L’oeuvre littéraire de Cyrille et de Méthode d’après Constantin Kostenecki

Abstract

The authors of the Vita Constantini and the Vita Methodii assert that the founding of the slavic alphabet and the translation of the first literary works
from slavic to greek were done by Cyril and Methodius alone. This view on the literary achievement of the two so-called apostles of the Slavs prevailed in the literary sources throughout the Middle Ages. It was only in the 15th century that a Serbian scholar, Konstantin Kostenecki, first expressed doubts about this. According to Kostenecki’s conception, Cyril and Methodius were simple leaders of a literary school, which was founded by order of the Byzantine emperor. Based upon this assertion the author of the present article adds historical and literary evidence to the support of this thesis and attempts to locate the place where the literary school was. After an examination of the existing data in the Vitae of the Thessalonician brothers and the language of the ancient slavic literary works, the author concludes that the school was in the region of Bithynia in Asia Minor, and that it was among the Slavs living there, that Cyril and Methodius founded their literary school.