When did Slavonic literacy develop in Macedonia?

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(b) When did Slavonic literacy develop in Macedonia?

Literacy appeared largely as a result of Macedonia’s conversion to Christianity.^[1]Hrabar recorded this fact, and it is also mentioned by Misirkov. There are no concrete data as to the time when this took place, although we can fully accept the periodization of černorizec Hrabar: by the early 10th century literacy in Macedonia had already passed through three stages.

The first stage was the period when the Slavs were still not converted to Christianity and when they “read and told fortunes using lines and notches”. This was probably the period before they arrived in the Balkans and immediately after their arrival. It is difficult to say how long this stage lasted, because there are shepherds even today in some areas of Macedonia who cut various lines (raboši) on their sticks, using them for taking notes and counting. We believe that Hrabar is right when he says that this “literacy” was used at the time when the Slavs were still heathens, and yet we do not know when exactly their conversion to Christi- anity started, nor do we know for how long this process lasted.

The second stage involved a considerably higher form of the Slavonic written culture, when foreign scripts — Latin and Greek, as scripts of a more developed culture — were used for writing in the Slavonic language. This process started with the conversion to Christianity, but even though we do not know when it began or for how long it lasted, its conclusion is nevertheless marked by the ‘invention’ of the Slavonic alphabet by Constantine (Cyril) the Slav. The practice of using the script of a more cultured environment for a Slavonic language is not unknown even up to recent times, but it was not only the privilege of the Slavs: for a long time the Greeks themselves wrote using the Phoenician script, the Armenians used the Syrian script, and until the creation of their own alphabet, the Georgians wrote in the Armenian script. The fact that these foreign symbols were used for writing Slavonic texts in the period of conversion to Christianity points to the fact that some church literature in the Slavonic language had already been created, and that conversion to Christianity in Macedonia was carried out in the vernacular language.

This course of development is not impossible. The Byzantines saw their interest in converting the Slavs to Christianity, as this would provide opportunities for holding them in subjection within their empire, particularly at a time when Rome was making efforts to retain and expand its influence in the Balkans, and especially among the Slavs. On the other hand, it is very interesting that in all the hagiogra- phies of Cyril, Methodius, Clement and Naum the dispute concerning the three languages takes place between the Slavonic educators and the Latin clergy, not the Greeks, with the exception of the oration of černorizec Hrabar, which could also be a reflection of the position of the Greek clergy in the Bulgarian state. The Greeks certainly fought to secure domination against the Slav clergy who had already been established, particularly within the Ohrid literary school. In principle, the Constantinopolitan Church was not against the introduction of vernaculars in the preaching of Christianity, even though there was, in certain periods, a tendency for the texts which dealt with the essence of Christianity, texts of strictly dogmatic character (the Gospel, Acts of the Apostles, Symbol of Faith, etc.), to be in Hebrew, Greek or Latin, because, it was believed, there was a danger of inaccurate translation, or incorrect interpretation of the Christian doctrine. In the Byzantine Empire itself, church books were translated into Gothic in the 4th century, in Armenian in the 5th century, and from Armenian into Georgian. As early as the 4th century, however, the Goths were proclaimed heretics. At this point let us mention that the other churches preaching in vernaculars were proclaimed as adherents to various heresies and schisms: the Syrian Chaldean church was Nestorian, the Syrian Jacobite, the Coptic and Armenian churches Monophysitic, and the Gothic church was Arian. ^[2]

The position of the Constantinopolitan Church in the 9th century was clearly defined by the famous statesman and patriarch Photius, who in his work On the Franks and Other Latins accused the Latins of adhering to the principle of trilingualism and expressed the view that God could be worshipped in other languages as well, and not only in Hebrew, Greek or Latin. We can hence conclude that the Macedonian Slavs, after receiving Christianity, were given the basic books in their own language, thus also receiving the Christian culture of the contemporary civilized Graeco-Roman world. That this is close to the truth is confirmed by the excerpts already quoted from the hagiographies and from Hrabar’s oration, to which we can add that part of the letter of the Greater- Moravian Prince Rostislav where, among other things, he writes:

For our people who have given up heathendom and received Christianity we do not have such a teacher who will preach the true Christian faith in our own language, so that when other lands see it they may follow us. Therefore, O ruler, send us such a bishop and teacher!^[3]

This quotation points to the possibility that Rostislav already knew that there were Christianized Slavs within the borders of the Byzantine Empire and that they had teachers and priests using the Slavonic vernacular. Is it possible that, as is described in the hagiographies, Cyril and Methodius were able in such a short time (half a year) to create the alphabet, translate and copy the principal church books, and prepare other teachers to go to Moravia, if there had not been an already established written tradition, a fixed terminology and a well-developed style of use of the vernacular? Both the alphabet and language of Cyril and Methodius testify to the existence of a fully established literary language and a perfect script which corresponded to the phonetics of the Slavonic dialect in the Salonika region. This can by no means be an accidental result of the circumstances of the time. Accordingly, there is no doubt that Christianity in Macedonia was preached and spread prior to 864 (when the Bulgars started receiving Christianity) and that the Macedonian Slavs had an already well-developed Slavonic written culture. The only question that remains to be answered is: what script did that literature use?

Firstof all, the old dispute as to what alphabet Constantine (Cyril) created is still very much alive. The majority of scholars, however, believe that it can be safely assumed that it was Glagolitic. But two other very important questions automatically arise here: how did Cyrillic develop and when was Glagolitic created?

From what has been said so far it is obvious that the first alphabet for the Slavs in Macedonia was created long before the mission of Cyril and Methodius to Moravia, that it was built mainly on the basis of the Greek alphabet and that it was probably closest to modern Cyrillic. černorizec Hrabar himself writes that this alphabet was used for Slavonic sounds, but that it could not suitably render Slavonic phonetics, as a result of which Constantine (Cyril) designed an alphabet in accordance with the phonetics of these Slavs. This allows the possibility that Cyrillic, “without a standard” (i.e. without the symbols for the characteristic Slavonic sounds, as quoted by Hrabar) was used in Macedonia even before 862. At this point we are faced with the question: when did this process start? This is indeed only a single component in the whole process of conversion to Christi- anity and civilization of the Macedonian Slavs. Many scholars do not consider it a mere fantasy that such Slavonic literacy existed as early as the 7th century. Relying mainly on the Salonika Legend, the Ascension of Cyril the Philosopher, the Life of the Tiberiopolis Martyrs, a record in the Kastamonia monastery on Mount Athos, two surviving chronicles and other written records, the Bulgarian scholar Jordan Ivanov in 1906 concluded that for a whole 200 years before Cyril and Methodius “there was a man who tried to give an alphabet to the Slavs in Northern Macedonia” and that that man was Cyril of Cappadocia who worked in Syria and Egypt.^[4] 19

A similar view was put forward somewhat later by his younger colleague Emil Georgiev, who believes that Cyrillic was created earlier than 863, and that its creation was a continuous and gradual process. Georgiev writes: “Even before Cyril, the Slavs used to have books written in Cyrillic, but they were of local significance and did not spread to a wider area, and besides, which is more important, they were not accepted by the official church.” ^[5]

In another text on this question, published in 1966, Georgiev states his views even more precisely: Jordan Ivanov allowed the possibility that the alphabet of Cyril of Cappadocia was Glagolitic. Yet it is considered a proven fact that Glagolitic was the work of Constantine-Cyril the Slav. Hence it cannot be excluded that Cyril of Cappadocia may have taken part in the creation of Cyrillic, which was created before Glagolitic and in which the Semitic symbols Š , C and č were used; coming from the east, Cyril of Cappadocia could have introduced these symbols into Cyrillic. These same symbols, as they were not Greek and did not provoke the discontent of the Roman Catholic Church, were later introduced by Cyril of Cappadocia into his alphabet — the Glagolitic — adapting them in style and form to the restof the Glagolitic letters.^[6]

We can thus conclude that the Slavonic language written in Greek script was used in Macedonia; that it was only a cultural, and not literary language, as it was not the language of a specific state or specific church, and that this situation continued “for many years”. The first recognized Slavonic language and the first Slavonic alphabet (for precisely these reasons) reached that degree only when they became the alphabet and the language of the Greater-Moravian state and its church, even though they were built on the basis of the vernacular of southern Macedonian Slavs.

The third stage in the development of literacy and Christianity in Macedonia, as underlined by Hrabar as well, started at the moment when Cyril and Methodius designed the Slavonic alphabet and translated the religious books into the language of the Salonika Slavs, which had already been established as a literary one. Scholars have long been debating these questions: when, why and what alphabet did they create?

The hagiographies usually state that it was only after Rostislav’s letter to Michael III that work on the preparation of the mission to Greater Moravia started, meaning that the alphabet was created at that time. The same sources give indirect indications that Cyril and Methodius worked even earlier on this task. We have already pointed out that even before the brothers went on their state and diplomatic missions among the Arabs and Khazars, Methodius had been the strategus of the Bregalnica region for ten years, that his brother Constantine came there, converting many Slavs to Christianity, creating an alphabet and writing books for them. It is also mentioned that in 851, almost simultaneously, the two brothers went to a monastery on Olympus (Asia Minor) where they “talked to the books” for nearly ten years. černorizec Hrabar writes that Constantine designed the alphabet in 855, no doubt after many years of work. Even though there are arguments disputing this, if we accept this date, it seems that in the Bregalnica region Constantine spread Christianity and Slavonic literacy using Greek and Roman symbols, i.e. a Cyrillic alphabet “without a system”. Perhaps it is for this reason that this alphabet bears his name up to the present day, if it is not connected with the name of Cyril of Cappadocia.

The hagiographies also state that in 859/860, when Cyril and Methodius departed on their new mission among the Khazars, their work in the Polychron monastery was continued by their disciples, which is not only a confirmation that the alphabet was already prepared, books were translated and copies made, but also that the brothers had their own disciples who were actually those companions on their journey to Moravia. As a result, Rostislav knew what to ask for and where to ask, and Michael III was able to send people with the necessary qualifications, who would nevertheless know how to protect properly Byzantine state and church interests in Central Europe.

At this point let us answer the question concerning the character of the Salonika brothers’ mission to Moravia.

There is certainly no doubt that, being Byzantine state-political and church dignitaries of the highest rank, Cyril and Methodius did not depart only on a formal church-religious mission; it was a purely state, political and strategic mission, and they remained, until the end of their lives, faithful to the highly complex task they had undertaken. The result of that mission, however, was of invaluable significance for the entire Slavic world and in particular for Slavonic literacy and culture, although later it did have negative repercussions on the Byzantine Empire’s aspirations in the Balkans.

1. ↑ Blaže Ri stovski , “Nekoi prašanja okolu pojavata na hristijanstvoto i pismenosta kaj Slovenite vo Makedonija“, in: Kiril Solunski. Simpozium 1100-godišnina od smrtta na Kiril Solunski, kniga 2, 23-25 maj 1969, Skopje-Jaip, MANU, Skopje, 1970, 319-337.
2. ↑ Kujao M. Kuev, černorizec Hrabъr , BAN, Sofija, 1967, 83.
3. ↑ Teodorovъ-Balanъ, Kirilъ i Metodi, I, Sofija, 1920.
4. ↑ Jordanъ Ivanovъ , Makedonija, Sofija, 1906, 70.
5. ↑ Emil Georgiev, Slavjanskaja pismennost do Kirilla i Metodija, Sofija, 1952, 84.
6. ↑ Prof. d-r Emil Georgiev, Literatura na izostreni borbi v srednovekovna Bъl garija, BAN, Sofija, 1966, 315.