Adoption of Cyrillic in the West and/or Latin alphabet in Novgorod at the Reformation

[Bulgarian Lion]

The Republic of Novgorod in present-day Northwestern Russia was closely related to Scandinavia and the Germanic peoples, was a member of the Hanseatic League, with Russian merchants being the most respected foreign of the Germans, and despite Orthodoxy there were two heresies that could have become the forerunners of the Orthodox Reformation, if Novgorod had not been conquered by the Muscovites - the shearers' heresy of the 14th century, denying church hierarchy, monasticism, icon veneration, the sacraments of communion, baptism and penance, advocating the right of the laity to free preaching, and of the so-called "Jews" upholding the idea of the freedom of the human will and the right to communion without Church mediation. Also, the ideological basis of Catholicism is that the Roman Pope is the head of the Church of Christ due to the fact that it was in Rome, the capital and godfather city of the empire of the same name, that one of the first non-Jewish cities began to preach Christianity, and not from whom is, and from Saint Peter the Apostle, one of the closest disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Thracian-Greco-Roman (the important role of the Thracians in the development of Greek civilization is little known, as they gave the Greeks the muses, a number of Gods, they were taught agriculture, building fortresses, warfare and creating works of art) civilization was Mediterranean, not including most Northern and Eastern European territories! That is why the sacred language of Catholicism is Latin! And since we know that Protestants rejected the Gregorian calendar for centuries, what would happen during the Reformation and in independent Novgorod and related Russian states - would part of the Protestants reject the "papist" Latin alphabet, replacing it with the Cyrillic alphabet, or vice versa - because this script was created by the Bulgarian Holy Septuagints - the Holy Thessalonian Brothers Cyril, Methodius and their students, and the basis of Protestantism is the dogma of the "replaced church" - even more so, since the Cyrillic alphabet was initially blessed with a bull of Pope Adrian II, Saint Cyril's tomb is in the Basilica of San Clemente in Rome, and the brothers are also Catholic saints, would Russian Protestants adopt the pagan Latin script, abandoning the script blessed by the Pope, as Protestants sometimes used the pagan Julian Calendar for centuries? And which of the Protestants in the West would accept the Cyrillic alphabet, and which of those in Russia - the Latin alphabet?

 

[Jeff Goldplum]

Latin is the language of the Catholic Church because it was the language of the Roman Empire (i.e. a language that was already somewhat familiar). If any language can be called a "sacred language" (in terms of Christianity) it would be Aramaic (which is what Jesus would have spoken) or Greek (which the New Testament was written in).

It would require an ASB for Protestants to switch an entire alphabet just because "Pope bad".

 

[Bulgarian Lion]

It would require an ASB for Protestants to switch an entire alphabet just because "Pope bad".

And is the opposite option possible - in the event of a reformation in Northwestern Russia, the Latin alphabet will be adopted?

 

[Bulgarian Lion]

Latin is the language of the Catholic Church because it was the language of the Roman Empire (i.e. a language that was already somewhat familiar). If any language can be called a "sacred language" (in terms of Christianity) it would be Aramaic (which is what Jesus would have spoken) or Greek (which the New Testament was written in).

The ancient Germans and the ancient Slavs, before their conversion from different churches, were close peoples - especially the German and Russian tribes, who were not under the authority of the Roman Empire. And the Reformation introduced Liturgy in National Languages.

 

[Clandango]

Latin is the language of the Catholic Church because it was the language of the Roman Empire (i.e. a language that was already somewhat familiar). If any language can be called a "sacred language" (in terms of Christianity) it would be Aramaic (which is what Jesus would have spoken) or Greek (which the New Testament was written in).

It would require an ASB for Protestants to switch an entire alphabet just because "Pope bad".

Plus there is the issue of Pentecost, with the Holy Spirit coming onto the Twelve Disciples and allowing them to speak many different languages and spread around the world. But yah, changing the alphabet would be ridiculous as it would mean that everyone would need to learn how to read, pronounce, and write with it. Probably also a hassle for typing, and would be even more confusing given how theatrical some letters used to look like, though funnily enough Croatia had Latin as its official and government language until a few hundred years back. They switched to Croatian partially to stem the tide of people trying to replace it totally with German or Hungarian.

 

[Analytical Engine]

And is the opposite option possible - in the event of a reformation in Northwestern Russia, the Latin alphabet will be adopted?

It would probably be easiest if Catholicism spreads into the region before Orthodoxy does, thus bringing the Latin alphabet along with it

 

[funnyhat]

Plus there is the issue of Pentecost, with the Holy Spirit coming onto the Twelve Disciples and allowing them to speak many different languages and spread around the world. But yah, changing the alphabet would be ridiculous as it would mean that everyone would need to learn how to read, pronounce, and write with it.

And this would be counter-productive given that Protestants emphasized individual reading of the Bible.

 

[Bulgarian Lion]

But yah, changing the alphabet would be ridiculous as it would mean that everyone would need to learn how to read, pronounce, and write with it.

The basis of the mass literacy of Western Europeans, and following their example - of the majority of humanity, was laid by the Reformation with the requirement that every believer be able to read the Bible by himself, which is why worship began to be conducted in the national languages, and the first state , introduced compulsory education was the Protestant Duchy of Württemberg, in 1592 compulsory education for girls was also introduced in the Duchy of Palatinate Zweibrünken, and the modern education system was created by Protestant Prussia in 1763, and in the Orthodox Russian Empire the system was first adopted by Protestant Finland, Estonia and Latvia. Before the beginning of the Reformation, the main part of the population - ordinary urban, and especially - rural residents was illiterate, which made the change of writing easier, even more so, despite this difficulty you mentioned, even in countries with mass literacy of the population alphabets were changed - for example, in Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan they introduced, and in Kazakhstan in recent years they introduced the Latin alphabet instead of the Cyrillic alphabet.

 

[Polish Eagle]

The basis of the mass literacy of Western Europeans, and following their example - of the majority of humanity, was laid by the Reformation with the requirement that every believer be able to read the Bible by himself, which is why worship began to be conducted in the national languages, and the first state , introduced compulsory education was the Protestant Duchy of Württemberg, in 1592 compulsory education for girls was also introduced in the Duchy of Palatinate Zweibrünken, and the modern education system was created by Protestant Prussia in 1763, and in the Orthodox Russian Empire the system was first adopted by Protestant Finland, Estonia and Latvia. Before the beginning of the Reformation, the main part of the population - ordinary urban, and especially - rural residents was illiterate, which made the change of writing easier, even more so, despite this difficulty you mentioned, even in countries with mass literacy of the population alphabets were changed - for example, in Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan they introduced, and in Kazakhstan in recent years they introduced the Latin alphabet instead of the Cyrillic alphabet.

It's a bit more complicated than that. We have records of growing literacy in Italian and Flemish and German cities in the 14th century, well before the Reformation per se (though after some earlier heresies like Lollardy had laid its foundation). The city of Florence, in 1339, was educating about half of its children to read. The Brethren of Common Life became active at this time and massively worked to spread literacy in the areas where they were present--Luther attended one of their schools, in fact.

Brethren of the Common Life - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Protestantism flowed from the greater literacy of the late Middle Ages and thus the much more crowded marketplace of ideas as to what the correct interpretation of scripture was.

I could see a Latin script becoming dominant in Novgorod through commerce with the Hanseatic cities, not for religious reasons but simple cultural osmosis. Belarusian Latin Script exists IOTL, after all. Cyrillic in the West, however, has a much larger roadblock in that literacy with the Latin Script was already entrenched.