Topic: St. Clement of Ohrid created the Cyrillic alphabet Posted By: Anastasija Date: 06 Jun 1998 11:02 AM
Responses:
Subject: The Cyrillic Alphabet was created by St. Clement of Ohrid From: Anastasija Date: 06 Jun 1998 1:38 PM
First of all, both the Glagolitic and the Cyrillic alphabet were
created in Macedonia. The Glagolitic alphabet was created by St.Cyril
and St.Methodius on the basis of the phonetic principles of the spoken
language of the Slavonic people in Macedonia (from the surroundings of
Salonica). The Cyrillic alphabet was created later by St. Clement of
Ohrid (Ohrid is a city in the Republic of Macedonia) and not by St.
Cyril. Furthuremore, St.Cyril and St.Methodius did not
"brought written language to Christian converts in the mid-ninth
century (c.860) in what is now Russia", but they "set out for Moravia
bearing with them the first books in a Slavonic language written in the
Glagolitic alphabet which they themselves had invented". (During the
800's, the Slavs established the Great Moravian Empire, which united
the peoples of central Europe for the first time.) Considering
the creation of the Cyrillic alphabet, it is reasonable to ask how the
"Greek" monks St.Cyril and St.Methodius could create Slavonic alphabet
unless they could also understand and speak the local Slavonic
(Macedonian) language. In the Life of St. Methodius it is written
that "all the citizens of Salonica speak a pure Slavonic". Thus, as was
stated by the French Byzantine scholar P. Lemerle, "Macedonia in the
7th and 8th centuries was more Slavonic than Greek". According to G.
Ostrogorsky. Macedonia was at this time lost to Byzantium "and found
itself in the hands of the Slavs, consisting of a conglomeration of
Sklavinii". A significant event in the history of Macedonia and the
history of the the Slavs in general took place in 863 when the
distinguished Byzantine missionaries from Salonica, the brothers Cyril
and Methodius and their disciples, set out for Moravia bearing with
them the first books in a Slavonic language, written in the Glagolitic
alphabet which theythemselves had invented. It is of particular
significance that this new form of writing was created on the basis of
the phonetic principles of the Slavs in Macedonia (from the
surroundings of Salonica) and that the first translations of the holy
books were made into the language of the Macedonian Slavs. This was the
fourth language, in addition to Hebrew, Greek and Latin, which was
officially recognized by the Christian church. So St. Cyril and
St.Methodius did not merely establish the Glagolitic alphabet "closely
based on the Greek alphabet, with about a dozen additional letters
invented to represent Slavic sounds not found in Greek". Soon
after that St. Clement of Ohrid (Ohrid is a city in the Republic of
Macedonia) created the Cyrillic alphabet (named in honour of St.
Cyril). This alphabet was used to continue the work that St.Cyril and
St.Methodius had begun. St. Clement was nominated a teacher in the
region of Kutmichevica, which included the south-western Macedonian
districts (Strumica Region), and the Ohrid Glagolitic literary school
was established. Thanks to St. Clement and, after 893, St. Naum (who
took over the role of teacher when St. Clement was named the first Slav
archbishop), about 3,500 Slav teachers, clergy, writers and other
literary figures emerged from the Ohrid literary school whose activity
was crowned with the laying of sound foundations for the building-up of
the Slavonic cultural, educational and ecclesiastical
organization.
I have read your page with interest.It puzzles me why in Cyrillic the
letter N of the Greek alphabet has been replaced by H. In the Latin
alphabet H is also used, for the aspirate, but this was already one of
the letter's functions in the western version of Greek.So why discard a
perfectly usable letter N for the same sound in Slavic languages?I look
forward to your answer. Thank you. Tony Roodvoets
Subject: The Cyrillic Alphabet was created by St. Clement of Ohrid From: Anastasija Date: 06 Jun 1998 1:39 PM
First of all, both the Glagolitic and the Cyrillic alphabet were
created in Macedonia. The Glagolitic alphabet was created by St.Cyril
and St.Methodius on the basis of the phonetic principles of the spoken
language of the Slavonic people in Macedonia (from the surroundings of
Salonica). The Cyrillic alphabet was created later by St. Clement of
Ohrid (Ohrid is a city in the Republic of Macedonia) and not by St.
Cyril. Furthuremore, St.Cyril and St.Methodius did not
"brought written language to Christian converts in the mid-ninth
century (c.860) in what is now Russia", but they "set out for Moravia
bearing with them the first books in a Slavonic language written in the
Glagolitic alphabet which they themselves had invented". (During the
800's, the Slavs established the Great Moravian Empire, which united
the peoples of central Europe for the first time.) Considering
the creation of the Cyrillic alphabet, it is reasonable to ask how the
"Greek" monks St.Cyril and St.Methodius could create Slavonic alphabet
unless they could also understand and speak the local Slavonic
(Macedonian) language. In the Life of St. Methodius it is written
that "all the citizens of Salonica speak a pure Slavonic". Thus, as was
stated by the French Byzantine scholar P. Lemerle, "Macedonia in the
7th and 8th centuries was more Slavonic than Greek". According to G.
Ostrogorsky. Macedonia was at this time lost to Byzantium "and found
itself in the hands of the Slavs, consisting of a conglomeration of
Sklavinii". A significant event in the history of Macedonia and the
history of the the Slavs in general took place in 863 when the
distinguished Byzantine missionaries from Salonica, the brothers Cyril
and Methodius and their disciples, set out for Moravia bearing with
them the first books in a Slavonic language, written in the Glagolitic
alphabet which theythemselves had invented. It is of particular
significance that this new form of writing was created on the basis of
the phonetic principles of the Slavs in Macedonia (from the
surroundings of Salonica) and that the first translations of the holy
books were made into the language of the Macedonian Slavs. This was the
fourth language, in addition to Hebrew, Greek and Latin, which was
officially recognized by the Christian church. So St. Cyril and
St.Methodius did not merely establish the Glagolitic alphabet "closely
based on the Greek alphabet, with about a dozen additional letters
invented to represent Slavic sounds not found in Greek". Soon
after that St. Clement of Ohrid (Ohrid is a city in the Republic of
Macedonia) created the Cyrillic alphabet (named in honour of St.
Cyril). This alphabet was used to continue the work that St.Cyril and
St.Methodius had begun. St. Clement was nominated a teacher in the
region of Kutmichevica, which included the south-western Macedonian
districts (Strumica Region), and the Ohrid Glagolitic literary school
was established. Thanks to St. Clement and, after 893, St. Naum (who
took over the role of teacher when St. Clement was named the first Slav
archbishop), about 3,500 Slav teachers, clergy, writers and other
literary figures emerged from the Ohrid literary school whose activity
was crowned with the laying of sound foundations for the building-up of
the Slavonic cultural, educational and ecclesiastical
organization.
Subject: Cyrillic alphabet wasn't created for Russians From:Andrei Kokov Date: 07 Jul 1998 7:19 PM
What do we read in the 1st Timeline article? "Cyril was a Greek monk
who, with Methodius, brought written language to Christian converts in
the mid-ninth century (c.860) in what is now Russia." Wrong! Those
monks were converting into Christianity the Slavs right to the north
from Greece: it means Macedonia and Bulgaria. What is now Russia is far
away from these lands. It is known, that Russians (in significant part
descending from Finnish, Ugrian, Baltic and Tartar tribes) use
BULGARIAN alphabet (which wasn't made prior for Russians) - as well as
Greek religion but German and British technical terminolology, Slavonic
language but French metric system...
Subject: Not only Slavic Orthodox countries From:Alexander Bolshakov Date: 07 Jul 1998 3:56 AM
What do we read in the 1st Timeline article? "The Cyrillic Alphabet is
... in use in many Slavic Orthodox countries." NOT only! E.g.,
Kazakstan is neither Slavic nor Orthodox country but they use Cyrillic.
This has resulted from the fact that there was no script for Kazak
language (that is itself close to Turkish) before Kazakstan became a
part of the Russian Empire.
Subject: about st clement From:kenneth a briganti Date: 02 Feb 1999 9:30 AM
all i want to say is that st clement was a great saint where i live in
south florida usa there is a st clement parish and its a beautiful
church but sometimes i kinda wish it could go back to the eastern rite
catholic i have a freind that is melkite and i kinda like the melkite
way igo to the roman rite under the pope
