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Russian Character Entity References in HTML 4 and XHTML 1.0

The Cyrillic alphabet achieved its current form in 1708 during the reign of Peter the Great (9 June 1672 – 8 February 1725 New Style [30 May 1672–28 January 1725 Old Style]). The layout of the early Cyrillic alphabet is based on the ninth-century Glagolithic alphabet, which was influenced by Greek and Hebrew manuscript. It is named after St. Cyril (Greek: Κύριλλος, Church Slavonic: Кириль) (827 - February 4, 869) . He was known during his life as Constantine; the name Cyril seems to have been given to him only shortly before his death or after his death. He was a Byzantine Greek monk, scholar, theologian, and linguist. He is best known today for his work in Christianising the Slavs and, with his brother Saint Methodius, is credited with devising the Glagolithic. This fact is also confirmed explicitly by the papal bull Industriae Tuae (880) approving the use of Old Church Slavonic, which says that the alphabet was invented by Constantine the Philosopher. The word Glagolithic is derived from Glagol, and probably came from an Old Slavonic verb meaning to speak. The Old Church Slavonic became the fourth liturgical language of the Christian world and Old Church Slavonic texts were written with both Cyrillic and Glagolithic alphabets across a large territory and a period of many centuries.

St. Cyril and Methodius Christianising mission to Great Moravia Empire , where they came during the reign of Prince Rastislav in 863, entailed an unprecedented cultural development of the region. In the bull Industriae Tuae the Pope John VIII also set up an independent ecclesiastical province in Great Moravia with Archbishop Methodius as its head.

Both Cyril and Methodius were canonized by Pope Leo XIII in 1881.

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