The appearance of a written language is extremely important for the history of any nation, because its real history, culture, philosophy, science, literature and art begin from the development of writing. The brothers Cyril and Methodius, the Macedonian and Slavic educators and preachers of Christianity, made a great contribution to the culture of Slavic people.
The contribution of Cyril and Methodius to the cultural history is really significant: firstly, in 863 Cyril developed the first Slavic alphabet and it was the beginning of the development of Slavic written language; secondly, Cyril and Methodius translated many books from Greek and it was the beginning of the formation of the Old Slavic literary language; thirdly, the brothers spent many years among western and northern Slavs spreading literacy among them.
Thus, Cyrillic is an advanced writing system named after Cyril. This Slavic alphabet was used for hundreds years and became a basis for modern alphabet of many Slavic nations.
The names of Cyril and Methodius are added to the Slavic history for ages. The brothers are canonized by Orthodox Church as well as a Catholic one.
Nowadays, Ukraine as a young independent European country also honors Slavic teachers whose scientific achievement promoted a further formation of Ukrainian literature.
So, the official year of the creation of Slavic alphabet is 863. And on May 24 Ukraine celebrates the Day of Slavic writing and culture. On this day we should pay tribute to the brothers Cyril and Methodius and say: "Let their memory and glory live forever!"
Image: credo-ua.org