Dear Serge,

In my readings on the Old Believers and their spiritual traditions, I came across the issue of the "change to the Name of Jesus" in Slavonic.

Their books spell it "UCYC" whereas the Nikonian and our books spell it "ICYC."

What was the issue here? Is the pronunciation of the first the same as that of the second?

God bless,

Alex

Dear Alex,

This is all I know about the matter:

Pre-Nikonian Slavonic and Russian, used by Old Believers and Ruthenians alike: ICYC¯b (the last letter is an attempt to write a tvërdyj znak). It is pronounced "eeSOOS'. (Or was it UCYC¯b? It would be pronounced the same.)

Post-Nikonian Slavonic and pre-1918 Russian, used by Russian Orthodox: IUCYC¯b, pronounced "eeyeeSOOS'. In old Russian spelling, I, i was used for ee/yee before a vowel.

Modern Russian: UUCYC, pronounced the same as the post-Nikonian and old Russian spelling.

I don't know the reason behind Patriarch Nikon's change.

http://oldworldrus.com

[ 12-06-2001: Message edited by: Serge ]