A Cyrillic Primer

By Volodymyr Kish

I think it is probably safe to say that the majority of Ukrainian Canadians are no longer able to read and write using the Ukrainian Cyrillic alphabet.  The thirty three letters that currently make up the current set might as well be Greek.  The fact that most of the letters are actually derived from Greek is of little comfort.

I would also hazard a guess that most Ukrainians know little about the history of the Cyrillic form of writing aside from some hazy recollection that it had something to do with the Saints Cyril and Methodius who are said to have been the prime instigators of making Kyivan Rus a Christian nation.  The story is a little more interesting and complex than one may think.

The Cyrillic alphabet has its origins in an even earlier precursor alphabet called Glagolitic which emerges in recorded history somewhere around 862 or 863 AD and coincided with the arrival in Moravia (currently Slovakia and Croatia) of two monks from Thessaloniki named Cyril and Methodius who were sent by the Byzantine Emperor at the request of the Knyaz (Duke) Rastislav of Greater Moravia.  It is said that the two monks developed the Glagolitic alphabet of some 41 letters to enable them to communicate with the Slavic locals who did not use or understand the Byzantine Empire’s official language which was Greek. Many of the letters in this Glagolitic alphabet were in fact based on Greek letters, with the addition of some new letters representing distinct sounds used by the Slavs who then inhabited Central Europe.

Some of the followers of these two monks eventually made their way to Bulgaria where the ruler Boris I commissioned them to create an alphabet for use throughout his realm.  Bulgaria had become officially “Christianized” in 865, and Boris did not want to use Greek, the Byzantine Empire’s official language, as he wanted to counter the Byzantine Empire’s influence and retain as much autonomy as he could.  Then, as now, he viewed language as a powerful political and nationalistic weapon.  With the assistance of the aforementioned disciples of Cyril and Methodius, the Bulgarians established special academies at Ohrid and Preslav, and it was there that the Glagolitic script was refined, and the earliest version of what we now know and recognize as Cyrillic was created consisting of 43 different letters, 24 borrowed from Greek and 19 newly created Slavic ones.

For the next several centuries, most of the works published in this language were the Gospels and religious texts, and the term Cyrillic became synonymous with the term Old Church Slavonic.  The alphabet spread throughout the Slavic world of the time, and became adopted by whom we now know as the Bulgarians, Serbians, Croatians, Macedonians, Ukrainians, Russians and other Slavic peoples of the area.  Though initially introduced to enable religious education, the use of the Cyrillic alphabet spread into secular use found in the administrative, government and literary spheres.  Needless to say, each region and distinct ethnic Slavic sub-group introduced its own variations of the original Cyrillic alphabet that evolved into the contemporary Slavic alphabets and languages that we know of today.  The Cyrillic alphabet spread quickly throughout Ukraine with the official adoption of Christianity in 988 AD.

The modern Ukrainian alphabet evolved over the centuries with many regional variations and was not officially standardized until 1927 at an official conference in Kharkiv established for this purpose by Bolshevik leader and then Prime Minister of Soviet Ukraine, Mykola Skrypnyk.  From the original 43 letters in the old Cyrillic script, the modern Ukrainian alphabet was reduced to 33 letters.

The modern Ukrainian language as we know it today owes much to the works and efforts of Ivan Kotlyarevsky and Taras Shevchenko who both popularized and elevated the then existing vernacular form of Ukrainian into a more literary, sophisticated and standardized form.

Interestingly enough, Old Church Slavonic continued to be used for liturgical purposes until recent modern times, and in fact is still used by some elements of the Russian Orthodox Church to this day.

As for the Cyrillic alphabet, it is used in its various forms today by some 250 million people around the World, primarily in Europe and Asia.