Cyrillo-Methodian studies is a branch of

Slavic studies Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics, is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic peoples, Slavic peoples, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or ...

dealing with the life and works of

Cyril and Methodius Cyril (; born Constantine, 826–869) and Methodius (; born Michael, 815–885) were brothers, Population of the Byzantine Empire, Byzantine Christian theologians and Christian missionaries, missionaries. For their work evangelizing the Slavs ...

and their disciples. The first modern studies on Cyril and Methodius date from the late 18th century, with the discipline becoming somewhat classic in the 19th century. The main research topics of the discipline are the emergence and spread of

Glagolitic The Glagolitic script ( , , ''glagolitsa'') is the oldest known Slavic alphabet. It is generally agreed that it was created in the 9th century for the purpose of translating liturgical texts into Old Church Slavonic by Saints Cyril and Methodi ...

and

Cyrillic The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking countries in Southeastern Europe, Ea ...

. In this connection the questions about their authorship (the life and work of Cyril and Methodius and the so-called five

Apostle An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary. The word is derived from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", itself derived from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to se ...

s of the

First Bulgarian Empire The First Bulgarian Empire (; was a medieval state that existed in Southeastern Europe between the 7th and 11th centuries AD. It was founded in 680–681 after part of the Bulgars, led by Asparuh of Bulgaria, Asparuh, moved south to the northe ...

among their students and all of them canonized as Seven Saints), the exact time and place of creation, the schedule, the authenticity of the artistic sources, the nature of the

liturgy Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...

during their missions. The historical sources of Cyril and Methodius are mainly Old Bulgarian and Latin. The historical period on which the excavations are concentrated is the middle of the 9th century - the end of the 12th century / the beginning of the 13th century. During this period, the so-called Old Church Slavonic language or literary Old Bulgarian language was created and approved. In the following period, Croatian Glagolitic, Serbian Cyrillic and Ancient Russian Cyrillic - specific script and literacy were formed respectively, other than Old Bulgarian. The subsequent period in the development of the Bulgarian language is referred to as

Middle Bulgarian Middle Bulgarian () was the lingua franca and the most widely spoken language of the Second Bulgarian Empire. Being descended from Old Bulgarian, Middle Bulgarian eventually developed into the modern Bulgarian language by the 16th century. Hi ...

or Middle Bulgarian language. In the period 1985-2003 Petar Dinekov published four volumes of the Cyrillo-Methodian Encyclopedia.Кирило-методиевска енциклопедия
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References

Further reading