CIRILLICO, ALFABETO. - It was introduced into Palaeoslavic literature in Bulgaria at the turn of the 9th to the 10th century. It is fashioned after Greek majuscule writing, as found in liturgical texts of the 9th-10th centuries. For Slavic sounds unknown to Greek, the corresponding letters of the Glagolitic alphabet were adopted (v.).
It has not been established who was the author of the a. c.; it was later erroneously attributed to St. Cirillo, apostle of the Slavs, whence its name. Being simpler than the Glagolitic alphabet, its use prevailed in Palaeoslavic and Church Slavonic literature. It is still used today in the liturgical books of the Byzantine-Slavic rite. Modernized, especially in Russia through the work of Pietro II Grande (graddanskij trefz: secular characters), it is still employed by Russians, Ukrainians, Serbs, and Bulgarians.