ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Cyril and Methodius

Cyril and Methodius were two very smart men who lived a long, long time ago. They were brothers and they lived in a place called Thessalonica, which is in Greece.

One day, the king of a place called the Great Moravian Empire asked Cyril and Methodius to come and teach the people there about the Christian religion. The problem was that the people of the Great Moravian Empire spoke a different language than Cyril and Methodius.

So, Cyril and Methodius came up with a brilliant idea! They created a new alphabet, which is a set of letters that people can use to write words. This new alphabet was called Glagolitic and it allowed the people of the Great Moravian Empire to both read and write in their own language for the first time.

Cyril and Methodius taught the people there about Christianity using this new alphabet and the people were very grateful. In fact, the Great Moravian Empire became one of the most Christian places in the world at that time!

Later, Cyril and Methodius' creation of the Glagolitic alphabet led to the creation of a new alphabet called Cyrillic, which is still used today in many countries, including Russia, Bulgaria, and Serbia.

So, in short, Cyril and Methodius were two brothers who created a new alphabet and used it to teach the people of the Great Moravian Empire about Christianity. Their work had a big impact on language and religion, and their legacy still lives on today.