Greek alphabet
The Cyrillic alphabet is closely based on the Greek alphabet, with about a dozen additional letters invented to represent Slavic sounds not found in Greek. In Russia, Cyrillic was first written in the early Middle Ages in clear-cut, legible ustav (large letters). Later a succession of cursive forms developed.

Is Church Slavonic still used?

Some Orthodox churches, such as the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodox Church, Serbian Orthodox Church, Ukrainian Orthodox Church and Macedonian Orthodox Church – Ohrid Archbishopric, as well as several Eastern Catholic Churches, still use Church Slavonic in their services and chants as of 2021.

What is the early Cyrillic alphabet?

The Early Cyrillic alphabet is a writing system that was developed during the late ninth century on the basis of the Greek alphabet for the Orthodox Slavic population in Europe. It was developed in the Preslav Literary School in the First Bulgarian Empire in order to write the Old Church Slavonic language.

What is the other name of Old Church Slavic?

The language is sometimes called Old Slavic, which may be confused with the distinct Proto-Slavic language. Different strains of nationalists have tried to ‘claim’ Old Church Slavonic; thus OCS has also been variously called Old Bulgarian, Old Croatian, Old Macedonian or Old Serbian, or even Old Slovak, Old Slovenian.

Is Cyrillic script still used today?

The modern Cyrillic script is still used primarily for some Slavic languages (such as Bulgarian, Serbian, Russian and Ukrainian ), and for East European and Asian languages that have experienced a great amount of Russian cultural influence.

When did Cyrillic become the official language of the Bulgarian Church?

One possibility is that this systematization of Cyrillic was undertaken at the Council of Preslav in 893, when the Old Church Slavonic liturgy was adopted by the First Bulgarian Empire.