„…AND WE HAVE CONTRIBUTED SOMETHING TO THE WORLD

AND A SCRIPT FOR ALL THE SLAVS TO READ..."

(Ivan Vazov, the poem "Paisius")

Before converting to Christianity, pagan Bulgaria wrote official documents in Greek letters. Evidence appears on numerous stone columns with carved inscriptions, such as peace treaties, construction records, military announcements, and more. However, writing the Slavic language with Roman and Greek letters proved difficult. This caused speakers to forget and abandon their native language. The new Christian religion also remained misunderstood because it was preached only in the three languages considered sacred at the time: Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.

In 855, the brothers Cyril and Methodius created a 38-character alphabet called Glagolitic. It first spread in Great Moravia, but German clergymen expelled the two brothers' disciples. According to the 10th-century Bulgarian writer Chernorizets Hrabar, every child knows that a holy man, "Saint Constantine the Philosopher, called Cyril, created our alphabet and translated books, along with his brother Methodius."

The early medieval Bulgarian state preserved the work of the two brothers and their disciples Clement, Naum, and Angelarius. Prince Boris and his successors, Tsar Simeon and Tsar Peter, provided favorable conditions for the script's development and spread. Monasteries in Pliska, Preslav, and their surroundings, as well as in Ohrid, became centers of literary and educational life. The 9th and 10th centuries are known as the Golden Age of Bulgarian culture. This period saw the creation, translation, and copying of numerous manuscripts, alongside a flourishing of architecture and other arts and crafts.