E. V. Krushelnitskaya

Ostromir Gospel (1056 - 1057) and the National Library of Russia:
storage and study of the monument

The Ostromir Gospel, a cultural monument of world significance, is stored in St. Petersburg in the Russian National Library (formerly the Imperial Public Library, the State Public Library named after M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin). This handwritten book, created in the 11th century, occupies a very special place among the most important monuments of cultural heritage, which constitute an invaluable heritage of Russia.
What is the uniqueness of the Ostromir Gospel?

Of course, this is a very ancient book, which has a luxurious decoration and has preserved the sacred gospel text on its sheets. But dozens of medieval manuscripts, which are true masterpieces of art, have survived to this day, and many of them are of a more respectable age, because the manuscript tradition of Holy Scripture goes back centuries. The oldest manuscripts of the New Testament known today date from the 2nd century BC. n. e., and the Old Testament handwritten tradition can be traced from the end of the last era. The exceptional historical, cultural and scientific significance of the Ostromirov Gospel is determined by the fact that it is the oldest surviving East Slavic precisely dated handwritten book, that is, a book that has a date of creation fixed by a scribe. The Ostromir Gospel really stands at the origins of Russian literature and culture, and in modern times the study of this monument has played a decisive role in the formation and development of domestic and world paleoslav studies.

The Ostromir Gospel was created in the era of the cultural upsurge and flourishing of the ancient Russian state, which followed the official adoption of Christianity as the state religion in 988 and the initiation of previously scattered pagan East Slavic tribes into the centuries-old Christian cultural tradition. It is with Christianization that the spread of Slavic writing in Russia is connected. In The Tale of Bygone Years, the oldest Russian chronicle that has survived to this day, under the year 988, it is told how Prince Vladimir (d. 1015) laid the foundation for book education: he himself loved “book words” and began to give children of the best people for teaching . In 1033, the same source reports that the son of Vladimir, Prince Yaroslav, nicknamed the Wise (c. 978–1054), organized the translation and correspondence of books, thereby founding the first library in Russia in Kyiv. The books in The Tale of Bygone Years are called: "origins of wisdom", "rivers that solder the entire universe." From the 11th century only about two dozen ancient Russian books have survived to this day, and in most cases in fragments. The Ostromir Gospel has been preserved in its entirety.

On the last page of the Ostromirov Gospel there is an Afterword written by the hand of Deacon Gregory, who did the main part of the rewriting of the text. In this Afterword, Deacon Gregory reports that he rewrote this Gospel by order of the eminent Novgorod posadnik Ostromir, in the baptism of Joseph, during the reign of the Kyiv prince Izyaslav Yaroslavich (1024-1078, son of Yaroslav the Wise), the work was started on October 21, 1056 and completed May 12, 1057 (thus, the book was created in seven months). Particularly emphasized is the high position of the customer of the book Ostromir, who was a representative of one of the most influential Russian families: his grandfather - Dobrynya (served as a prototype for the epic Dobrynya Nikitich) - was an uncle to Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich, who baptized Russia. Ostromir, the second cousin of Prince Vladimir, Izyaslav's cousin, orders a luxurious book, being at the zenith of his fame, for he considers his tenure in Novgorod almost like co-government with the Kyiv prince. In the Afterword of Deacon Gregory, princes Yaroslav and Vladimir (Izyaslav's father and brother), Ostromir's wife Theophan (the Greek name testifies to her aristocratic origin) and their children and wives (without giving names) are mentioned. According to chronicle sources, it is known that Ostromir died in a campaign against the Chud tribe around 1060, leading the Novgorod squad.

Of particular interest are the dates indicated by Deacon Gregory as the start and end of the work on rewriting the Gospel. October 21 is the day of memory of Hilarion the Great. This name could not help but be associated with the name of Metropolitan Hilarion of Kyiv, an outstanding ecclesiastical and political figure of the middle of the 11th century, the first Russian in the Kyiv metropolitan see, orator, writer, author of the famous “Sermon on Law and Grace”. Hilarion was a like-minded and associate of Yaroslav the Wise in the struggle for the political and ideological independence of Russia from Byzantium. Undoubtedly, Hilarion - "a good man, bookish and fasting", as the chronicle says about him - played an important role in the enlightenment of Russia, in organizing book writing at the Kiev St. . Causes rich historical associations and the date of completion of work on the Ostromir Gospel - May 12. This date connects the Ostromir Gospel, created in the 11th century, during the spread of Christian teaching in Russia, with the 4th century, when Christianity first became the state religion in the Byzantine Empire. Emperor Constantine the Great, having founded Constantinople as the capital of a Christian state, dedicated the city to the Mother of God. The Feast of Initiation was celebrated in Byzantium on May 11, 330, later this day was celebrated as the day of the Renewal of Sophia of Constantinople. And on May 12, the first Christian churches in Russia were consecrated. It is significant that on the same days the memory of the Thessalonica brothers Cyril (d. 869) and Methodius (d. 885) is celebrated - the enlighteners of the Slavs, whose names are associated with the emergence of the Slavic alphabet (according to the new style, the memory of Cyril and Methodius falls on 25 May and in our time is widely celebrated by the public as the International Day of Slavic Literature and Culture).

All this leaves no doubt that when creating the Ostromirov Gospel, a deep ideological concept was developed, which placed this handwritten code, and with it the young ancient Russian state, on the unshakable foundation of a centuries-old tradition, introduced it into the mainstream of world Christian culture. This concept of the unity of Russia with the entire Christian world and the affirmation of the high status of the ancient Russian state on the world stage is manifested not only in the symbolism of the start and end dates indicated by Deacon Gregory, the dates, obviously not accidental, but permeates all the main elements of the code: its language, text , decoration.

The Ostromir Gospel is written on parchment in a charter - a type of writing that genetically goes back to the uncial of Greek liturgical books and reached perfection in Slavic Cyrillic writing in Bulgaria in the 10th century, during the highest flowering of the Bulgarian kingdom in the reign of Tsar Simeon (893-927). The book is remarkable for its rich decoration, which is made with paints using gold in the so-called Old Byzantine style, characteristic of Byzantine manuscripts of the 10th-11th centuries. In the Ostromir Gospel there are three miniatures (images of the evangelists John, Luke and Mark), about twenty exquisite headpieces with ornaments of the traditional enamel type, more than 200 large initials, the ornamental pattern of which is never repeated. A unique feature of the initials of the Ostromirov Gospel are unusual anthropomorphic and zoomorphic elements, which testify to the artistic ties of the monument not only with the Byzantine, but also with the Western European tradition.

Of particular interest is the unparalleled iconography of the miniature depicting the Evangelist John, which is placed on the very first page of the Ostromir Gospel. At the top, outside the frame framing this miniature, there is a lion, and the symbolism of this image is multifaceted: first of all, it is a symbol of Jesus Christ (in Easter hymns, the risen Christ is compared to the awakened lion), but it is also a traditional Byzantine imperial symbol. And this is very consonant with the high position of the owner of the manuscript, the mayor Ostromir, and, undoubtedly, emphasizes the national significance of the book itself.

The content and structure of the text of the Ostromir Gospel is a short aprakos, that is, it belongs to the liturgical type of books of Holy Scripture. In the main part of the text, the book contains the gospel daily readings from Easter to Pentecost, as well as Saturday and Sunday readings for the following weeks of the year. The second part includes the gospel readings according to the Monthly Book, starting in September, as well as a number of additional readings “for various occasions” (for example, for the consecration of the church, “in victory for the king in battle”, for sick men and women). On many sheets of the Ostromirov Gospel there are instructions for the priest to read the text intoned - ekphonetic signs. Signs of ekphonetic notation are obligatory in the Greek aprakos gospels of the 8th-14th centuries, while in Slavic manuscripts they are extremely rare: only two such Slavic aprakos are known - the Ostromir Gospel and the Kupriyanov (Novgorod) leaflets ( № 14 : F.p.I.58). Since the signs of ekphonetics are signs sound text in the temple, the Ostromir Gospel can be considered the beginning of the birth of Russian sacred music. The connection between the gospel text and the composition of ancient Russian singing collections of various types is described in the article by N. V. Ramazanova.

The monthly portion of the Ostromirov Gospel is of extraordinary cultural and historical interest. It contains the memory of the saints not only of the Eastern Church, but also of the Western. Such a synthesis of hagiological traditions, combined with the fact that the manuscript was created in 1057, suggests that the Ostromir Gospel is, perhaps, the last liturgical monument that has survived to this day, reflecting the unity of the Christian Church (as is known, the process of division of a single Church can be traced, starting from the middle of the 5th century, and ends with the "great schism" in 1054). The reason for the composition of the Ostromirov Gospel, unusual for the entire subsequent Old Russian tradition, should first of all be sought in the features of the protograph - the handwritten book that served as the original when creating the Ostromirov Gospel. However, one cannot ignore the historical realities, namely the wide dynastic ties of the Kyiv princely house, which spread throughout the world. Data are known about 38 marriages of Rurikovich in the 11th century, of which 8 cases occur in Germany, 2 in France, 5 in the Scandinavian kingdoms and England, 7 in Poland, 6 in Hungary, 3 marriages with Polovtsian princesses, 1 - with a Byzantine princess, 2 with representatives of the Byzantine aristocracy. Thus, 27 marriages unite the princely house with the Catholic West, and only 3 marriages with Byzantium. Doesn't this also explain the breadth of cultural orientation that determined the unique combination of different traditions in the decoration of the Ostromirov Gospel?

One way or another, but in combination, these observations lead to the conclusion about the special status that the Ostromir Gospel had as a book of truly state significance. Undoubtedly, the Ostromir Gospel was intended by the customer for a precious contribution to the St. Sophia Cathedral - the main temple of northwestern Russia, which was erected in 1045-1050. in Veliky Novgorod on the model of St. Sophia of Kyiv (this temple was founded in 1037).

The fate of the Ostromirov Gospel, almost a thousand-year history of the existence of the book - a witness to the entire historical development of our state, is known, however, only in general terms. On the first page of the book there is a shorthand entry of the 17th century: “The Gospel of Sophia Aprakos”. This indicates that the manuscript belonged to some Sophia church. Most likely, for several centuries the Ostromir Gospel was kept in the St. Sophia Cathedral in Veliky Novgorod until it was taken to Moscow (when this happened is unknown). Documentary history of the manuscript can be traced only from the XVIII century. An inventory of the property of the Resurrection Church of the Moscow Kremlin, compiled in 1701, indicates that at that time the Ostromir Gospel was in this Moscow church. In 1720, the ancient book was sent to St. Petersburg, where traces of it are again lost. In 1805, the Ostromir Gospel was discovered by Ya. A. Druzhinin, personal secretary of Catherine II, among the property of the late empress, who during her lifetime had shown great interest in Russian history.

In 1806, Emperor Alexander I transferred the Ostromir Gospel to the Public Library, where the oldest Russian manuscript found its place of permanent storage. From this moment begins the history of the scientific study of the Ostromirov Gospel, and all of it is most directly connected with the Public Library. It is extremely important that the research work on this monument, which has the exact date of its creation (it is the dated monuments that are the basis for the formation of one or another historical and cultural concept), formed the basis for the formation and development of both Slavic-Russian paleography and Slavic studies in general. The Department of Manuscripts, or, as they said then, the Depot of Manuscripts, of the Public Library was established just a year earlier - in 1805. Thus, the Ostromir Gospel stands at the origins of the formation of the richest funds of the Department of Manuscripts of the National Library of Russia - the oldest state public repository of manuscripts.

The first researchers of the Ostromirov Gospel were, who in 1811 became the director of the Imperial Public Library, and the keeper of the Depot of Manuscripts. A note by A. N. Olenin to Ya. A. Druzhinin with questions regarding the history of the Ostromirov Gospel and with Druzhinin’s answers attributed on the same sheet (dated April 20, 1806) has been preserved. These answers do not clarify anything in the circumstances of the "Petersburg" period of the life of the book, except for the time and place of its discovery in the chambers of Catherine - Ya. A. Druzhinin did not know when and under what circumstances the Ostromir Gospel came to Catherine II.

If the name of A. N. Olenin, the author of the textbook paleographic work - “The Letter on the Tmutarakan Stone”, is widely known, then the name of Alexander Ivanovich Ermolaev remains “in the shadows” to this day, primarily because not a single work of his the custodian did not publish. The Department of Manuscripts of the National Library of Russia has a small archival fund of A. I. Ermolaev, which stores the creative heritage of a man who is rightfully considered the first Russian paleographer (he was the teacher of paleography not only A. N. Olenin, who provided significant professional assistance in his scientific work , but also the historian N. M. Karamzin). With his detailed descriptions of the manuscripts, A. I. Ermolaev laid the foundation for the scientific description of the Department’s collections, which he himself supplemented with a valuable gift - a list of the Ipatiev Chronicle (“Yermolaev List”). Relatively recently, the only surviving portrait image of A. I. Ermolaev was discovered. All these materials are still waiting for their researcher. Here it is important to note one work of A. I. Ermolaev. This is a handwritten copy of the entire text of the Ostromirov Gospel made by him, which is still kept in the fund of the OR RNB ( № 51 : F.I.55). Folio on Russian paper with a white date "1805", in a typical cardboard cover, pasted over with marbled paper. The already mentioned note by Olenin with Druzhinin's answers is glued to the first sheet. The text of the Ostromirov Gospel was reproduced by Ermolaev line by line, letter by letter, with all superscripts and marks. The features of the design of the book are noted. The work undertaken by A. I. Ermolaev to create this manuscript is truly a feat of the custodian. It is important to emphasize that this is the first security copy purposefully made in the first state repository and designed precisely to expand access to the study of the monument without damaging the original.

According to the copy made by A. I. Ermolaev, the first linguistic study of the Ostromirov Gospel was made. And here it is necessary to remember the name of another undeservedly remaining "in the shadow" figure of Russian culture - this is Pyotr Kuzmich Frolov (1775-1839). Today, everyone is well aware of the role, the most valuable collection of which laid the foundation for the formation of the collections of the Manuscripts Department of the Public Library. The second major addition was the collection of P. K. Frolov, acquired by the Library in 1817 and numbering more than 200 manuscript books and scrolls. By the nature of his main occupations, P.K. Frolov was a mining engineer, served at the Kolyvano-Voskresensky factories and entered the history of technology as a designer and builder of the first rail (horse-cast iron) road in Russia for factory needs, builder of the first railway bridge in Russia, as an engineer who first carried out the extraction of coke from coal and began the smelting of iron and steel on coke. At the same time, P.K. Frolov directed factory libraries and schools on the vast territories of the Kolyvanovsky factories, and in 1827 he founded the first local history museum in Siberia (in Barnaul).

Assuming the Novgorod origin of the Ostromirov Gospel, P. K. Frolov tried to find features of the Novgorod dialect in the text of the ancient manuscript, for which he made a word-by-word comparison of the Ostromirov Gospel with the Milyatin Gospel of the 12th century, which belonged to him, written in Novgorod ( № 29 : F.p.I.7), and with the Gospel of the XIV century. (F.p.I.17), having features of the Novgorod-Pskov dialect. Differences were noted on the pages of the Ermolaev copy and were made out as page notes. The reconciliation was not completed, since it became obvious that the text of the Ostromirov Gospel did not contain a complex of Novgorodian linguistic features.

Speaking about the first stage of the scientific study of the Ostromirov Gospel in the Public Library, it is important to note that the researchers readily communicated the results of this work to all those interested, including N. M. Karamzin (the first publisher of the Afterword of Deacon Gregory), Evgeny Bolkhovitinov, Count N. Rumyantsev and others. Received in the fund of the state depository, the unique monument was immediately introduced into wide scientific circulation.

The next most important stage in the study of the Ostromirov Gospel is associated with the name, which served for 28 years in the Public Library. In 1815, A. Kh. Vostokov entered the library as an assistant curator of the Department of Manuscripts (that is, A. I. Ermolaev) and directly joined the richest material for scientific work, and already in 1820 his Discourse on the Slavic Language was published , which immediately put forward Vostokov in the first row of philologists-linguists, known not only in Russia, but in all Slavic countries. In 1828, after the death of A. I. Ermolaev, A. Kh. Vostokov became the curator of the Department of Manuscripts. Vostokov's works showed that the Ostromir Gospel is not a monument of the regional dialect, but of the all-Russian literary language, genetically related to the language of the Slavic peoples, primarily the Bulgarians.

A. Kh. Vostokov prepared the first scientific edition of the Ostromirov Gospel, which was published in 1843. The publication was carried out with funds allocated by the Academy of Sciences, provided at the disposal of the Academy in 1835 by the archaeologist and historian A. D. Chertkov with the intended purpose of sending them to publication of some ancient Russian manuscript (the amount was half the Demidov Prize received by A. D. Chertkov for the book “Description of ancient Russian coins”). The text of the Ostromirov Gospel in Vostokov's edition is typed in exact accordance with the original in a special font, similar in form to the letter of the original and made with the participation of Vostokov himself. The appendix contains lithographed drawings of all three miniatures of the Ostromirov Gospel and facsimile images of two sheets (sheet 89 and sheet 210 rev.). The text of the Ostromirov Gospel is supplemented by the corresponding Greek Gospel text (for this, A. Kh. Vostokov used two editions of the New Testament, published in 1703 and 1830). The scientific apparatus consists of detailed paleographic notes, linguistic analysis of the text and a voluminous word index. The edition of A. Kh. Vostokov has not lost its scientific significance to this day, although it has long since become a bibliographic rarity.

Thanks to the wide scientific connections of A. Kh. Vostokov, the Ostromir Gospel became the object of research by many scientists in the Slavic countries and around the world. Suffice it to name the Czech linguist Josef Dobrovsky (in his book “Cyril and Methodius – Slavic Apostles” published in 1823, who attached a snapshot of the Lord’s Prayer “Our Father” from the Ostromirov Gospel transmitted by Vostokovsky), the Czech poet and philologist Vaclav Ganka (in 1853 in Prague, who published the first foreign edition of the Ostromirov Gospel on the basis of Vostokov’s edition), the Slovenian scholar Bartholomew Kopitar (who found the famous Glagolitic “Klotsev collection” in 1830, similar in spelling to the Ostromirov Gospel), a Slovak historian and linguist, one of the founders of the comparative study of the language, literature and ethnography of the Slavic peoples of Pavel Shafarik.

After A. Kh. Vostokov, in 1844, a historian, archeographer, bibliographer, later an academician and director of the Public Library became the custodian of the Department of Manuscripts. In the long list of his published works there are several articles devoted to the Ostromirov gospel. In one of them, A.F. Bychkov drew attention to ekphonetic signs, noting that they are not present in their entire composition in the Ostromir Gospel. But the main direction of the study of the Ostromirov Gospel at that time remained its linguistic study as a monument of Russian writing and language. The gospels about Ostromirov were written by eminent scientists: F. I. Buslaev, I. I. Sreznevsky, A. A. Potebnya, V. N. Shchepkin. At the same time, the study of the monument was carried out according to the publication of Academician A. Kh. Vostokov.

The exhibition of the Ostromirov Gospel and other illuminated manuscripts, organized by A.F. Bychkov in 1856 for the 800th anniversary of the monument, played an important role in expanding the scope of the study. At the jubilee exhibition, the Ostromir Gospel was first seen by an employee of the Library, an art critic. This was the beginning of the art history study of the manuscript. V. V. Stasov noted that the initials of the Ostromirov Gospel have features that are not found in either Russian or Byzantine manuscripts of the 9th–11th centuries. The Ostromir gospel did not become the subject of a special study by V.V. Stasov, but is constantly mentioned in his works on the history of ornament. The main conclusion of V. V. Stasov about the decoration of the Ostromirov Gospel comes down to the conclusion that it was made by an artel of Russian miniaturists and ornamentalists (at least three miniaturists and two ornamentalists).

In 1881, A. F. Bychkov was replaced as curator of the Department of Manuscripts by his son, a well-known archeographer, corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences. Having served in the Department of Manuscripts until his death, I. A. Bychkov for several decades contributed in every possible way to the study of the Ostromirov Gospel, although there is not a single work dedicated specifically to this monument in the list of his works.

80s 19th century were marked by the publication of a photolithographed edition of the Ostromirov Gospel, issued in two editions (1882 and 1889) at the expense of the merchant Ilya Kirillovich Savinkov. This edition made the Ostromir Gospel widely known in Russia; in many higher and secondary educational institutions of the country, texts were read from this edition when studying the Old Church Slavonic language.

Largely due to the circulation of Savinkov's edition, a period of new studies of the monument began, which increasingly included paleographic observations, leading to important conclusions regarding the history of the book's creation. So, M. M. Kozlovsky, studying the language of the Ostromirov Gospel, was the first to notice that the manuscript was written by more than one scribe. F.F. Fortunatov established linguistic differences between different parts of the manuscript and suggested that two manuscripts served as protographers for the Ostromirov Gospel, which explained the revealed linguistic differences. N. M. Karinsky conducted a thorough paleographic analysis of the text and convincingly showed that Fortunatov’s linguistic conclusions are confirmed not by the presence of two protographers, but by the fact that the text was rewritten by two scribes (while another, third scribe wrote in gold the headings of individual readings).

An extraordinary surge of scientific interest in the Ostromirov Gospel in the middle of the twentieth century. occurred in connection with the celebration of the 900th anniversary of the monument. It was at this time that the first restoration study of the Ostromirov Gospel was carried out and its thorough restoration was carried out (restorer Elena Khristianovna Trey). The scientific effect of the jubilee exhibition, organized in May 1957 in the Department of Manuscripts by the custodian of ancient Russian funds, a bibliologist, and an archeographer, was especially significant. N. N. Rozov thoroughly described the history of scientific study and publication of the Ostromirov Gospel, published archival documents that shed light on many curious details. At the exhibition prepared by N. N. Rozov, specialists had the opportunity to get acquainted with the priceless original. Using this opportunity, L.P. Zhukovskaya summed up the results of the previous period and outlined the prospects for further linguistic research of the monument. Having considered the grammatical, morphological, lexical and other aspects of studying the language of the Ostromirov Gospel, L.P. Zhukovskaya came to the important conclusion that it is impossible to resolve the issue of the place of creation of the Ostromirov Gospel on the basis of linguistic data. The exposition in the Department of Manuscripts also intensified attention to the artistic side of the monument. So, A. N. Svirin emphasized the iconographic proximity of the miniatures of the Ostromirov Gospel and the miniatures of the Mstislav Gospel, created in 1103-1117. by order of the Novgorod prince Mstislav by the scribe Alexa. Taking into account the complete identity of ornamental motifs, A. N. Svirin suggested that deacon Gregory and, 60 years later, Alexa could use a common original.

In 1957, in the course of scientific events that actualized attention to the monument, which requires a comprehensive study, experts put forward the task of facsimile edition of the Ostromirov Gospel. This edition was prepared with the leading participation of N. N. Rozov and the support of the Publishing Department of the Moscow Patriarchate. The facsimile edition of the Ostromirov Gospel was published in 1988, on the occasion of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Russia, and currently plays the role of the main security copy of the priceless monument.

The scientific apparatus of the facsimile edition of the Ostromirov Gospel testifies to the expansion of the range of cultural and historical issues in the context of which this handwritten monument is considered. In addition to the multi-aspect article by N. N. Rozov, the article presents a study by Metropolitan Pitirim (Nechaev) of Volokolamsk and Yuryev on the features of the composition of liturgical readings and the structural division of the text in the Ostromir Gospel. The author gives an overview of the development of the principles and methods of dividing the gospel text, starting from the 5th century, when liturgical passages (“perikopes”, from the Greek “cut”; in Slavonic usage - “conception”) began to be distinguished in red letters, to II– 3rd century n. e., when the deacon of the Alexandrian church, Ammonius, proposed that system of division (the so-called "Ammonian heads"), which was reflected in the Ostromir Gospel and was preserved in Russia until the 17th century. The history of the creation of the Ostromir Gospel against the broad socio-cultural background of the era of Kievan Rus is considered by N. N. Lisov, who comes to the conclusion about the Kiev origin of the Ostromir Gospel. A. N. Svirin continued his observations on the decoration of the book. If N. N. Rozov was inclined to see echoes of ancient Slavic pagan myths in the unusual initials of the Ostromirov Gospel, then Svirin found in one of the initials (on fol. 66 rev.) an image of the ancient Iranian deity Senmurv-paskudzh, corresponding to the Slavic Simargl. Perhaps the most ancient Russian book reflected the situation of dual faith - a mixture of paganism and Christianity.

The facsimile edition contributed not only to the preservation of the original, but also to the deepening of a comprehensive study of the Ostromirov Gospel. Significant results were achieved by the art criticism study of the monument. V. N. Lazarev’s authoritative judgment that the decoration of the Ostromirov Gospel is Byzantine in nature, but has features of Western European art, and that the type of depiction of evangelists with their symbols presented in the monument is not found in Eastern Christian and Byzantine manuscripts and, on the contrary, is very common in Carolingian and Ottonian manuscripts, was creatively developed by O. S. Popova and resulted in a coherent concept of the artistic system of the Ostromirov Gospel. Drawing on a wide range of comparative material, O. S. Popova comes to the conclusion that the Ostromir Gospel is an example of Byzantine art of the transitional period from the late Macedonian stage to the early Komnenos. At the same time, the artistic system of the monument organically includes elements of Western Ottonian art, and such a free combination of different traditions could only take place on an “autonomous” territory in relation to these traditions - in Russia. O. S. Popova emphasizes that the writing and decoration of the book were created at the same time and in one place, since they are subject to a common plan. Analyzing in detail the creative manners of performing the miniatures of the Ostromirov Gospel, O. S. Popova singles out two masters who, possibly, took part in writing the “faces” in the initials. At least one of these masters was a Byzantine artist, but he worked in Russia. The reader will find the most interesting observations that serve as a justification for the above conclusions in the article by O. S. Popova.

A special stage in the study of the Ostromirov Gospel is a specialized study undertaken by a well-known Slavic philologist, paleographer and archeographer. A student of N. N. Rozov, V. M. Zagrebin, for 30 years was the custodian of the Old Russian funds of the Department of Manuscripts of the Russian National Library. The fundamental work of V. M. Zagrebin "Diacritics of medieval Slavic manuscripts", based on the material of dozens of South Slavic and Old Russian manuscripts, includes a chapter devoted to the study of ekphonetic signs in the Ostromir Gospel and in the Kupriyanov (Novgorod) leaflets ( № 14 ) is a surviving fragment of the Aprakos Gospel of the 10th-11th centuries. Comparing the ekphonetic signs of these monuments with the Greek manuscripts of the same period, V.M. Zagrebin noted that the graphic features, color and system of arranging signs in the Kupriyanov leaflets and in the Ostromir Gospel suggest a direct dependence of the Slavic ekphonetic notation on the Greek one. In the process of a thorough study of the notated fragments of the text of the Ostromirov Gospel according to the original, using a strong magnifying glass, V. M. Zagrebin established that the ekphonetic signs in the manuscript were later edited, and described the nature of the editing. It turned out to be impossible to directly compare the Kupriyanov leaflets with the text in the Ostromir Gospel corresponding to this fragment in terms of the use of ekphonetic signs, since there is no notation in these readings in the Ostromir Gospel. Nevertheless, V. M. Zagrebin draws attention to the observations of the Yugoslav musicologist D. Stefanovich, who noticed that in the fragment of the text of the Ostromirov Gospel corresponding to the Kupriyanov sheets there are somewhat enlarged spaces between words in those places where ekphonetic signs are found in the Kupriyanov sheets, then there is a place for these signs in the Ostromir gospel, as it were, deliberately left.

This conclusion makes us once again turn to the question of the relationship between the two monuments - the Ostromirov Gospel and the Kupriyanov Sheets. F.F. Fortunatov wrote about the connection between these manuscripts, who, based on linguistic data, came to the conclusion that both monuments had one common protograph (however, F.F. Fortunatov considered the language of the Ostromirov Gospel to be older than the language of Kupriyanov sheets). The well-known Yugoslav paleographer and historian V. A. Moshin, having examined the complex of linguistic, spelling and artistic features of the Kupriyanov sheets and the Ostromirov gospel and drawing on an analysis of the political events of the 10th–11th centuries, suggested that the Kupriyanov sheets are a fragment of the code that served as protographer during the creation of the Ostromirov Gospel. This assumption finds convincing textual substantiation in the results of the research project of the Slavic manuscript tradition of the New Testament carried out under the direction of A. A. Alekseev in the St. Petersburg Branch of the Russian Bible Society. The whole complex of weighty arguments of a historical and philological nature in support of the fact that the Ostromir Gospel was copied from the codex, fragments of which are the Kupriyanov leaflets, is presented in the article by A. A. Alekseev in this catalogue. This conclusion, in turn, serves as a justification for the Novgorod origin of the Ostromirov Gospel - after all, fragments of the protograph of the book survived into the 19th century. were discovered by I.K. Kupriyanov in Novgorod!

The problem of the genetic connection between the two oldest Slavic Cyrillic monuments - the Kupriyanov sheets and the Ostromir Gospel - makes us once again turn to the remaining debatable question about the place where the Ostromir Gospel was created. Indeed, the only direct source of information about the birth of the book - the afterword of deacon Gregory - is silent about where the responsible order of the posadnik Ostromir was carried out. The high craftsmanship of the production of the manuscript - both the writing itself and the decoration - speaks of the creation of the codex in a professional scriptorium, especially since three scribes and several artists took part in the work. But where was this scriptorium? Ostromir had sufficient funds to order work not only in Kyiv or Novgorod, but also in Constantinople. The material of the manuscript itself, parchment, is extremely expensive. It should be noted here that the parchment of the Ostromirov Gospel, although it cannot be classified as the highest quality of workmanship, is rather thin and could not have been made in Russia in the 11th century. At the same time, a significant argument against the Constantinopolitan origin of the manuscript is the fact that in Byzantine scriptoria it was customary to cover parchment with a special composition based on egg yolk before writing, but the sheets of the Ostromir Gospel do not have traces of such processing. Obviously, the manuscript was created in Russia on "imported" material, which, however, could be delivered both to Kyiv and Novgorod. Do not help to resolve the issue and attempts to establish the ethnicity of the scribe, Deacon Gregory. The name Gregory was common throughout the Christian world - it could be worn by a Slav, a Greek, and a monk who belonged to the Roman Catholic Church. And the linguistic, dialectal characteristics according to the manuscript turned out to be extremely difficult due to the high professionalism of the scribe - Deacon Gregory carefully and accurately copied the original he had, not allowing distortions of the sacred text presented in the language that was at that time the common book language of all Slavs. Only in the text of the Afterword, and even in several names of the months given in Slavic in the month-word part (“glow” - August, “prosinets” - January), are there linguistic features that indicate that Deacon Gregory was an Eastern Slav, an ancient Russian man. But it is not known whether it was a Novgorodian or a Kievan, which, incidentally, plays almost no role in the localization of the manuscript, because a professional scribe could move from one book center to another.

The logical assumption that the book destined for Novgorod was and was created there is a hypothesis that P.K. Frolov tried to substantiate linguistically and which currently finds support in a whole complex of historical and textual arguments. The special nature of the Afterword leaves no doubt that all the data indicated in it are not accidental, but correspond to a specially developed ideological concept. Therefore, the absence of one or another mention should not be accidental. And here you can pay attention to the fact that in the Afterword not only the place of creation of the book is not indicated, but not a single name of the clergyman is given. We can find an explanation in the church-political situation that took place just at the time of the book's creation.

In Kyiv at that time, the metropolitan was Ephraim, a Greek sent by the Patriarchate of Constantinople. And the Russian Metropolitan Hilarion, who enjoyed enormous authority, who played an outstanding role in the enlightenment of Russia and the struggle for the autocephaly of the Russian Church, was removed from the Kyiv metropolitan see and subsequently retired to the Kiev Caves Monastery. In the Novgorod II Chronicle under 1055, the new Metropolitan Ephraim is already mentioned (the practice of appointing a Greek hierarch as the head of the Russian Church existed before Hilarion and many centuries later). In Novgorod, at that very time, the hierarch was absent: the Novgorodian Luka Zhidyata, appointed as a Novgorod bishop back in 1036, was slandered in 1055, exiled to Kyiv and detained there until 1058 (having been released, he died on the way to Novgorod in 1059 /1060). If in the book of the state status, which was the Ostromir Gospel, the name of the Greek Metropolitan Ephraim, who was then the head of the Russian church, was mentioned, this would be discordant with the general ideological setting of the monument. And the mention of the Novgorod bishop would forever link the book with an ambiguous situation, while the silence about him formally corresponded to the state of affairs, for Luka Zhidyata was not in Novgorod at that time. Against the background of the absence in the text of the Afterword of the names of the hierarchs of the church, the significance of the date when work on the book began is even brighter. By choosing October 21, the day of memory of Hilarion the Great, Deacon Gregory got the opportunity to indirectly mention in the Afterword the one who must certainly be mentioned in accordance with the ideological concept of the creation of the book - the Russian Metropolitan Hilarion, who thus seemed to bless the work undertaken. It becomes clear that Deacon Gregory had no need to specify the place where he worked on the manuscript - much more important for him and, above all, for the customer of the Ostromir manuscript, was that the book was created in Russia.

Nevertheless, the scientific question of the place of creation of the Ostromirov Gospel continues to excite researchers. Perhaps some additional arguments can be obtained on the basis of special codicological observations, which, however, encounter a serious obstacle in the lack of comparative material: too few Slavic manuscripts have survived to this day from that distant era. On the other hand, tens, hundreds of book monuments have been preserved, created in Russia in subsequent centuries and forming the richest thousand-year tradition of the art of the handwritten book, that tradition, at the beginning of which stands the Ostromir Gospel.

The sea of ​​Old Russian handwritten books is boundless and varied, just as the whole multitude of works of Old Russian literature preserved by handwritten sources is boundless. In this diversity, a bright jet of the manuscript tradition of the New Testament stands out. Ancient Russian literature, like any other European literature, begins with the Gospel, the text of which not only underlies the work of the first Russian writers - Metropolitan Hilarion of Kyiv, Bishop Kirill of Turov, Bishop Serapion of Vladimir, and other unnamed authors - but is permeated with obvious or subtle reminiscences every work on the great thousand-year path of Russian literature. The gospel text as a sacred narrative at all times required a very special attitude to its reproduction in the book, so the manuscript gospels give an idea of ​​the highest achievements of the art of book writing of a particular era. These peaks are presented in this exhibition, which allows us to place the highest of them - the Ostromir Gospel - in the context of the previous Byzantine and subsequent Slavic manuscript tradition of the New Testament texts.

The Ostromir Gospel is the oldest dated Russian handwritten book that has survived to this day. It stands at the origins of the thousand-year path of development of our culture. According to His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia, “as in ancient times, so now it unites people around the name of Christ the Savior, is an enduring spiritual symbol of Russia.”

From October 29 to November 1, 2007, the National Library of Russia in St. Petersburg hosted an international scientific conference dedicated to the 950th anniversary of the Ostromirov Gospel. The conference at the National Library of Russia continued the solemn events of the anniversary year: on April 9, 2007, on the bright Easter days, the Ostromir Gospel for the first time in many centuries was at the service in St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg. Many people were able to venerate this shrine and with a sense of reverence feel their involvement in the Christian cultural heritage.

The anniversary of the unique monument caused a great public outcry, bringing together representatives of the government and the Russian Orthodox Church, prominent scientists, cultural figures and industrialists. The conference at the National Library of Russia once again showed that there are areas where state, religious and scientific interests are united. This is the preservation of cultural traditions, enlightenment and protection of the morality of the people.

The Ostromir Gospel is a pearl of medieval literature. “In this precious manuscript, we have the greatest treasure: both in terms of antiquity and in terms of the external beauty of the monument: this is a wonderful example of the written art of our ancestors. None of the Slavs, except us Russians, had the good fortune to preserve such a monument from its handwritten antiquity, ”wrote the historian of Russian literature N.P. in 1900. Field. In the 80s of the 19th century, the photolithographic edition of the Ostromirov Gospel was undertaken at the expense of the merchant Ilya Savinkov. This edition made the monument widely known in Russia: in secondary and higher educational institutions, texts were read from it when studying the Old Church Slavonic language. Each high school student could answer a question about the Ostromir Gospel.

What now? It cannot be said that the Ostromir Gospel is widely known to our contemporaries. The vast majority of Muscovites surveyed (clergy, with a higher education, who are not alien to history) either do not know anything about the first Russian book, or have the most vague concepts, at best believing that this is something like "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" or "The Tale of Bygone Years". But the Ostromir Gospel is a witness to our thousand-year history, a book that has actually, physically survived from ancient times to the present day. With a living thread, it connects us with the era of the beginning of Russian literacy, statehood and holiness. Alas, Pushkin's bitter words: "We are lazy and incurious" are as applicable to our time as possible.

We live in an era of poor historical enlightenment, which is being successfully replaced, according to the well-known theologian of the 20th century, Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov), by a “culture of sin” aggressively imposed on people. Our people can be saved from this “culture”, and hence from inevitable corruption and savagery, only by joining the centuries-old culture of Orthodoxy, the basis of which is the Gospel of Christ. “When we look at the Ostromir Gospel, the great reverence that our forefathers had for their faith becomes obvious. Their efforts were the result of touching the Spirit that lives in the Holy Scriptures, which acts in the Church and really changes human life, ”such is the opinion of Archbishop Konstantin of Tikhvin, rector of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy and Seminary.

Since the time of their baptism, the Russian people have deeply and penetratingly perceived Orthodoxy and the book culture associated with it. The oldest Russian chronicle, The Tale of Bygone Years, reports that Prince Vladimir laid the foundation for book education: he himself honored the “words of the book” and began to give children of the best people for teaching. The son of Vladimir, Prince Yaroslav the Wise, who, according to the chronicler, “loved books, reading often both night and day,” gathered in Kyiv “many scribes, and they translated from Greek into Slavonic. And they wrote a lot of books, believing people learn from them and enjoy the teaching of the Divine. Books in The Tale of Bygone Years are called "sources of wisdom", "rivers that water the entire universe."

The Ostromir Gospel was created in the era of the cultural upsurge and the formation of the statehood of Ancient Russia, which followed the adoption of Christianity in 988. On the last page of the manuscript, the afterword of the scribe, Deacon Gregory, has been preserved. It states that work on the manuscript was started on October 21, 1056 and completed on May 12, 1057. The dates indicated by the scribe, according to most researchers, are not accidental. October 21 - Memorial Day of Hilarion the Great. This name for the contemporaries of the scribe was associated with the name of the Kyiv Metropolitan Hilarion - "a man of goodness, bookish and fasting", the author of the famous "Sermon on Law and Grace". Vladyka Hilarion was a like-minded and associate of Yaroslav the Wise and played an important role in the enlightenment of Russia, in the formation of its national self-consciousness and in the organization of book writing at the Kiev St. Sophia Cathedral.

The date of completion of work on the manuscript is also significant - May 12. This date connects the Russian book of the 11th century with Byzantium of the 4th century, when Christianity became the state religion in the empire. Constantine the Great, having founded the new capital of Constantinople, dedicated it to the Mother of God. The Feast of Dedication was celebrated in Byzantium on May 11, 330 (later this day was celebrated as the day of the Renewal of Sophia of Constantinople). And on May 12, the first Christian churches in Russia were consecrated - the Church of the Tithes (995) and St. Sophia Cathedral (1045) in Kyiv. It is significant that on the same days the memory of Saints Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius is celebrated, whose names are associated with the emergence of Slavic writing.

All this leaves historians in no doubt that when creating the Ostromirov Gospel, a deep concept was developed that introduced this book, and with it the ancient Russian state, into the mainstream of world Christian culture. This concept of the unity of Russia with the entire Christian world is manifested not only in the symbolism of the indicated dates, but permeates all the main elements of the monument: its language, text, decoration.

In the afterword, Deacon Gregory reports that he copied the Gospel by order of the Novgorod mayor Ostromir, in the baptism of Joseph, during the reign of the Kyiv prince Izyaslav (1024-1078, son of Yaroslav the Wise). The high position of Ostromir's book customer, a representative of one of the most influential Russian families, is especially emphasized: his grandfather Dobrynya (the epic Dobrynya Nikitich) was the uncle of the Holy Prince Vladimir the Red Sun and actively participated in the baptism of Russia. The scribe glorifies the Novgorod posadnik and his wife Feofana and prays to God to grant them and their children and their spouses long life. Theophan, of course, was also an eminent person: her Greek name speaks of her aristocratic origin. There is an opinion, which, however, is not shared by all historians, that she was the daughter of the Great Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir and the Byzantine Princess Anna, and therefore the sister of the first Russian saints - Princes Boris and Gleb, the half-sister of Grand Duke Yaroslav the Wise and the aunt of Grand Duke Izyaslav , whose confidant was Ostromir.

The Novgorod posadnik was not destined for a long life. Brave and resolute, he soon (about 1060) died on a campaign against the Chud tribe, leading his squad. However, the name of Ostromir was forever connected with the book he ordered.

Deacon Gregory does not name the place where he copied the book. It is believed that it could be both Kyiv and Novgorod. Both versions have their scientific supporters. The rich decoration and excellent preservation of the ancient codex suggest that it was not intended for daily family use. According to the content and structure of the text, the Ostromir Gospel is a short aprakos, that is, it refers to liturgical books. The bulk of the text contains the daily gospel readings from Easter to Pentecost, as well as Saturday and Sunday readings for the following weeks. The second part includes gospel readings according to the calendar, starting in September, as well as a number of additional readings for various occasions (for the consecration of the church, "in victory for the king in battle", for the sick, etc.).

Of particular interest is the monthly part of the codex: it contains the memory of the saints not only of the Eastern, but also of the Western Church. This gives grounds for a number of researchers to believe that the Ostromir Gospel is, perhaps, the last liturgical monument that has survived to this day, reflecting the unity of the Christian Church. The reason for the unusual composition of the calendar is also seen in the features of the protograph - the handwritten book that served as the original when creating the Ostromirov Gospel. Also important are the wide dynastic ties of the Kyiv princely house, which spread throughout the world. It was no coincidence that Yaroslav the Wise was called the "father-in-law of Europe": out of 38 marriages of Rurikovich in the 11th century, eight cases occurred in Germany, two - in France, five - in the Scandinavian kingdoms and England, seven - in Poland, six - in Hungary, three marriages with Polovtsian princesses, one - with a Byzantine princess, two - with representatives of the Byzantine aristocracy. This largely explains the breadth of cultural orientation and the unique combination of different traditions in the creation of the book.

The Ostromir Gospel was probably intended by the customer for a precious contribution to the St. Sophia Cathedral - the main temple of northwestern Russia, which was erected in 1045-1050. in Veliky Novgorod on the model of St. Sophia of Kyiv (this temple was founded in 1037).

The belonging of the manuscript to St. Sophia Cathedral is indirectly confirmed by the 17th-century cursive entry on the first page of the book: “The Gospel of Sophia Aprakos”. The gospel was used as an altarpiece and, judging by its condition, for most of its long history it was under especially careful supervision and stayed in the cathedral sacristy - the place where church utensils and vestments are stored.

The perfection of calligraphy and artistic design of the manuscript speaks of the high art of the book of that time. According to the largest connoisseur of ancient Russian book art N.N. Rozov, "the Russian book from the very beginning of its existence should be considered as a synthesis of verbal and visual arts." In the monuments of ancient writing, amazing harmony, proportionality of all elements of the text and design, their joyful colorfulness are striking.

The Ostromir Gospel is written on high-quality parchment - specially dressed skin of young animals (usually calves). The dressing of thin and smooth parchment required great effort. At first, this expensive material was brought to Russia from Byzantium. The manuscript is made in the "charter" - a style dating back to the Byzantine uncial writing. It is characterized by a special clarity and severity of the outline of signs. This type of writing requires a high skill of the scribe and considerable time, since each element of the letter is written in a separate movement with the pen detached from the parchment.

The general design of the Ostromir Gospel, with text in two columns, headings made in gold, spacious margins and numerous patterns, follows the Byzantine tradition on the whole. The manuscript is decorated with three miniatures depicting the evangelists John, Luke and Mark. The miniatures of the Ostromirov Gospel are executed in two different manners: John with his disciple Prochorus differs from Luke and Mark, who are very similar to each other. Special attention of researchers is attracted by the unparalleled iconography of the miniature with St. John the Evangelist. At the top, outside the frame framing this miniature, there is a lion, clearly distinguished by the size and location of the artist and different from the traditional image of the evangelist (usually the lion symbolizes the evangelist Mark). This image is ambiguous: first of all, it is a symbol of Christ himself. The Ostromir Gospel begins with a reading on the first day of Pascha, in the hymns of which the risen Christ is compared to an awakened lion. The allegory "Lion - Christ" was very popular in Western art, and was also found in Byzantine art, although there is no such image in other Aprakos Gospels, Greek and Russian. But the lion is also a traditional Byzantine imperial symbol. And this is very consonant with the status of the customer of the manuscript, the posadnik Ostromir, and his wife Feofana (recall her probable relationship to the Byzantine imperial house). There is also no doubt that the high symbolism emphasizes the national significance of the book itself.

In addition to miniatures, the manuscript is decorated with ornaments for various purposes: colorful headpieces, text separators and many initials placed on sheets at the beginning of readings and having a large size, much larger than is usually found in Byzantine manuscripts. The patterns of the Ostromir Gospel belong to the so-called "enamellery", or stems and petals of flowers, combined in various combinations and having a thick, dense coloring, similar to enamel. The decor of the book, according to the prominent Byzantine art historian O.S. Popova, even surpasses the Greek codices of this time in brightness and showiness.

The initials of the Ostromirov Gospel, and there are more than two hundred of them, are the subject of special attention of researchers. Along with the traditional elements of ornament, there are often quite unusual anthropomorphic images inscribed in the composition of letters - rounded and ruddy faces, somewhat reminiscent of the image of the sun or Romanesque stone masks. There is nothing of the kind in Greek or Latin manuscripts. Amazing and bizarre zoomorphic initial letters decorating the text. The peculiarity of the initials of the Gospel testifies to the deep mastery of its creators of both Eastern and Western traditions of book decoration and an attempt to combine them creatively in the design of the Russian codex.

Another rare feature of the manuscript is the presence of ekphonetic signs indicating how the text should sound at the service. The reading of the Gospel in the Church was especially solemn, "for all to hear." It approached singing and obeyed certain rules borrowed from Byzantine practice. Ekphonetic signs mark accents, longitude of sounds, determining their melodiousness, and also indicate the division of the text into phrases.

Specialists tried to decipher these signs and compared them with the liturgical practice of modern Old Believers, which is particularly conservative. The comparison led to amazing results: it showed the identity of the phrasing and the coincidence of stops when dividing the text into fragments, that is, the continuity of the singing tradition from the 11th century to the present day.

A prominent researcher of ancient Russian culture G.M. Prokhorov, in his speech at the conference dedicated to the Ostromirov Gospel, defined the current ethnocultural situation as follows: “As an integral historical and cultural phenomenon, Ancient Russia existed until about the end of the 17th century. But has she disappeared? No, she didn't disappear. It was dispersed, dispersed throughout our country and throughout the globe. The Old Believers are the biophysical remnant of Ancient Russia. Books from our beautiful handwritten collections are the physical remnants of Ancient Russia. By studying them, we give life to Ancient Russia in the noosphere - in our minds.

Currently, the Ostromir Gospel is in the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg. According to the Director General of the National Library of Russia V.N. Zaitsev, “it is symbolic that the first Russian book is now stored in the first state book depository in Russia, opened “for the common good” in 1814. The role of libraries in the history of mankind is enormous: if a people does not have a book, if there are no written monuments left, then this people itself does not have its own history and is doomed to disappear without a trace in the darkness of centuries.”

The fate of this unique book is known only in general terms. Probably, for several centuries it was kept in the St. Sophia Cathedral of Veliky Novgorod, then it was taken to Moscow: the Ostromir Gospel was indicated in the inventory of the property of one of the churches of the Moscow Kremlin, compiled in 1701. In 1720, the Ostromir Gospel was sent to the new capital of the Russian Empire - St. Petersburg, where, by order of Peter I, they collected materials for Russian history. Here his traces are again lost. In 1805, the manuscript was discovered by Ya.A. Druzhinin, personal secretary of Catherine II, among the property of the late Empress, who during her lifetime showed great interest in Russian history. In 1806, Emperor Alexander I transferred the Ostromir Gospel to the Public Library, to the depot of manuscripts (the current department of manuscripts of the National Library of Russia). From this moment begins the history of storage and research of a unique monument.

In order to expand access to the study of the monument without prejudice to the original, the curator of the manuscripts of the library A.I. Ermolaev made an exact handwritten copy of it, in fact repeating the work of an ancient Russian scribe. Soon the Ostromir Gospel was used as a historical source by N.M. Karamzin, who specified the date of the death of the posadnik Ostromir using it. The study of the monument marked the beginning of Russian paleography - a science dealing with ancient manuscripts. Ermolaev's successor as curator, A.Kh. Vostokov. He owns the first scientific essay on the grammar of the Old Slavonic language, entirely built on the study of the language of the Ostromirov Gospel. In this work, for the first time, the sound meaning of two mysterious letters of the old Cyrillic alphabet - large and small yuss - is indicated. Relatively few ancient manuscripts written in Cyrillic use these letters correctly. The Ostromir Gospel is one of them. A comparison of the corresponding words of this manuscript with the Polish forms prompted Vostokov to conjecture that there were nasal vowels in the Old Slavonic language and that yuses served as their transmission. In 1843, a scientific edition of the Ostromirov Gospel, prepared by Vostokov, was published, which evoked a lively response from Slavists in many countries. Reviews and reviews of this edition were printed in Czech, Bulgarian, Polish and Serbian. In the 80s of the 19th century, two photolithographic editions of the Ostromirov Gospel were undertaken at the expense of the merchant Ilya Savinkov, which opened the monument to all of Russia.

The original binding of the manuscript has not been preserved. In the middle of the XIX century, according to the sketch of I.I. Gornostaev, a massive, richly decorated salary was made. However, it did not have the best effect on the condition of parchment sheets. In addition, he attracted the attention of robbers, who in 1932 stole the manuscript from the display case where it was put on display. Fortunately, the unlucky kidnappers were seduced only by an impressive salary. Having torn off the cover, they threw the manuscript on one of the library cabinets, which they confessed to, being caught on the same day. Since then, for better preservation, the precious book has been kept untwisted in a special chest made of bog oak and locked in a safe. For the current anniversary, a new depository has been manufactured that meets all modern storage standards.

In 1957, the 900th anniversary of the Ostromirov Gospel was solemnly celebrated. By this date, the unique handwritten book has been thoroughly restored. The restoration work, which lasted more than six months, was led by E.Kh. Trey. At the same time, experts put forward the task of facsimile edition of the Ostromirov Gospel.

This edition was prepared with the leading participation of N.N. Rozov and with the support of the Publishing Department of the Moscow Patriarchate. The facsimile edition of the Ostromirov Gospel, equipped with a scientific apparatus, was published in 1988, on the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Russia, and currently plays the role of the main copy of the monument, providing access to it to a wide range of researchers and readers without referring to the priceless original.

Like 50 years ago, the current anniversary celebrations are accompanied by exhibitions at the National Library of Russia. The library website has launched a virtual exhibition "The Ostromir Gospel and the Manuscript Tradition of the New Testament Texts", which contains a complete informational disclosure of the Ostromir Gospel as a monument of world culture and allows you to get acquainted with outstanding samples of manuscripts stored in the National Library of Russia.

The anniversary of the oldest Russian book aroused keen interest in the scientific world. Many questions about the history of the writing and existence of the monument (the identity of the scribe Deacon Gregory and his assistants, the place where the manuscript was created, the question of the protographer and his relationship to the most ancient Slavic translations, the history of the monument before it was placed in the department of manuscripts, etc.) still remain open and await their researchers. . But the main thing that all the participants of the anniversary celebrations felt was the great significance of the Ostromir Gospel for our people. According to His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia, “today we are all responsible for the fate of the Fatherland, for its present and future, which is largely determined by the attitude of the people to their spiritual roots and cultural traditions.”

“The huge scientific potential that has been accumulated by scientists must be popularized,” says Professor I.V. Pavlov. “Ahead is a new ministry of the Ostromirov Gospel to the Russian state, the Russian Orthodox Church, and the people of Russia.”

one of the oldest monuments of Church Slavonic writing and the oldest monument of the Russian edition. Written in 1056-57. for the Novgorod posadnik Ostromir (in the baptism of Joseph) by deacon Gregory. The Ostromir Gospel is a well-preserved parchment manuscript of beautiful writing (length 8 inches, width slightly less than 7 inches) on 294 sheets, of which three contain picturesque images of the evangelists John, Luke and Mark, and two remained unrecorded. The Gospel text is written in 2 columns, 18 lines each, in a large charter; the table of contents of the gospel readings and the calendar are written in the middle charter, the epilogue is written in the small charter. A. Gospel - Aprakos (weekly); gospel readings are arranged in it by week, starting with Easter. The inscription "Gospel of Sophia Aprakos" indicates that the O. Gospel belonged to the Novgorod Sophia Cathedral. Around 1700, it was kept in the Resurrection sacristy of the workshop of the Armory; in 1720 it was demanded in St. Petersburg. and in 1806 it was found by Ya. V. Druzhinin in the chambers of Catherine II. Alexander I ordered to keep it in the Imperial Public Library. The first news in the press about the O. Gospel appeared in the journal "Lyceum" (1806, part 2). From 1814 O. Gospel began to study the East. Before the publication of the O. Gospel, the sources for the study of the Church Slavonic language were the collection of Klots, published by Kopitar, and the Freisingen articles. In the famous Discourse on the Slavic Language, published in 1820, Vostokov was the first to draw upon the philological data of the Ostromirov Gospel for study and, guided by it, clarified the meaning of yus in the Old Church Slavonic language.

The original O. Gospel, in all likelihood, was of Yugoslav origin. The Russian scribe treated his work with remarkable accuracy; this explains the great consistency of the spelling of the monument, which Gregory tried to preserve; in the O. Gospel, the influence of the Russian dialect is hardly noticeable. In view of this, O. the Gospel for a long time played a paramount role in discovering the properties of the Old Church Slavonic language; but even now, with the discovery of other contemporary O. Gospel monuments of Church Slavonic writing of the so-called "Pannonian edition" (as the Zografsky, Mariinsky Gospels), its significance in philological terms is great. The circumstance that the scribe was very careful about the use of yus, the inscription uncharacteristic of the Russian language pb, l, p, makes us think that not all the features that distinguish the O. Gospel from other contemporary Old Slavonic monuments can be attributed to Russian influence. Undoubtedly ancient features of the O. Gospel, which were in its original, include: 1) the preservation of the deaf b and b, which are missed very rarely; 2) use be in 3 units. and plural. numbers in verb conjugation; 3) permanent use of epenthetic l(earth l and, attack l b). On the other hand, in comparison with the "Pannonian monuments", the O. Gospel is unfamiliar, for example, with the use of simple and complex non-thematic aorists. The number of Russianisms in spelling and in the forms of the O. Gospel is small; here belong: 1) a few errors against the use of us and replacing them through at, Yu, I; 2) mixing e and ; 3) use well instead of railway; 4) writing rr, rb etc.; 5) 3 cases of full agreement, of which two are in the afterword and only one in the very text of the O. Gospel. The miniatures depicting the apostles most likely belong to the hand of a visiting Greek; they are not pasted, but executed on the same parchment as the O. Gospel itself. The artist adopted and introduced into his images the technique of the so-called inlaid enamel, which was then in exclusive use in Byzantium; perhaps these miniatures are only copies of Byzantine miniatures. The copyist (and not the artist) owns the execution of a number of headpieces and numerous capital letters.

For the first time, on behalf of the Academy of Sciences, O. the Gospel was published by Vostokov ("O. the Gospel, with the Greek text of the gospels and grammatical explanations", St. Petersburg, 1843). Ganka's edition (Prague, 1853) is scientifically unsatisfactory. There are two facsimile editions by I. Savinkov ("O. Gospel stored in the Imperial Public Library", 1st ed., St. Petersburg, 1883; 2nd ed., St. Petersburg, 1889). The following wrote about the language of O. the Gospels: Vostokov (published in 1843; reprinted in the book Philological Observations by Vostokov, St. Petersburg, 1865); L. I. Sreznevsky, "Ancient Slavic monuments of the new writing" (St. Petersburg, 1868); M. M. Kozlovsky, "Research on the language of the O. Gospel" (in "Research on the Russian language", published by the Academy of Sciences, vol. I, St. Petersburg, 1895, and separately, St. Petersburg, 1886); A. A. Shakhmatov and V. N. Shchepkin (additions on the language of the O. Gospel to Leskin's "Grammar of the Old Slavonic Language", translated from German, M., 1890). About the "Miniatures of the O. Gospel" see Art. K. Hertz in the Chronicles of Russian Literature, 1860, vol. III.

A. Lyashenko.

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• - gospel, good news; good news that the Savior came to earth to save people from the power of the devil, sin and eternal death and give people eternal salvation - the Kingdom of Heaven...

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  Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron

• - the oldest dated monument of Old Slavonic writing of the Russian edition ...

  Great Soviet Encyclopedia

• - the oldest dated monument of the Old Slavonic writing of the Russian edition; contains weekly readings. Named after the customer - the Novgorod princely posadnik Ostromir ...

  Modern Encyclopedia

• - Greek - euaggelion. Latin - evangelium. The word began to be widely used already in the III century. and firmly entrenched in many European languages ​​...

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• - @font-face (font-family: "ChurchArial"; src: url;) span (font-size:17px; font-weight:normal !important; font-family: "ChurchArial",Arial,Serif;)   =  n. Greek εὐαγγέλιον - gospel...

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"Ostromir Gospel" in books

Gospel

From the book Apostolic Christianity (A.D. 1-100) author Schaff Philip

The gospel The book itself confirms the truth of the tradition: it is based on the apostolic sermon of Peter, but is the shortest and least complete of all the gospels, although it is replete with important details. She bears the imprint of a sanguine, impulsive

Gospel

From the book The Great Deception. Fictional history of Europe the author Topper Uwe

Gospel The New Testament was probably written in Greek, the then Koine (international language) of the eastern Mediterranean. Semitic originals do not exist. It is believed that the Greek Septuagint set the tone. Science, however, is not able to exclude the writing

Ostromir Gospel

From the book Relics of the rulers of the world author Nikolaev Nikolai Nikolaevich

Ostromir Gospel The Ostromir Gospel is the oldest handwritten book in Russia. On October 21, 1056, deacon Gregory brought out its first letter. On May 12 of the following year, he drew the last one. Since then, anyone who has even briefly picked up a book has experienced

Ostromir Gospel

From the book Encyclopedic Dictionary (N-O) author Brockhaus F. A.

Ostromir Gospel The Ostromir Gospel is one of the oldest monuments of Church Slavonic. writing and the oldest monument of the Russian edition. Written in 1056-57 for the Novgorod posadnik Ostromir (in the baptism of Joseph) by deacon Gregory. Ostromir Gospel -

Ostromir gospel

From the book Great Soviet Encyclopedia (OS) of the author TSB

Chapter 4. Dubious texts - part II. The Gospel of Peter, the Gospel of Egerton, the Gospel of Mary and the Secret Gospel of Mark

From the book Fabricated Jesus by Evans Craig

You have in your anthology the whole Gospel and the Gospel ...

From the author's book

You have in your anthology the whole Gospel and the Gospel ... - You were engaged in the history of the Russian literary language. Such studies are inevitably connected with studies in church history. In Soviet times, this often led to problems, for example, which has become a classic today

4 When is the gospel not the gospel at all?

From Jude and the Gospel of Jesus author Wright Tom

4 When is the gospel not the gospel at all? As soon as the Gospel of Judas went out of print, an article appeared in the press by Dr. Simon Hethercole of the University of Aberdeen, in which he stated that the publication of the gospel was like presenting a document masquerading as a diary.

From the book The Great Deception [Scientific view of the authorship of sacred texts] author Erman Bart D.

Gospel of Infancy (The Gospel of Thomas) Almost simultaneously with the Protevangelium of James, another fabricated book about Jesus, now known as the Gospel of Infancy, or the Gospel of Thomas, was circulated. It is based on the question that has been asked for centuries

"OSTROMIROVO GOSPEL"

From the book Bibliological Dictionary the author Men Alexander

"OSTROMIROVO GOSPEL" handwritten * "Gospel Aprakos", copied in 1056-57 by deacon Gregory for the Novgorod posadnik Ostromir (Joseph in baptism), close to Prince. Izyaslav. O.E. one of the oldest churches. - glory. bibl. lists that appeared in Russia. Text written

Explanatory Bible Volume 10 The Gospel of Mark An Introduction to the Gospel of Mark Biblical Data on the Personality of St. brand

author Lopukhin Alexander

Explanatory Bible Volume 10 The Gospel of Mark An Introduction to the Gospel of Mark Biblical Data on the Personality of St. Mark The proper name of the writer of the second gospel was John, Mark (???????) was his nickname. The latter was accepted by him, probably when Barnabas and Saul,

The Gospel of John An Introduction to the Gospel of John Evidence of the Ancient Christian Tradition of the Origin of the Fourth Gospel

From the book Explanatory Bible. Volume 10 author Lopukhin Alexander

The Gospel of John An Introduction to the Gospel of John Evidence of the Ancient Christian Tradition of the Origin of the Fourth Gospel

Gospel of Childhood (Gospel of Thomas)

author Sventsitskaya Irina Sergeevna

Gospel of Childhood (Gospel of Thomas)

Gospel of childhood (Gospel of Thomas) (1)

From the book Apocrypha of ancient Christians author Sventsitskaya Irina Sergeevna

Gospel of childhood (Gospel of Thomas) (1) I, Thomas the Israelite (2), tell you, brothers among the Gentiles, all the events of the childhood of our Lord Jesus Christ and His great deeds that He did after He was born in our country. This is the beginning. II. When

Gospel of Childhood (Gospel of Thomas)

From the book Apocrypha of ancient Christians author Sventsitskaya Irina Sergeevna

Cultural Significance of the Old Russian Manuscript Book of the Ostromir Gospel

1.1 History of the Ostromir Gospel

The Ostromir Gospel is the oldest dated Russian handwritten book that has survived to this day. It stands at the origins of the thousand-year path of development of our culture. According to the Holy Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexei II, "As in ancient times, so now it unites people around the name of Christ the Savior, is a non-coming spiritual symbol of Russia." ?

The Ostromir Gospel is the oldest accurately dated volumetric handwritten monument created in Russia. It is believed that it was first discovered in 1701 (indicated in the inventory of one of the churches of the Moscow Kremlin). In 1720, along with other old books, it was sent to St. Petersburg by order of Peter I. Then traces of it are lost until 1805, when it was discovered among the things in the wardrobe of the late Catherine II. Alexander I ordered that the book be transferred to the Imperial Public Library, where it is kept to this day. The manuscript was adorned with a binding-salary with precious stones, because of which it almost died: in 1932, a plumber stole it by breaking a shop window. Fortunately, the intruder tore off the binding and threw the manuscript into a closet, where it was soon found. They did not rebind. ?

The Ostromir Gospel was written in 1056-57. for the Novgorod posadnik Ostromir (in the baptism of Joseph) by deacon Gregory. The Ostromir Gospel is a well-preserved parchment manuscript of beautiful writing (length 8 inches, width slightly less than 7 inches) on 294 sheets, of which three contain picturesque images of the evangelists John, Luke and Mark, and two remained unrecorded. The Gospel text is written in two columns, 18 lines each, in a large charter; the table of contents of the gospel readings and the calendar are written in the middle charter, the small afterword.

The first news in print about the Ostromir Gospel appeared in the Lyceum magazine (1806, part 2). The Ostromir Gospel began to study the East. In the famous Discourse on the Slavic Language of the East, published in 1820, he first drew on the study of the philosophical data of the Ostromir Gospel and, guided by it, clarified the meaning of yus in the Old Church Slavonic language.

The original Ostromir Gospel, in all likelihood, was of Yugoslav origin. The Russian scribe treated his work with remarkable accuracy; this explains the great consistency of the spelling of the monument, which Gregory tried to preserve; in the Ostromir Gospel, the influence of the Russian dialect is hardly noticeable. ?

Thus, the Ostromir Gospel is the oldest dated Russian handwritten book. The original of the Ostromir Gospel was in all likelihood a Gospel of Yugoslav origin. This book is written in Old Church Slavonic.

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Cultural Significance of the Old Russian Manuscript Book of the Ostromir Gospel

On May 12, 1057, the master bookmaker Gregory finishes work that lasted more than six months (Gregory began writing it in the fall of 1056). The main text of the Ostromir Gospel is made in one style and one handwriting...

Cultural Significance of the Old Russian Manuscript Book of the Ostromir Gospel

Unlike other monuments of the XI century. in the Ostromir Gospel, the correct transmission of reduced vowels by the letters ъ, ь is observed. This phonetic feature was common to Old Church Slavonic and other Slavic languages...

Cultural Significance of the Old Russian Manuscript Book of the Ostromir Gospel

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Ostromir Gospel - the oldest dated

monument of Slavic writing and book art

Ancient Russia

The ancient Romans said that books are like people., have their own destiny. Incredibly interesting and mysterious is the fate of the most ancient Russian dated book, the facsimile edition of which is kept in the collection of our library.

Ostromir Gospel of 1056-1057 - a monument of outstanding importance for the history of Slavic linguistics, for the history of paleography, book publishing, art and culture of Russia in the middle XI century. In addition to the general Russian features, it also reflects such linguistic features that eventually became characteristic of the Ukrainian language.

The famous historian of Russian literature P.N. Polevoy, speaking about the significance of the Ostromirov Gospel among other ancient monuments, remarks: “In this precious manuscript, we have the greatest treasure: both in terms of antiquity and in terms of the external beauty of the monument”.

The Ostromir Gospel is a large, thick volume written on 294 pages. parchment (called in Russia "haratya"). According to the content and structure of the text, the Gospel is short aprakos , that is, refers to liturgical books.

On the last page of the book, the scribe gives his name: "Az Gregory The deacon wrote this gospel. He began his work on October 21, 1056, and finished on May 12, 1057. The deacon wrote the book by order of a man whose name was “Joseph is baptized, and Ostromir is worldly”. The son of Yaroslav the Wise Izyaslav instructed him to manage the Novgorod land.

Ostromir is a representative of one of the most ancient Russian families. His grandfather Dobrynya (the epic Dobrynya Nikitich) was an uncle to the Holy Prince Vladimir the Red Sun and actively participated in the baptism of Russia. By the name of the first owner, the book is called the Ostromir Gospel.

Soon Ostromir, at the head of the Novgorod militia, went on a campaign "to Chud" and was killed. It can be assumed that the creation of deacon Gregory ended up in the Novgorod St. Sophia Cathedral, built shortly before that on the high bank of the Volkhov. Here the book was for several centuries.

Already at the beginning of the XVIII in. there is a mention of it in the inventories of the Resurrection Palace Church of the Moscow Kremlin. It was kept here in a "big chest". It is difficult to say how the Ostromir Gospel came to Moscow. Perhaps the book, along with other treasures and monuments of ancient Russian culture, was taken from Novgorod by Tsar Ivan the Terrible, who suspected this city of treason and defeated it in 1570.

This is not the last journey of the manuscript.

In November 1720 Peter I ordered "the book of the gospel, written in parchment, which is 560 years old, to send to Peter-Burkh. With great care, the book was packed and taken on a sleigh under guard to the new capital. Collecting various rarities, Peter I I also wanted to get acquainted with the oldest surviving Russian book.

Soon the tsar died, and the Ostromir Gospel was lost. Found it 80 years later by Ya.A. Druzhinin - Catherine's personal secretary II.

« During the inspection made by me, stored in the wardrobe of the late Empress Catherine IIdresses- said Druzhinin, - I found in the past 1805 this Gospel. It is not recorded anywhere in the inventory and in the parish, and therefore it is not known how long ago and from whom it went there. Probably, it was brought to Her Majesty and given to her rooms for storage, and then handed over to the wardrobe. The valets and cloakroom assistants left him without respect, and it is forgotten."

This is how the oldest book of Russia almost disappeared.

In 1806 the Ostromir Gospel was transferred to the Imperial Public Library, now the Russian National Library (St. Petersburg).

In 1843, the text of the Ostromirov Gospel was reproduced for the first time in a typographical way. Academician A.F. took over the work in the publication. Vostokov, a great connoisseur of the Old Russian language. Part of the donated funds for the publication of the Gospel was used to create a luxurious cover-salary, decorated with precious stones. Because of this salary, the book subsequently almost disappeared.

The text of the first Russian book was not just reprinted, but reproduced by photolithography, preserving many of the features of the original. Such publications are called facsimile.

And the last adventure of the book, which almost became fatal for her. In 1932, the plumbing in the Manuscripts Department of the Public Library failed. The master who came to repair it was attracted by the gleam of the silver frame of the book, which lay in one of the display cases. He broke the glass, tore off the salary, and threw the priceless manuscript behind (on) the cabinet. The perpetrator was caught the same day. And they decided not to bind the Ostromir Gospel anymore. The sheets were sewn into notebooks with surgical silk, each notebook was placed in a paper cover, and the entire block was placed in a heavy case made of polished oak.

After a while, the book was removed from the safe and every page was photographed. Color photographs were used to prepare a new facsimile edition, which was published in 1988 and was timed to coincide with the 1000th anniversary of the baptism of Russia, and currently plays the role of the main security copy of a priceless monument. One copy out of 5,000 copies is stored in the KhNAU library fund, which allows our readers to touch one of the oldest editions.

In addition to its incredible value, Ostromir Gospel allows us to learn about the production of handwritten books in Ancient Russia.

Getting started, the scribe took a pile of parchment sheets, which were made from the skin (mainly of young calves) and carefully lined them with parallel lines using a blunt awl. Large-format manuscripts were written in two columns; this is how the Ostromir Gospel is written. Each column has 18 rows.

The main instrument of the scribe was a quill pen, which was supposed to be split and sharpened. They did this with a small knife, which since those ancient times has been called pen-operated.

They wrote with ink, which was made from rusty iron, from soot, from special ink nuts. The titles were reproduced in red cinnabar (a mixture of gold powder with fish glue).

The Gospel is written in a strict and clear handwriting. The vertical strokes of the letters here are strictly perpendicular to the lines of the lines. This type of letter is called charter.

Ancient manuscripts were illustrated and carefully decorated. The Ostromir Gospel contains three illustrations depicting the legendary evangelists Mark, Luke and John. There should also be a fourth miniature depicting the Apostle Matthew. Apparently the scribe did not have time to make it, as he left an empty sheet for her.

Each new section in the Old Russian book began with a new sheet, in the upper part of which an ornamental, most often rectangular decoration was placed - screensaver . In the Gospel, the headpieces are filled with bright and pure colors - scarlet, blue, green and written in gold. The main motif of ornamentation is large five-petalled flowers.

The artistic decoration of the manuscript was complemented by large initials, which began independent sections of the text. Such an ornament, as in the Ostromir Gospel, is called old Byzantine. Large flowers enclosed in a circle, triangles, hearts, resemble cloisonne enamel, excellent examples of which were left by Byzantine and ancient Russian jewelers.

Old Byzantine style XII-XIII centuries was replaced teratological. The word comes from the Greek "teratos", which means "monster". Its main feature is the figures of people or animals that are included in the fabric, in the composition of the headpiece and the initial.

Deacon Grigory wrote the Ostromir Gospel for almost 7 months. During the day he managed to write no more than 3 pages. It was hard and exhausting work. The working day lasted in summer from sunrise to sunset, in winter they also captured the dark half of the day, writing by candlelight or torch. Sometimes the scribe was overcome by drowsiness, and he made mistakes.

Such a high labor intensity of making a book, the expensive price that had to be paid for parchment, ink and paint, led to the fact that the manuscripts were very expensive.

In 2011, the Ostromir Gospel was included in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register, which brings together the most valuable and significant monuments of the world cultural heritage of mankind.

Literature

1. Ostromir Gospel. - Fax machine. playback ed. 1056 - 1057 - L .; M .: Avrora, Moscow. Patriarchy, 1988. - 294 p. + App. (16 p.).

2. Barenbaum I.E. History of the book: textbook / I.E. Barenbaum. - 2nd ed., revised. - M.: Book, 1984. - S. 15.

3. Gulko L. Holy Abetki: up to 950 AD Ostromir Gospel/ L. Gulko// Ukrainian culture. - 2007. - No. 12. - P. 6 - 7.

4. Nemirovsky E. The oldest handwritten monument / E. Nemirovsky / / Librarian. - 1983. - No. 11. – P.50 – 52.

5. Nemirovsky E.L. Journey to the origins of Russian printing: a book for students / E.L. Nemirovsky. - M .: Education, 1991. - S. 5 - 18.

6. Ostromir Gospel / A. Lyashenko / / Encyclopedic Dictionary / ed.: F. Brockhaus, I. Efron. - St. Petersburg: I.A. Efron, 1897. - V.22 (half 43). - S. 365 - 366.

7. Polevoy P.N. The history of Russian literature from ancient times to the present day / P.N. Field. - St. Petersburg: A.F. Marx, 1903. - T.1. – P. 51–52.

8. Ostromir Gospel (1056 - 1057) and the National Library of Russia: storage and study of the monument [Electronic resource]. - Access mode: www. nlr/exib/Gospel/ostr/.