Do you know what Cyrillic is?

Russian writing has its own history of formation and its alphabet, which is very different from the same Latin that is used in most European countries. The Russian alphabet is Cyrillic, more precisely, its modern, modified version. But let's not run ahead.

So, what is Cyrillic? This is the alphabet that underlies some Slavic languages, such as Ukrainian, Russian, Bulgarian, Belarusian, Serbian, Macedonian. As you can see, the definition is quite simple.

The history of the Cyrillic alphabet begins its history in the 9th century, when the Byzantine emperor Michael III ordered the creation of a new alphabet for the Slavs, in order to convey to religious believers religious texts.

Honor to create such an alphabet went to the so-called "brother of the brothers" - Cyril and Methodius.

But does this give us an answer to the question, what is Cyrillic? In part, yes, but there are still some interesting facts. For example, the fact that the Cyrillic alphabet is based on the Greek statutory letter. Also it is worth noting that with the help of some letters of the Cyrillic alphabet numbers were denoted. For this, a special diacritic sign-titlo-was placed above the combination of letters.

As for the spread of the Cyrillic alphabet, it only came to the Slavs with the adoption of Christianity. For example, in Bulgaria the Cyrillic alphabet appeared only in 860, after the Bulgarian Tsar Boris took Christianity. At the end of the IX century the Cyrillic alphabet penetrates into Serbia, and a hundred years later on the territory of Kievan Rus.

Along with the alphabet begins to spread and church literature, translations of the Gospel, the Bible, prayers.

In fact, this makes it clear what Cyrillic script is and where it came from. But has it reached us in its original form? By no means. Like many other things, writing has changed and improved along with our language and culture.

The modern Cyrillic alphabet lost some of its designations and letters in the course of various reforms. So disappeared such diacritical signs as titlo, iso, kamora, letters yer and yer, yat, yus large and small, izhitsa, fita, psi and ksi. In modern Cyrillic alphabet consists of 33 letters.

In addition, the alphanumerical numbering has not been used for a long time, it was completely replaced by Arabic numerals. The modern version of the Cyrillic alphabet is much more convenient and practical than the one that was a thousand years ago.

So, what is Cyrillic? Cyrillic alphabet, created by the monks-enlighteners Cyril and Methodius on the orders of Tsar Michael III. By adopting a new faith, we received at our disposal not only new customs, a new deity and culture, but also an alphabet, a multitude of translated church book literature that for a long time remained the only kind of literature that could be enjoyed by the educated sections of the population of Kievan Rus.

In the course of time and under the influence of various reforms, the alphabet changed, improved, and unnecessary and unnecessary letters and symbols disappeared from it. The Cyrillic alphabet that we use today is the result of all the metamorphoses that have occurred over more than a thousand years of the existence of the Slavic alphabet.