Two Alphabets, Two Men, and One Mystery: How Cyril and Methodius Changed the Course of History

Cyril and Methodius are holy equals-to-the-apostles, first teachers and enlighteners of the Slavs, brothers from the Byzantine city of Thessaloniki (Salonica, Solun). The elder, Methodius, before taking monastic vows, was a governor of one of the Slavic principalities of the Byzantine Empire and was well-versed in laws. Saint Methodius took monastic vows in one of the monasteries on Mount Olympus. The younger, Constantine (Cyril being his monastic name), was nicknamed the Philosopher for his wisdom and outstanding knowledge. He was an experienced polemicist on religious matters: he took part in diplomatic and missionary activities, participating in Byzantine embassies to the Arab Caliphate and to the Lower Volga to the Khazars.

The history of the formation of written Christian culture among the Slavic peoples is linked to the penetration of the Cyrillo-Methodian written heritage from Bulgaria to Rus' at the end of the 10th–11th centuries, as well as to the creation of the Slavic alphabets – the Cyrillic and Glagolitic scripts.

Both the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets are two scripts in which the surviving monuments of the Slavic language were written. Nowadays, the Glagolitic script is not used at all. However, the invented Cyrillic script became the basis of the modern Russian language.

There are several theories about the origin of each alphabet. Although Old Church Slavonic sources do not give a clear answer to the question of who created the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets, and which alphabet appeared first, nevertheless, logic and the consonance of words incline us to the opinion that the Cyrillic alphabet was invented by the younger brother from Thessaloniki, Cyril.

As for the Glagolitic script, according to the Soviet hypothesis, it arose as a result of individual creativity. At the same time, some researchers believe that the creators of the Glagolitic script were the disciples of Cyril and Methodius. The disciples created the Glagolitic script to replace the previously developed Cyrillic alphabet, at a time when Cyrillic writing (which resembled Byzantine script) was subjected to particularly harsh persecution in Moravia by the German-Catholic clergy, who were rivals of Byzantium. Other researchers consider Constantine the Philosopher (Cyril) himself to be the creator of the Glagolitic script: the equal-to-the-apostles created the Glagolitic alphabet (also based on the Cyrillic script, which had evolved among the Slavs through an evolutionary path) in order to make his alphabet completely new, unlike any that had existed before. According to both versions of the hypothesis, the individual creators of the Glagolitic script used the already existing Cyrillic script as a basis, deliberately changing and complicating its graphic forms.

Nevertheless, in the 21st century, the majority of Russian scholars consider the greater antiquity of the Glagolitic script compared to the Cyrillic alphabet to be proven. Based on the chronology of the appearance of Glagolitic and Cyrillic monuments from different groups, relying on linguistic arguments and the classifications of paleographers and historians specializing in ancient manuscripts, modern scholars are reaching a verdict that the Cyrillic alphabet was formed on the territory of the First Bulgarian Tsardom as a result of a synthesis of the Greek script that had long been widespread there and those elements of the Glagolitic alphabet that could best convey the features of the Slavic language.

📚 Sources:

• Istrin, V. A. 1100 Years of the Slavic Alphabet / V. A. Istrin; Edited by L. P. Zhukovsky. – 2nd ed., revised and expanded. – Moscow: Nauka, 1988. – 191 p.: ill. – (Popular Science Literature. Literary Studies and Linguistics)
• Chernykh, E. A. "The Khazar Mission of Constantine the Philosopher: On the Possible Preaching of Cyril and Methodius among the Eastern Slavs" / E. A. Chernykh // Bulletin of the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia: History of Russia. – 2014. – No. 1. – pp. 64–74
• Mironova, T. L. "The Slavic Alphabets Glagolitic and Cyrillic as the Creative Legacy of Cyril the Philosopher" // GDL. 2000. No. 10 URL: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/slavyanskie-azbuki-glagolitsa-i-kirillitsa-kak-tvorcheskoe-nasledie-kirilla-filosofa (date accessed: 04/27/2026)
• Orthodox Church Calendar. Brief Lives of the Equals-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius, Teachers of the Slavs. URL: https://azbyka.ru/days/sv-kirill-konstantin-filosof