CYRIL and METHODIUS-Bible Translators Who Invented and Alphabet

"The Philosopher" and the Governor

Cyril (827-869 C.E., originally named Constantine) and Methodius (825-885 C.E.) were born into a noble family in Thessalonica, Greece.  Thessalonica was then a bilingual city; it inhabitants spoke Greek and a form of Slavic.  The presence of numerous Slavs and the close contact between its citizens and the  surrounding Slave communities may have given Cyril and Methodius the opportunity to acquire an intimate knowledge of the language of the southern Slavs.  And one biographer of Methodius even mentions that their mother was of Slavic origin.

After his  father's death, Cyril moved to Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire.  There he studied at the imperial university and associated with distinguished educators. He became librarian of Hagia Sophia, the most prominent church building  in the East, and later became a professor of Philosophy.  In fact, because of his academic achievements, Cyril earned the nickname The Philosopher. 

In the meantime, Methodius pursued the same career as his father-political administration.  He reached the rank of archon (governor) in a  frontier Byzantine district where many Slavs lived. Nevertheless, he withdrew into a monastery in Bithynia, Asia Minor.  Cyril joined him there in 855 C.E. 

In 860 C.E., the patriarch of Constantinople sent the two brothers on a foreign mission.  They were dispatched to the Khazar, a people dwelling northeast of the Black Sea, who were still hesitating to decide between Islam, Judaism, and Christianity.  On his way there, Cyril remained  for a time at Cheronese, in Crimea.  Some scholars believe that there he learned Hebrew and Samaritan and that he translated a  Hebrew grammar into the language of the Khazar.


Cyrillic or Glagolitic?

The nature of the alphabet Cyril contrived has provoked much controversy, since linguists are not certain what alphabet it was.  The alphabet called Cyrillic is based closely on the Greek alphabet, with a dozen or so additional characters invented to represent Slavonic sound not found in Greek.  Some of the earliest Slavonic manuscripts, however, use a very different script, known as Glagolitic, and it is this script that many scholars believer Cyril invented.  A few of the Glagolitic characters appear to come from cursive Greek or Hebrew.  Some may have been derived from medieval diacritics, but most are original and complex creations.  Glagolitic seems to be a highly distinct and original creation.  However, it is Cyrillic that has developed into the present-day Russian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Bulgarian, and Macedonian scripts, besides 22 additional languages, some of which are not Slavonic. 

Next time: A Call From Moravia

The Watchtower, 2001