for the lessons: in sections 1 and 3 of this collection, as well as in the textbook N.G. Gorelova, B.I. Pivovarov "Native History", - Novosibirsk: "Ekor", 1995)
Lesson #I
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Dialogue with students, introduction to the topic. |
What is literacy? The beginning of national writing is the most important milestone in the history of every nation. The origin of Slavic writing. The names of the creators. The contribution of Russian literature to world culture. historical sources. |
For materials, see pages 9-13 of the section! of this collection. |
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Historical excursion. |
The desire for enlightenment by the faith of Christ led the Slavs to the need for a bookish language. Who are the Slavs? What do they have in common? Slavs in the 10th century What can become a unifying principle for peoples? | |
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Information on the topic of the lesson. |
Life of brothers Cyril and Methodius. Konstantin Philosopher. Translation of the word philosophy ("love of wisdom"). Enlightenment by the faith of Christ in the Slavic lands. Creation of the Slavic alphabet. Death of Konstantin (Cyril) and testament to his brother. Translation of the Holy Books into Slavic by Saint Methodius. |
A visual aid is an icon, see the intro on page 53 of this collection. |
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Add. material 10 min. |
Prince Vladimir and the Baptism of Russia | Page 72-79 textbook N.G. Gorelova, B.I. Pivovarov "Native History". |
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Lesson #2 |
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Basic information on the topic. 20 minutes. |
Slavic alphabet. What alphabet did Constantine create? Cyrillic and Glagolitic. |
Page 12 of this collection. |
| Slavic alphabet and Greek alphabet. Where do Greek words come from in our language? Words-tracing paper. | See article "Greek Around Us", p. 18. | |
| Church Slavonic language and its role in the formation of the literary Russian language. . | See section 3, pages 59-65. |
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Practical lesson. 20 minutes. |
Reading some words in Slavic Text for the language, reading the text in Church Slavonic, writing Slavic letters and numbers in a notebook. | See text for reading on page 35, lettering and numbers - pages 15-17 of the collection. |
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House. exercise |
Learn the names of Slavic letters. | |
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Lesson #3 |
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Information on the topic. 35 min. |
Commemoration of Saints Cyril and Methodius. The glorification of the holy brothers by the Orthodox Church (commemoration day May 24). Icon of Saints Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius. |
Icon - on page 57. |
| Hymn to Cyril and Methodius: Listen to a tape or sing along with the piano. | ||
| Celebration of the Day of Slavic Literature and Culture in Bulgaria. |
See pages 33-34 of this collection. |
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| Ancient book. What were the first books in Russia, when did they appear, how and by whom were they written? In the 11th century Russia was one of the most literate countries in Europe. Yaroslav the Wise. High level of book art in Russia. Love for the book. Decoration of ancient books. Statutory letter. | Textbook N.G. Gorelova, B.I. Pivovarov "Native History", pp. 261-266. | |
| Additional material. 10 minutes | Archive. Who are archaeologists? What is an archive, and what can its documents tell about? The first archives in Russia (XVIII century). | Textbook "Native History", pp. 261-266. |
Church Slavonic for everyone. Introduction
Dear brothers and sisters! The recent tendency to reduce the sacred Church Slavonic text to the human mind by translating, not always successful and accurate, into Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian and other languages of the Slavic peoples, as well as the urgent need of every Orthodox soul to read in Church Slavonic prompted me to specifically write Church Slavonic language lessons for everyone who wants to quickly learn it for posting on the website of our church.
These lessons are partly based on the materials of classes that take place in our Sunday school for adults on Sundays at 17:00 (classes in Church Slavonic alternate with classes on general issues of faith, catechism, Orthodox worship, dogmatic theology, Orthodoxy in Japan, etc. .) at our Church of the Holy Primate Apostles Peter and Paul in the city of Shostka. The lessons are for quick practical self-mastery of this church language.
First of all, you need, if you do not already have, to purchase Orthodox prayer book in Church Slavonic(preferably a hardcover pocket edition with a sewn-in bookmark - such a prayer book is very convenient to use). When buying, pay attention to the following:
1) it must be published by the canonical Orthodox Church (for example, the publishing house of the Moscow Patriarchate);
2) the text should be two-color - black (the text of the prayers itself) and red (they highlight the names of prayers and various kinds of instructions, as well as the first capital letter of the prayer);
3) the text itself should be clear, not small, not dense (sometimes this is done to save space), all characters (especially superscripts) should be clearly visible and distinguishable;
4) it should contain everything you need:
- Morning prayers with a commemoration for the living and for the dead;
- Prayers for the future sleep;
- Canons (at least three: P cursed to our Lord Jesus Christ, m olebny co
Holy Mother of God, and BUT guardian ngel);
– Akathists (at least two: And Jesus the Sweetest, P Holy Mother of God);
— Follow-up to Holy Communion;
- Troparia (holidays and Sundays);
- Thanksgiving prayers after Holy Communion;
- Canon and hours of Easter;
- The rite of the funeral litia performed by a layman;
– Prayers are different (check availability prayers before taking prosphora and holy water –
it, unfortunately, is not found in all prayer books!);
- The Commandments of God and the Commandments of Beatitudes.
I strongly recommend that you purchase, in addition to the Orthodox prayer book, also Psalter on Church Slavonic, and New Testament on Church Slavonic(these include the same requirements as set out above in the first three paragraphs when choosing an Orthodox prayer book) .
How gratifying and useful it will be for us to hear in the temple every word uttered by a reader, deacon, priest, or sung by a choir, and also to take part in the reading during the service. We will begin to distinguish words, get used to them and understand their deepest meaning, ascending to the original meaning. They will accumulate, accumulate in our hearts, and from the fullness of the heart, our mouths, to the best of their ability, will utter eternal verbs, pleasing to God; then we will be able to feel the taste and aroma of real prayer. We will breathe in this language with a full breast, after the stale breath of our worldly, clouded, vain and mundane modern language. What a joy and blessing it is for us to learn it, because only thanks to this will the infinite and innumerable mysteries of God, contained both in the words of Holy Scripture and the holy fathers, and between their lines, be revealed to us; only on it can we humbly speak with God Himself, for He Himself gave it to us through Saints Cyril and Methodius!
So, my dear ones, having prayed, let us begin to climb not only along the linguistic ladder, but also along the spiritual one, raising our mind to this living, pure, kind, spiritually lofty and sanctified by the Grace of the Spirit of the Holy Church Slavonic language, leading us along the right path of knowledge of God.
And finally, I want to introduce you to a wonderful spiritual poem by Viktor Afanasyev about the Church Slavonic language:
He is the most prayerful in the world,
It came into existence by the will of God
The language of our wondrous Psalter
And patristic books;
He is a royal jewel.
church worship,
Living grace spring,
The Lord's consolation to us -
Church Slavonic.
Wish you while studying Church Slavonic language, as well as reading or praying in it , feel spiritual joy and, inspired, “infect” (according to Metropolitan Anthony of Surozh) your neighbors with this language, striving for inner self-improvement!
The Lord and Mother of God bless you all in all the ways of your life!
Sincerely, P. E. Ivlev
Lesson 1. Church Slavonic Cyrillic alphabet
Learning any language begins with the alphabet. This is exactly how the Church Slavonic language was always taught, starting from Ancient Russia. But there were no dictionaries, textbooks and grammar then (they appeared only in the 17th century). Therefore, at that time, they first learned letters in order to recognize them, then they mastered their combinations in order to pronounce them correctly, then they already read sentences, and finally, they memorized prayers from the Book of Hours and psalms from the Psalms, thus they learned everything! And we'll start the same way. We will study letters along with their way(i.e. inscription), name(or as they say now, the name), name meaning, pronunciation, as well as its numerical value. Let's also see how this letter is reflected in our modern writing, to see that all Church Slavonic letters form the basis of our modern language and writing.
The Russian alphabet originates from the Church Slavonic alphabet, which is called " Cyrillic» in honor of its creator - Saint Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril(only 50 days before his death, Saint Constantine took the schema with the name Cyril; he reposed in Rome on February 14, 869 at the age of 42; his relics are in the church of Saint Clement in Rome) with the assistance of his brother - Saint Methodius(he died on April 6, 885 at the age of about 60 and was buried in the cathedral church of Velehrad, the capital of Moravia).
Let me remind you that the first Slavic alphabet created by St. Cyril in the 9th century was the Glagolitic alphabet. It was she who was the first script that was revealed to him by God in prayers, and which best corresponded to the sounds of Slavic speech, and was also suitable for expressing Christian concepts. With its help, it was possible to build phrases in such a way that a harmonious and consistent narrative was obtained - the same as in the Greek originals. (Actually, the word "Glagolitic" is not a special name; in a literal translation into the modern language, "Glagolitic" means "letter, a system of letters (or sounds)". Therefore, any alphabet can be called Glagolitic. The word "Glagolitic" becomes the name of a certain writing system much later). Late 9th - early 10th century
Bulgaria began to replace the "Glagolitic" with "Cyrillic". In the last column of the table, I gave the alphabet "Glagolitic" to compare it with "Cyrillic".
Let's look at the Church Slavonic alphabet. It consists of 40 letters:
Church Slavonic Cyrillic alphabet:
| No. p / p | The name of the letters (its name) | Numerical value of letters | Verb letters | ||
| 1 | A, a | a44z | [a] | a\ = 1 | |
| 2 | B, b | bulls | [b] | No | |
| 3 | In, in | lead | [in] | in\ = 2 | |
| 4 | G, g | verb1l | [g] / [n] | r\ = 3 | |
| 5 | D, d | good2 | [e] | q\ = 4 | |
| 6 | E, є, е | є4st | [e] | є\ = 5 | |
| 7 | F, f | live | [f] | No | |
| 8 | Ѕ, ѕ | elw2 | [h] (used to be [dz]) | ѕ\ = 6 | |
| 9 | Z, s, | grounds | [h] | s\ = 7 | |
| 10 | And, and | and4ge(and octal) | [and] | and\ = 8 | |
| 11 | I, i | u3(and decimal) | [and] | i\ = 10 | |
| 12 | K, k | ka1kw | [to] | k\ = 20 | |
| 13 | L, l | people | [l] | l\ = 30 | |
| 14 | Mm | think | [m] | m\ = 40 | |
| 15 | N, n | na1sh | [n] | n\ = 50 | |
| 16 | Oh, oh, oh | џнъ | [about] | o\ = 70 | |
| 17 | W, w | њmega1ga | [about] | (t= 800 ) | |
| Q, q | њmega solemn | ||||
| 18 | P, p | calm | [P] | n\ = 80 |
| No. p / p | The image of the Cyrillic letters (style) | The name of the letters (its name) | Modern pronunciation of letters | Numerical value of letters | Verb letters |
| 19 | R, r | rcy2 | [R] | p\ = 100 | |
| 20 | With, with | word | [with] | c\ = 200 | |
| 21 | T, t | firmly | [t] | m\ = 300 | |
| 22 | U, u, u | ќкъ | [y] | µ\ = 400 | |
| 23 | f, f | February | [f] | φ\ = 500 | |
| 24 | X, x | dick | [X] | x\ = 600 | |
| 25 | T, t | џтъ | [from] | t = 800 | |
| 26 | C, c | tsy2 | [c] | q\ = 900 | |
| 27 | h, h | worm | [h] | h\ = 90 | |
| 28 | W, w | sha2 | [w] | No | |
| 29 | u, u | shcha2 | [sch] | No | |
| 30 | b, b | є4ръ | hard sign (indicates the hardness of the previous consonant; sometimes it is replaced by a sign8 called paerok or erok) | No | |
| 31 | s, s | є3ry2 | [s] | No | |
| 32 | b, b | є4р | soft sign (indicates the softness of the previous consonant) | No | |
| 33 | uh, uh | i4t | [e] | No | |
| 34 | Yu, yu | u5 | [Yu] | No | |
| 35 | I, I | i5 | [I] | No | No |
| 36 | Z, z | yu4s small | [I] | No | |
| 37 | X, x | xi2 | [ks] | x\ = 60 | No |
| 38 | P, p | psi2 | [ps] | p\ = 700 | No |
| 39 | F, f | fit2 | [f] | f\ = 9 | |
| 40 | V, v | i4zhitsa | [and] / [in] | No |
As we can see from the table, each Cyrillic letter has its own image or inscription, i.e. how is she from image it looks, looks or is written. This is how icon painters draw them with a brush on their icons (after all, an image becomes an icon only after an inscription is made on it). Previously, scribes used a specially sharpened quill or reed stick for work, and with great reverence indulged in writing and decorating books. There is a most interesting art of Church Slavonic calligraphy (some call it cursive), but it is extremely difficult to find a specialist in it. Without touching on the decor and pattern of old books, it is worth saying that not only the name of the letter, but also its image (drawing) had a mysterious meaning, were deeply symbolic and carried higher knowledge, urging us to be closer to heaven. The image of the Cyrillic letters that you see in the table, and which is now used everywhere in the printing of prayer books and liturgical books in Church Slavonic, goes back to such a solemn and slow type of writing as charter, when the letters were written strictly vertically, had strong main posts and thin strokes and serifs. Each letter was written out with a cane or a wide-pointed pen separately, in several steps.
I will also mention that to highlight the titles of books and various titles, ligature(in Russia, already in the 15th century, it was widely used and most often performed with red paint based on cinnabar). This is a continuous pattern of letters that makes up a decorative letter, where there are no spaces between words, all letters are of different heights and widths. Several letters, merging, could become one, and some voids could be filled with patterns.
Elm: "From Mark the Holy Annunciation"
Further we see in the table name each letter of the Cyrillic alphabet. Previously, the alphabet was taught by the names of the letters, and the alphabet by its name, according to the name word, was a sermon, and various prayers were composed from the names of the letters. At present, unfortunately, we only call our letters "a", "be", "ve", etc. (due to the spelling reform of 1917 - 1918 carried out by the Bolsheviks) - this is all that remains of their beautiful, pure, mysterious and deep in meaning names: "a44z" ( a h), "beeches" (b at ki), "lead" (in e di), etc. If we put three modern letters "a b c" side by side, what do we get? Nothing! Because they were depersonalized, depriving them of a name. And now let's put the first three letters of the Cyrillic alphabet side by side, and we will get a44z buki lead, and now you have already said in Church Slavonic "I learned the letters"
or “Know the ABC” or, going back to the original meaning: “My presence (stay) here on earth consists in knowing the Holy Scriptures.” You hear?! What kind of "smart beads" turned out only from three letters, and what kind of spiritual tension did we feel, didn't we? Exactly this high style (lifting and making us transcendent), and the fullness of the meaning were lost! I think that this was the goal of the "creators" of the reform of the Russian language at the beginning of the 20th century.
O meaning of letter names and them pronunciation we will learn in the next lesson when we talk about reading and using letters.
Also in the table you can see a column with the numerical value of the letters. In Church Slavonic, numbers are indicated only by letters. Arabic and Latin numerals are not used in Church Slavonic texts. We will talk more about this in a separate lesson on the representation of numbers in the Church Slavonic language.
God bless you all and Mother of God!
