ABSTRACT
In Slavic medieval literatures, the religious, political and cultural task of introducing the Christian faith – and a written language – to the Slavs is frequently seen in the context of divine intervention and sacred history. Indeed the origins of Slavic literacy are closely linked to the entry of the Slavs into Christendom. The mission of the two brothers from Thessalonike, Constantine (827–869, monastic name Cyril) and Methodios (818–885), is based upon their creation of a Slavonic alphabet, later called the Glagolitic, and upon the translation into this new written idiom of texts serving the basic liturgical needs of the newly converted Slavic communities.
