Considered the oldest handwritten book written by an East Slavic scribe in the Old Russian language, it was published in 1056. This is a unique masterpiece of ancient Russian book art. The 294 parchment pages are lavishly illustrated, with stunning images of the evangelists, colorful headpieces and initial letters. The text is written in straight lines of the Old Church Slavonic Cyrillic alphabet. Byzantine traditions are traced in the ornaments. The Ostromir Gospel was written in a single copy.
It is obvious that a whole manuscript workshop took part in its creation. Unfortunately, we know only one of the masters - Deacon Gregory. He probably did most of the work. The postscript to the manuscript says that work on it lasted seven months. In the same colophon, Deacon Gregory also reports on the time and circumstances of writing ancient Russian book— the manuscript was commissioned by the Novgorod mayor Ostromir, who was sent to rule the Novgorod lands by the Kyiv prince Izyaslav Yaroslavich in 1054.
The Ostromir Gospel by Deacon Gregory and his unknown comrades is a most valuable monument of ancient Russian writing, language and fine arts. It is written in large, beautiful letters, and the size of the letters gradually increases towards the end of the book (from 5 to 7 millimeters). The text of the ancient book is written in two columns of 18 lines on pages measuring 20x24 centimeters, decorated with colorful initial letters, headpieces, images of evangelists, and cinnabar is used in places. The manuscript consists of 294 sheets of good quality parchment. There are several sheets with sewn-up cuts and holes (in places where gadflies have bitten), which appeared even before the text was written.
Unlike other monuments of the 11th century in "Ostromir Gospel" correct transmission of reduced vowel sounds by letters is observed ъ And b. This phonetic feature was common to Old Church Slavonic and other Slavic languages, so the Russian copyist, according to tradition, conveyed it well in writing, although by that time it had already disappeared. Where in the 11th century there were differences between Old Church Slavonic and Russian features, the scribe unwittingly mixed them up. This allows us to identify the “Ostromir Gospel” as one of the first monuments of the Old Church Slavonic language of the Russian edition.
Like any other ancient book, The Ostromir Gospel has its own fascinating story. Until the beginning of the 18th century, however, its history is shrouded in darkness. In 1701, the manuscript was mentioned in the inventory of the property of the Resurrection Church as part of the Verkhospassky Cathedral. In 1720, by order of Peter I, the book was sent (along with other old books) to St. Petersburg. After the death of Catherine II, the manuscript was found in her chambers by Ya.A. Druzhinin, who served under the Empress, who in 1806 presented it as a gift to Emperor Alexander I, who, in turn, ordered the book to be transferred for storage to the Imperial Public Library (now the Russian National Library). library in St. Petersburg), where it is kept today.
The manuscript of the “Ostromir Gospel” was decorated with a binding with precious stones, which is why it almost died: in 1932, a plumber stole it after breaking a display case. The attacker, tearing off the binding, threw the manuscript into a closet (according to other sources, onto a closet), where it was soon found. Re-weave old book no longer.
From the beginning of the 19th century, scientific study of the manuscript began. The Ostromir Gospel was first published by Vostokov A.Kh. in 1843 with the appendix of a short grammar, dictionary and Greek interlinear text. For this typesetting edition, a special Slavic font was made that accurately reproduces the handwriting of the original (there is even a reprint made in Wiesbaden in 1964). Later, facsimile editions were also published: black and white - in 1883; color gift in original format - in Leningrad in 1988.
Excerpts from the Ostromir Gospel were included in the compulsory curriculum of pre-revolutionary schools. In 1955, Trey E.H. carried out the restoration of this manuscript. Based on this ancient Russian book Modern grammars and dictionaries of the Old Church Slavonic language were created. A lot of research has been devoted to the monument and its language, but the language of this manuscript still requires thorough study.
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 that constitute the invaluable heritage of Russia.
The Ostromir Gospel was created during the era of cultural upsurge and flourishing of the ancient Russian state, which followed the official adoption of Christianity as the state religion in 988 and the introduction of previously scattered pagan East Slavic tribes to the centuries-old Christian cultural tradition. It is with Christianization that the spread of Slavic writing in Rus' is associated. The Tale of Bygone Years - the oldest Russian chronicle that has survived to this day - under the year 988 tells how Prince Vladimir (d. 1015) laid the foundation for book education: he himself loved “bookish words” and began to teach the children of the best people . Under 1033, the same source reports that Vladimir’s son, Prince Yaroslav, nicknamed the Wise (c. 978–1054), organized the translation and correspondence of books, thereby founding the first library in Rus' in Kiev. The books in the “Tale of Bygone Years” are named: “origins of wisdom”, “rivers that water 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 Ostromir Gospel there is an Afterword, written by the hand of Deacon Gregory, who did the bulk of the work of rewriting the text. In this Afterword, Deacon Gregory reports that he rewrote this Gospel by order of the eminent Novgorod mayor Ostromir, in the baptism of Joseph, during the reign of the Kiev prince Izyaslav Yaroslavich (1024–1078, son of Yaroslav the Wise), the work began on October 21, 1056 and was completed May 12, 1057 (thus the book was created in seven months). The high position of the customer of the book Ostromir, who was a representative of one of the most influential Russian families, is especially emphasized: his grandfather, Dobrynya (who served as the prototype for the epic Dobrynya Nikitich) was the uncle of Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich, who baptized Rus'. Ostromir - Prince Vladimir's second cousin, Izyaslav's cousin - orders a luxurious book, being at the zenith of his glory, for he views his posadship in Novgorod almost as a 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 indicates her aristocratic origin) and their children with their wives (without specifying names) are mentioned. According to chronicle sources, it is known that Ostromir died in a campaign against the Chud tribe around 1060, led by a Novgorod squad.
The Ostromir Gospel is written on parchment in ustav - a type of writing that genetically goes back to the uncial of Greek liturgical books and reached perfection in the Slavic Cyrillic script in Bulgaria in the 10th century, during the highest flowering of the Bulgarian kingdom during the reign of Tsar Simeon (893–927). The book is remarkable for its rich artistic design, which is made with paints using gold in the so-called Old Byzantine style, characteristic of Byzantine manuscripts of the 10th–11th centuries. The Ostromir Gospel contains 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 design of which is never repeated. A unique feature of the initials of the Ostromir Gospel are unusual anthropomorphic and zoomorphic elements, testifying to the artistic connections of the monument not only with the Byzantine, but also with the Western European tradition.
Of particular interest is the unique 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, a lion is presented, 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 an awakened lion), but it is also a traditional Byzantine imperial symbol. And this is very consonant with the high position of the customer of the manuscript, mayor Ostromir, and, undoubtedly, emphasizes the national significance of the book itself. The Ostromir Gospel was intended by the customer as a precious contribution to the St. Sophia Cathedral - the main temple of northwestern Rus', which was erected in 1045–1050. in Veliky Novgorod on the model of Sophia of Kyiv (this temple was founded in 1037).
Ostromir Gospel- the oldest surviving Russian handwritten book.
Time of writing:
1056-1057
The bulk of the book was created in seven months between October 21, 1056 and May 12, 1057.
Place of writing: Novgorod the Great.
Census taker: Deacon Gregory.
Customer:
Novgorod mayor Ostromir.
The title of the book comes from the name of the customer - Ostromir - the Novgorod mayor, a close relative of the Grand Duke Izyaslav, the son of Yaroslav the Wise.
Old Russian mayor - city mayor, princely governor. He was in charge of defense and justice.
Where is:
Russian National Library, St. Petersburg.
In 1806, Emperor Alexander I transferred the manuscript of the Gospel, found among the belongings of Catherine II, for storage to the Imperial Public Library, now the Russian National Library, where it is still kept.
Thanks to the afterword of the manuscript scientists can say exactly where, when, by whom and under what circumstances the Ostromir Gospel was written:
Glory to you, Mr. and ts(ar)yu n(e)b(e)snyi, for like me to write eu(an)g(e)lie, now I have stopped writing. In the year (o) 6564. And at the end of the year (o) 6565. Wrote the same eu(an)g(e)lie to this rabou b(o)zhy being named in the birth of Joseph and worldly ostromir to the close being Izyaslav knyazou. Izyaslav, the prince, then presented both powers and the father of his Yaroslav and his brother Volodymyr, and the prince himself ruled the table of his Yaroslav in Kiev. And entrust your brother to rule the city close to you.<…>
AZ GREGORIY DIAKON(Y) write eu(an)g(e)lie e and write something much worse than this, then don’t let me stare at you and I’m a sinner. I stopped writing m(e)s(ya)tsa October 21.<…>And at the end of m(e)s(ya)tsa maiya at 12<…>
The Ostromir Gospel is an aprakos gospel. This is a liturgical book in which the texts are divided into passages and arranged in the order of their reading in church on Sundays and holidays, starting with Easter.
It was the liturgical Gospel of the St. Sophia Cathedral of Veliky Novgorod. Only a rich person could afford a handwritten book. The Novgorod mayor Ostromir ordered the liturgical Gospel “to console many Christian souls.” Most likely, he donated it for the main temple of the city, where he was mayor - St. Sophia of Novgorod.
The restrained proportions of the figures in the miniatures, pronounced hand gestures, and the style of the events depicted are reminiscent of the paintings of Sophia of Kyiv, which confirms hypothesis about the metropolitan origin of the masters of the Gospel.
Months of the Gospel contains the names of saints of both the Western and Eastern Churches. The manuscript was created just two years after the division of the Churches into Orthodox and Catholic in 1054.
Excerpts from the Ostromir Gospel were included in the compulsory curriculum of pre-revolutionary schools. In 1843, the Ostromir Gospel was published with the appendix of a brief grammar, dictionary and Greek interlinear text.
In 2011, the Ostromir Gospel was included by UNESCO in the Memory of the World register. , uniting the most significant monuments of world cultural heritage.
Ostromir Gospel: [digital copy]. - Electronic text data (588 files). - (St. Petersburg: Russian National Library,). -Access mode: Internet portal of the B. N. Yeltsin Presidential Library.
Original handwritten book from the collections of the Russian National Library, St. Petersburg: Ostromir Gospel. 1056-1057 Old Slavonic. 294 l. 355 x 290 mm. Parchment. Ink, cinnabar, paints, created gold. Code: F.p.I.5.
Contents: Readings of the short aprakos (l. 2a–204c): for 50 days from Easter to Pentecost – mainly readings from the Gospel of John, 2 readings from Luke, 1 reading from Mark, 1 reading from Matthew (l. 2a–56d); for Saturdays and Sundays from Pentecost to the “New Summer” - the Gospel of Matthew (l. 58a–88b); for Saturdays and Sundays of the “New Summer” - the Gospel of Luke (l. 89a–119c); on Saturday and Sunday of Meat and Cheese Weeks - one reading from the Gospel of Luke and three readings from Matthew (l. 119c-124c); on Saturdays and Sundays of Great Lent - mainly readings from the Gospel of Mark, three readings from John, one reading from Matthew (l. 127–143c); for each day of Holy Week - mainly readings from the Gospels of Matthew and John, two readings from Mark, one reading from Luke (l. 143c-204c). Sunday morning Gospel readings – 11 readings (fol. 204c–210d). Gospel readings according to the Monthly Word (fol. 210g–288c). Gospel readings for various occasions: “for the consecration of the church” - title with reference (fol. 288c); “in memory of fear” (l. 288c–289c); “for the victory of the king in battle” – a title with a reference (fol. 289c–289g); “over the monk” – title with reference (l. 289g); “for the sick husband and wife” – title with reference (l. 289g); “above the oley” (l. 289g–120v); “over those who are enraged” – a title with a reference (fol. 290c). Gospel readings for the hours of Good Friday (fol. 290c–294c). - Digital copy provided by the Russian National Library (St. Petersburg) in 2009.
The Ostromir Gospel, a cultural monument of world significance, is kept in St. Petersburg in the Russian National Library. The exceptional historical, cultural and scientific significance of the Ostromir Gospel is determined by the fact that it is the oldest surviving East Slavic precisely dated handwritten book. On the last page of the Ostromir Gospel there is an Afterword, written by the hand of Deacon Gregory, who did the bulk of the work of rewriting the text. In this Afterword, Deacon Gregory reports that he rewrote this Gospel by order of the eminent Novgorod mayor Ostromir, in the baptism of Joseph, during the reign of the Kiev prince Izyaslav Yaroslavich (1024–1078, son of Yaroslav the Wise), the work began on October 21, 1056 and was completed May 12, 1057 The Ostromir Gospel is written on parchment by charter. The book is remarkable for its rich artistic design, which is made with gold paints in the so-called Old Byzantine style, characteristic of Byzantine manuscripts of the 10th–11th centuries. The Ostromir Gospel contains 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 design of which is never repeated. A unique feature of the initials of the Ostromir Gospel are unusual anthropomorphic and zoomorphic elements, testifying to the artistic connections of the monument not only with the Byzantine, but also with the Western European tradition. The Ostromir Gospel belongs to the liturgical type of books of Holy Scripture. In the main part of the text, the book contains daily Gospel readings from Easter to Pentecost, as well as Saturday and Sunday readings for the following weeks of the year. The second part includes gospel readings according to the Monthly Word, starting in September, as well as a number of additional readings “for various occasions” (for example, for the consecration of a church, “for the victory of the king in battle,” for sick men and women). The Ostromir Gospel entered the Imperial Public Library (now the Russian National Library) in 1806. The original binding of the monument has not survived to this day. Since the 1950s The codex is stored unbound without binding in a special oak casket. The monument was restored in 1955. - Materials from the website of the Russian National Library, section “Online Exhibitions” were used.
OSTROMIROVO GOSPEL 1056-1057 is the oldest dated handwritten book in Church Slavonic, Russian edition.
In content, this is a short aprakos, that is, a service Gospel, containing readings (passages read during the service) for each day from Easter to Pentecost and readings for Saturdays and Sundays for the rest of the year; in addition, it includes readings on the monthly word, timed to specific dates starting from September, as well as a number of additions. readings for various needs (for the consecration of the church, “for the sick”, and the like).
The book is written in Cyrillic on 294 sheets of parchment (35×30 cm) in two columns and decorated with headpieces and three miniatures (full sheet) depicting the holy evangelists John, Luke and Mark (the sheet on which the image of the holy evangelist Matthew should have been left blank), and the beginning of each reading is marked with large initials (capital letters of the readings). Miniatures, headpieces and initials are made using paints using applied gold in an artistic style. style characteristic of Byzantine manuscripts of the 10th-11th centuries (for example, Byzantine cloisonné enamel techniques were used); at the same time, the initials use elements that indicate the influence of the Western European artistic tradition (anthropo- and zoomorphic elements, geometric patterns). The text is written in the charter, in two calligraphic handwritings: sheets 2-24 - by the first scribe, sheets 25-294 - by the second scribe; the third scribe owns the golden titles of the individual readings. The inscriptions on the miniatures are made in a special handwriting. On some sheets there are instructions for the priest to intonate reading of the text - ekphonetic signs (mainly indicating pauses).
At the end of the manuscript, the second (main) scribe - Deacon Gregory - made a large entry in which it is reported that he wrote this book from 10.21.1056 to 12.5.1057 for the Novgorod mayor Ostromir under the Kiev prince Izyaslav Yaroslavich.
Since on the first page of the monument there is an entry in cursive writing from the 17th century [“Eua(g)e e Sofaysk aprako(s)”], it is assumed that the Ostromir Gospel was kept in the St. Sophia Cathedral of Novgorod (now Veliky Novgorod). However, the question of where the manuscript was created - in Novgorod or Kyiv - remains unresolved. In 1701, the Ostromir Gospel was mentioned in the inventory of the property of the Resurrection Church of the Verkhospassky Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, and in 1720, by order of Tsar Peter I, it was sent to St. Petersburg along with other old books that were collected for writing Russian history. He was discovered by Ya.A. Druzhinin, personal secretary of Catherine II, among the things left after the death of the Empress. In 1806, he presented the manuscript as a gift to Emperor Alexander I, who transferred it to the Imperial Public Library (now the Russian National Library), where it is kept to this day under the code F. p.I.5. There, under the code F. p.I.58, the so-called. Kupriyanovsky, or Novgorod, sheets - two sheets from a parchment manuscript of the 11th century, containing the text of the Gospel-aprakos. This passage was found by I.K. Kupriyanov in the library of the Novgorod St. Sophia Cathedral. In terms of text, design and ecphonetic signs, it is so close to the Ostromir Gospel that even if the latter is not copied directly from the manuscript to which the Kupriyanovsky sheets belonged, then, in any case, a common protograph can be assumed for both monuments, and the Ostromir Gospel is distant from this protograph further than Kupriyanovsky leaflets.
The original Slavic translation of the Gospel, carried out by Cyril and Methodius, is best preserved in the Glagolitic Old Church Slavonic quadruple gospels - Mariinsky and Zografsky, containing the entire gospel text in its entirety in the order of the four gospels. The short aprakos (including the Old Slavic Glagolitic Assemanian Gospel of the 11th century) contain a text that has already undergone some editing. As one of the oldest surviving copies of the short aprakos, the Ostromir Gospel contains important evidence of both the original translation and its subsequent editing. The text of the Ostromir Gospel often coincides with the Assemanian Gospel, and both aprakos are opposed to the most ancient four gospels. However, in comparison with the Assemanian Gospel, the Ostromir Gospel moves even further away from the original translation: it reflects editing, as a result of which the grammar and vocabulary of the text of the short aprakos, which is presented in the Assemanian Gospel, are significantly updated. In the Ostromir Gospel, the ancient forms of the non-sigmatic and sigmatic athematic aorist have been eliminated (prid@ is replaced by pridoshya and the like), the subjunctive mood (bi is replaced by br and the like); in the imperfect, instead of the old ending -shete/-sheta in the 2nd-3rd person dual and 2nd person plural, -ste/-sta is used, and in the dual, the original ending -te is in most cases replaced by -ta. The archaic vocabulary of the original translation in the Ostromir Gospel has also been largely eliminated: eter is replaced by nekyi, sprti - by bez?ma, s'n'm - by sbor', shyu'i - by levyi, prepr@da - by baryyanitsa, vlatisya - by pogr@hatisya, v'slepati - to flow, spark - to near, shepherd - to past?x, etc.; Greek borrowings are crowded out by glory. synonyms: instead of vpokrit it is read hypocrite, instead of stage - field and so on. The nature of the language editing indicates that the editing was carried out in the East. Bulgaria.
The Ostromir Gospel quite well reflects the phonetic and orthographic features of the Bulgarian protographer, to which it goes back. For the most part, the etymologically correct use is yus @/B and я/> - letters to denote the nasal vowels [̨ о] and [ᶒ] and their combinations with [j]; Deacon Gregory uses them quite correctly not only in the Gospel text, but also in his recording. But since in the East Slavic dialects, unlike the Bulgarian ones, the nasal [̨ о] and [ᶒ] turned into [u] and ['a], the scribes of the Ostromir Gospel sometimes make mistakes and write оҐ or a (and after sibilants) instead of yus (l ?kavri, k?pel, azrq, beginning) or, conversely, yusy where etymologically the vowel was non-nasal (dr@gaa, inter@, rasperya, hundred). Combinations of reduced vowels ъ and ь with smooth sonants r and l are mainly written in the Ostromir Gospel with reduced ones after sonants, as in South Slavic texts, but they are found - primarily in the first scribe - reflecting the East Slavic reflex of these combinations of writing with reduced ones before sonants: djerzhatisya, mrtvii, tsrk'v', ip'lnitisya, v'rkh', etc. There are several forms with the East Slavic reflex zh from in place of the Old Slavonic railway: prihozh@, prezhe, rozhenii, tr?zhatisya, etc. Instead of the Old Slavonic ending -омъ/-емъ in the instrumental case of the singular y names of *o-declension in the Ostromir Gospel, the East Slavic inflection -ъм/-мь is often used: glas'm, vetr'm', d'kh'm', fire, p@t'm', lit'm', srd't'm', etc. Finally, apparently, the ending -t' is an East Slavic feature , usually recorded in the Ostromir Gospel in the 3rd person of verbs in the present tense in accordance with the Old Slavonic inflection -тъ.
Some Old Russian linguistic features were reflected only in the calendar indications of the month book and in Gregory’s entry: here there are forms with full consonance peregan@v, novegorode and volodimira, the genitive singular form nedele with the East Slavic inflection -e. Gregory’s recording uses the verb pochati (with a instead of the etymological nasal i), characteristic of East Slavic dialects and almost not recorded in the oldest South Slavic monuments; In addition, there is syntactic Russianism here - a form of the prepositional local case kreve ‘in Kyiv’.
The first researcher and publisher of the Ostromir Gospel was A.Kh. Vostokov. The study of the monument allowed him to make a discovery of great importance for Slavic studies: by comparing the forms in which the letters @ /B and i /> are used in the Ostromir Gospel with the corresponding Polish forms, he established that these letters denote nasal vowels. With Vostokov’s works dedicated to the Ostromir Gospel, the scientific study of the Church Slavonic language and Church Slavonic monuments began in Russia. Subsequently, the Ostromir Gospel became the subject of numerous diverse studies.
Editions:
Ostromir Gospel of 1056-57: with the appendix of the Greek text of the gospels and with grammatical explanations, published by A. Vostokov. St. Petersburg, 1843. M., 2007;
Ostromir Gospel 1056-1057. Facsimile reproduction. L.; M., 1988.