Old Church Slavonic

As you may probably know, Bulgaria is the only country in the European Union that uses the Cyrillic alphabet. Our entry into the EU in 2007 made Cyrillic the third official alphabet in the EU after the Latin and Greek ones. On May 24th we celebrate the Slavonic Literature and Culture. We also honor the creators of the Cyrillic alphabet - the brothers St. Cyril and St.

The Heads of State of Bulgaria and the Republic of North Macedonia, Rumen Radev and Stevo Pendarovski, and the delegations led by them will pay tribute together to the work of the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius in Rome.

On May 11 Bulgarian Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of the Holy Brothers Cyril and Methodius. The holiday marks its beginning during the Bulgarian Revival and is associated with the school celebrations that were organized on this day. Then came the idea for a holiday anthem, which in 1892 Stoyan Mihajlovski wrote in Ruse.

Bulgaria celebrates May 24 as the day of the Bulgarian Education and Culture and Slavic Script, the official Day of Holy Brothers St. Cyril and St. Methodius - the Byzantine scholars who wrote the first Slavic alphabet in 855 A.D., and translated into Old Bulgarian the Bible and the religious literature of Orthodox Christianity.

This date became a national holiday after the Serbian government adopted a bill amending the Law on State and Other Holidays in the Republic of Serbia, Blic recalls.

On May 24 we celebrate the Day of Bulgarian Education and Culture and the Slavonic Literature. This day is dedicated to the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius - the creators of the Slavonic script.

President Rumen Radev was received by Pope Francis, as traditionally each year the head of the Roman Catholic Church gives audience to Bulgarian representatives due to the Day of Slavonic Alphabet and Culture, reported BNR.

Radev gifted to the Pope with an icon of the Holy Brothers St. St. Cyril and Methoius who are also patrons of Europe for the Catholic Church.

А number of Bulgarian ministers and diplomats have condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin for telling his Macedonian colleague George Ivanov on May 24 - the Day of Slavic Literacy - that the Cyrillic script came from Macedonia.

"The Slavic alphabet and literature came to us from Macedonian soil", Putin told Ivanov during the Macedonian President's visit to Moscow.

''Today we often ask ourselves as Bulgarians what our main national priority should be. We cannot have a priority as a country and nation other than education'', Vice President Iliyana Yotova said in Topolovgrad.

She took part in celebrations for the Day of Topolovgrad and the Day of Bulgarian Education and Culture and Slavonic Alphabet, the President's press office said.

By tradition, May 24, the Day of the Slavonic Alphabet and of Bulgarian Education and Culture is marked at San Clemente basilica in Rome and by paying homage to the grave of St.Constantine-Cyril the Philosopher, creator of the earliest Bulgarian alphabet in 9 c. A delegation led by Bulgarian Minister of Culture Boil Banov is in Rome for the commemorative events, BNR reported.