1.
Saints Cyril and Methodius
–
Saints Cyril and Methodius were two brothers who were Byzantine Christian theologians and Christian missionaries. Through their work influenced the cultural development of all Slavs. They are credited with devising the Glagolitic alphabet, the first alphabet used to transcribe Old Church Slavonic, after their deaths, their pupils continued their missionary work among other Slavs. Both brothers are venerated in the Orthodox Church as saints with the title of equal-to-apostles, in 1880, Pope Leo XIII introduced their feast into the calendar of the Roman Catholic Church. In 1980, Pope John Paul II declared them co-patron saints of Europe, the two brothers were born in Thessalonica, in present-day Greece – Cyril in about 827–828 and Methodius about 815–820. Cyril was reputedly the youngest of seven brothers, he was born Constantine, Methodius was born Michael and took the name Methodius upon becoming a monk at Mysian Olympus, in northwest Turkey. Their father was Leo, a droungarios of the Byzantine theme of Thessalonica, the exact ethnic origins of the brothers are unknown, there is controversy as to whether Cyril and Methodius were of Slavic or Byzantine Greek origin, or both. The two brothers lost their father when Cyril was fourteen, and the powerful minister Theoktistos, who was logothetes tou dromou, one of the ministers of the Empire. Cyril was ordained as priest some time after his education, while his brother Methodius remained only a deacon until 867/868, Cyrils mastery of theology and command of both Arabic and Hebrew made him eligible for his first state mission. He was sent to the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mutawakkil to discuss the principle of the Holy Trinity with the Arab theologians and this mission was unsuccessful, as later the Khagan imposed Judaism on his people as the national religion. It has been claimed that Methodius accompanied Cyril on the mission to the Khazars, the account of his life presented in the Latin Legenda claims that he learned the Khazar language while in Chersonesos, in Taurica. In 862, the brothers began the work which would give them their historical importance and that year Prince Rastislav of Great Moravia requested that Emperor Michael III and the Patriarch Photius send missionaries to evangelize his Slavic subjects. His motives in doing so were more political than religious. Rastislav had become king with the support of the Frankish ruler Louis the German, Rastislav is said to have expelled missionaries of the Roman Church and instead turned to Constantinople for ecclesiastical assistance and, presumably, a degree of political support. The Emperor quickly chose to send Cyril, accompanied by his brother Methodius, the request provided a convenient opportunity to expand Byzantine influence. Their first work seems to have been the training of assistants, in 863, they began the task of translating the Bible into the language now known as Old Church Slavonic and travelled to Great Moravia to promote it. They enjoyed considerable success in this endeavour, however, they came into conflict with German ecclesiastics who opposed their efforts to create a specifically Slavic liturgy. For the purpose of mission, they devised the Glagolitic alphabet
Saints Cyril and Methodius
–
"Saints Cyril and Methodius holding the Cyrillic alphabet," a mural by
Bulgarian iconographer
Z. Zograf, 1848,
Troyan Monastery
Saints Cyril and Methodius
–
Cyril and Methodius, painting by
Jan Matejko, 1885
Saints Cyril and Methodius
–
Basilica of St.Cyril and Methodius in
Moravian Velehrad,
Czech Republic
Saints Cyril and Methodius
–
Saints Cyril and Methodius in Rome. Fresco in San Clemente
2.
Slavs
–
Slavs are the largest Indo-European ethno-linguistic group in Europe. They are native to Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, Northeastern Europe, North Asia, Slavs speak Slavic languages of the Balto-Slavic language group. From the early 6th century they spread to inhabit most of Central, states with Slavic languages comprise over 50% of the territory of Europe, therefore it is the largest ethno-linguistic group in Europe by land area. Present-day Slavic people are classified into West Slavs, East Slavs, there are an estimated 360 million Slavs worldwide. The Slavic autonym is reconstructed in Proto-Slavic as *Slověninъ, plural *Slověne, the oldest documents written in Old Church Slavonic and dating from the 9th century attest the autonym as Slověne. The word slovo and the related slava and slukh originate from the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱlew-, cognate with Ancient Greek κλῆς, whence comes the name Pericles, Latin clueo, some other theories have limited support. The English term slave eventually derives from the ethnonym Slav, Slavs were captured and enslaved by the Muslims of Spain during the ninth century AD. The Slavs under name of the Antes and the Sclaveni make their first appearance in Byzantine records in the early 6th century. Procopius wrote in 545 that the Sclaveni and the Antae actually had a name in the remote past. He described them as barbarians, who lived under democracy, and that believe in one god. They lived in scattered housing, and constantly changed settlement, regarding warfare, they were mainly foot soldiers with small shields and battleaxes, lightly clothed, some entering battle naked with only their genitals covered. And they live a life, giving no heed to bodily comforts. Jordanes described the Sclaveni having swamps and forests for their cities, another 6th-century source refers to them living among nearly impenetrable forests, rivers, lakes, and marshes. Menander Protector mentions a Daurentius that slew an Avar envoy of Khagan Bayan I. The Avars asked the Slavs to accept the suzerainty of the Avars, he declined and is reported as saying, Others do not conquer our land. The relationship between the Slavs and a called the Veneti east of the River Vistula in the Roman period is uncertain. The name may refer both to Balts and Slavs, perhaps some Slavs migrated with the movement of the Vandals to Iberia and north Africa. Around the 6th century, Slavs appeared on Byzantine borders in great numbers, the Byzantine records note that grass would not regrow in places where the Slavs had marched through, so great were their numbers
Slavs
–
Living of East Slavs, by
Sergey Ivanov
Slavs
–
Distribution of Slavic languages in Europe
Slavs
–
Adalbert of Prague liberates Slavic slaves from the Jewish slave traders, relief of
Gniezno Doors
Slavs
–
Slavic peoples in 6th century
3.
Christianization
–
Christianization is the conversion of individuals to Christianity or the conversion of entire groups at once. Various strategies and techniques were employed in Christianization campaigns from Late Antiquity, often the conversion of the ruler was followed by the compulsory baptism of his subjects. In essence, it was intended that the traditions and practices still existed, Early works of this type have tended to be downplayed and even dismissed as a form of Protestant apologetics aimed at purification of Christianity. The Council of Jerusalem, according to Acts 15, agreed that lack of circumcision could not be a basis for excluding Gentile believers from membership in the Jesus community. Rather, they instructed new believers to avoid pollution of idols, fornication, things strangled, the Apostolic Decree thus helped to establish nascent Christianity as a unique alternative among the forms of Judaism for prospective Proselytes. The Armenian and Ethiopian churches are the instances of imposition of Christianity by sovereign rulers predating the council of Nicaea. The initial conversion of the Roman Empire occurred mostly in areas of Europe. Later conversions happened among the Grecian-Roman-Celtic populations over centuries, often initially among its urban population, the term pagan is from Latin and means villager, rustic, civilian. It is derived from this historical transition, the root of that word is present in todays word paisan or paisano. The Christianization of the Roman Empire is typically divided into two phases, before and after the year 312, which marked the momentous quasi-conversion of Constantine. By this date, Christianity had already converted a significant but unknown proportion of at least the urban population of the empire, Constantine ended the intermittent persecution of Christianity with the Edict of Milan, which granted tolerance to all religions, but specifically mentioned Christianity. Under Constantines successors, Christianization of Roman society proceeded by fits and starts, Constantines sons, for example, banned pagan state religious sacrifices in 341, but did not close the temples. Although all state temples in all cities were ordered shut in 356, under Julian, the temples were reopened and state religious sacrifices performed once more. When Gratian declined the position and title of Pontifex Maximus, his act brought an end to the state religion due to the positions authority. Again, however, this process ended state official practices but not private religious devotion, however, many temples remained open until Theodosius Is edict of Thessalonica in 381 banned haruspices and other pagan religious practices. From 389 to 393 he issued a series of decrees which led to the banning of religious rites and by confiscating their property. Further laws were passed against remaining pagan practices over the course of the following years, the effectiveness of these laws empire-wide is debatable. Christianization of central Balkans is documented at the end of the 4th century, where Nicetas the Bishop of Remesiana brought the gospel to those mountain wolves, reportedly his mission was successful, and the worship of Dionysus and other Thracian gods was eventually replaced by Christianity
Christianization
–
St. Francis Xavier converting the
Paravas seeking protection of Portuguese explorers from Arab fleets offshore: a 19th-century representation of the "docile heathen".
Christianization
–
James the Just, whose judgment was adopted in the Apostolic Decree of Acts 15:19-29, c. 50 AD: "...we should write to them [Gentiles] to abstain only from things polluted by
idols and from
fornication and from whatever has been strangled and from
blood..." (
NRSV)
Christianization
–
Constantine's conversion, by
Rubens.
Christianization
–
Statue depicting the baptism of Clovis by
Saint Remigius.
4.
South Slavs
–
The South Slavs are a subgroup of Slavic peoples who speak the South Slavic languages. The South Slavs include the Bosniaks, Bulgarians, Croats, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Serbs and they are the main population of the Southeastern European countries of Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia. In the 20th century, the country of Yugoslavia united the regions inhabited by South Slavic nations – with the key exception of Bulgaria – into a single state. The concept of Yugoslavia, a state for all South Slavic peoples, emerged in the late 17th century. Little is known about the Slavs before the 5th century and their history prior to this can only be tentatively hypothesized via archeological and linguistic studies. Much of what we know about their history after the 6th century is from the works of Byzantine historians, in his work De Bellis, Procopius portrays the Sclavini as unusually tall and strong, with a tan complexion and reddish-blonde hair, living a rugged and primitive life. They lived in huts, often distant from one another and often changed their place of abode and they were not ruled by a single leader, but for a long time lived in a democracy. John of Ephesus, in his Ecclesiastical History portrays the Slavs as extremely violent people and they probably believed in many Gods, but Procopius suggests they believed in one, perhaps supreme god. He has often been identified as Perun, the creator of lightning, the Slavs went into battle on foot, charging straight at their enemy, armed with spears and small shields, but they did not wear armour. The lack of understanding may be attributed to matrilineal succession practiced among Southern Slavs and they made their homes in forests, by rivers and wetlands. Jordanes states that the Slavs have their homelands on the Danube, scholars have traditionally placed the Slavic Urheimat in the Pripet marshes of Ukraine, or alternatively between the Bug and the Dniepr. In the 5th century Slavs are mentioned as living north of the Danube in the sources from that era. From the 5th century, they supposedly spread outward in all directions, the Balkans was one of the regions which lay in the path of the expanding Slavs. Regarding the Slavs mentioned by 6th-century Byzantine chroniclers, Florin Curta states that their homeland was north of the Danube and he clarifies that their itinerant form of agriculture may have encouraged mobility on a micro regional scale. Material culture from the Danube suggests that there was an evolution of Slavic society between the early 7th century and the 8th century, as the Byzantines re-asserted the Danubian defences in the mid 6th century, the Slavs yield of pillaged goods dropped. As a reaction to this isolation, and external threats, political. As community elites rose to prominence, they came to embody a collective interest, if that group identity can be called ethnicity, and if that ethnicity can be called Slavic, then it certainly formed in the shadow of Justinians forts, not in the Pripet marshes. The Byzantines broadly grouped the numerous Slav tribes into two groups, the Sclaveni and Antes and they are both first encountered in the lower Danube region
South Slavs
–
The
Iron Gate on the Serbo-Romanian border
South Slavs
–
South Slavic countries Other
Slavic countries
South Slavs
–
Saints Methodius and Cyril, are credited with devising the
Glagolitic alphabet, the first alphabet used to transcribe the
Old Church Slavonic language.
South Slavs
–
Map showing the expansion of the
Bosnian Kingdom
5.
East Slavs
–
The East Slavs are Slavic peoples speaking East Slavic languages. Formerly the main population of the state of Kievan Rus. Researchers know relatively little about the Eastern Slavs prior to approximately 859 AD, zealous Christian missions burned and destroyed all evidences of history of the people before that. The Eastern Slavs of these early times apparently lacked a written language, the few known facts come from archaeological digs, foreign travellers accounts of the Rus land, and linguistic comparative analyses of Slavic languages. Very few native Rus documents dating before the 11th century have survived, the earliest major manuscript with information on Rus history, the Primary Chronicle, dates from the late 11th and early 12th centuries. There is no consensus among scholars as to the urheimat of the Slavs, in the first millennium AD, Slavic settlers are likely to have been in contact with other ethnic groups who moved across the East European Plain during the Migration Period. Between the first and ninth centuries, the Sarmatians, Huns, Alans, Avars, Bulgars, although some of them could have subjugated the regions Slavs, these foreign tribes left little trace in the Slavic lands. The Early Middle Ages also saw Slavic expansion as an agriculturist and beekeeper, hunter, fisher, herder, by the 8th century, the Slavs were the dominant ethnic group on the East European Plain. By 600 AD, the Slavs had split linguistically into southern, western, the East Slavs practiced slash-and-burn agricultural methods which took advantage of the extensive forests in which they settled. This method of agriculture involved clearing tracts of forest with fire, cultivating it, the East Slavs flooded Eastern Europe in two streams. Another group of East Slavs moved from Pomerania to the northeast, the same Slavic population also settled the present-day Tver Oblast and the region of Beloozero. Having reached the lands of the Merya near Rostov, they linked up with the Dnieper group of Slavic migrants. Roughly in the period, the Ilmen Slavs and Krivichs were dominated by the Varangians of the Rus Khaganate. The earliest tribal centres of the East Slavs included Novgorod, Izborsk, Polotsk, Gnezdovo, archaeology indicates that they appeared at the turn of the tenth century, soon after the Slavs and Finns of Novgorod had rebelled against the Norsemen and forced them to withdraw to Scandinavia. The reign of Oleg of Novgorod in the tenth century witnessed the return of the Varangians to Novgorod. From this base, the mixed Varangian-Slavic population launched several expeditions against Constantinople, at first the ruling elite was primarily Norse, but it was rapidly Slavicized by the mid-century. Sviatoslav I of Kiev was the first Rus ruler with a Slavonic name, the disintegration, or parcelling of the polity of Kievan Rus in the 11th century resulted in considerable population shifts and a political, social, and economic regrouping. This article incorporates public domain material from the Library of Congress Country Studies website http, //lcweb2. loc. gov/frd/cs/
East Slavs
–
European territory inhabited by East Slavic tribes in 8th and 9th century.
East Slavs
–
"Slavic settlement" by I. Pchelko
East Slavs
–
Viktor Vasnetsov.
Boyan (1910).
East Slavs
–
Three generations of a
Russian family, ca. 1910
6.
West Slavs
–
The West Slavs are a subgroup of Slavic peoples who speak the West Slavic languages. They separated from the common Slavic group in c. the 7th century, the West Slavic languages diversify into their historically attested forms during c. the 10th to 14th centuries. West Slavic speaking nations today include the Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Kashubians, Silesians, the West Slavic group can be divided into three subgroups, Lechitic, including Polish, Kashubian and extinct Polabian and Pomeranian languages, Lusatian and Czecho-Slovak. Culturally, West Slavs developed along the lines of other Western European nations due to affiliation with the Roman Empire, in the Middle Ages the name Wends was applied to Western Slavic peoples. Mieszko I, the first historical ruler of Poland, also appeared as Dagome, the early Slavic expansion began in the 5th century, and by the 6th century, the groups that would become the West, East and South Slavic groups had probably become geographically separated. The first independent West Slavic states originate beginning in the 7th century, with the Empire of Samo, the Principality of Moravia, the Polabian language survived until the beginning of the 19th century in what is now the German state of Lower Saxony. At this time only 60,000 Sorbs have survived, living predominantly in Lusatia, the central Polish tribe of the Polans created their own state in the 10th century under the Polish duke Mieszko I. For many centuries Poland has had ties with its western neighbors. Kingdom of Bohemia stayed part of that Empire between 1002–1419 and 1526–1918, predecessors of Slovaks came under Hungarian domination after 907 – together with other Slavic groups as Croats, Slovenians, Dalmatians and Rusyns. Both the Czechs and the Slovaks were under rule of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526 to 1804, then in the Austrian Empire and between 1867–1918 part of Austria-Hungary
West Slavs
–
Reconstruction of the Slavic temple in
Groß Raden
West Slavs
–
West Slavs (light green) on the map of Europe.
7.
Old Church Slavonic
–
Old Church Slavonic, also known as Old Church Slavic, was the first Slavic literary language. It is thought to have been based primarily on the dialect of the 9th century Byzantine Slavs living in the Province of Thessalonica, as the oldest attested Slavic language, OCS provides important evidence for the features of Proto-Slavic, the reconstructed common ancestor of all Slavic languages. The language was standardized for the mission of the two apostles to Great Moravia in 863, the language and the alphabet were taught at the Great Moravian Academy and were used for government and religious documents and books between 863 and 885. The texts written during this phase contain characteristics of the Slavic vernaculars in Great Moravia, in 885, the use of Old Church Slavonic in Great Moravia was prohibited by Pope Stephen V in favour of Latin. Students of the two apostles, who were expelled from Great Moravia in 886, brought the Glagolitic alphabet to the First Bulgarian Empire, there it was taught at two literary schools, the Preslav Literary School and the Ohrid Literary School. The Glagolitic alphabet was used at both schools, though the Cyrillic script was developed early on at the Preslav Literary School where it superseded Glagolitic. The texts written during this era exhibit certain linguistic features of the vernaculars of the First Bulgarian Empire and these local varieties are collectively known as the Church Slavonic language. In Bosnia was preserved the local Bosnian Cyrillic alphabet, while in Croatia a variant of the Glagolitic alphabet was preserved, see Early Cyrillic alphabet for a detailed description of the script and information about the sounds it originally expressed. For Old Church Slavonic, the segments are reconstructible. The sounds are given in Slavic transliterated form rather than in IPA, as the realisation is uncertain. The letter щ denoted different sounds in different dialects and is not shown in the table, in Bulgaria, it represented the sequence /ʃt/, and it is normally transliterated as št for that reason. Farther west and north, it was probably /c/ or /tɕ/ like in modern Macedonian, Torlakian and Serbian/Croatian, /dz/ appears mostly in early texts, becoming /z/ later on. The distinction between l, n and r, on one hand, and palatal l, n and r, when it is, it is shown by a kamora diacritic over the letter. Accent is not indicated in writing and must be inferred from later languages, the pronunciation of yat ě differed by area. In Bulgaria it was an open vowel, commonly reconstructed as /æ/. The yer vowels ĭ and ŭ are often called ultrashort and were lower, more centralised and shorter than their counterparts i and they disappeared in most positions in the word, already sporadically in the earliest texts but more frequently later on. They also tended to merge with other vowels, particularly ĭ with e and ŭ with o, the exact articulation of the nasal vowels is unclear because different areas tend to merge them with different vowels. ę is occasionally seen to merge with e or ě in South Slavic, ǫ generally merges with u or o, but in Bulgaria, ǫ was apparently unrounded and eventually merged with ŭ
Old Church Slavonic
–
A page from the Flowery Triod (Triod' cvetnaja) from about 1491, one of the oldest printed Byzantine-Slavonic books,
National Library of Poland.
8.
Glagolitic alphabet
–
The Glagolitic script is the oldest known Slavic alphabet. It was created in the 9th century by Saint Cyril, a Byzantine monk from Thessaloniki and he and his brother, Saint Methodius, were sent by the Byzantine Emperor Michael III in 863 to Great Moravia to spread Christianity among the West Slavs in the area. After the deaths of Cyril and Methodius, the Glagolitic alphabet ceased to be used in Moravia, the Glagolitic alphabet was preserved only by the Croats, using it from the 12th to the 20th century, mostly in liturgy. The name was not created until many centuries after the scripts creation, the verb glagolati means to speak. It has been conjectured that the name developed in Croatia around the 14th century and was derived from the word glagolity. In Old Church Slavonic the name is Ⰽⱛⱃⰺⰾⰾⱁⰲⰺⱌⰰ, Кѷрїлловица, the creation of the characters is popularly attributed to Saints Cyril and Methodius, who may have created them to facilitate the introduction of Christianity. It is believed that the letters were fitted to Bulgarian. The number of letters in the original Glagolitic alphabet is not known, in later centuries, the number of letters dropped dramatically, to fewer than 30 in modern Croatian and Czech recensions of the Church Slavic language. Twenty-four of the 41 original Glagolitic letters probably derive from graphemes of the medieval cursive Greek small alphabet but have given an ornamental design. The source of the consonantal letters is unknown. If they were added by Cyril, it is likely that they were taken from a used for Christian scripture. It is frequently proposed that the letters sha Ⱎ, tsi Ⱌ, and cherv Ⱍ were taken from the letters shin ש and tsadi צ of the Hebrew alphabet, however, Cubberley suggests that if a single prototype were presumed, the most likely source would be Armenian. Other proposals include the Samaritan alphabet, which Cyril learned during his journey to the Khazars in Cherson, an alternate theory asserts that Saint Cyril did not develop Glagolitic script, instead improving and codifying a preexisting South Slavic script derived from Linear B. Comparison of Linear A and Linear B with the Glagolitic script finds 20 Glagolitic characters aligning in form and/or phonetics with Linear A and 23 with Linear B, Glagolitic letters were also used as numbers, similarly to Cyrillic numerals. Unlike Cyrillic numerals, which inherited their numeric value from the corresponding Greek letter, the Kiev Missal, found in the 19th century in Jerusalem, was dated to the 10th century. In 886 an East Frankish bishop of Nitra named Wiching banned the script and jailed 200 followers of Methodius and they were then dispersed or, according to some sources, sold as slaves by the Franks. Many of them, however, reached Bulgaria and were commissioned by Boris I of Bulgaria to teach, after the adoption of Christianity in Bulgaria in 865, religious ceremonies and Divine Liturgy were conducted in Greek by clergy sent from the Byzantine Empire, using the Byzantine rite. As a result of Boris measures, two academies, one in Ohrid and one in Preslav, were founded, from there, the students traveled to other places and spread the use of their alphabet
Glagolitic alphabet
–
A page from the
Zograf Codex with text of the
Gospel of Luke
Glagolitic alphabet
–
The
Baška tablet, found in the 19th century on
Krk, was dated to the year 1100.
Glagolitic alphabet
–
Glagolitic script in the
Zagreb Cathedral
Glagolitic alphabet
–
A page from the 10th–11th century
Codex Zographensis found in the
Zograf Monastery in 1843.
9.
Early Cyrillic alphabet
–
The Early Cyrillic alphabet is a writing system that was developed during the late ninth century on the basis of the Greek alphabet for the Orthodox Slavic population in Europe. It was developed in the Preslav Literary School in the First Bulgarian Empire in order to write the Old Church Slavonic language. The modern Cyrillic script is used primarily for Slavic languages. The earliest form of manuscript Cyrillic, known as ustav, was based on Greek uncial script, augmented by ligatures, the Glagolitic alphabet was created by the monk Saint Cyril, possibly with the aid of his brother Saint Methodius, around 863. One possibility is that this systematization of Cyrillic was undertaken at the Council of Preslav in 893, particularly, this principle is violated by certain vowel letters, which represent plus the vowel if they are not preceded by a consonant. It is also violated by a significant failure to distinguish between /ji/ and /jĭ/ orthographically, there was no distinction of capital and lowercase letters, though manuscript letters were rendered larger for emphasis, or in various decorative initial and nameplate forms. Letters served as numerals as well as signs, the values of the numerals were directly borrowed from their Greek-letter analogues. Letters without Greek equivalents mostly had no numeral values, whereas one letter, since its creation, the Cyrillic script has adapted to changes in spoken language and developed regional variations to suit the features of national languages. It has been the subject of academic reforms and political decrees, variations of the Cyrillic script are used to write languages throughout Eastern Europe and Asia. The form of the Russian alphabet underwent a change when Tsar Peter the Great introduced the Civil Script in 1708, some letters and breathing marks which were only used for historical reasons were dropped. Medieval letterforms used in typesetting were harmonized with Latin typesetting practices, exchanging medieval forms for Baroque ones, the reform subsequently influenced Cyrillic orthographies for most other languages. Today, the orthography and typesetting standards only remain in use in Church Slavonic. A comprehensive repertoire of early Cyrillic characters is included in the Unicode since version 5.1 standard and these characters and their distinctive letterforms are represented in specialized computer fonts for Slavistics. In addition to the letters, there were a number of scribal variations, combining ligatures. Each letter had a numeric value also, inherited from the corresponding Greek letter, a titlo over a sequence of letters indicated their use as a number, usually this was accompanied by a dot on either side of the letter. In numerals, the place was to the left of the tens place. Thousands are formed using a symbol, ҂, which was attached to the lower left corner of the numeral. Many fonts display this symbol incorrectly as being in line with the letters instead of subscripted below, later manuscripts made increasing use of a different style of abbreviation, in which some of the left-out letters were superscripted above the abbreviation and covered with a pokrytie diacritic
Early Cyrillic alphabet
Early Cyrillic alphabet
–
During the
Middle Ages the Cyrillic Alphabet was known as the
Slavic Alphabet or the
Bulgarian Alphabet.
Early Cyrillic alphabet
–
ℓ 1
Early Cyrillic alphabet
–
ℓ 5
10.
Christianization of Moravia
–
The Christianization of Moravia refers to the spread of the Christian religion in the lands of medieval Moravia. What modern historians designate as Great Moravia was a Slavic state that existed in Central Europe from around 830 to the early 10th century, the diocese of Passau was charged with establishing a church structure in Moravia. The first Moravian ruler known by name, Mojmír I, was baptized in 831 by Reginhar, despite the formal endorsement by the elites, the Great Moravian Christianity was described as containing many pagan elements as late as in 852. The major milestone in the Christianization of Moravia is traditionally attributed to the influence of Greek missionary brothers, Saints Cyril and Methodius, a few years later, the nearby Duchy of Bohemia was also converted, with its ruler baptised in 867. Soon Ratislav succeeded in created an independent of both the Germans and Constantinople, subordinated directly to the See of Rome. New diocese of Pannonia was inaugurated, with Methodius as its first archbishop, a number of expelled Slavic church priests found refuge in Bulgaria, where a number of their traditions became incorporated into the early Bulgarian Orthodox Church. Christianization of the Slavs Cyrillus and Methodius, the Apostles of the Slavs, Christianization of Moravia, Bohemia and Poland. History of the Christian Church, Volume IV, Mediaeval Christianity
Christianization of Moravia
–
Remnants of a church from the period of
Great Moravia at the
Mikulčice-Valy heritage site.
Christianization of Moravia
–
The ruins of a Great Moravian fort at
Ducové, Slovakia
Christianization of Moravia
–
Constantine and Methodius in Rome
11.
Christianization of Poland
–
The Christianisation of Poland refers to the introduction and subsequent spread of Christianity in Poland. The impetus to the process was the Baptism of Poland, the baptism of Mieszko I, the first ruler of the Polish state. The ceremony took place on the Holy Saturday of 14 April 966, although the location is still disputed by historians, with the cities of Poznań. Mieszkos wife, Dobrawa of Bohemia, is credited as a major influence on Mieszkos decision to accept Christianity. According to some historians the baptism of Poland marks the beginning of Polish statehood, nevertheless, the Christianisation was a long and arduous process, as most of the Polish population remained pagan until the Pagan Reaction during the 1030s. Before the adoption of Christianity, Poland was a pagan country, svetovid was among the most widespread pagan gods worshiped in Poland. Although some of the Great Moravian Christian rites and faith might have spread to the Polish lands soon afterward, nonetheless, the Moravian cultural influence played a significant role in the spread of Christianity onto the Polish lands and the subsequent adoption of that religion. In a similar fashion, some of the political struggles involved the Polish Church refusing to subordinate itself to the German hierarchy. The baptism of Poland refers to the ceremony when the first ruler of the Polish state, Mieszko I and much of his court, converted to the Christian religion. Mieszkos wife Dobrawa of Bohemia, a zealous Christian, played a significant role in promoting Christianity in Poland, the exact place of Mieszkos baptism is disputed, historians, however, argue that Gniezno or Poznań are the most likely sites. Some historians have suggested less likely alternative locations, such as Ostrów Lednicki, the date of Mieszkos baptism was on the Holy Saturday of 14 April 966. The ceremony was preceded by a week of oral catechism and several days of fasting, the actual ceremony involved pouring water over the segregated groups of men and women, although it is possible that their heads were immersed instead, and anointed with the chrism. The baptismal mission which began in the two cities of Gniezno and Poznań with the baptism of Mieszko and his court spread throughout the country. During the 10th and 11th centuries various ecclesiastical organs were established in Poland and this included the building of churches and the appointment of clergy. The first Bishop of Poland, Jordan, was appointed by Pope John XIII in 968, nonetheless, by that time Poland had won recognition as a proper European state, both from the papacy and from the Holy Roman Empire. Out of various Polish provinces, Christianitys spread was slowest in Pomerania, by the 13th century Roman Catholicism had become the dominant religion throughout Poland. In adopting Christianity as the religion, Mieszko sought to achieve several personal goals. He saw Polands baptism as a way of strengthening his hold on power and it replaced several smaller cults with a single, central one, clearly associated with the royal court
Christianization of Poland
–
Christianization of Poland A.D. 966. by
Jan Matejko
Christianization of Poland
–
Dobrawa, Mieszko's wife who played a major role in Poland's conversion to Christianity.
Christianization of Poland
–
Mieszko I, the first Christian ruler of Poland. Depicted by
Jan Matejko as holding a crucifix in an allusion to the Baptism of Poland.
Christianization of Poland
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Contemporary mural in
Gniezno commemorating the baptism of Poland.
12.
Christianization of Bohemia
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The Christianization of Bohemia refers to the spread of the Christian religion in the lands of medieval Bohemia. As in many countries, Christianity was related to the establishment of a new state. The process began with the conversion of Bořivoj I, Duke of Bohemia and it was an outgrowth of the Christianization of Moravia, traditionally attributed to the Greek missionaries, Saints Cyril and Methodius, in 863. In 895, Prague became part of the Bavarian Roman Catholic Diocese of Regensburg, in 973 a bishopric was established in Prague. By the 10th century, several native saints emerged in Bohemia, Saint Ludmila of Bohemia, their grandson Saint Wenceslas and Saint Adalbert, Bishop of Prague. Saint Wenceslas is said to have completed the Christianization of Bohemia in the early 10th century, shortly before his assassination in 935 by his own brother, Boleslav the Cruel. Boleslavs daughter, Dobrawa of Bohemia, married Mieszko I of Poland, and became instrumental in converting him, his court, by the early 11th century, Bohemia gained an upper hand over Moravia, which was annexed to Bohemia. Moravians were allowed to practice their Slavic Orthodox rites, but eventually they were replaced by Franco-Latin Catholic practices, a parish network was created around the 13th century. Jan Hus and the Hussites Religion in the Czech Republic
Christianization of Bohemia
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The
Baptism of Duke Bořivoj, a historical painting by Václav Ignác Leopold Markovský
13.
Christianization of Bulgaria
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Because of Bulgarias strategic position, the churches of both Rome and Constantinople each wanted Bulgaria in their sphere of influence. They regarded Christianization as a means of integrating Slavs into their region, after some overtures to each side, the knyaz adopted Christianity from Constantinople in 870. As a result, he achieved his goal of gaining an independent Bulgarian national church, when Tsar Boris began his reign in 852, the international situation was very complicated. The conflict with the Byzantine Empire for domination over the Slavic tribes in modern-day Macedonia, in the middle Danube region, Bulgarias interests crossed with those of the emerging kingdom of the East Franks and the principality of Great Moravia. It was about that period when Croatia emerged on the scene, carrying its own ambitions. On a larger scale, the tensions between Constantinople and Rome were tightening, both centres were competing to lead the Christianization that would integrate the Slavs in South and Central Europe. The Bulgarian Empire and the Kingdom of the East Franks had established diplomatic relations as soon as the 20s and 30s of the 9th century. In 852, at the beginning of the reign of Knyaz Boris, a Bulgarian embassy was sent to Mainz to tell Louis II of the change in Pliska, most probably the embassy also worked to renew the Bulgarian-German alliance. Some time later, Tsar Boris concluded an alliance with Rastislav of Moravia instigated by the King of the West Franks, the German Kingdom responded by attacking and defeating Bulgaria, forcing Knyaz Boris to re-establish an alliance with the German king directed against Great Moravia, a Byzantine ally. The situation held great risk for the Bulgarian state, war finally broke out between 855-856. The Empire wanted to control over some fortresses on the Diagonal Road that went from Constantinople, through Philippopolis, to Naissus. The Byzantine Empire was victorious and reconquered a number of cities and this renewed alliance threatened Great Moravia, which sought help from Byzantium. This was at the time when a Byzantine mission to Great Moravia was taking place. Cyril and his brother Methodius intended to draw Great Moravia closer to Constantinople circle, Tsar Boris was more interested in that Cyril and Methodius brought him the first Slavonic alphabet they created for Knyaz Rostislav. Bulgaria wanted to implement a Slavonic alphabet as well as a means to stop the influence of the Byzantine Empire. A Rome-dependent Bulgaria in the hinterland of Constantinople was a threat to the Byzantine Empires immediate interests, Byzantium did not demand territories but the conversion to Eastern Christianity of Bulgarian representatives and leaders, followed by conversion by the rest of the Bulgarian people. Such a demand would be unacceptable in other circumstances, the two sides concluded a deep peace for a 30-year period. In the late autumn of 863, a mission from the Patriarch of Constantinople Photios came to Pliska and converted the tsar, his family and they were all baptized as Christians
Christianization of Bulgaria
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Baptism of the Preslav court by
Nikolai Pavlovich (date of completion unknown)
Christianization of Bulgaria
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The baptism of St. Boris I.
Christianization of Bulgaria
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The Bulgarians pray to God for a famine to go away
14.
Slavic paganism
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Slavic mythology is the mythological aspect of the polytheistic religion that was practised by the Slavs before Christianisation. Unlike ancient Greek, Hindu, Chinese or Egyptian mythology, there are no records for the study of Slavic mythology. It has not been proven that the Slavs had any sort of writing system before the arrival of Saints Cyril, fragments of old mythological beliefs and pagan festivals survive up to this day in folk customs, songs, stories and folk-tales of all the Slavic nations. Although Herodotus is himself not convinced by this rumour, he stresses that he has heard some swear it, the identification of Neuri with Proto-Slavs remains controversial, however. According to Procopius, these Slavs worshipped a single deity, who crafted lightning, though not named explicitly, it can be deduced this is a reference to the deity known as Perun in later historic sources, as in many Slavic languages today. Perun simply means thunder or lightning bolt and he also mentions the belief in various demons and nymphs, but does not mention any other names. The Slavic Primary Chronicle is a work with many valuable references to the pagan beliefs of Eastern Slavs. The chronicle treats the history of the early Eastern Slavic state, even though the manuscript was compiled at the beginning of the 12th century, it contains references to and copies of older documents, and describes events predating the Baptism of Kiev. Two deities, Perun and Veles/Volos, are mentioned in the text of the early 10th century peace treaties between pagan rulers of East Slavs and Byzantine Emperors, later, Nestor the Chronicler describes a state pantheon introduced by Prince Vladimir in Kiev in 980 CE. Vladimirs pantheon included Perun, Hors, Dažbog, Stribog, Simargl, the Hypatian Codex of the Primary Chronicle also mentions Svarog, compared to Greek Hephaestus. Also very interesting are the passages in the East Slavic epic The Tale of Igors Campaign referring to Veles, Dažbog, the original epic has been dated to the end of the 12th century, although there are marginal disputes over the authenticity of this work. The most numerous and richest written records are of West Slavic paganism, particularly of Wendish and Polabian tribes, the German missionaries and priests who criticized pagan religion left extensive records of old mythological systems they sought to overcome. However, they restrained themselves from pious lies, claiming pagan Slavs were idolatrous. As none of those missionaries learned any Slavic language, their records are confused and exaggerated, major works include a chronicle of Thietmar of Merseburg from the beginning of the 11th century, who described a temple in the city of Riedegost where the great deity Zuarasic was worshipped. According to Thietmar, this was the most sacred place in the land of pagan Slavs, another very valuable document is the Chronica Slavorum written in the late 12th century by Helmold, a German priest. Saxo meticulously described the worship of Svantevit, the associated with it. He also mentioned multi-headed deities of other Slavic tribes, Rugievit, Porewit, according to the manuscript, the most important Slavic deity was Triglav, whose temples in the city of Szczecin were respected oracles. In the cities of Wolgast and Havelberg, the war god Gerovit was worshiped, a corruption of Jarovit
Slavic paganism
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Many generations of Slavic artists were inspired by their national folklore:
Ilya Yefimovich Repin,
Sadko in the Underwater Kingdom (1876)
Slavic paganism
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A Slavic temple
Slavic paganism
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Pagan cult wall (8th-9th century BC) in
Łysa Góra, Poland
Slavic paganism
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Artistic representation of Saxo Grammaticus
15.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
International Standard Book Number
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A 13-digit ISBN, 978-3-16-148410-0, as represented by an
EAN-13 bar code
