Serbian hymnody

See also ‘Byzantine hymnody’*, ‘Byzantine rite’*, ‘Greek hymnody’*, ‘Rite of Constantinople’*, ‘Rite of Jerusalem’*, ‘Greek hymns, archaeology’*. From conversion to the 18th century The early years Serbia converted to Christianity between 867-74. The first contacts were with Latin Church priests in coastal areas dominated by the Byzantine Empire; later contacts were with the Slavic missionaries, the Thessalonian brothers Cyril and Methodius. St. Cyril reputedly created the Slavic script, glagoljica, and set up the grammatical structure of the Slavic standard language, into which he and St. Methodius translated the entire liturgy from Greek. While there is no direct evidence that...