Exhibit 12
Educators of Rus
Here you can see the figures of the Slavic educators — the people, who created the Slavic alphabet in the 9th and 10th centuries A.D. and laid the foundation of our written language and literature.
Slavic tribes settled in Europe more than a thousand years ago. They started creating their own kingdoms and build cities. Constantinople and Rome tried hard to pass on the light of faith to the Slavic lands.
Everybody knows the names of Cyril and Methodius, two brothers, who lived and preached in the 9th century A.D. Here the figure of the elder brother, Methodius, is shown. Cyril and Methodius were the creators of the Slavic alphabet and the Church Slavonic language. They are famous as the inventors of the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets that were used to write down the Slavic translation of the Holy Scripture. The Bible was translated by Methodius after the death of the younger brother Cyril. The alphabet that we use now is based on the old Cyrillic script.
Two hundred years later, a monk of the Kyiv cave monastery named Nestor the Chronicler used the Cyrillic alphabet to write the history of Rus and Lives of the first Rus saints. You can see his figure next to Methodius. He is considered to be the author of the famous Tale of the Bygone Years, that inspired the creators of the Chronicle of Halycia and Volhynia, from where we know about king Danylo and his renowned ancestors and descendants. Nestor the Chronicler died in Kyiv, he is buried in the Kyiv Cave Monastery – the Pechersk Lavra.
In Ukraine, the 24th of May is celebrated as the Day of the Slavic Literature and Culture, when we honor the memory of St. Cyril and Methodius. And on the 9th of November we remember St. Nestor the Chronicler. This is the Day of the Ukrainian language and culture.