Old Church Slavonic

OLD SLAVONIC

словѣньскъ

chrestomathy for English-speaking slavicists

Lessons

Old Church Slavonic, Old Church Slavic (OCS) (словѣ́ньскъ ѩзꙑ́къ, slověnĭskŭ językŭ) was the first literary Slavic language, developed by the 9th century Byzantine Greek missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius who were credited with standardizing the language and using it for translating the Bible and other Ancient Greek ecclesiastical texts as part of the Christianisation of the Slavic peoples. It played an important role in the history of the Slavic languages and served as a basis and model for later Church Slavonic traditions, and some Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches use Church Slavonic as a liturgical language to this day.

Glossary