Letter in spirit. General overview of the Church Slavonic alphabet

Church Slavonic language

The Slavic alphabet was compiled by the holy Thessalonica brothers Constantine (in monasticism Cyril) and Methodius in 863 at the request of the Moravian prince Rostislav to organize worship in Slavic countries in the native language of the inhabitants. Before this, Constantine studied with the best teachers in Constantinople, headed the patriarchal library, taught, and had the title of philosopher. Methodius was engaged in military affairs, rising to the rank of strategist, but later retired to a monastery.

The Latin clergy opposed worship in the Slavic language, considering only three languages ​​permissible for glorifying God: Hebrew, Greek and Latin. In Rome, Pope Adrian II in 868 blessed services in the Slavic language. A year later, Constantine died, taking monasticism with the name Cyril. Methodius became a bishop and later archbishop of Moravia and Pannonia. After his death in 885, the disciples Constantine, Gorazd, Clement, Naum and others were expelled from Moravia by the Latin clergy, but accepted in Bulgaria. There, an alphabet reform was later carried out - complex Glagolitic letters were replaced with familiar Greek ones, and new letters were invented for some specific Slavic sounds.

Notes:

• The letter e at the beginning of a word has the shape є
• The letter s has lost its original pronunciation and is used in the roots of several words.
• The letter ї is used before a vowel in some Greek words, as well as in the word world (meaning the universe).
• The letter o at the beginning of the root has the shape ѻ
• The letter ѡ is used in prefixes, adverbs and some Greek words.
• The letter ꙋ (vertical version оѵ) at the beginning of the word has the Greek style ѹ
• The letters ъ/ь in ancient times in certain positions were pronounced as super-short sounds [o] / [e], then they were excluded from syllables (or replaced with vowels) and remained only to indicate hardness or softness.
• The letter ъ in prepositions and prefixes can be replaced by the superscript sign paerok (в̾).
• The letter ѣ has lost its original pronunciation and is used in the roots of some words and endings.
• The letter ѧ (yus small) has lost its original pronunciation and is used in the middle and end of a word instead of ꙗ, as well as at the beginning of the word language (in the meaning of organ).
• The letter ѫ (yus capital), as well as the iotized yuses ѩ and ѭ, have fallen out of use.
• The letters ѯ, ѱ, ѳ, ѷ are used exclusively in Greek words.
• The letter g in Greek words before the letters g, k, x is pronounced [n].
• The letter ѵ after the sounds [a] and [e] is pronounced like [v].
• To distinguish different grammatical forms of the same word that sound the same in writing, the letters o / e are replaced by ѡ / є

Types of accents (no difference in pronunciation):

• Acute (á) - placed above the vowel at the beginning and middle of the word.
• Blunt (à) - placed above the vowel at the end of the word.
• Clothed (а̑) - used to distinguish in writing different grammatical forms of the same word that sound the same.

Titles are used to shorten frequently used sacred words:

• Simple (without a letter): bg͆ъ, dkh͆ъ, dsh͆а̀, chl͆вѣ́къ.
• Literal (with a letter under the title): gdⷭь, хрⷭtoсъ, prⷪrock, prⷣtecha.

Notes:

• An aspiration sign is placed above the initial vowel (і̓и͆съ, є̓ѵⷢлїе, а̓п͆лъ), it can be combined with stress (а̓́г͆глъ).
• The semicolon is used as a question mark.
• To shorten sentences often used in worship, a colon is used after the initial words.
• To denote numbers, a simple title is used over letters having a numerical value; the sign ( ҂ ) in front of the number is used to denote thousands.
• All letters of the Church Slavonic language must be pronounced accurately; reduction of vowels, deafening of voiced consonants, and assimilation are prohibited.

Church Slavonic alphabet in Unicode:

Unfortunately, the Unicode standard did not take into account all the features of the Church Slavonic language for a long time; only in version 5.1 were the missing Slavic letters added. Therefore, the vast majority of fonts do not have a full set of Cyrillic characters; there is no such font even in the latest version of Windows. Although a number of fonts (Everson, FreeSerif, Kliment, Quivira, Universalia) allow you to display Church Slavonic texts, they are of little use due to the poor positioning of superscripts over Slavic letters of different heights and widths. To correctly display Church Slavonic texts, it is desirable to develop fonts with all possible combinations of letters and superscripts, but, unfortunately, Unicode does not provide a separate range for such ligatures, as, for example, there is for the ancient Greek language. This Unicode omission can be circumvented by using the capabilities of OpenType fonts, where any combination of letters and characters can be automatically replaced when displaying text with a separate ligature that does not require a position in Unicode - such substitutions are carried out automatically by a script program inside the font. Currently, most printing houses and Internet resources, despite the development of Unicode, continue to use previously developed Church Slavonic fonts (for example, Irmologion), which are incompatible both with Unicode and with each other.

• The code range 0400-04FF contains modern Russian and most Slavic letters.
• The additional code range 2DE0-2DFF (version 5.1) contains superscript Slavic letters used to shorten Slavic words (under the title).
• Additional code range A640-A69F (version 5.1) contains missing Slavic letters.
• Superscript diacritics can be used from the range 0300-036F.
• The liturgical signs of the Typikon are assigned codes 1F540-1F543 (32-bit Unicode).

Title signs

In some cases, the title sign is used to distinguish God (this word is written under the title sign when talking about the God in whom Christians believe) from pagan gods (in this case, b0gъ, b0zi is written without the title sign). In the same way, when talking about the angels of God, the word GgGl is written under the title sign, and if it is talking about the fallen angel, Satan, then the word Gggel is written completely without the title sign and is read [aggel].

There are several options for the title sign:

Slavic grammar

Grammatical properties of names:

Face: 1, 2, 3

Number:

• the only thing
• dual
• plural

Genus:

• male
• female
• average

Case:

• nominative
• genitive
• dative
• accusative
• instrumental
• local (prepositional)
• vocative

Grammatical properties of the verb:

Face: 1, 2, 3

Genus:

• male
• female
• average

Number:

• the only thing
• dual
• plural

Time:

Pledge:

• valid
• passive

Mood:

• indicative
• indefinite (infinitive)
• subjunctive (conditional)
• imperative
• desirable

Grammatical properties of participles:

Genus:

• male
• female
• average

Number:

• the only thing
• dual
• plural

Case:

• nominative
• genitive
• dative
• accusative
• instrumental
• local (prepositional)

Time:

• the present
• past

Pledge:

• valid
• passive

Form:

• brief
• full

Declension of personal pronouns

Notes:

• Short forms of pronouns (мѝ, Тѝ, сѝ, Мѧ̀, Тѧ̀, сѧ̀, ны̀, ы̀) are enclitics, that is, they logically form a single word with the previous one, therefore, the eclitic loses its emphasis, and the blunt stress of the previous word becomes acute: save mѧ, blessings
• Full forms of adjectives and participles are formed by merging the short form and the 3rd person pronoun: I.P.: mꙋ́дръ+и̓̀=мꙋ́dry, mꙋ́dra+ѧ̓̀=мꙋ́draѧ, mꙋ́dro+є̓̀=мꙋ́droe R.P.: mꙋ́dra+ є̓гѡ̀=мꙋ́dragѡ, mreports ꙋ́drago, mꙋ́dꙋ+yu̓̀=mꙋ́dꙋyu
• The semantic difference between short and long forms is similar to the use of the indefinite or definite article in other languages; in Russian, short forms in the nominative case are used as adverbs.

Conjugation of the verb to be

Present tense

Past perfect (aorist)

Another form (aorist in form, imperfect in meaning)

Past tense imperfect (imperfect)

Obvious past tense (perfect)

Long past tense (plusquaperfect)

Subjunctive mood (conjunctive)

Notes:

• negation in the present tense merges with the verbal form of being (except for the 3rd person plural): not + є̓́sm = not ѣ́sm, not + є̓сѝ = ѣ́сѝ, not + є̓́ст = неѣ́ст
• the rest of the archaic verbs are conjugated according to the model of the verb to be: have, lead, ꙗ̓sti, date
• the predicate cannot be omitted (as is permissible in the Russian language): az є̓́sm tsar, you are not a prince, ѻ̓нѝ сꙋ́t slave
• in Russian, the verb byt is used only in the form є̓́st and сꙋ́т (present tense), as well as the subjunctive form byt
• in Russian, the past tense is a truncated perfect of the Slavic language: only the participle in -l without the auxiliary verb to be, therefore there is no conjugation for persons, but there is a conjugation for gender

Numerical letter values

Arabic and Latin numerals are not used in Church Slavonic texts. To write numbers, letters of the Church Slavonic alphabet are used, which have numerical values. In this case, a title sign is placed above the letter.

If a number is written in two or more letters, then the title sign is usually placed above the second letter from the end.

Calculation can be carried out both from the Nativity of Christ and from the creation of the world. The time interval between these events, according to church tradition, is 5,508 years. Consequently, if the date is indicated as ¤з7ф (7 500), then this means 1992 from the Nativity of Christ or in Slavic ¤ац§в

Source

Slavic anthology

Christ rose from the dead, having trampled death through death, and given life to those in the tombs.

Ours, and ours, may yours be, may your kingdom come: may your will be done, may yours be done? ѡ on nb͆sѝ and ̓ on earth. Give us our true bread this day, and forgive us our debts, just as we also make our debtors: and do not bring us into Yes, but spare us from the situation.

Symbol of faith:

1. I believe in God, the Almighty, the Creator of God and the earth, visible and invisible to all.
2. And in this same year, we are born before all ages: light It’s light, it’s true, it’s true, it’s born, it’s uncreated, it’s uncreated, it’s everything.
3. For the sake of our people and ours, for the sake of the spirit that descended from the nbs, and embodied the soul of the people hshasѧ.
4. The one who was crucified for us during the pontoon was sung, and herded, and buried.
5. And he rose again on the third day, according to the scriptures.
6. And he ascended to the throne, and sat on the right side.
7. And yet again with glory, with children alive and dead, there will be no end to your reign.
8. And in dh͆a st͆ago, gdⷭa, life-giving, and ѿ ѿ ѻts͆а̀ and ѓ going, ѓ ѓѓѓ ѓ ѿ ѻ ѿ ѓ з ͆е ́ мѓ з мім skklanѧ, ѓ slavima, verb go ahead rocks.
9. In the Holy Catholic Church.
10. Confession is the worst thing about committing sins.
11. I drink the resurrection of the dead:
12. And the life of the next century. Amen.

Еѵⷢлїе ѿ і̓ѡanna:

In the beginning there is a word, and the word is a word. This is from time immemorial to bg: Everything was the same, and without it there was nothing, nothing would have been. There is no life in that, and there is no light in the life of man. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not exist. There was a person sent to God, and he was sent to God. This comes as a testimony, let the world bear witness, and let all the faith be in it. Let not this light, but let this world bear witness. God is the true light, and he enlightens every person in the world. There is nothing in the world, and the world will be, and the world will not know it. In its past, and its own sake, it will not come to an end. The Elves are above Him, giving them the domain of the children of God who believe in Him: And neither by blood nor by blood although carnal, not sexual lust, but of birth. And the word became flesh, and dwelt in us, and we saw the glory, glory, glory, fulfillment the grace of truth. Iann bears witness to him, and calls out the verb: this be, who is like him, and who according to me is great, has come before me: ꙗ̓ first of all. And we fulfilled it, we are happy and blessed: the law of the world is given speed: grace is the truth Let's go quickly.

Communities › This is interesting to know. › Blog › The Old Russian alphabet is an encrypted message!

The usual set of letters of the Russian alphabet is in fact nothing more than a “message to the Slavs.”

Each of the letters of the Cyrillic alphabet has its own name, and if you read these names in alphabetical order, you get:

“Az buki vede. The verb is good. Live well, earth, and, like people, think about our peace. Rtsy’s word is firm - uk färt dick. Tsy, worm, shta ra yus yati.”

One of the translations of this text is: “I know the letters: writing is a property. Work hard, earthlings, as reasonable people should - comprehend the universe! Carry the word with conviction: knowledge is the gift of God! Dare, delve deeply in order to comprehend the light of existence!”

Read more... The Slavic alphabet is a unique phenomenon among all known methods of alphabetic writing. It differs from other alphabets not only in its perfect embodiment of the principle of unambiguous graphic display:

one sound - one letter. In this alphabet, and only in it, there is content. And now you will see for yourself. To begin with, let's remember the phrase:

“Every hunter wants to know where the pheasant is sitting.”

It is known to everyone since childhood and makes it easy to remember the sequence of colors of the rainbow. This is the so-called acrophonic method of memorization. Each word of the phrase begins with the same letter as the name of the color: everyone is red, the hunter is orange...

Before the language reform of 1918, each letter of the alphabet also had its own name. Each letter stood in its place.

The Russian alphabet is not only a set of letters corresponding to sounds, it is also a whole message to the Slavs.

Let us read the message of our ancestors to us living today.

Let's look at the first three letters of the alphabet - Az, Buki, Vedi.

Az – I. Beeches - letters, writing. Vedi - knew, perfect past tense from “vedeti” - to know, to know. Combining the acrophonic names of the first three letters of the alphabet, we get the following phrase: Az buki vede - I know the letters.

Please note: Az – I is the first letter in the alphabet (and not the last, as in the modern alphabet). Because it is with me that my World, my Universe begins.

Az is the basis, the beginning. The basis for everything is knowledge of God and one’s ancestors. That is, your parents, your roots.

Verb Good - speak, do good. Remember, as in Pushkin: “To burn the hearts of people with a verb.” A verb is both a word and a deed at the same time. Verb - speak. Verb - I say. I say it means I do it. What should you do? Good.

Good Is Live - to do good means to live in work, and not to vegetate.

Zelo - diligently, with zeal.

Earth – planet Earth, its inhabitants, earthlings. Live Zelo Earth. Live well by the land and on the earth. For she is our nurse-mother. The earth gives life.

And How People Think - He is Our Peace. That is, what you people think is your world. Here's the law of reflection. What goes around comes around.

Rtsy The Word is Firm. Speak the word firmly. Your word must be firm. Said - done.

Oak Firth Her. Uk is the basis of knowledge. Compare: science, teach, skill, custom.

Her - divine, given from above. Compare: German Herr - lord, God, Greek - hiero - divine. English - hero - hero, as well as the Russian name of God - Horse. Knowledge is the fruit of God, the gift of God.

Tsy - sharpen, penetrate, delve into, dare. Tsy is a vital energy, a higher structure. Hence the meaning of the word “fathers” - from “Tsy” - coming from God.

The worm is the one who sharpens, penetrates.

Shta – which means “to.”

Ъ, ь (еръ, ерь) are variants of one letter; it meant an indefinite short vowel, close to “e”.

The word “ur” meant existing, eternal, hidden. Space-time, inaccessible to the human mind, is a light.

Sun. “Ъръ” is, in all likelihood, one of the most ancient words of modern civilization. Compare the Egyptian Ra - Sun, God.

The word time itself contains the same root, since the initial “v” developed precisely from the aspiration with which “ъ” must be pronounced at the beginning of a word. Many native Russian words contain the same root, for example: morning - from the Sun (root “ut” - from there, there), evening - vek Rъ - vek Ra, the expiring time of the Sun.

In the sense of “space, Universe,” the Russian “frame” comes from the same root.

The word “paradise” means: many Suns, i.e. abode of the god Ra. The self-name of the gypsies is “Rum, Roma” - free, free, God is in me, I am the Universe. Hence the Indian Rama. In the sense of “light, luminary, source of light”: the cry “Hurray!” means "To the Sun!" Bright means like sunlight, rainbow, etc.