Christianization of the Slavs

Pan-Slavic postcard depicting Saints Cyril and Methodius, the "Apostles to the Slavs".

The Slavs were Christianized in waves from the 7th to 12th century. Generally speaking, the monarchs of the South Slavs adopted Christianity in the 9th century, the East Slavs in the 10th, and the West Slavs between the 9th and 12th century. Saints Cyril and Methodius (fl. 860–885) are attributed as "Apostles to the Slavs", having introduced the Byzantine-Slavic rite (Old Slavonic liturgy) and Glagolitic alphabet, the oldest known Slavic alphabet and basis for the Early Cyrillic alphabet.

See also

• Christianization of Moravia
• Christianization of Poland
• Christianization of Bohemia
• Christianization of Bulgaria
• Christianization of Kievan Rus'
• Christianization of Pomerania
• Slavic paganism

Sources

• B. Gasparov; Olga Raevsky-Hughes (1995). Christianity and the Eastern Slavs: Slavic cultures in the Middle Ages. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-07945-8.
• Thomas John Drobena; Wilma Samuella Kucharek (1979). Heritage of the Slavs: The Christianization of the Slavs and the Great Moravian Empire. Kosovo Publishing Company.
• Augustine Casiday (2012). The Orthodox Christian World. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-31484-1.
• Nora Berend (2007). Christianization and the Rise of Christian Monarchy: Scandinavia, Central Europe and Rus' c.900–1200. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-46836-7.
• Francis Dvornik (1962). The Slavs in European History and Civilization. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-0799-6.