Peresopnytsia Gospel
New Testament manuscript | |
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Name | Peresopnytsya Gospels |
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Date | 1556-1561 |
Script | Old Ukrainian |
Now at | Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine, Kyiv |
Size | 380 x 240 mm (Binding, weight 9.3 kg) |
![](http://webcf.waybackmachine.org/web/20220125204730im_/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3e/Volodymyr_Zelensky_2019_presidential_inauguration_04.jpg/220px-Volodymyr_Zelensky_2019_presidential_inauguration_04.jpg)
The Peresopnytsia Gospels (Ukrainian: Пересопницьке Євангеліє, Peresopnytske Yevanheliie), dating from the 16th century, is one of the most intricate surviving East Slavic manuscripts. It was made between 15 August 1556 and 29 August 1561, at the Monastery of the Holy Trinity in Iziaslav, and the Monastery of the Mother of God in Peresopnytsia, Volyn'. The scribe was Mykhailo Vasyl’ovych, son of an archpriest from Sianik, who worked under the direction of Hryhorii, the archimandrite of the Peresopnytsia Monastery.
The manuscript is a Gospel Book containing only the four Gospels of the New Testament, and is ornamented with Glagolitic characters, which were influenced by the Italian Renaissance style. This is the first known example of a vernacular Old Ukrainian translation of the canonical text of the Scriptures.
The Peresopnytsya Gospels are the most well-known translations of canonical texts into the Old Ukrainian language. Luxuriously decorated under the influence of the Italian Renaissance, the work also shows characteristic Ukrainian decorations, and a high artistic level in the miniatures of the Ukrainian icon-painting school connected with Byzantine and Eastern Slavonic traditions.
The Peresopnytsya Gospels were commissioned by Princess Nastacia Yuriyivna Zheslavska-Holshanska (Zaslavska-Olshanska) of Volyn, and her daughter and her son-in-law (Yevdokiya and Ivan Fedorovych Czartoryski).
After its completion the book was kept in the Peresopnytsya Monastery. On 17 April 1701 it was presented to Pereyaslav Cathedral by Ivan Mazepa the Hetman of Ukraine. Scholar Osip Bodyansky discovered the book at the Pereyaslav Seminary and published a paper on the subject. Later on it was held in the Poltava Seminary, Poltava Museum of History and Regional Studies, Kyiv Pechersk Lavra preserve. On 24 December 1948 this treasure of Ukrainian culture was placed at the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine.
All six Ukrainian Presidents since 1991 have taken the oath of office on the Gospels: Leonid Kravchuk (1991), Leonid Kuchma (1994), Viktor Yushchenko (2005), Viktor Yanukovych (2010), Petro Poroshenko (2014), Volodymyr Zelensky (2019). [1]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ ""Брать пример с Израиля": чем удивил Зеленский на инаугурации". vesti.co.il. 2019-05-20. Retrieved 2019-05-20.
External links[edit]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Peresopnytsia Gospels. |
- Peresopnytsia Gospel at the Encyclopedia of Ukraine
- Information on the Peresopnytsia Gospel from UNESCO
- Role of the Gospel in Ukrainian inaugurations
- Peresopnytsya Gospel Treasure of the National Library of Ukraine, displayed via The European Library
- Copy of Peresopnytsia Gospel Passed to Vatican
- Information on a Peresopnytsia Gospel commemorative stamp