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An alphabet derived from the Greek uncial script first used by Greek Orthodox Slavs, also known as asbuka after the Slavic names of its first two letters. Its creation is attributed to the ninth-century apostle of the Slavs, Saint Cyrillus. Most of its letters are of Greek origin; five, /ž/, х/č/, ш/š/, щ/št/ and , were taken from the glagolitic alphabet . The Cyrillic alphabet contains a number of combined letters such as ю/yu/, composed of F + O. Under Peter the Great the Cyrillic alphabet was simplified and made graphically similar to Latin antique. In its modern form it is used for Byelorussian, Bulgarian, Russian, Serbian, Ukrainian and other non-Slavic languages spoken in the erstwhile Soviet Union, such as Chuvash. Romanian, too, was written in it until the midnineteenth century, and for its variety Moldavian it continued to be used until 1991 when Moldavia became independent and replaced it with the Latin alphabet. As the script of the Russian language the Cyrillic alphabet consists of 33 letters ( table 22 ). ... log in or subscribe to read full text