May 24 is a national holiday in Bulgaria and in many other countries that use the Cyrillic alphabet (Russia, Northern Macedonia, Serbia…). In Bulgaria, it is the Day of Slavic writing, education and Bulgarian culture. It celebrates, among others, the two brothers Saints Cyril and Methodius, creators of the first Slavic alphabet, the Glagolitic (855-862) (alphabet finalized in the current Cyrillic after the death of two brothers). It was created on the basis of the Greek alphabet to facilitate the contact of the Slavic peoples with the Church and to be able to celebrate the liturgy in their own languages. It appeared in a period when there were only three dominant liturgical languages – Greek, Hebrew and Latin. The appearance of a new alphabet in Europe, breaking this dogma of three languages, was a major event.

Cyrillic is used today by more than 300 million people including Mongolians and former Soviet countries. It is the official alphabet of Bulgaria since the 9th century. The Bulgarian people are proud to be the first to adopt Cyrillic and to have spread it to other Slavic peoples.

With the accession of Bulgaria to the European Union (2007), Cyrillic became the 3rd official alphabet after Latin and Greek. The two brothers Saints Cyril and Methodius were proclaimed by Pope John Paul II in 1980 as co-patrons of Europe.

Happy Birthday to the Cyrillic alphabet!