Belarus celebrates Slavic Writing and Culture Day   

24 May was no random choice. On this day, the Orthodox Church commemorates Saints Cyril and Methodius, Equal-to-the-Apostles, who brought Christianity to the Slavic peoples as enlighteners and preachers. The saints created the Slavic alphabet and translated several liturgical books from Greek into Slavic, including selected Gospel readings, the Apostolic Epistles, and the Psalter. This paved the way for the introduction and spread of Slavic church services. 
Cyril and Methodius were born in Greece to the family of a high-ranking military officer. Methodius, the eldest of seven brothers, first pursued a military career like his father, governing one of the Slavic-Bulgarian territories under Byzantine rule for ten years. Later, he withdrew from the world and took monastic vows.
 
His brother Constantine (who became the monk Cyril) was educated at the court of Emperor Michael in Constantinople and went on to become a brilliant philosopher. He was ordained a priest and served as the librarian for Patriarch Photius. On several occasions, Cyril stood as a defender of Orthodoxy in disputes with heretics and non-believers. He is credited with creating the Glagolitic alphabet, the first Slavic alphabet.
 
Cyril grew weary of life in the capital and soon moved to a monastery to join his elder brother Methodius. The monastery was home to many Slavic monks, and by spending time with them, the brothers learned the Slavic language. 
In 863, at the invitation of Prince Rostislav, Cyril and Methodius traveled to Great Moravia on a mission to preach Christianity and educate the local people. Great Moravia, which at the time encompassed parts of the modern-day Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Romania, and Poland, was already a Christian land. But its spiritual guidance came from German clergy, and all liturgies, holy texts, and theological teachings were in Latin, a language the Slavs did not comprehend.  
The brothers brought to Moravia the Slavic alphabet they had devised, along with their own translations of religious texts into Slavic. For three years, they preached the new faith, taught the Slavic people to read and write, and established churches. From then on, a new chapter opened for the Slavs - the chance to develop their own spiritual identity, enriched by sermons and liturgies in their native language. Cyril and Methodius effectively created a literary language that all Slavs of the time could understand. 

After Cyril passed away, Methodius was ordained an archbishop and continued his missionary and educational work. He went on to complete a full translation of all the biblical books into Slavic.
 
The activities of the holy brothers had a profound impact across the Slavic world. Their followers completed the translation of the Bible and numerous liturgical texts from Greek into Old Church Slavonic - work that Cyril and Methodius had begun. These same disciples also wrote the lives of the holy brothers, which became widely read among the Eastern Slavs. Both the Catholic and Orthodox churches have declared Cyril and Methodius saints.

Manuscript books of Belarus

The appearance of manuscript books on Belarusian lands is closely tied to the spread of Christianity. According to their purpose, the earliest manuscript books were divided into liturgical books (used for church services) and reading books (intended for personal reading).
  
In Belarus, many churches and monasteries had libraries and scriptoria (workshops for copying books). The main centers of mass manuscript book production on Belarusian lands were the metropolitan scriptoria in Vilna and Novogrudok, along with the workshops of the Markov Monastery in Vitebsk, the Supraśl Annunciation Monastery, Leshchensky Monastery in Pinsk, the Dormition Zhirovichi Monastery, and the Soltan scriptorium at the Shyshkin estate near Vilna. Centuries-old traditions of book copying were preserved and developed at numerous churches in Polotsk, Smolensk, and Vilna.  
For writing early Slavic manuscript books, both Slavic alphabets - Glagolitic and Cyrillic - were used. Gradually, however, the Cyrillic manuscript book took the leading position.
  
Ancient manuscripts often changed their original locations: some books were produced to order and, as the greatest treasures, were passed from one monastery or church to another, donated, or bequeathed. For this reason it is often difficult today to determine the place where many manuscript books originated. Based on comparison of certain features of production and decoration, with a high degree of probability the following are attributed to the lands of ancient Belarus: the Turov Gospel, the Polotsk Gospel, the Orsha Gospel, the Lavrishevo Gospel, the Mstislav Gospel, and the Onega (Mstislav) Psalter. Important monuments of the artistic decoration of Belarusian manuscript books also include the Radziwiłł Chronicle, the Volkovysk Gospel, and the Zhirovichi Gospel. Also among these are manuscript books containing liturgical texts intended for singing - irmologia. Two of the most valuable manuscript monuments of Old Russian liturgical chant are the Supraśl Irmologion and the Davydkov Irmologion.  
In the 19th and the early 20th centuries the centers for collecting and studying Belarusian manuscript books were the Vilna Public Library and the Belarusian Museum in Vilna, whose collections are now held in the Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. The largest numbers of Belarusian manuscript books are kept in the Russian National Library in Saint Petersburg and the Russian State Library in Moscow, the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts, and others.
  
After the Nazi occupation, only a small portion of manuscript books remained in Belarus. These are held in the Yakub Kolas Central Scientific Library of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, the National Library of Belarus, the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus, and the National Museum of History and Culture of the Republic of Belarus. 

First printed books of Belarus

Printed books from Europe appeared in the lands of Belarus in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. The first books in Cyrillic were printed in Kraków at the end of the 15th century.
 
Belarusian printing emerged in the first quarter of the 16th century and is associated with the work of Francysk Skaryna. Sometime between 1512 and 1517 he went to Prague, where he commissioned printing equipment and began translating books of the Bible and writing commentaries to them. His first book, the Psalter, was published in August 1517. In less than three years Francysk Skaryna translated, commented on, and prepared for print more than twenty books of the Bible, each furnished with prefaces and notes that reflected the confessional, philosophical, and educational views of the Belarusian first printer.

In 1520-1521 Skaryna left Prague and settled in Vilna, where he set up a press in the house of senior Vilna mayor Jakub Babicz. There he printed the Small Pilgrim’s Book and in 1525 published the Apostle. In numerous prefatory notes (he wrote 22 prefaces and 17 afterwords to the Apostle) he summarizes the contents of chapters and particular epistles and explains ‘difficult’ phrases. The whole work is introduced by Skaryna’s general preface “The Acts of the Holy Apostles. Preface”.

You can explore the history of the emergence and development of literacy, book printing, and writing in Belarus, and see ancient manuscripts, early printed editions, and rare books that have become part of the world’s heritage at the Book Museum in the National Library of Belarus and at the Polotsk Museum of Belarusian Printing.

Cyril and Methodius Readings

The International Cyril and Methodius Readings are held annually in Minsk. This year they will take place on 25-26 May and are devoted to the theme “Women in the History of Slavic Writing and Culture”. Conference participants will consider a wide range of issues: the legacy of Venerable Euphrosyne of Polotsk in the modern world; the figure of the holy righteous Sophia, Princess of Slutsk, in the context of her era; the prayerful feat of the blessed Valentina of Minsk; female monasticism in the history of the Orthodox Church; the role of women’s ministry in the history of the Orthodox Church in Belarus; women in the history of the formation of Belarusian statehood; and current questions in church history and religious studies, biblical studies, theology, and scholarship.

Scholars and cultural figures, leaders of educational institutions, teachers, graduate students and undergraduates from both state and church schools, and clergy members were invited to take part in the Readings.

For over 30 years the annual Cyril and Methodius Readings have served as a forum uniting experts in theology, history, philosophy, cultural studies, and religious studies. The event offers a unique platform for presenting and debating humanities research, addressing challenges in intercultural and interfaith dialogue, and exploring Christian spirituality and its significance today.