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== History ==
In preparation for their mission to preach Orthodox Christianity to the Slavs of Moravia [[Cyril and Methodius|Cyril]], with his brother [[Cyril and Methodius|Methodius]], in 863 created the Glagolithic alphabet based upon the Slavic dialects of their home, ThessalonkiaThessalonika. This alphabet was used to prepare translations of some of the [[Holy Scriptures]] and church services books. After about two years of use in the Moravian Academy and in government and religious documents, Papal prohibitions in 865 banned use of '''Slavonic''' in favor of Latin in Moravia and the pupils of the missionaries were expelled from Moravia the following year.
Those who were expelled brought the Glagolithic based literary language south to the Bulgarian Empire where it was placed in use in the Preslav and Ohrid academies. In time the refined Cyrillic alphabet replaced the Glagolithic alphabet. As the language represented by the Glagolithic and Cyrillic alphabets remained the liturgical language of the Orthodox services as local vernaculars came into use the name Church Slavonic became applied to the language. As the original language, now called '''Old Church Slavonic''', spread throughout the Slavic world local redactions were created for ecclesiastical and administrative use and this Cyrillic based language became known as '''Church Slavonic'''. Church Slavonic continued as the common liturgical language of the Orthodox Churches of the Slavic area including the Russian, Bulgarian, and Serbian churches even as the common spoken languages of the people changed.
