Cyrylica w Polsce

The paper presents an outline of the functioning of the Cyrillic alphabet in the lands of the Polish state. Throughout the millennium, from Bolesław the Brave’s coin from 1018/1019 with a Cyrillic inscription, to this day, the Cyrillic alphabet has been present in the culture of the Polish Crown and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In the Renaissance, hese letters were accepted as a legacy related to either S. Jerome or Saint Cyril. It was believed that it was invented at the end of the 8th century by the Byzantines as a gift for the Bulgarians; these letters were referred to as ‘Glagolitic’. Later, in subsequent centuries, this alphabet came to be identified solely as ‘Rus’ian, Ruthenian’. Poland has magnificent testimonies of the functioning of the Cyrillic alphabet: manuscripts, monumental paintings, icons, the world’s first prints, and the first printed Bibles. It also survived the harmful activities of the Russian invader in the 19th century, who attempted to force its use for writing the Polish language. In the reborn Polish state, it is associated with Christianity of the Eastern rite and the Church Slavonic language, particularly with Orthodoxy, as well as with national and ethnic minorities: Belarusian, Russian, Ukrainian, and Lemko.