CYRIL and METHODIUS -Bible Translators Who Invented an Alphabet

An Alphabet and a Bible Translation Are Born

During the months before their departure, Cyril prepared for the mission by developing a written script for the Slavs.  It has been said that he had a keen ear for phonetics.  Thus, using Greek and Hebrew characters, he tried to provide  a letter for each speech sound in Slavonic.  Some researchers believe that he had already spent years laying the groundwork for such an alphabet.  And there is still uncertainty about the exact form of the alphabet that Cyril contrived- see the previous article Cyrillic or Glagolitic?

At the same time, Cyril launched a quick program of Bible translation. According to tradition he began by translating from Greek into Slavonic the first phrase of the Gospel of John, using the newly developed alphabet:  "In the beginning the Word was . . ."  Cyril went on to translate the four Gospels, the letters of Paul, and the book of Psalms.

Did he work alone? Methodius most probably helped  with the task.  Moreover, the book The Cambridge Medieval History states:  "It is easy to imagine that [Cyril}  had other to help him, who must have been in the first instance people of Slav origin with a Greek education.  If we examine the oldest translations, . ..we have the best proof of a highly developed Slavonic sense of language, which must be attributed to collaborators who were themselves Slavs."  The rest of the Bible was completed later by Methodius, as we shall see.

Next time: "Like Rooks Upon a  Falcon"

The Watchtower, 2001