language of Greek to the North and was chosen by the Greek Christian Orthodox brothers from Thessaloniki, apostles Cyril and Methodius, to be the liturgical language used in their Christian preaching to the Slavs) Old Church Slavonic (Црькъвьнословѣньскъ ѩзыкъ – Tsrĭkŭvĭnoslověnĭskŭ Językŭ) (the specific liturgical variant of Old Eastern South Slavic, it had several Greek language borrowings for several theological Christian concepts and ideas that were passed to other Slavic languages, especially those Slavic languages that were spoken by Christian Orthodox Slavs) (extinct) Church Slavonic (Црькъвьнословѣньскъ ѩзыкъ – Tsrĭkŭvĭnoslověnĭskŭ Językŭ) (conservative Slavic liturgical or sacred language used by the Eastern Orthodox Church in several Slavic countries that descends from Old Church Slavonic) (contrary to the language called inaccurately Old Church Slavonic, accurately it is Old Eastern South Slavic, it is a specific liturgical or sacred language) Bulgarian-Macedonian (Bulgarian and Macedonian belong to the same Eastern South Slavic dialect continuum with the difference that they are standardized languages based on specific dialects of the continuum, they are not simple dialects of one or the other) Bulgarian (Slavic Bulgarian / Seven Tribes Slavic) (български – Bălgarski / языкъ словяньскъ – Jazykŭ Slovyanĭskŭ) (old east south Slavic people, the Seven Slavic tribes and other Slavic tribes, who called their own language simply as "Slavic", later adopted the adjective "Bulgarian" for the language based on the name of most of their ruling elite – the Bulgars, which were of Turkic non-Indo-European origin and founded the Bulgarian Empire) Western Bulgarian Northwestern Vidin-Lom dialect Byala Slatina-Pleven dialect Southwestern Vratsa dialect Botevgrad dialect Ihtiman dialect Samokov dialect Elin Pelin dialect Sofia dialect (in Sofia, Bulgaria's capital) Dupnitsa dialect Kyustendil dialect Macedonian (Slavic Macedonian / Vardar Slavic) (македонски / македонски Jазик – Makedonski / Makedonski Jazik) (often included in the Western Bulgarian dialects of the Eastern South Slavic dialect continuum) (old east south Slavic people, composed of several Slavic tribes, who called their own language simply as "Slavic", later adopted the adjective "Macedonian" for the language based on the name of the former East Roman Empire Province called Macedonia that had this name by reference of the ancient Hellenic people – the Macedonians, although most of the territory of Modern North Macedonia was Paeonia) (not to be confused with the Macedonian Greek dialect spoken by the Macedonian Greeks) Eastern and Southern dialects Eastern group Maleševo-Pirin dialect / Pirin-Maleševo dialect / Blagoevgrad-Petrich dialect (Maleševo is in far eastern North