The oldest written language. Slavic writing

Modern scholars consider writing to be one of the characteristic features civilization. The ancients considered it a divine gift. One way or another, but it was writing that became an important step in the transfer of accumulated experience. In our review of 10 ancient writing systems. Some are still used today, while other scientists have not been able to decipher to the end.

1. Braille

This is the only tactile writing system on this list. Braille was invented in 1821 by a blind Frenchman, Louis Braille, who was inspired by "night writing", a raised dot code used by the French military. Up to this point, Braille had been able to read books with raised letters, but he also wanted to write books. As a result, Braille invented his own writing system, which used only six dots to display a letter (in "night writing" they used 12 dots). During Braille's lifetime, this system did not gain much popularity, but after his death it turned into a means of written communication for the blind and visually impaired. Today, Braille has been adapted to a huge number of languages ​​around the world.

2. Cyrillic

In the 9th century AD, the Greek brothers Methodius and Cyril invented two alphabets, Glagolitic and Cyrillic, as a writing system for Old Church Slavonic. Cyrillic, which was based on the Glagolitic and Greek alphabet, eventually became the system of choice for writing the Slavic languages. Cyrillic is used today in the writing of many Slavic languages ​​(Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Belarusian and Serbian), as well as a number of non-Slavic languages ​​that have come under the influence Soviet Union. Throughout history, Cyrillic has been adapted to write more than 50 languages.

3. Cuneiform

Cuneiform is known as the earliest known writing system in the world. It first appeared in the 34th century BC. the Sumerians (who lived in the territory of modern southern Iraq). Cuneiform was adapted to record several languages ​​(including Akkadian, Hittite and Hurrian), and later the Ugaritic and Old Persian alphabets were made on its basis. For more than 3,000 years, cuneiform was very common in the Middle East, but gradually it was replaced by the Aramaic alphabet. Finally cuneiform disappeared in 100 AD.

4. Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs

Egyptian hieroglyphs are believed to have developed shortly after Sumerian cuneiform, around 3200 BC. Along with the well-known hieroglyphs, there are two other ancient Egyptian writing systems: hieratic (used mainly for religious purposes) and vernacular (for most other purposes). This writing system served as inspiration for the creation of the first alphabet.

5. Chinese writing

Chinese writing is known not only for being used by a huge number of people, but also for being one of the oldest continuously used writing systems in the world. It originated in the 2nd millennium BC and is used to this day. Initially, the symbols were pictograms, in which there was a resemblance to what the symbol stood for. Each pictogram represented a whole word. Chinese characters have been adapted for other languages ​​due to China's huge influence in East Asia. Chinese characters were adopted by the Koreans and Japanese (the meaning of the characters), as well as the Vietnamese (the sound or meaning of the characters). In the 20th century, Chinese writing was divided into two main forms: traditional and simplified in order to improve the literacy rate in the country.

6. Brahmi

Numerous writing systems in use in South Asia are derived from the Brahmi. Over the next millennium, Brahmi was divided into dozens of regional systems, which began to be associated with the languages ​​of the respective regions. The southern group of these scripts spread throughout Southeast Asia, while the northern group spread to Tibet. Today, the Brahmi script is used in many Asian countries (especially India) and is also used for religious purposes in areas where Buddhism is prevalent.

7. Arabic script

Because of a large number Arabic speakers, as well as the widespread use of Islam, the Arabic alphabet has become the second most used alphabet in the world. The Arabic script is used mainly in North Africa, Western and Central Asia. The alphabet originated around 400 AD. (200 years before the emergence of Islam), but the spread of Islam and the writing of the Koran led to major changes in the Arabic writing system.

The Greek alphabet was a huge step forward in the development of alphabets, especially since the vowels were singled out for the first time. The Greek alphabet has existed since 800 BC. until today, and over its long history it has been used to write Hebrew, Arabic, Turkish, Gaulish and Albanian. Greek writing was tried to be used in Mycenaean Greece, but the Greek alphabet was the first successful attempt, which was already implemented in Ancient Greece. The Greek alphabet had a huge impact on other writing systems, it was on its basis that the Cyrillic and Latin alphabets arose.

The Latin alphabet is the most widely used alphabet ever. The Latin alphabet, which appeared as a variant of the Greek alphabet around 700 BC, quickly spread first in Europe and then throughout the world. The Latin alphabet spread following the expansion of the Roman Empire to Western Europe, and then with the spread of Christianity in the Middle Ages - to Central and Northern Europe. Some Slavic languages ​​also began to use this alphabet with the adoption of Catholicism. European colonization then brought the Latin alphabet with it to the Americas, Africa, Oceania, and Asia.

9. Proto-Sinaitic and Phoenician writing

The Proto-Sinaitic script was the first alphabet, and therefore it is in fact the parent of almost all alphabetic writing systems that have appeared after it. It originated in Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula around 1900 BC. and was inspired by Egyptian hieroglyphs. Phoenician writing is a direct descendant of Proto-Sinaitic and differs little from it. It was widely distributed by Phoenician merchants throughout the Mediterranean, and came to be used as the alphabet of several languages.

People have always sought to know the secret. , which set out complex and mysterious rituals, is the key to communicating with the other world. True, many of these books, no one could read it.

Man finally fenced himself off from belonging to the fauna, inventing writing to express his thoughts, feelings, emotions.

Alphabets (from the Greek alphabetos, formed from the names of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet: a-alpha and p-beta) are the latest development in the history of writing. Before a series of written signs (letters) that conveyed individual sound elements of the language (which is actually the alphabet) lined up in a permanent order, a person first tried to come to them through images and drawn symbols. The prototypes of the first letters are symbolic objects and conventional mnemonic signs, which are still used among peoples who have not gone far from the primitive state: among the Malays of Sumatra, pinches of salt, pepper, etc. serve as symbols of love, hatred, and among the American Indians - multi-colored beads (wampum ), among the Melanesians - sticks with notches.

Actually ancient writings they begin with images representing a whole chain of concepts - with figurative (pictorial) writing, the so-called pictography. This type of writing is found among the Melanesians, Eskimos, Australians, and especially among the Indians of North America. This letter displays messages in the form of a picture or sequence of pictures. Pictography is not a letter in the full sense of the word, since it does not capture the speech itself, but reflects its content, and usually mnemonically (remindingly); a drawing or a set of images predetermine neither the words in which the message should be stated, nor the language of the message.

Pictograms have been known since Neolithic times. On the one hand, such ancient writings sometimes indistinguishable from aimless drawings drawn on rocks, cave walls, fences, classroom tables, etc., or from images and patterns reproduced on various objects for decoration purposes; on the other hand, they pass into real ideographic and then phonetic scripts, as evidenced by the analysis of Egyptian, ancient Chinese and some other hieroglyphs.

There are many examples of pictograms from Africa (Wadi Mokatteb in Sinai, Wadi Telissare in Fezzan, Algeria, Kordofan, Somalia, Transvaal), Northern and South America, Australia, Asia and Europe. Known are rocks inscribed with concentric circles and crosses in Northumberland (England), images on rocks in Sweden, Ireland, on Lake Onega, “scribbles” (images of animals, people, etc.) along the Yenisei, Tobol, etc., “deer stones ” in Mongolia, etc. It can be assumed that the first Neolithic pictograms with hunting scenes had a magical purpose and served to guide hunters on a successful hunt or were applied to walls in order to thank the deities who sent an abundance of animals to the region.

One way or another, the pictograms fulfilled their purpose - they displayed a certain concept. And from the image of the head of a bull as a symbol of an animal, it was not far from the letter "aleph". However, many nations have not been able to take this step. Somewhere, writing was so revered that it was of a ritual nature and only people of the priestly class were initiated into it (as, for example, among the ancient Egyptians or the Celts).

The most studied ancient writings- images of North American Indians. Even the name of the inventor of Indian writing is known - this is the leader of the Cherokee Indian tribe named Sequoyah (the highest tree of the American continent was named after him).

Almost all Indian drawings depict real objects; symbols and emblems are very rare. Many of them recall important events for individual tribes (wars, treaties, hunger strikes, an abundance of game in a certain year, the death of a famous leader, resettlement, etc.); some are associated with myths and religious rites, others commemorate visits to places by individuals.

The manner of depicting (people, animals, etc.) is almost the same among all Indians, as well as the usual designations of death (for example, from a wound in the war), union, belonging to a famous clan or family, the descent of one person from another, etc. d.

We offer the reader several symbols that are common to the Navajo, Hopi, Puni and Pueblo Indians depicted on pottery.

Many of these pictograms had a clearly magical meaning and were intended to serve as amulets in addition to signs of writing.

	Arrows. This symbol has many meanings. Usually arrows mean strength, movement, power and indicate the direction of travel, as well as the power of life, the life-giving spirit.
	Feathers. Feathers, depicted on many Indian pictograms, are symbols of petitions, a sign of honor, dignity, etc. They symbolize creative power, and their meaning differs depending on which bird the feathers belong to.
	pahos, or Sticks of petitions, fastened on the ground, on specially designated sacred wands, serving in the spring to offer prayers to the deity. Similar images are found in many villages. pueblo and navajo tribes.
	feather circle often depicted on pottery, masks, dance costumes, military headdresses. In symbolism, circles of feathers are associated with the sun and therefore with the Creator. Feather headdresses are common among many Indian tribes and therefore their images could indicate the leaders of the tribes.
	Frog- an aquatic animal, means renewal (due to its fertility), and also indicates spring and abundance.
	Bear symbolizing physical strength, he is also often referred to as the "first mate" in creation stories. It was a totem animal among many Indian clans, and therefore its image has a sacred meaning.
	Deer. When hunting this animal, the hunter also made sacrifices to it, since individual clans and clans of Indian tribes often chose a deer as a totem animal.
	horned lizard in Navajo legends symbolizes perseverance and keeping ancient secrets. Some folks warn: "They will steal your eyes if you look at them too long!"
	Tadpole- the germ of a frog, also means abundance and renewal. Because tadpoles change, they are seen as a very powerful reproductive tool.
	Turtle- an aquatic animal, symbolizing strength, femininity, abundance, long life, perseverance. Able to defy death and resist the coyote.
	Coyote- a deceiver, also a powerful patron god of hunting and a fetish. Often seen as a bad omen of trouble to come.
	waterfowl- a symbol of the renewal of life, wet seasons, rivers, distant travel, foresight and wisdom.
	hummingbird, like sometimes waterfowl, act as a symbol of devotion, constancy and eternity, the cyclical nature of life. As you know, hummingbirds are desperate defenders of their own territory, engaging in a fight with a stronger opponent.
	Parrot in Indian symbolism, it is associated with both the sun and the beginning of the rainy season. Parrots were seen as messengers, delivering petitions to the spirits of people. pueblo indians highly valued parrot feathers as an amulet of prosperity.
	Cranes also associated with water and the end of summer. Common motif in pottery and petroglyphs Mimbrian culture in southwestern New Mexico.
	Turkeys as an important source of food are also mentioned in several Pueblo legends. Their feathers were often used in rituals.
	Owl among the Pani and Pueblo tribes, it is revered as a symbol of the wisdom of the elders. A quiet hunter, she is associated with darkness and night both with her keen eyes and skillful hunting. In most other cultures, an owl is a bad omen that portends death.
	Eagle, the master of the sky, is considered in Indian culture as a messenger delivering petitions to the spirits of people. Indians of different tribes honor this bird, believing that it has courage, wisdom and has a special connection with the Creator.
	Snake in Native American symbolism it is associated with lightning, the male organ, speed and the ability to remain invisible when moving, although the nature of this symbol is usually more sinister.
	Avanyu, the winged sky serpent. It is often found on earthenware and in some Tsani jewelry. He is the harbinger of storms and the change of seasons. Connected with lightning, thunderstorms and violent, sudden changes in the weather.
	Dragonfly associated with water and springtime, symbolizes abundance, renewal; regarded as a messenger with people's requests to the spirits. Below is a stylized image of a dragonfly, which was used as a talisman, especially among the southern pueblos, where it became a double pommeled Catholic cross.
	This has been interpreted as a symbol of the Catholic faith and respect for tradition.
	Modern pictogram - road sign "No way"

In pictograms, metaphorical or conditional symbolism is possible (for example, among the North American Indians, a smoking pipe means "peace", in modern pictograms two connected hearts symbolize "love", a rectangle in a circle - "No way").

Modern sign - a pictogram denoting "Love to death"

Graphic pictograms and symbols today are found almost everywhere, in all areas of production and everyday life. We are so used to them that, as a rule, we do not notice them. But they are very important, because with their simplicity and intelligibility they replace whole concepts, almost at the subconscious level, suggesting to us certain conditions, the location of objects, the direction of movement, etc.

Today, a person resorts to pictograms in order to convey to other people as quickly and clearly as possible a significant amount of very important information that is accessible to a person who does not even speak a common language.

And Veles said:
Open the song box!
Unroll the ball!
For the time of silence is over
And it's time for words!
Songs of the bird Gamayun

... It's not scary to lie dead under the bullets,
It's not bitter to be homeless,
And we will save you, Russian speech,
Great Russian word.
A.Akhmatova

Not a single culture of a spiritually developed people can exist without mythology and writing. There is very little factual data about the time, conditions for the emergence and formation of Slavic writing. The opinions of scientists on this issue are contradictory.

A number of scientists say that writing in Ancient Russia appeared only when the first cities began to appear and the ancient Russian state began to form. It was with the establishment of a regular managerial hierarchy and trade in the 10th century that there was a need to regulate these processes through written documents. This point of view is very controversial, because there is a number of evidence that the writing of the Eastern Slavs existed even before the adoption of Christianity, before the creation and spread of the Cyrillic alphabet, as evidenced by the mythology of the Slavs, chronicles, folk tales, epics and other sources

Pre-Christian Slavic writing

There is a number of evidence and artifacts confirming that the Slavs before the adoption of Christianity were not a wild and barbaric people. In other words, they knew how to write. Pre-Christian writing among the Slavs existed. The first to draw attention to this fact was the Russian historian Vasily Nikitich Tatishchev (1686-1750). Reflecting on the chronicler Nestor, who created The Tale of Bygone Years, V.N. Tatishchev claims that Nestor created them not from words and oral traditions, but based on already existing books and letters, which he collected and streamlined. Nestor could not, from words, so reliably reproduce the Treaties with the Greeks, which were created 150 years before him. This suggests that Nestor relied on existing written sources that have not survived to this day.

The question arises, what was the pre-Christian Slavic writing? How did the Slavs write?

Runic writing (features and cuts)

Slavic runes are a script that, according to some researchers, existed among the ancient Slavs before the baptism of Russia and long before the creation of Cyrillic and Glagolitic. It is also called the letter "devils and cuts." In our time, the hypothesis of the "runes of the Slavs" has support among supporters of non-traditional ( alternative) history, although there is still no significant evidence, as well as refutation of the existence of such writing. The first arguments in favor of the existence of the Slavic pynic writing were put forward at the beginning of the last century; some of the testimonies cited then are now attributed to the Glagolitic alphabet, and not to the "pynitsa", some turned out to be simply untenable, but a number of arguments remain valid to this day.

So, it is impossible to argue with the testimony of Titmar, who, describing the Slavic temple of Retra, located in the lands of the Luticians, points to the fact that inscriptions were made on the idols of this temple, made by "special", non-Germanic ryns. It would be completely absurd to assume that Titmar, being an educated person, could not have recognized the standard junior Scandinavian ryns if the names of the gods on the idols would have been inscribed by them.
Massydi, describing one of the Slavic temples, mentions some signs carved on stones. Ibn Fodlan, speaking of the Slavs of the end of the 1st millennium, points to the existence of grave inscriptions on pillars among them. Ibn El Nedim speaks about the existence of Slavic pre-Cyrillic writing and even cites in his treatise a drawing of one inscription carved on a piece of wood (the famous Nedim inscription). In the Czech song "Lyubysha's Judgment", preserved in the list of the 9th century, "desks pravdodatne" are mentioned - laws written on wooden boards in some letters.

The existence of pynic writing among the ancient Slavs is also indicated by many archaeological data. The oldest of them are finds of ceramics with fragments of inscriptions belonging to the Chernyakhov archaeological culture, uniquely associated with the Slavs and dated back to the 1st-4th centuries AD. Thirty years ago, the signs on these finds were identified as traces of writing. An example of "Chepnyakhovsky" Slavic pynic writing can serve as fragments of ceramics from the excavations near the village of Lepesovka (southern Volyn) or a clay shard from Ripnev, belonging to the same Chernyakhovsky culture and representing, probably, a fragment of a vessel. The signs visible on the shard leave no doubt that this is an inscription. Unfortunately, the fragment is too small to be able to decipher the inscription.

In general, the ceramics of the Chernyakhov culture provides very interesting, but too scarce material for deciphering. So, the Slavic clay vessel, discovered in 1967 during excavations in the village of Voiskovoe (on the Dnieper), is extremely interesting. Its surface is inscribed with an inscription containing 12 positions and using 6 characters. The inscription can neither be translated nor read, despite the fact that deciphering attempts have been made. However, it should be noted a certain similarity of the graphics of this inscription with the pynic graphics. There is a resemblance, and not only a resemblance - half of the signs (three out of six) coincide with the Futarka pyns (Scandinavia). These are the runes Dagaz, Gebo and a secondary version of the rune Ingyz - a rhombus placed on top.
Other - later - a group of evidence of the use of pynic writing by the Slavs is formed by monuments associated with the Wends, the Baltic Slavs. Of these monuments, first of all, let us point out the so-called Mikorzhinsky stones, discovered in 1771 in Poland.
Another - truly unique - monument of the "Baltic" Slavic ryniki is the inscriptions on cult objects from the Slavic temple of Radegast in Retra destroyed in the middle of the 11th century during the German conquest.

Runic alphabet.

Like the pynes of the Scandinavian and continental Germans, the Slavic pynes go back, judging by all, to the North Italian (Alpine) alphabets. Several main variants of Alpine writing are known, which, in addition to the northern Etpysks, were owned by Slavic and Celtic tribes living in the neighborhood. The question of exactly how the Italic writing was brought to the later Slavic regions remains completely open at the moment, as well as the question of the mutual influence of Slavic and Germanic ryniki.
It should be noted that pynic culture should be understood much more broadly than elementary writing skills - this is a whole cultural layer, covering mythology, religion, and certain aspects of magical art. Already in Etpyria and Venice (the lands of the Etpysks and Wends), the alphabet was treated as an object of divine origin and might have a magical effect. This is evidenced, for example, by finds in the Etpysian burials of tablets with a list of alphabetic characters. This is the simplest form of pynic magic, widespread in the North-West of Europe. Thus, speaking of the Old Slavic runic writing, one cannot help but raise the question of the existence of the Old Slavic runic culture as a whole. The Slavs of pagan times owned this culture; it was preserved, apparently, in the era of “dual faith” (simultaneous existence of Christianity and paganism in Russia - X-XVI centuries).

An excellent tomy example is the widest use by the Slavs of the Freyra-Ingyz rune. Another example is one of the remarkable Vyatich temporal rings of the 12th century. Signs are engraved on its blades - this is another sign. The third blades from the edges carry the image of the Algiz rune, and the central blade is a double image of the same rune. Like pyna Freyra, pyna Algiz first appeared in Futark; it existed without changes for about a millennium and entered into all pynic alphabets, except for the late Swedish-Norwegian ones, which were not used for magical purposes (about the 10th century). The image of this pyna on the temporal ring is not accidental. Runa Algiz is a rune of protection, one of her magical properties- protection from someone else's sorcery and the evil will of others. The use of the Algiz rune by the Slavs and their ancestors has a very ancient history. In ancient times, four Algiz runes were often connected in such a way that a twelve-pointed cross was formed, which apparently has the same functions as the rune itself.

At the same time, it should be noted that such magical symbols can appear in different peoples and independently of each other. An example of a volume can be, for example, a bronze Mordovian plaque of the end of the 1st millennium AD. from the Army cemetery. One of the so-called non-alphabetic pynic signs is the swastika, both four- and three-branched. Images of the swastika in the Slavic world are found everywhere, although infrequently. This is natural - the swastika, a symbol of fire and, in certain cases, fertility - a sign too "powerful" and too significant for widespread use. Like the twelve-pointed cross, the swastika can also be found among the Sarmatians and Scythians.
Of extraordinary interest is the one-of-a-kind temporal ring, again Vyatka. On its blades, several different signs are engraved at once - this is a whole collection of symbols of ancient Slavic magic. The central blade carries a somewhat modified Ingyz line, the first petals from the center are an image that is not yet completely clear. A twelve-pointed cross is applied to the petals second from the center, which is most likely a modification of the cross of four Algiz runes. And, finally, the extreme petals carry the image of a swastika. Well, the master who worked on this ring created a powerful talisman.

Peace
The form of the rune World is the image of the Tree of the World, the Universe. It also symbolizes the inner self of a person, centripetal forces striving the World towards Order. In a magical sense, the rune Peace represents protection, the patronage of the gods.

Chernobog
In contrast to the rune Mir, the rune Chernobog represents the forces pushing the world towards Chaos. The magical content of the rune: the destruction of old ties, the breakthrough of the magic circle, the exit from any closed system.

Alatyr
The rune Alatyr is the rune of the center of the Universe, the rune of the beginning and end of all things. This is what the struggle between the forces of Order and Chaos revolves around; the stone that lies at the foundation of the World; it is the law of balance and return to normal. The eternal circulation of events and their immovable center. The magical altar on which the sacrifice is made is the reflection of the stone of Alatyr. This is the sacred image that is enclosed in this rune.

Rainbow
Rune of the road, the endless path to Alatyr; a path determined by the unity and struggle of the forces of Order and Chaos, Water and Fire. A road is more than just movement through space and time. The road is a special state, equally different from vanity and peace; a state of movement between Order and Chaos. The Road has neither beginning nor end, but there is a source and there is a result... The ancient formula: "Do what you want, and come what may" could serve as the motto of this rune. magical meaning runes: stabilization of movement, travel assistance, favorable outcome of difficult situations.

Need
Rune Viy - the god of Navi, the Lower World. This is the rune of fate, which cannot be avoided, darkness, death. Rune of constraint, stiffness and coercion. This is a magical ban on the commission of this or that action, and constraint in the material plane, and those bonds that fetter the consciousness of a person.

Krada
The Slavic word "Krada" means sacrificial fire. This is the rune of Fire, the rune of aspiration and the embodiment of aspirations. But the embodiment of any plan is always the disclosure of this plan to the World, and therefore the rune of Krad is also the rune of disclosure, the rune of the loss of the external, superficial - that which burns in the fire of sacrifice. The magical meaning of the Krada rune is cleansing; release of intention; embodiment and implementation.

Treba
Rune of the Spirit Warrior. The meaning of the Slavic word "Treba" is a sacrifice, without which the realization of intention is impossible on the Road. This is the sacred content of this rune. But sacrifice is not a mere gift to the gods; the idea of ​​sacrifice implies the sacrifice of oneself.

Strength
Strength is the property of the Warrior. This is not only the ability to change the World and oneself in it, but also the ability to follow the Road, freedom from the shackles of consciousness. The Rune of Strength is also the rune of unity, integrity, the achievement of which is one of the results of moving along the Road. And this is also the rune of Victory, for the Warrior of the Spirit gains Strength only by defeating himself, only by sacrificing his external self for the sake of releasing his inner self. The magical meaning of this rune is directly related to its definitions as a rune of victory, a rune of power and a rune of integrity. The Rune of Strength can direct a person or situation to Victory and gaining integrity, can help clarify an unclear situation and push for the right decision.

There is
Rune of Life, mobility and natural variability of Existence, for immobility is dead. The rune is symbolizes renewal, movement, growth, Life itself. This rune represents those divine forces that make grass grow, the juices of the earth flow through tree trunks, and blood run faster in the spring in human veins. This is a rune of light and bright vitality and a natural desire for movement for all living things.

Wind
This is the rune of the Spirit, the rune of Knowledge and ascent to the top; rune of will and inspiration; an image of a spiritualized magical Power associated with the element of air. At the level of magic, the rune of the Wind symbolizes the Force-Wind, inspiration, creative impulse.

Bereginya
Bereginya in the Slavic tradition is a female image associated with protection and motherhood. Therefore, the rune of Beregini is the rune of the Mother Goddess, who is in charge of both earthly fertility and the fate of all living things. The Mother Goddess gives life to souls who come to incarnate on Earth, and she takes life when the time comes. Therefore, the Beregini rune can be called both the rune of Life and the rune of Death. The same rune is the rune of Fate.

Oud
In all branches of the Indo-European tradition, without exception, the symbol of the male member (the Slavic word "Ud") is associated with the fertile creative force that transforms Chaos. This fiery force was called Eros by the Greeks, and Yar by the Slavs. This is not only the power of love, but also a passion for life in general, a power that connects opposites, fertilizes the emptiness of Chaos.

Lelya
The rune is associated with the element of water, and specifically - Living, flowing water in springs and streams. In magic, the Lelya rune is the rune of intuition, Knowledge beyond the Mind, as well as spring awakening and fertility, flowering and joy.

Rock
This is the rune of the transcendent unmanifested Spirit, which is the beginning and end of everything. In magic, the rune of Doom can be used to dedicate an object or situation to the Unknowable.

Support
This is the rune of the foundations of the Universe, the rune of the gods. The support is the shaman's pole, or tree, on which the shaman makes his journey to heaven.

Dazhdbog
The rune of Dazhdbog symbolizes the Good in every sense of the word: from material wealth to the joy that accompanies love. The most important attribute of this god is the cornucopia, or, in a more ancient form, the cauldron of inexhaustible blessings. The stream of gifts flowing like an inexhaustible river represents the rune of Dazhdbog. The rune means the gifts of the gods, the acquisition, receipt or addition of something, the emergence of new connections or acquaintances, well-being in general, and also the successful completion of any business.

Perun
The rune of Perun is the god of thunder, protecting the worlds of gods and people from the onset of the forces of Chaos. symbolizes strength and vitality. The rune can mean the emergence of powerful, but heavy, forces that can move the situation off the ground or give it additional development energy. It also symbolizes personal power, but, in some negative situations, power that is not burdened with wisdom. This is also a direct protection given by the gods from the forces of Chaos, from the destructive effects of psychic, material or any other destructive forces.

Source
For a correct understanding of this rune, one should remember that Ice is one of the creative primordial elements, symbolizing Strength at rest, potentiality, movement in stillness. The rune of the Source, the rune of Ice means stagnation, a crisis in business or in the development of a situation. However, it should be remembered that the state of freezing, lack of movement, contains the potential power of movement and development (signified by the rune There) - just as movement contains potential stagnation and freezing.

Archaeologists have provided us with much material for reflection. Particularly curious are the coins and some inscriptions found in the archaeological layer, which dates back to the reign of Prince Vladimir.

During excavations in Novgorod, wooden cylinders were found dating back to the years of the reign of Vladimir Svyatoslavich, the future baptizer of Russia, in Novgorod (970-980). The economic inscriptions on the cylinders are made in Cyrillic, and the princely sign is cut in the form of a simple trident, which cannot be recognized as a ligature, but only as a totem sign of property, which has changed from a simple bident on the seal of Prince Svyatoslav, Vladimir's father, and retained the form of a trident for a number of subsequent princes. The princely sign acquired the appearance of a ligature on pieces of silver, coins issued according to the Byzantine model by Prince Vladimir after the baptism of Russia, that is, there was a complication of an initially simple symbol, which, as a generic sign of the Rurikovich, could well have come from the Scandinavian rune. The same princely trident of Vladimir is found on the bricks of the Church of the Tithes in Kyiv, but its design is noticeably different from the image on the coins, from which it is clear that the bizarre curls do not carry a different meaning? than just an ornament.
An attempt to discover and even reproduce the pre-Cyrillic alphabet was made by the scientist N.V. Engovatov in the early 1960s based on the study of mysterious signs found in Cyrillic inscriptions on the coins of Russian princes of the 11th century. These inscriptions are usually built according to the scheme "Vladimir is on the table (throne) and behold his silver" with only the name of the prince changed. Many coins have dashes and dots instead of missing letters.
Some researchers explained the appearance of these dashes and dots by the illiteracy of Russian engravers of the 11th century. However, the repetition of the same signs on the coins of different princes, often with the same sound value, made such an explanation insufficiently convincing, and Engovatov, using the uniformity of the inscriptions and the repetition of mysterious signs in them, compiled a table indicating their supposed sound value; this meaning was determined by the place of the sign in the word written in Cyrillic letters.
The work of Engovatov was talked about in the scientific and mass press. However, the opponents were not long in coming. "The mysterious signs on Russian coins," they said, "are either the result of the mutual influence of the Cyrillic and Glagolitic inscriptions, or the result of the engravers' mistakes." They explained the repetition of the same signs on different coins, firstly, by the fact that the same die was used to mint many coins; secondly, by the fact that "insufficiently literate engravers repeated the mistakes that were in the old stamps."
Novgorod is rich in finds, where archaeologists often dig up birch-bark tablets with inscriptions. The main, and at the same time the most controversial, are artistic monuments, so there is no consensus on the "Book of Veles".

"Vlesovaya book" refers to the texts written on 35 birch boards and reflecting the history of Russia for one and a half millennia, starting from about 650 BC. e. Found it in 1919 by Colonel Izenbek in the estate of the princes Kurakins near Orel. The planks, badly damaged by time and worms, lay in disarray on the library floor. Many were crushed under soldiers' boots. Isenbek, who was interested in archeology, collected the tablets and never parted with them again. After graduation civil war"boards" ended up in Brussels. The writer Yu. Mirolyubov, who learned about them, discovered that the text of the chronicle was written in a completely unknown language. Old Slavonic. It took 15 years to copy and decipher. Later, foreign experts took part in the work - orientalist A. Kur from the USA and S. Lesnoy (Paramonov), who lived in Australia. The latter assigned the name "Vles book" to the plates, since in the text itself the work is called a book, and Veles is mentioned in some connection with it. But Lesnoy and Kur worked only with texts that Mirolyubov managed to write off, since after the death of Isenbek in 1943 the tablets disappeared.
Some scientists consider the "Vlesov Book" a fake, while such well-known experts ancient Russian history, like A. Artsikhovsky, they consider it quite likely that the "Vlesov Book" reflects the true pagan; the past of the Slavs. Well-known specialist on ancient Russian literature D. Zhukov wrote in the April 1979 issue of Novy Mir magazine: "The authenticity of the Vlesovaya Book is questioned, and this all the more requires its publication in our country and a thorough, comprehensive analysis."
Yu. Mirolyubov and S. Lesnoy basically succeeded in deciphering the text of the Book of Woods.
After finishing work and publishing the full text of the book, Mirolyubov writes articles: “Vlesova book” - a chronicle of pagan priests of the 9th century, a new, unexplored historical source” and “Were the ancient “Russians” idolaters and did they bring human sacrifices”, which he sends to address of the Slavic Committee of the USSR, urging Soviet specialists to recognize the importance of studying Isenbeck's tablets. The package also contained the only surviving photograph of one of these tablets. The "deciphered" text of the tablet and the translation of this text were attached to it.

The "deciphered" text was as follows:

1. Vles the book syu p (o) tshemo b (o) gu n (a) shemo u kyi more is a source of power. 2. In oa vr (e) exchanges by menzh yaky by bl (a) g a d (o) closer rshen b (i) to (o) ct in r (y) si. 3. And then<и)мщ жену и два дщере имаста он а ск(о)ти а краве и мн(о)га овны с. 4. она и бя той восы упех а 0(н)ищ(е) не имщ менж про дщ(е)р(е) сва так(о)моля. 5. Б(о)зи абы р(о)д егосе не пр(е)сеше а д(а)ж бо(г) услыша м(о)лбу ту а по м(о)лбе. 6. Даящ (е)му измлены ако бя ожещаы тая се бо гренде мезе ны...
The first person in our country who, 28 years ago, was to conduct a scientific study of the text of the tablet, was L.P. Zhukovskaya is a linguist, paleographer and archeographer, once chief researcher at the Institute of the Russian Language of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Philology, author of many books. After a careful study of the text, she came to the conclusion that the "Vlesov Book" is a fake due to the inconsistency of the language of this "book" with the norms of the Old Russian language. Indeed, the "Old Russian" text of the tablet does not withstand any criticism. There are enough examples of the noted inconsistency, but I will limit myself to only one. So, the name of the pagan deity Veles, who gave the title to the named work, should look exactly like this in writing, since the peculiarity of the language of the ancients Eastern Slavs consists in the fact that the combinations of the sounds "O" and "E" before R and L in the position between consonants were successively replaced by ORO, OLO, EPE. Therefore, we have primordially our own words - CITY, SHORE, MILK, but at the same time, the words BREG, HEAD, MILKY, etc., which entered after the adoption of Christianity (988), were preserved. And the correct name would be not "Vlesova", but "Veles book".
L.P. Zhukovskaya suggested that the tablet with the text is, apparently, one of the fakes of A.I. Sulukadzev, who bought old manuscripts from rag-makers at the beginning of the 19th century. There is evidence that he had some kind of beech planks that disappeared from the field of view of the researchers. There is an indication about them in his catalog: "Patriarchs on 45 beech boards of Yagip Gan smerd in Ladoga of the 9th century." It was said about Sulakadzev, who was famous for his falsifications, that he used in his forgeries "the wrong language due to ignorance of the correct one, sometimes very wild."
Nevertheless, the participants of the Fifth International Congress of Slavists, held in 1963 in Sofia, became interested in the "Vlesovaya knigi". In the reports of the congress, a special article was devoted to it, which caused a lively and sharp reaction in the circles of history lovers and a new series of articles in the mass press.
In 1970, in the journal "Russian speech" (No. 3), the poet I. Kobzev wrote about the "Vlesovaya book" as an outstanding monument of writing; in 1976, on the pages of the Week (No. 18), journalists V. Skurlatov and N. Nikolaev made a detailed popularizing article, in No. 33 of the same year they were joined by Candidate of Historical Sciences V. Vilinbakhov and the well-known researcher of epics, writer V. Starostin. Novy Mir and Ogonyok published articles by D. Zhukov, the author of a story about V. Malyshev, a famous collector of ancient Russian literature. All these authors advocated the recognition of the authenticity of the "Vlesovaya knigi" and presented their own arguments in favor of this.

knot letter

The signs of this writing were not written down, but transmitted using knots tied on threads.
The knots that make up the word-concept were tied to the main thread of the narrative (hence - “knots for memory”, “link thoughts”, “link a word with a word”, “talk confusedly”, “knot of problems”, “intricacies of the plot”, “tie” and “denouement” - about the beginning and end of the story).
One concept was separated from another by a red thread (hence - “to write from the red line”). An important thought was also knitted with a red thread (hence - “passes like a red thread through the whole story”). The thread was wound into a ball (hence - “confused thoughts”). These balls were stored in special birch bark boxes (hence - “to say from three boxes”).

The proverb has also been preserved: “What she knew, she said, she strung it on a thread.” Do you remember in the fairy tales Ivan Tsarevich, before going on a trip, receives a ball from Baba Yaga? This is not a simple ball, but an ancient guide. Unwinding it, he read the knot notes and learned how to get to the right place.
The knot letter is mentioned in the “Source of Life” (Second Message): “The echoes of the battles penetrated the world that was inhabited on Midgard-earth. At the very borderline was that land and the Race of pure light lived on it. Memory has preserved many times, tying the thread of past battles into knots.

There is also a mention of the sacred knot letter in the Karelian-Finnish epic “Kalevala”:
“The rain gave me songs.
The wind inspired me with songs.
The waves of the sea brought...
I wound them into one ball,
And in one I tied a bunch ...
And in the barn under the rafters
I hid them in a copper chest.”

In the recording of Elias Lennrot, the Kalevala collector, there are even more interesting lines recorded by him from the famous rune singer Arkhipp Ivanov-Pertunen (1769 - 1841). The rune-singers sang them as an introduction to the performance of the Runes:

“Here I am untying the knot.
Here I dissolve the ball.
I will sing a song from the best
Of the most beautiful I will perform ... "

Maybe, ancient Slavs had balls with knotted letters containing geographical information, balls of myths and religious pagan hymns, spells. These balls were kept in special birch bark boxes (isn't this where the expression "lie three boxes" comes from, which could have arisen at a time when the myths stored in balls in such boxes were perceived as pagan heresy?). When reading, threads with knots most likely "wound around the mustache" - it may very well be that these are reading devices.

The period of written, priestly culture, apparently, began among the Slavs long before the adoption of Christianity. For example, the tale of Baba Yaga's ball takes us back to the time of matriarchy. Baba Yaga, according to the famous scientist V. Ya. Propp, is a typical pagan priestess. Perhaps she is also the custodian of the "library of balls".

In ancient times, nodular writing was quite widespread. This is confirmed by archaeological finds. On many objects recovered from burials of pagan times, asymmetrical images of knots are visible, which, in my opinion, served not only for decoration (see, for example, Fig. 2). The complexity of these images, reminiscent of the hieroglyphic writing of the Eastern peoples, makes it reasonable to conclude that they could also be used to convey words.

Each hieroglyph node had its own word. With the help of additional knots, additional information was reported about him, for example, his number, part of speech, etc. Of course, this is just an assumption, but even if our neighbors, the Karelians and Finns, had knot writing, then why couldn’t the Slavs have it? Let's not forget that the Finns, Ugrians and Slavs lived together in the northern regions of Russia since ancient times.

Traces of writing.

Are there any traces left nodular writing? Often in the writings of the Christian period there are illustrations with images of complex weaves, probably redrawn from objects of the pagan era. The artist who depicted these patterns, according to the historian N. K. Goleizovsky, followed the rule that existed at that time, along with Christian symbols, to use pagan ones (for the same purpose as defeated snakes, devils, etc. are depicted on icons).

Traces of knot writing can also be found on the walls of temples built in the era of "dual faith", when Christian churches were decorated not only with the faces of saints, but also with pagan patterns. Although the language has changed since then, it is possible to attempt (only with some degree of certainty, of course) to decipher some of these characters.

For example, the frequently occurring image of a simple loop - a circle (Fig. 1a) is presumably deciphered as a sign of the supreme Slavic god - Rod, who gave birth to the Universe, nature, gods, for the reason that it corresponds to the circle of a pictorial, i.e. pictographic, writing (that what the Brave called features and cuts). In pictographic writing, this sign is interpreted in a broader sense; Genus - like a tribe, a group, a woman, a birth organ, a verb to give birth, etc. The symbol of the Genus - a circle is the basis for many other hieroglyphic knots. He is able to give words a sacred meaning.

A circle with a cross (Fig. 1b) is a solar symbol, a sign of the Sun and the god of the solar disk - Khors. Such a reading of this symbol can be found in many historians.

What was the symbol of the solar god - Dazhbog? His sign should be more complex, since he is the god not only of the solar disk, but of the entire Universe, he is the giver of blessings, the progenitor of the Russian people (in "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" Russians are called the grandchildren of Dazhbog).

After research by B. A. Rybakov, it became clear that Dazhbog (like his Indo-European "relative" - ​​the solar god Apollo) rode a chariot across the sky, harnessed to swans or other mythical birds (sometimes winged horses), and drove the Sun. And now let's compare the sculpture of the solar god of the Western Proto-Slavs from Duplyany (Fig. 2b) and the drawing on the headpiece from the Simonov Psalter of the 13th century (Fig. 2a). Isn't it depicting the symbol of Dazhbog in the form of a loop-circle with a lattice (Fig. 1c)?

Since the time of the first Eneolithic pictographic records, the lattice has usually denoted a plowed field, a plowman, as well as wealth, grace. Our ancestors were plowmen, they also worshiped Rod - this could be the reason for the combination of the symbols of the field and the Family in a single symbol of Dazhbog.

Solar animals and birds - Lion, Griffin, Alkonost, etc. - were depicted with solar symbols (Fig. 2c-e). Figure 2e shows an image of a mythical bird with solar symbols. Two solar symbols, by analogy with the wheels of a wagon, could mean a solar chariot. In the same way, in pictorial, i.e., pictographic, writing, many peoples depicted a chariot. This chariot rode on a firm vault of heaven, behind which the heavenly waters were kept. The symbol of water - a wavy line - is also present in this figure: it is a deliberately elongated crest of a bird and a continuation of the thread with knots.

Pay attention to a certain symbolic tree depicted between the birds of paradise (Fig. 2f), either with a loop or without it. If we assume that the loop is a symbol of the Genus - the Parent of the Universe, then the hieroglyph of the tree, together with this symbol, acquires a deeper meaning of the world tree (Fig. 1d-e).

A slightly complicated solar symbol, in which a broken line was drawn instead of a circle, according to B. A. Rybakov, acquired the meaning of a "thunder wheel", a sign of the thunder god Perun (Fig. 2g). Apparently, the Slavs believed that thunder comes from the roar produced by a chariot with such "thunder wheels", on which Perun rides across the sky.

Nodular notation from the Prologue.

Let's try to decipher more complex nodular scripts. For example, in the 1400 manuscript "Prologue" a drawing is preserved, the origin of which is obviously more ancient, pagan (Fig. 3a).

But until now, this pattern was taken for an ordinary ornament. The style of such drawings by the famous scientists of the last century F. I. Buslaev was called teratological (from the Greek word teras - a monster). Drawings of this kind depicted intertwined snakes, monsters, people. Teratological ornaments were compared with the design of initial letters in Byzantine manuscripts, and attempts were made to interpret their symbolism in different ways. The historian N. K. Goleizovsky [in the book "Ancient Novgorod" (M., 1983, p. 197)] found something in common between the drawings from the "Prologue" and the image of the world tree.

It seems to me more likely to look for the origins of the composition of the picture (but not the semantic meaning of individual knots) not in Byzantium, but in the West. Let's compare the drawing from the Novgorod manuscript of the "Prologue" and the image on the runic stones of the ancient Vikings of the 9th-10th centuries (Fig. 3v). The runic inscription on this stone itself does not matter, it is an ordinary tombstone inscription. On the other hand, a certain "good warrior Smid" was buried under a nearby similar stone, whose brother (apparently a well-known person at that time, since he was mentioned in the tombstone) - Halfind "lives in Gardarik", i.e. in Russia. As is known, a large number of settlers from the western lands lived in Novgorod: descendants of the Obodrites, as well as descendants of the Norman Vikings. Wasn't it a descendant of the Viking Halfind who subsequently painted the intro for the "Prologue"?

However, the ancient Novgorodians could have borrowed the composition of the drawing from the Prologue not from the Normans. Images of intertwined snakes, people, and animals can be found, for example, in the headpieces of ancient Irish manuscripts (Fig. 3d). Perhaps all these ornaments have a much more ancient origin. Were they borrowed from the Celts, whose culture goes back to the culture of many northern European peoples, or were similar images known earlier, during the Indo-European unity? This we do not know.

Western influence in Novgorod ornaments is obvious. But since they were created on Slavic soil, traces of the ancient Slavic nodular writing may have been preserved in them. Let's analyze ornaments from this point of view.

What do we see in the picture? Firstly, the main thread (it is indicated by an arrow), on which hieroglyphic knots are hung, as it were. Secondly, a certain character who grabbed two snakes, or dragons, by the neck. Above it and on its sides are three complex knots. Simple figure-eight knots imposed between complex knots are also distinguished, which can be interpreted as separators of hieroglyphs.

It is easiest to read the top hieroglyph node, located between the two figure-eight separators. If you remove the snake fighter from the drawing, then the upper knot should simply hang in its place. Apparently, the meaning of this knot is identical to the serpent god depicted under it.

What god does the picture represent? The one who fought the snakes. Famous scientists V. V. Ivanov and V. N. Toporov [authors of the book "Studies in the field of Slavic antiquities" (M., 1974)] showed that Perun, like his "relatives" - thunderers Zeus and Indra, was a snake fighter. The image of Dazhbog, according to B. A. Rybakov, is close to the image of the snake fighter Apollo. And the image of Svarozhich Fire, obviously, is close to the image of the winner of the Rakshasas and snakes of the Indian god - the personification of the fire of Agni. Other Slavic gods, apparently, do not have "relatives" - serpent fighters. Therefore, the choice should be made between Perun, Dazhbog and Svarozhich Fire.

But we do not see in the figure either the thunder sign we have already considered, or the solar symbol (which means that neither Perun nor Dazhbog are suitable). But we see symbolically depicted tridents in the corners of the frame. This sign resembles the well-known tribal sign of the Russian princes Rurikovich (Fig. 3b). As studies by archaeologists and historians have shown, the trident is a stylized image of the Rarog falcon with folded wings. Even the name of the legendary founder of the dynasty of Russian princes, Rurik, comes from the name of the bird-totem of the Western Slavic encouragers Rarog. Details about the origin of the Rurik coat of arms are described in the article by A. Nikitin. The bird Rarog in the legends of the Western Slavs acts as a fiery bird. In essence, this bird is the personification of the flame, the trident is a symbol of Rarog-Fire, and hence the god of fire - Svarozhich.

So, with a high degree of certainty, we can assume that the screensaver from the "Prologue" depicts the symbols of fire and the fire god Svarozhich himself - the son of the heavenly god Svarog, who was an intermediary between people and gods. Svarozhich people trusted their requests during the fire sacrifices. Svarozhich was the personification of Fire and, of course, fought with water snakes, like the Indian fire god Agni. The Vedic god Agni is related to Svarozhich Fire, since the source of the beliefs of the ancient Aryan Indians and Slavs is one.

The upper node-hieroglyph means fire, as well as the fire god Svarozhich (Fig. 1f).

Groups of nodes to the right and left of Svarozhich are deciphered only approximately. The left hieroglyph resembles the symbol of the Family tied on the left, and the right one resembles the symbol of the Family tied on the right (Fig. 1 g - i). The changes may have been caused by an inaccurate transfer of the initial image. These knots are almost symmetrical. It is quite possible that the hieroglyphs of the earth and sky were previously depicted in this way. After all, Svarozhich is an intermediary between the earth - people, and the gods - heaven.

Knot-hieroglyphic writing the ancient Slavs, apparently, was very complex. We have considered only the simplest examples of knot hieroglyphs. In the past, it was available only to the elite: the priests and the highest nobility - it was a sacred letter. The bulk of the people remained illiterate. This explains the oblivion of nodular writing as Christianity spread and paganism died out. Together with the pagan priests, the knowledge accumulated over the millennia, written down - "tied" - in knot writing, also perished. Nodular writing in that era could not compete with a simpler writing system based on Cyrillic.

Cyril and Methodius - the official version of the creation of the alphabet.

In official sources, where Slavic writing is mentioned, Cyril and Methodius are presented as its only creators. The lessons of Cyril and Methodius were aimed not only at creating the alphabet, as such, but also at a deeper understanding of Christianity by the Slavic peoples, because if the service is read in their native language, it is understood much better. After the Slavic alphabet of Cyril and Methodius was created, people wrote down Slavic speech in Latin or Greek letters, but this did not fully reflect the language, since Greek does not have many sounds that are present in Slavic languages. Services in the Slavic countries that were baptized were held in Latin, which led to an increase in the influence of the German priests, and the Byzantine Church was interested in reducing this influence. When an embassy from Moravia headed by Prince Rostislav arrived in Byzantium in 860, the Byzantine emperor Michael III decided that Cyril and Methodius should create Slavic letters that would be used to write sacred texts. If Slavic writing is created, Cyril and Methodius will help the Slavic states gain independence from the German church authorities. In addition, this will bring them closer to Byzantium.

Constantine (in tonsure Cyril) and Methodius (his secular name is unknown) are two brothers who stood at the origins of the Slavic alphabet. They came from the Greek city of Thessalonica (its modern name is Thessaloniki) in northern Greece. South Slavs lived in the neighborhood, and for the inhabitants of Thessalonica, the Slavic language, apparently, became the second language of communication.

The brothers received world fame and gratitude from their descendants for the creation of the Slavic alphabet and translations of sacred books into the Slavic language. A huge work that played an epochal role in the formation of the Slavic peoples.

However, many researchers believe that work began on the creation of the Slavic script in Byzantium, long before the arrival of the Moravian embassy. The creation of an alphabet that accurately reflects the sound composition of the Slavic language, and the translation into Slavonic of the Gospel - a most complex, multi-layered, internally rhythmic literary work - is a colossal work. To complete this work, even Constantine the Philosopher and his brother Methodius "with his henchmen" would need more than one year. Therefore, it is natural to assume that it was precisely this work that the brothers were doing back in the 50s of the 9th century in a monastery on Olympus (in Asia Minor on the coast of the Sea of ​​​​Marmara), where, according to the Life of Constantine, they constantly prayed to God, “engaging in just books."

Already in 864, Constantine and Methodius were received with great honors in Moravia. They brought the Slavic alphabet and the Gospel translated into Slavonic. Students were assigned to help the brothers and to train with them. “And soon (Konstantin) translated the entire church rite and taught them both morning, and hours, and Mass, and Vespers, and Compline, and secret prayer.” The brothers stayed in Moravia for more than three years. The philosopher, already suffering from a serious illness, 50 days before his death, "put on a holy monastic image and ... gave himself the name Cyril ...". He died and was buried in Rome in 869.

The eldest of the brothers, Methodius, continued the work he had begun. According to the Life of Methodius, “... having planted two priests from his students as cursive writers, he translated incredibly quickly (in six or eight months) and completely all the books (biblical), except for the Maccabees, from Greek into Slavic.” Methodius died in 885.

The appearance of sacred books in the Slavic language had a powerful resonance. All well-known medieval sources that responded to this event report how "some people began to blaspheme Slavic books", arguing that "no nation should have its own alphabet, except for Jews, Greeks and Latins." Even the Pope intervened in the dispute, grateful to the brothers who brought the relics of St. Clement to Rome. Although the translation into a non-canonized Slavic language was contrary to the principles of the Latin Church, the pope, nevertheless, condemned the detractors, saying, allegedly, quoting Scripture, like this: "Let all peoples praise God."

Not one Slavic alphabet has survived to this day, but two: Glagolitic and Cyrillic. Both existed in the IX-X centuries. In order to convey sounds reflecting the features of the Slavic language, special signs were introduced into them, and not combinations of two or three main ones, as was practiced in the alphabets of Western European peoples. The Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets almost coincide in letters. The order of the letters is also almost the same.

As in the very first such alphabet - Phoenician, and then in Greek, Slavic letters were also given names. And they are the same in Glagolitic and Cyrillic. According to the first two letters of the alphabet, as you know, the name was compiled - "alphabet". Literally, this is the same as the Greek "alphabeta", that is, "alphabet".

The third letter - "B" - lead (from "know", "know"). It seems that the author chose the names for the letters in the alphabet with meaning: if you read the first three letters “az-buki-vedi” in a row, it turns out: “I know the letters.” In both alphabets, letters were also assigned numerical values.

The letters in Glagolitic and Cyrillic had completely different shapes. Cyrillic letters are geometrically simple and convenient for writing. 24 letters of this alphabet are borrowed from the Byzantine statutory letter. Letters were added to them, conveying the sound features of Slavic speech. The added letters were built to maintain the general style of the alphabet. For the Russian language, it was the Cyrillic alphabet that was used, which has been transformed many times and is now well-established in accordance with the requirements of our time. The oldest record in Cyrillic was found on Russian monuments dating back to the 10th century.

But the Glagolitic letters are incredibly intricate, with curls and eyelets. There are more ancient texts written in the Glagolitic alphabet among the Western and Southern Slavs. Oddly enough, sometimes both alphabets were used on the same monument. On the ruins of the Simeon Church in Preslav (Bulgaria), an inscription was found dating back to about 893. In it, the top line is in Glagolitic, and the bottom two are in Cyrillic. The question is inevitable: which of the two alphabets did Constantine create? Unfortunately, it was not possible to answer it definitively.

1. Glagolitic (X-XI centuries)

We can only tentatively judge the oldest form of the Glagolitic alphabet, because the monuments of the Glagolitic alphabet that have come down to us are not older than the end of the 10th century. Looking at the Glagolitic, we notice that the forms of its letters are very intricate. Signs are often built from two parts located as if on top of each other. This phenomenon is also seen in the more decorative design of the Cyrillic alphabet. There are almost no simple round shapes. They are all connected by straight lines. Only single letters correspond to the modern form (w, y, m, h, e). According to the shape of the letters, two types of Glagolitic can be distinguished. In the first of them, the so-called Bulgarian Glagolitic, the letters are rounded, and in the Croatian, also called Illyrian or Dalmatian Glagolitic, the shape of the letters is angular. Neither one nor the other type of Glagolitic has sharply defined boundaries of distribution. In later development, the Glagolitic adopted many characters from the Cyrillic alphabet. The Glagolitic alphabet of the Western Slavs (Czechs, Poles and others) did not last long and was replaced by the Latin script, and the rest of the Slavs later switched to a Cyrillic type script. But the Glagolitic alphabet has not completely disappeared to this day. So, it was used before the beginning of the Second World War in the Croatian settlements of Italy. Even newspapers were printed with this font.

2. Charter (Cyrillic XI century)

The origin of the Cyrillic alphabet is also not completely clear. There are 43 letters in the Cyrillic alphabet. Of these, 24 are borrowed from the Byzantine statutory letter, the remaining 19 are invented anew, but in graphic design they are similar to Byzantine ones. Not all borrowed letters retained the designation of the same sound as in Greek, some received new meanings according to the peculiarities of Slavic phonetics. Of the Slavic peoples, the Cyrillic alphabet was preserved the longest by the Bulgarians, but at present their writing, like the writing of the Serbs, is similar to Russian, with the exception of some signs intended to indicate phonetic features. The oldest form of the Cyrillic alphabet is called the charter. A distinctive feature of the charter is sufficient clarity and straightforwardness of styles. Most of the letters are angular, wide heavy character. The exceptions are narrow rounded letters with almond-shaped bends (O, S, E, R, etc.), among other letters they seem to be compressed. This letter is characterized by thin lower elongations of some letters (Р, У, 3). We see these lengthenings in other types of Cyrillic. They act as light decorative elements in the overall picture of the letter. Diacritics are not yet known. The letters of the charter are large and stand separately from each other. The old statute knows no spaces between words.

The charter - the main liturgical font - clear, direct, slender, is the basis of all Slavic writing. These are the epithets used to describe the statutory letter of V.N. Shchepkin: “The Slavic charter, like its source - the Byzantine charter, is a slow and solemn letter; it aims at beauty, correctness, ecclesiastical splendor. It is difficult to add anything to such a capacious and poetic definition. The statutory letter was formed during the period of liturgical writing, when the rewriting of the book was a charitable, unhurried affair, which took place mainly outside the monastery walls, far from the bustle of the world.

The greatest discovery of the 20th century - Novgorod birch bark letters testify that writing in Cyrillic was a familiar element of Russian medieval life and was owned by various segments of the population: from princely-boyar and church circles to simple artisans. The amazing property of the Novgorod soil helped preserve birch bark and texts that were not written with ink, but were scratched with a special “writer” - a pointed rod made of bone, metal or wood. Such tools were found in large numbers even earlier during excavations in Kyiv, Pskov, Chernigov, Smolensk, Ryazan and in many settlements. The well-known researcher B. A. Rybakov wrote: “A significant difference between Russian culture and the culture of most countries of the East and West is the use of the native language. Arabic for many non-Arab countries and Latin for a number of Western European countries were alien languages, the monopoly of which led to the fact that the national language of the states of that era is almost unknown to us. The Russian literary language was used everywhere - in office work, diplomatic correspondence, private letters, in fiction and scientific literature. The unity of the national and state language was a great cultural advantage of Russia over the Slavic and German countries, in which the Latin state language dominated. Such a broad literacy was impossible there, since to be literate meant to know Latin. For the Russian townspeople, it was enough to know the alphabet in order to immediately express their thoughts in writing; this explains the widespread use in Russia of writing on birch bark and on “boards” (obviously waxed).

3. Semi-charter (XIV century)

Starting from the 14th century, a second type of writing developed - a semi-charter, which subsequently supplanted the charter. This type of writing is lighter and rounder than the charter, the letters are smaller, there are a lot of superscripts, a whole system of punctuation marks has been developed. The letters are more mobile and sweeping than in the statutory letter, and with many lower and upper elongations. The technique of drawing with a wide-nib pen, which was strongly manifested when writing in the charter, is noticed much less. The contrast of the strokes is less, the pen is sharpened sharper. They use exclusively goose feathers (previously used mainly reed feathers). Under the influence of the stabilized position of the pen, the rhythm of the lines has improved. The letter acquires a noticeable slope, each letter, as it were, helps the general rhythmic direction to the right. Serifs are rare, the end elements of a number of letters are drawn with strokes, equal in thickness to the main ones. The semi-ustav lasted as long as the handwritten book lived. It also served as the basis for the fonts of early printed books. The semi-ustav was used in the XIV-XVIII centuries along with other types of writing, mainly with cursive writing and script. It was much easier to write in semi-charter. The feudal fragmentation of the country caused in remote areas the development of their own language and their own semi-ustav style. The main place in the manuscripts is occupied by the genres of the military story and the annalistic genre, which best reflect the events experienced by the Russian people in that era.

The emergence of the semi-charter was predetermined mainly by three main trends in the development of writing:
The first of these is the emergence of a need for non-liturgical writing, and as a result, the emergence of scribes working to order and for sale. The writing process is faster and easier. The master is more guided by the principle of convenience, not beauty. V.N. Shchepkin describes the semi-ustav as follows: “... smaller and simpler than the statute and has much more contractions; ... it can be inclined - towards the beginning or end of the line, ... straight lines allow some curvature, rounded ones - do not represent a regular arc." The process of dissemination and improvement of the semi-scriptural order leads to the fact that the statute is gradually being replaced even from liturgical monuments by the calligraphic semi-scriptural script, which is nothing but a semi-scriptural script written more accurately and with fewer abbreviations. The second reason is the need of the monasteries for inexpensive manuscripts. Delicately and modestly decorated, as a rule, written on paper, they contained mainly ascetic and monastic writings. The third reason is the appearance during this period of voluminous collections, a kind of "encyclopedia about everything." They were quite thick in volume, sometimes sewn together and assembled from various notebooks. Chroniclers, chronographs, walks, polemical writings against the Latins, articles on secular and canon law, coexist in them with notes on geography, astronomy, medicine, zoology, and mathematics. Collections of this kind were written quickly, not very accurately, and by different scribes.

Cursive writing (XV-XVII centuries)

In the XV century, under the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III, when the unification of the Russian lands was completed and the national Russian state was created with a new, autocratic political system, Moscow turns not only into the political, but also the cultural center of the country. First, the regional culture of Moscow begins to acquire the character of an all-Russian one. Along with the increasing needs of everyday life, a new, simplified, more comfortable writing style was needed. They became cursive. Cursive roughly corresponds to the concept of Latin cursive. Among the ancient Greeks, cursive writing was widely used at an early stage in the development of writing, and it was also partially available among the southwestern Slavs. In Russia, cursive as an independent type of writing arose in the 15th century. The cursive letters, partly interconnected, differ from the letters of other types of writing in their light outline. But since the letters were equipped with a variety of all kinds of badges, hooks and additions, it was quite difficult to read what was written. Although the cursive writing of the 15th century still reflects the nature of the semi-charter and there are few strokes connecting the letters, but in comparison with the semi-charter this letter is more fluent. Cursive letters were largely made with elongations. Initially, the signs were composed mainly of straight lines, as is typical for the statute and semi-statute. In the second half of the 16th century, and especially at the beginning of the 17th century, semicircular strokes became the main lines of writing, and in the general picture of writing we see some elements of Greek cursive. In the second half of the 17th century, when many different variants of writing spread, and in cursive writing, features characteristic of this time are observed - less ligature and more roundness.

If the semi-ustav in the 15th-18th centuries was mainly used only in book writing, then cursive penetrating into all areas. It turned out to be one of the most mobile types of Cyrillic writing. In the 17th century, cursive writing, distinguished by its special calligraphy and elegance, turned into an independent type of writing with its inherent features: the roundness of the letters, the smoothness of their outline, and most importantly, the ability to further develop.

Already at the end of the 17th century, such forms of letters “a, b, c, e, h, i, t, o, s” were formed, which remained almost unchanged in the future.
At the end of the century, the round outlines of the letters became even smoother and more decorative. The cursive writing of that time is gradually freed from the elements of the Greek cursive and moves away from the forms of the semi-ustav. In the later period, straight and curved lines acquire balance, and the letters become more symmetrical and rounded. At the time when the semi-ustav is being transformed into civil writing, cursive writing also follows the corresponding path of development, as a result of which it can be further called civil cursive writing. The development of cursive writing in the 17th century predetermined the Peter the Great reform of the alphabet.

Elm.
One of the most interesting directions in the decorative use of the Slavic charter is ligature. By definition, V.N. Shchepkina: “Elm is Cyril’s decorative writing, which aims to tie a string into a continuous and uniform ornament. This goal is achieved by various cuts and embellishments. The system of writing in ligature was borrowed by the southern Slavs from Byzantium, but much later than the emergence of Slavic writing, and therefore it is not found in early monuments. The first accurately dated monuments of South Slavic origin date back to the first half of the 13th century, while those of the Russians date back to the end of the 14th century. And it was on Russian soil that the art of knitting reached such a flowering that it can rightfully be considered a unique contribution of Russian art to world culture.
Two factors contributed to this phenomenon:

1. The main technique of tying is the so-called mast ligature. That is, two vertical lines of two adjacent letters are combined into one. And if the Greek alphabet has 24 characters, of which only 12 have masts, which in practice allows no more than 40 two-digit combinations, then the Cyrillic alphabet has 26 characters with masts, of which about 450 commonly used combinations were made.

2. The spread of the tie coincided with the period when weak semivowels began to disappear from the Slavic languages: ъ and ь. This led to the contact of a variety of consonants, which were very conveniently combined with mast ligatures.

3. Due to its decorative appeal, ligature has become widespread. She was decorated with frescoes, icons, bells, metal utensils, used in sewing, on tombstones, etc.

In parallel with the change in the form of the statutory letter, another form of font is developing - initial letter (initial). Borrowed from Byzantium, the method of highlighting the initial letters of especially important text fragments has undergone significant changes among the southern Slavs.

Initial letter - in a handwritten book, emphasized the beginning of the chapter, and then the paragraph. By the nature of the decorative appearance of the initial letter, we can determine the time and style. In the ornamentation of headpieces and capital letters of Russian manuscripts, four main periods are distinguished. The early period (XI-XII century) is characterized by the predominance of the Byzantine style. In the XIII-XIV centuries, the so-called teratological, or "animal" style is observed, the ornament of which consists of figures of monsters, snakes, birds, animals, intertwined with belts, tails and knots. The 15th century is characterized by South Slavic influence, the ornament becomes geometric and consists of circles and lattices. Influenced by the European style of the Renaissance, in the ornamentation of the 16th-17th centuries we see wriggling leaves intertwined with large flower buds. With the strict canon of the statutory letter, it was the initial letter that made it possible for the artist to express his imagination, humor, and mystical symbolism. An initial letter in a handwritten book is an obligatory decoration of the first page of the book.

The Slavic style of drawing initials and headpieces - teratological style (from the Greek teras - monster and logos - teaching; monstrous style - a variant of the animal style, - the image of fantastic and real stylized animals in ornament and on decorative items) - originally developed among the Bulgarians in the XII - XIII century, and from the beginning of the XIII century began to move to Russia. "A typical teratological initial is a bird or beast (four-legged), throwing leaves out of its mouth and entangled in weaving coming from the tail (or, in a bird, also from the wing)." In addition to the unusually expressive graphic design, the initials had a rich color scheme. But polychromy, which is a characteristic feature of the XIV century book-writing ornament, in addition to artistic, also had an applied value. Often, the complex design of a hand-drawn letter with its numerous purely decorative elements obscured the main outline of the written sign. And for its quick recognition in the text, color highlighting was required. Moreover, by the color of the selection, you can approximately determine the place where the manuscript was created. So, Novgorodians preferred a blue background, and Pskov masters - green. A light green background was also used in Moscow, but sometimes with the addition of blue tones.

Another element of the decoration of a handwritten, and subsequently a printed book, is a headband - nothing more than two teratological initials, located symmetrically one opposite the other, framed by a frame, with braided knots at the corners.

Thus, in the hands of Russian masters, ordinary letters of the Cyrillic alphabet turned into a wide variety of decorative elements, introducing an individual creative spirit and national color into books. In the 17th century, the semi-ustav, having passed from church books into office work, was transformed into civil writing, and its italic version - cursive - into civil cursive.

At this time, books of writing samples appeared - “The Alphabet of the Slavic Language ...” (1653), primers of Karion Istomin (1694-1696) with magnificent examples of letters of various styles: from luxurious initials to simple cursive letters. By the beginning of the 18th century, Russian writing was already very different from previous types of writing. The reform of the alphabet and font, carried out by Peter I at the beginning of the 18th century, contributed to the spread of literacy and education. The new civil font began to print all secular literature, scientific and government publications. In form, proportions and style, the civil font was close to the old antiqua. The same proportions of most of the letters gave the font a calm character. Its readability has improved a lot. The forms of the letters - Б, У, Ь, Ъ, "ЯТ", which were higher in height than the rest of the capital letters, are a characteristic feature of the Peter's font. The Latin forms "S" and "i" began to be used.

In the future, the development process was aimed at improving the alphabet and font. In the middle of the 18th century, the letters “zelo”, “xi”, “psi” were abolished, the letter “ё” was introduced instead of “i o”. New font designs appeared with a high contrast of strokes, the so-called transitional type (fonts of the printing houses of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences and Moscow University). The end of the 18th - the first half of the 19th century was marked by the appearance of classic type fonts (Bodoni, Dido, printing houses of Selivanovskiy, Semyon, Revillon).

Starting from the 19th century, the graphics of Russian fonts developed in parallel with Latin ones, absorbing everything new that originated in both writing systems. In the field of ordinary writing, Russian letters took the form of Latin calligraphy. Designed in “copybooks” with a pointed pen, Russian calligraphic writing of the 19th century was a true masterpiece of handwritten art. The letters of calligraphy were significantly differentiated, simplified, acquired beautiful proportions, a rhythmic structure natural to the pen. Among the drawn and typographic fonts, Russian modifications of grotesque (chopped), Egyptian (squared) and decorative fonts appeared. Along with the Latin, the Russian font at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century also experienced a decadent period - the Art Nouveau style.

Literature:

1. Florya B.N. Legends about the beginning of Slavic writing. SPb., 2000.

2. V.P. Gribkovsky, article “Did the Slavs have written language before Cyril and Methodius?”

3. "The Legend of the Letters", translated into modern Russian by Viktor Deryagin, 1989.

4. Grinevich G. "How many thousand years of Slavic writing?", 1993.

5. Grinevich G. “Proto-Slavic writing. Decryption results”, 1993, 1999.

6. Platov A., Taranov N. "The runes of the Slavs and the Glagolitic".

7. Ivanova V.F. Modern Russian language. Graphics and spelling, 2nd edition, 1986.

8. I.V. Yagich The question of the runes among the Slavs / / Encyclopedia of Slavic Philology. Edition of the Department of Russian Language and Literature. Imp. Acad. Sciences. Issue 3: Graphics among the Slavs. SPb., 1911.
9. A.V. Platov. Cult images from the temple in Retra / / Myths and magic of the Indo-Europeans, issue 2, 1996.
10. A. G. Masch. Die Gottesdienstlichen Alferfhnmer der Obotriten, aus dem Tempel zu Rhetra. Berlin, 1771.
11. For more details, see: A.V. Platov. Monuments of the runic art of the Slavs / / Myths and magic of the Indo-Europeans, issue 6, 1997.

People have always felt the need to communicate with each other and describe the world around them. Representatives of different cultures had their own special ways of communicating. Since time immemorial, people have accumulated knowledge in memory, and passed it on orally and with the help of certain symbols. The invention of writing was the greatest discovery in the history of civilizations, since it was then that the line between prehistoric times and, in fact, history was clearly marked.

Writing allowed mankind to comprehend past experience from the height of the present time. Thanks to the written monuments that have come down to us from time immemorial, we have learned a lot more about ancient civilizations than from archaeological finds. Today, written information sources have become an integral part of our lives, and newspapers, magazines and the Internet have become the main carriers of the written word.

Legislative acts, literary works and scientific works - all this is preserved in writing. Written information rains down on us every single day, and a vivid example of this is road signs, a kind of hieroglyphic symbols, but much simpler and more understandable than ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. However, writing was not invented by the Egyptians, but by a completely different people, who lived, however, not far from the Nile Valley.

The oldest form of writing was the so-called Sumerian writing, and it appeared 5100 years ago. The Sumerian civilization arose in Mesopotamia, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, on the territory of modern Iran and Iraq. It was a flourishing civilization of farmers and pastoralists, and the Sumerians needed the letter in order to keep records of livestock and crops.

The first examples of writing were the so-called "account chips". Little by little, the Sumerians discovered that by combining several pictograms, one can express a certain idea. Over time, the images have been simplified to the most ordinary signs or symbols. They were carved on clay tablets with sharpened reeds, which gave the signs a pointed shape, hence the name of the letter - cuneiform.

The English orientalist Henry Rawlinson managed to decipher it; he compared the same text carved on a rock in three different languages. Only a few centuries later, writing finally came to Egypt and other ancient states. Egyptian hieroglyphic writing, perhaps the most beautiful, was deciphered by the French scientist, the founder of Egyptology, Charles Champollion.

In the town of Rosetta, he discovered a stone with three types of hieroglyphs, it was an example of an extremely complex language that combined individual alphabetic characters, syllables, and sometimes whole words. Thanks to writing, the ancient Egyptians left us clear evidence of their history, customs and beliefs, in addition, their writing can be voiced in all spoken languages.

The Egyptians also invented the carrier of writing - papyrus, something like paper or parchment scrolls. They made them from reeds that grew on the swampy banks of the Nile Valley and Delta. All kinds of household utensils were also made from papyrus. The Egyptians cut off papyrus stems and then dried them. Then they cut them into thin ribbons, and weaved a kind of soft fabric on which one could write, but only on one side. At one time, the Egyptians even simplified hieroglyphic writing for everyday needs, replacing it with the so-called thematic writing or cursive writing. About 4 thousand years ago, Chinese writing arose. And here the first signs were depicted in the form of symbols - pictograms, which have practically not changed since then.

It was not easy to master all forms of writing, since it required giving each character its own image, and with the help of the alphabet, the number of characters was reduced to about 30. As you know, the Phoenicians became the owners of the first alphabet. These great wanderers spread it throughout the Mediterranean.

The Phoenician alphabet consisted of only consonants, and for example the Arabic alphabet consisted only of vowels. The Phoenician alphabet was taken as a basis by the Greeks, although they had already used vowels for a good 2.5 thousand years, since then the writing has not changed much. The Greek alphabet consists of 24 consonants and vowels, lowercase and uppercase. Greek writing gave rise to the Latin alphabet, it arose approximately 300 years before the birth of Christ, and spread throughout Europe.

In the Middle Ages, the keepers of writing were monks. No, they did not bring anything new to it, they simply rewrote the ancient texts one by one. However, medieval monks developed a special system of letter writing, which was adopted by the aristocrats and the clergy.

In 1445, Johannes Gutenberg invented the first printing press with interchangeable metal type. Special paint was applied to them, applied to paper, and pressed down with a hand press. Paper, the oldest invention of the Chinese, was brought to Europe by the Arabs through Spain. The first impressions were made from abstruse church manuscripts.

The first full-length book that Gutenberg printed was the Bible. Modern high-speed printers use paper rolls, such as newspapers and magazines. Modern technologies greatly facilitate the process of typing and printing.

With the help of a computer, you can not only change the font, but also make up stripes in different ways. Yes, and writing instruments have improved significantly, antediluvian brushes and goose feathers have been replaced by ballpoint pens and felt-tip pens. And the seal itself has changed beyond recognition, not only in terms of letter printing, but also in size, i.e. print format.

Every year, about a million different printed publications are published in the world, not to mention electronic Internet publications. Through the written word, we can read the thoughts of the greatest thinkers of the past and the most delightful stories ever born of the human mind.

The article was prepared specifically for the site "Family Surname".

There is no Day of Slavic writing as such: what is celebrated on May 24 is correctly considered the day of the death of Slavic writing.

In all Slavic countries, the so-called. Day of Slavic Literature and Culture, glorifying the Byzantine monks Cyril and Methodius, who supposedly own the laurels of the creators of Slavic literature. They say the next overseas educators came to the “unreasonable and wild Slavs” and endowed them with writing.

In fact, in Russia, many types of writing originally existed. And Cyril and Methodius, not only did not create anything, but, on the contrary, successfully carried out a special operation to impoverish and simplify the Russian language, depriving the Old Slavonic alphabet of the nine most important images of Russian initial letters. The purpose of this sabotage (otherwise you can’t say it) was to translate the Bible for the Slavs, in the name of which, subsequently, any manifestations of the original Slavic culture were cleaned up.

Thus, it is more logical to call this day - the Day of the destruction of Slavic writing and culture. This is much more in line with the point. And now let's think about who and what offers us (Ivans, who do not remember kinship) to celebrate on this day (?!)

To their shame, the Russian people have been celebrating the day (May 24) when they took away their real language and writing for many years. They managed to convince us that before Cyril and Methodius, the Slavs had no letter. Moreover, this opinion, which is still not really justified by anyone, has long been turned into an undeniable dogma. And numerous evidence to the contrary is not taken into account, because. this is not consistent with the generally accepted ideological notion of the alleged backwardness of the Slavs in comparison with other peoples. Of course, this is all politics, not science.

Meanwhile, there is evidence that the Slavic language existed on the basis of 4 main and 2 auxiliary types of writing: da'Aryan Tragi (Figurative Symbols, which combined complex three-dimensional signs that convey multidimensional quantities and diverse Runes), x'Aryan Karuna ( Union of 256 Runes, priestly writing), Rasenskie Molvitsy (Image-mirror writing), Holy Russian Images (Letter-case letter), Glagolitic (trade letter), Features and Cuts (folk letter). And now compare this diversity and depth of perception of the world with what strangers Cyril and Methodius “made us happy” (!).

Moreover, Cyril himself, at one time, wrote that before creating his “alphabet”, he saw among the Slavs the Gospels and the Psalter “written in Russian letters”. Then what did Cyril and Methodius create? In fact, these foreign monks created not the Slavic script as such, but the religious alphabet for the Christian church in our native Slavic lands. The monks took as a basis the “letter letter” that existed among the Slavs from ancient times, consisting of 49 letters, threw out 5 letters from it, gave Greek (or Jewish) names to 4 more letters and began to translate Christian liturgical books from Greek into the dead language invented by them, which is among the people so it didn't stick.

About the original Slavic writing, director Sergei Strizhak says the following:

“Words in Russia were composed of runes and initial letters of images and were abbreviations with multidimensional meanings of the Universe. Therefore, the Russian language is considered word-forming, just as the chemical elements from the periodic table, when combined, give rise to a new substance.

For example, let's restore the conceptual meaning of the phrase "way of life".

“O-b-b-r-az” is an abbreviation, and consists of initial letters:
He, God, Er, Rtsy, Az,
Adding the meaning of each letter, we get:
He is created by God recommended by As.

Where Az is a person, and Rtsy is speech, speech. The second initial letter of the Old Slavic Alphabet has several basic meanings such as Buki (books), God, Gods.

What a beautiful result!

The word "Zh-s-n-s" is also an abbreviation:
Life Earth Our Yer
This means:
The belly of our Earth, created from above.

Combining the words “image” and “life”, we get the result:
God and Ace created one of the faces of Alive.
Or: Being in one of the qualities.
And “Alive” is a unit of life, or our true Self. It is wrong to say that my Soul, I am the Soul.

The word “Soul” should also be clarified in Russian, it is also an abbreviation:
Soul
Good initially sent multiplied by Ace.

Now consider the image of "God":
GOD - BG
God Verbs the Creator.
Manifesting thought through the word.

The word "duty" means:
Good One To People Verb Co-creator (transmit).

As it is known from the ABC, a person is Az, a person has the will to multiply the good initially sent, that is, through labor, grow the soul and soar spiritually.

Meaning of the word "Self":
MYSELF
Behold God's Image.
That is, a descendant of the Gods.

And now about the divine image of the ancient Slavic word “Love”:
LOVE
God's People Know.

Let's now analyze the image of Rod:
R O D
Saying He does Good.

One of the 49 images of the initial letter R - Rytsy is Speech - Speak - Speak, as well as the combination of earthly and heavenly.

This connection is an instant information exchange between the Explicit and Spiritual worlds through the word. A word is a material spoken thought.

And God is the one Who consistently transmits the knowledge and traditions of his Family in the infinite Universe created and maintained by Him - which is perfection.

The one who distorts perfection and harms it is doomed to loss of awareness and genetic mutation, because ignorance is evil. This is how the resonances between the earthly and the heavenly are damped, and the principle of correspondence of similarities is violated, and in Russian it can be expressed very simply: What you sow, you will reap.

Our current state cannot be called divine, but the Russian has the will and always has a choice: to work for aliens or to cooperate with friends and relatives who are kindred in spirit and blood.

And although we are already accustomed to someone else's way of life, but it's time to remember our true likeness, and our roots.

And now you can independently learn and find out the meaning of each Russian word. To do this, simply break the word into initial letters and substitute the corresponding images from the ancient Slavic Az Buka to them.

This is real Co-Creativity, leading you to the Joint Vedanza of Being, which will nurture the eternal soul and fill your whole life with awareness, meaning and happiness.”

It should be added to the above that the subsequent reform of the Russian language in 1917 by Lunacharsky cut off the Russian language even more. Lunacharsky not only shortened the alphabet again, but also replaced all letter images with phonemes. The alphabet disappeared and was replaced by the alphabet. Az Buki Vedi The verb Good is not a-be-ve-ge-de. And what does it mean to break the harmony recreated for centuries in the ABC? http://clubs.ya.ru/4611686018427433877/replies.xml?item_no=22555