Constantine of Preslav

Who is Constantine of Preslav?

Constantine of Preslav was a medieval Bulgarian scholar, writer and translator, one of the most important men of letters working at the Preslav Literary School at the end of the 9th and the beginning of the 10th century. Biographical evidence about his life is scarce but he is believed to have been a disciple of Saint Methodius. After his death in 885, Constantine was jailed by the Germanic clergy in Great Moravia and sold as slave in Venice. After a successful escape to Constantinople, he came to Bulgaria around 886 and started working at the Preslav Literary School.

He was one of the most prolific and important writers in Old Bulgarian. His most significant literary work was Учително евангелие, usually dated to the first years of the reign of Bulgarian tsar Simeon I, 893 – 894. The work represents a compilation of lectures about a number of church holidays and is the first systematic work treating sermons in Slavic literature. The compilation also features the poetic preface Азбучна молитва, the first original poetry in Old Church Slavonic.

In 894 Constantine of Preslav wrote the historical work Историкии, the first historical chronicle in Slavic literature.