Glagolitic
Script
(glagolica) and the Slavs
Language
and Literacy - Politics of Religion in Middle Ages |
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| Glagolitic
script came into being during the 9th century. It was invented to
accommodate the complex sound system of the old Slavic language
for the purpose of spreading Christianity among the Slavs. From
a beginning in Macedonia, the glagolica and its Christian
message spread like wildfire over Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Czechoslovakia,
Poland, Ukraine and Russia, that is, over the whole Slav world.
Having made
its mark, glagolica continued in use in Slavic church services
in some cases into the 20th century. However, by the 10th century
a simpler script was introduced – the Cyrillic script or
"cirilica" - which is to this day the official script
of Russia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. It was
named Cyrillic in honour of St.Cyril who was thought to have invented
it. While glagolica continued in use particularly in Croatia into
the 20th century, Latin script was gradually adopted by the western
Slavs - Slovenes, Croats, Czechs, Slovaks and Poles - who came
under the sphere of influence of the Roman Catholic Church and
Western European political sphere. Russians, Serbs, Macedonians,
Bulgarians came under the influence of the Byzantine empire, established
the Orthodox rite and retained Cyrillic script in religious as
well as secular sphere.
For all the Slavs the common legacy bequeathed them by St.Cyril
and Methodius was the right to celebrate Mass and conduct all
church services in their own tongue, while the rest of the world
retained the Latin services until the Vatican II.
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Plate 1. St. Cyril and
Methodius,
the Apostles of the Slavs
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The story of how it
all came about makes a fascinating tale. It began with a request
to the Byzantine emperor for Christian missionaries who spoke
the Slavic language. The request came from Moravian Prince Rastislav
and it was a move principally dictated by political necessities.
Rastislav wished to reduce the political power of German priesthood,
which they exercised by virtue of control over the new religion.
Through German priests German princes were able to wield the influence,
which came with the authority and sanction of the church. Prince
Rastislav sought the assistance of the other great power of the
time – the Byzantine Empire to provide the counterbalance
and support for his own rule.
The history books tell us that the emperor promptly acceded to
the request. Two exceptionally able brothers Constantine (later
known as Cyril) and Methodius were asked to undertake the task.
We know that they had already undertaken an important and successful
mission to Khazars and that they were fluent speakers of their
native Macedonian and that Constantine was a learned man, a linguist,
who had been given the honorary title Philosopher.
As part of preparation for their task, they wanted to translate
a number of essential religious texts into Slavic. Constantine
found the Greek alphabet unsuitable, since it lacked many of the
Slavic sounds and consonantal groups. So he set out to invent
a new Slavic alphabet. With a background of knowledge of scripts
current in Asia and Africa at the time, he was able to construct
an alphabet which was precise and complex and included all the
sounds specific to Slavic tongue, for instance the nasal O and
E, the reduced vowel, consonantal groups sst and zzd, etc, with
as many letters as there were sounds distinguishing words for
their meanings.
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Constantine named the script glagolica, meaning speech.
Since the word Slav also means speaker, the
name was appropriate and significant, reminding the user
that here was a tool of communication and empowerment. In
its conception and as a linguistic tool, glagolitic script
was an amazing achievement – a tool to give power of
the written word to half the Europe. It was also a powerful
demonstration of the effective use of the native language
in spreading a new religion and a new concept of the world.
Constantine
proceeded to translate selections of Gospels, Acts of Apostles
and liturgical texts. These are the oldest texts in a Slavic
language. (The Freising
Manuscripts / Brizzinski rokopisi in Latin script,
were written about this time but were only known from 10th
century copies and were also limited to a few texts.)
The
language - the Macedonian variant of the 9th century Slavic
- became known as Old Church Slavic. It did not vary much
from the Slavic spoken in the north. In time words used
exclusively in the north were added, for instance the word
for cross – krizz, which is still used in Slovenian
today. Together with translations that followed the initial
ones, this language was retained in the liturgy of the Orthodox
Churches of the southern and eastern Slavs, and continued
in use also in Croatia and in Ukrainian Roman Catholic Church
of the Eastern rite.
By 863
the brothers were ready and started on their slow journey
to Moravia, stopping to teach on the way. Their journey
took them through Bulgaria, Serbia, and drew them into a
power struggle that they did not want. The less successful
German priesthood, which insisted on the use of Latin in
the church ritual, reported them to the pope, for their
"heretic" use of Slavic language in the celebration
of the Mass. So they traveled to Rome and defended their
use of the vernacular in church liturgy. They did this so
successfully that they won pope’s approval. St.Cyril
entered the church and died in Rome in 869. Methodius could
not return to Moravia, because of the political situation
there. He was asked by Slovenian Prince Kocel to work in
Pannonia. Kocel supported his consecration as Bishop, and
welcomed the edge this gave him in breaking the power of
the Salzburg hierarchy over his land. So Methodius was consecrated
bishop of Simium, with authority over Serbs, Croats, Slovenes
and Moravians.
The
German bishops did not rest in their attempts to get rid
of "this turbulent priest"accused him of infringing
on their power and imprisoned him. He was released only
after German defeat in Moravia and pope’s intervention.
However, to appease Germans, Methodius was no longer permitted
to celebrate the Slavic Mass. In 879 he was again summoned
to Rome to answer German charges that he had disobeyed the
restriction. Methodius was again given a chance to explain
to the Pope, how important was to celebrate church rites
in the language that people understood. The result was,
that the Pope gave him permission to use Slavic tongue for
the Mass, Scripture reading and the Offices. He was also
made Head of the hierarchy in Moravia. Methodius continued
his work and it is said that he translated most of the bible
and the works of Church Fathers before his death in 884.
In the
Slavic world St. Cyril and Methodius became legend, revered
as the Apostles of the Slavs. They were great teachers,
who brought to the Slav peoples, together with Christianity
and a new concept of the world, the written word, a pride
in their own tongue and an awareness of themselves, their
language and their identity, separate from the Latin based
tradition of the Western Europe. This act was to divide
Europe initially into Eastern Byzantine and Western Roman
both in professed religion and in political allegiance.
It split the Slavs themselves into those who established
the Orthodox national churches and those who looked to Rome
as the supreme religious authority. In the 20th century
that thousand year old division split Europe once again
into western democratic and eastern communist political
systems. From such divisions came conflicts and cross-fertilizing
of ideas, which still characterize the Europe of today and
gives its special rich tapestry of the present, flowing
from a turbulent and energetic past.
Link:
Apostles to the Slavs and defenders of the Slavic Language
Slavonic
Language and Liturgy
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