Abecedarius

File:Abecedarius prayer.png

Transcription of Constantine of Preslav's Bulgarian abecedarius Азбучна молитва ("Alphabetical prayer"). In this work, the first letter of each verse, highlighted in bold, is part of a series of letters that are in alphabetical order (from top to bottom).

An abecedarius is an acrostic in which the first letter of every word, strophe or verse follows the order of the alphabet. Abecedarius is also a generic term for an alphabet book, which dates back to Biblical writings such as the Psalms, which used successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet as the first letter of each stanza.