In modern Russia, the Day of Slavic writing and culture is dedicated to the day of reverence for the memory of church saints - Cyril and Methodius. Traditional historiography closely links the first native letter of medieval Russians with the names of these brothers. According to the prevailing historical version, Slavic writing was introduced here by Christian preachers in the second
half of the IX century. The written documents of the Middle Ages confirm that in 863, the Byzantine emperor Michael III, the Moravian prince Rostislav arrived with a request to send missionaries to his lands who could convey the word of God to the Western Slavs in a language they understand. While German Catholics tried to impose their version of Christianity exclusively in Latin.
Over time, this issue will become one of the main stumbling blocks between faiths. However, even then between the western and eastern Christianity theological disputes and political discord were burning with hot fire. Wanting to bring the Slavs to the fold of his own church, Michael III sent missionaries Cyril and Methodius to Moravia. From this moment Slavic writing began.
For successful religious strengthening in these lands, the Greeks needed to convey to the masses their worldview not only verbally, but also in writing, in the form of books. It was also necessary to create a local layer of clergy. For these purposes, based on Greek letters for
Slavic language was adapted two alphabets:
Cyrillic and Glagolitic. At the dawn of their existence, they differed only in the style of some letters. Modern historians still argue which of them is primary. However, most of the facts indicate that the first was the Glagolitic. The Cyrillic alphabet was created a little later on the basis of the Greek alphabet and the Glagolitic alphabet.
Freshly baked Slavic writing significantly contributed to the establishment of Christianity of the Greek rite in Moravia, later in Bulgaria. And from there it reached the Kievan Rus with Balkan preachers, in which a century later it became the state religion. The Cyrillic script, which became the basis for the further development of the Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian languages, entered our lands in the same way. But many Western Slavs could not keep the cultural gifts of the Greeks. In the same Moravia, Catholic Christianity was later adopted, and the local population was forced to abandon the Glagolitic alphabet in favor of the Latin alphabet.
It should also be mentioned that for quite some time there have been discussions among historians and archaeologists regarding the so-called Slavic runes. A number of researchers believe that the emergence of Slavic writing occurred much earlier than the appearance of the preachers Cyril and Methodius. And this point of view has some evidence. Indirectly Slavic writing is mentioned by Arab travelers, some researchers see runic writing on archaeological finds. However, no system has yet been identified in these signs, and Arabic sources dating back to the 10th century could have in mind the Cyrillic alphabet.