The first literary Slavic language — developed in the 9th century by Saints Cyril and Methodius for the Christianisation of the Slavs, still used liturgically by Orthodox churches.
Where it was spoken
Old Church Slavonic was the language of the first Slavic translations of the Gospels and liturgical texts, prepared in 863 by the Byzantine missionary brothers Cyril and Methodius. The base dialect was probably South Slavic, spoken around Thessalonica. From this literary norm grew Church Slavonic, the liturgical language of Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, and Serbian Orthodoxy to this day.
What it sounded like
A heavily inflected language with seven cases, three numbers including a dual, and the rich aspectual verb system that became typical of all later Slavic languages. Many archaic features absent from modern Slavic survive in liturgical recitation.
How it’s written
First in Glagolitic — an alphabet of unique geometric shapes invented by Cyril — then increasingly in Cyrillic, which is named for him but was developed by his disciples. Both scripts coexisted for centuries; Glagolitic survived longest in Croatia.
Find more languages by letter
Old Church Slavonic starts with O and ends with C. Browse other languages along the same letter.
Languages that contain a letter from "Old Church Slavonic":