Statesmen, scientists, teachers, schoolchildren, students and hundreds of citizens paid tribute on May 24 to the deed of Sts Cyril and Methodius, the creators of the Cyrillic alphabet.

Bulgaria celebrates May 24 as the day of the Bulgarian Education and Culture and Slav Letters and it was marked with nationwide festivities.

In Sofia, in the presence of President Georgi Parvanov, cabinet ministers, lawmakers, governors, academicians and numerous guests, a solemn manifestation stolled from the National Palace of Culture to the monument of the two brothers in the square in front of the National Library.

The creation of the Cyrillic alphabet made Bulgaria part of Europe in an unrivalled way, the country's President Georgi Parvanov said during the celebrations.

"The strengthening of the Bulgarian state is irreversibly linked with the distribution of the Cyrillic alphabet. This is a celebration should make us turn not only towards the past, but also to give us energy for a new attitude towards culture, education and science," the president said.

The Cyrillic alphabet has been in existence for more than eleven centuries, but it was introduced for the first time in the European Union after Bulgaria obtained full membership on January 1, 2007. The Bulgarian language brought the total number of "linguae europeae" to 23. With its adoption the alphabets in use across the Union got enlarged by one more - the Cyrillic.

The first celebration in commemoration of Sts Cyril and Methodius occurred 156 years ago in a Plovdiv school, currently after the name of the Saints.

Bulgaria celebrates May 24 as an official holiday under a decision of the National Assembly dated 30 March 1990.

The brothers were born in Thessalonica, in 827 and 826 respectively. Both were outstanding scholars, theologians, and linguists.

In the 9th century the Holy Brothers Sts. Cyril and Methodius created the Slavic alphabet and made the first translations in it. Their disciples introduced the alphabet in Bulgaria, putting the beginning of its journey to the world. Several centuries later, Patriarch Evtimii launched a literary reform and updated the alphabet, assuming that words are expression of the divine essence of things.

Pope John Paul II proclaimed the two Sts Cyril and Methodius Co-patrons of Europe together with St Benedict of Norcia in 1980.

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