GLAGOLITIC PAST

During the Middle Ages the territory of Croatia and the Balkan peninsula was the main conflict line between the rapidly diverging theologies of the Orthodox Church, represented by patriarch-ruler (basiley) in Constantinople, and the Western Church, represented by the bishop of Rome (pope). This conflict eventually resulted in the Schism of 1054, when each church excommunicated the other and denied validity to the sacraments of the other side. The Croatian church working on the territory split by this schism, adopted the practice of performing the Roman liturgical ritual in Old-Slavic instead of Latin, particularly in the towns and islands of the Adriatic coast. A century-long use of the Glagolitic script and the native language in local church liturgy and literature become one of the historic idiosyncrasies of Croatia. This practice was unusual and unique on the territory under the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church.

The term Glagolitic (glagoljica) is used to describe three concepts: the script, the Croatian Old Slavic religious liturgy, and the literature written in the Glagolitic script.

THE GLAGOLITIC SCRIPT

The name of the Glagolitic script come form the Old Slavic verb glagolati—to speak—emphasizing the connection of the script and the vernacular language which it transcribed ... more -->

GLAGOLITIC LITURGY

The Glagolitic liturgy is performed in Old-Slavic, the base language for all Slavic languages. With time, individual Slavic languages diverged and Old-Slavic was used only ... more -->

PRINTING OF THE GLAGOLITIC BOOKS

The adherence to the Glagolitic tradition required that all books needed for liturgy must be produced locally. All books that could be brought from abroad needed to be first translated ... more -->

 

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