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DAYS OF SLAVIC LITERATURE AND CULTURE

May 24, 2011

On May 24, observing the Day of Slavic Literature and Culture and the anniversary of its foundation, the „Ćirulica" (Cyrillic) Association organized the presentation of a book by Petar Jaćimović „Srpska ćirilica" (Serbian Cyrillic). Our own Milena Gluvačević interviewed the president of the Association, Nemanja Vidić.
Reading this book, one can learn that the Latin alphabet was somewhat deceitfully introduced into Serbia in order to gradually replaced the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet, says Vidic, emphasizing that the Cyrillic alphabet was banned in the past and neglected in Communist times. The Serbian Constitution protects the Cyrillic alphabet today. At the ceremony, awards and recognitions were presented to persons that have contributed most to the defence and preservation of the Cyrillic alphabet.  

The Cyrillic alphabet was named after saints Cyril and Methodius, two brothers born in Thessaloniki in the 9th century. They were missionaries of Christianity among Slavic peoples and were popularly known as the Apostles of the Slavs. They are credited with the invention of the Glagolitic alphabet, which was the first alphabet used to transcribed the Old Church Slavonic language, whereas the creation of the Cyrillic alphabet is attributed to a disciple of theirs, St Clement of Ohrid. Saints Cyril and Methodius Day is celebrated on May 24, which is actually May 11 according to the old, Julian calendar. It is observed in remembrance of that day in 863, when Cyril and Methodius left for Great Moravia to pursue their mission. The feast day was established a millennium later, in Russia, in 1863, to be subsequently embraced by other Slavic peoples. Saints Cyril and Methodius left an indelible trace in the cultural history of all the Slavic nations, reflected, above all, in the Slavonic liturgy and the tradition of religious chants in Slavic languages and their reforms marked the beginning of the Slavic religious culture.
Despite the support of Prince Rastislav of Great Moravia, who, in 863, requested that the Byzantine emperor send missionaries to spread Christianity among his people, Cyril and Methodius often faced obstacles and resistance of the Western, i.e. Germanic priesthood, who opposed the idea of a church service to be translated into the Slavonic language. After the death of Cyril, in Rome, in 869, Methodius continued his battle for a Slavic liturgy on his own. In Moravia, he translated the Bible into Old Church Slavonic. He died in 885. The two brothers’ mission was pursued by their disciples, who, like Cyril and Methodius themselves, were often persecuted and condemned as the successors of a great battle for the Slavonic language.