The oldest library in Chernigov

In the collection of the Chernihiv Regional Historical Museum named after V.V. Tarnovsky's book is preserved 1566 year printed in Latin in Paris (No. Al-1016). The publication originates from the fundamental library of the Chernihiv Theological Seminary. This is the work of the famous Greek philosopher Plutarch "Chaeronei philosophi atque historici clarissimi Moralia opuscula" ("Morality").

"Morals" is the most important work of the writer Lucius Mestrius Plutarch (I-II centuries. n. is.) from philosophy, pedagogy and literature, which includes his autobiographical essays. Plutarch's work was very popular among church leaders, scientists, philosophers even in the 16th and 18th centuries.

The book has a white leather cover. On both parts of the cover in cartouches is depicted "The Seven Liberal Sciences" ("seven liberal arts", Latin. seventh liberal arts – grammar, dialectics, rhetoric, arithmetic, музика, geometry, astronomy and a cartouche with the year of publication of the book) with appropriate signatures below them. The letters "S M F" are placed on top of the cover, below the numbers "1567".

On the title page we see the following: from the top marked the author and title of Plutarch "The moral essays of the famous philosopher and historian Chaerone", to the right of them is the ink inscription "Pasp. III Dept. And No. 1.th", under the title we see an oval seal stamp with the number "2536" written in ink (the inscription "Library of Chernihiv Seminary" is visible on the imprint of the stamp), in the center of the sheet is a printed picture (a crown with a seven-pointed star – probably a printer's mark), to the right of it is a crossed out inscription ("liver John Molferi G"), under the picture - "Parisiis", publishers "Michaelem Iulianum" and "Slauso Brunello", below "1566".

On the next page is an exlibris in black ink "Exlibris Victoris Sadkowski.". That is, the book could have belonged to Chernihiv Archbishop Victor Sadkovskyi (1741–1803).

Discrepancies between the dates on the cover and the title page are explained by the fact that, that the sheets of the book were originally printed, and only then their owner was looking for a master to make the binding, which took some time.

The length of the book is 17,5 see, width 11,7 see. The book block has 815 page. The book in the 16th century. prepared for publication by Mykola Sagundin (translated from Greek into Latin).

So, to the Chernihiv Historical Museum named after. VV. Tarnovsky's book came from the library of the Chernihiv Theological Seminary.

A similar sample of artillery is stored in the collection of the Dnepropetrovsk Historical Museum. D.I. Yavornytsky, that during the 18th and early 20th centuries. the largest library in Chernihiv was the fundamental library of the Chernihiv Collegium (Chernihiv Theological Seminary). In terms of the number of books, it was inferior only to the library of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.

Do 1674 Dr.. Chernihiv Archbishop Lazar Baranovych (1620–1693) translated the library of Latin schools from Novgorod-Siverskyi (was in the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery) to Chernigov. And placed it in the Borysoglib Cathedral. The book depository itself was arranged by the founder of the Chernihiv Collegium, Archbishop Ioann Maksymovych (also donated books).

The collegium library had three editions, which at one time belonged to Metropolitan Peter Mohyla (1596–1647), one book by Metropolitan Dmitry Rostovsky (It thumped, 1651–1709), from the collection of Archbishop Ioann Maksymovich - four editions, three books, which belonged to Archimandrite Lavrentiy Krshtonovich (1650–1703), four books from the library of Archimandrite Ioanikiy Halyatovskyi (1620–1688), from Metropolitan Antony Stakhovsky (1671–1740) – 18 publications.

A large number of books (to 300) donated by the Chernihiv bishop and bibliophile Kyrylo Lyashevetskyi (1720-1770). The edition contained bookplates of the donor.

Other Chernihiv bishops also donated books: Viktor Sadkovskyi (1741–1803), Mykhailo Desnytskyi (1761–1821), Pavlo Podlypskyi (1788–1861).

At the end of the 18th century. the collegium library had up to a thousand books. So, the well-known historian of Chernihiv Oblast Oleksandr Shafonskyi (1740–1811) means “there is a library at the Chernigov Seminary, in which philosophical, school children, Latin, Greek, Polish, Russians, French and German books are counted up to 1000".

The existing handwritten catalog of the seminary library of the first quarter of the 19th century. містить понад 8 thousand. books (about which researchers Olga Travkina and Nataliya Tsypliak wrote). Close 2,5 thousands of names (60 % from the total amount) is Latin-language literature. Do 1823 Dr.. the library received more than 3800 books from the collection of Archbishop Varlaam Shischatskyi. Most of the books were on history and geography. So, there were Latin editions of Plutarch by 1593 р., 1678 р., 1774– 1779. (in five volumes).

In the middle of the XIX century. historian Mykola Markevich singled out only three libraries, that were in Chernihiv: in Chernihiv Theological Seminary (everything - 6013 names of books; in ancient languages ​​- 3208, in Russian - 1449, in French - 377, in Polish - 375, in German - 255, Asian languages ​​- 36, other books - 333; there were also manuscripts - letters of L. Baranovicha; the library had several departments, the first department - books in ancient languages), in the Chernihiv Boys' Gymnasium (1759 names and 3497 books, 173 positions of student books - 460 томів), provincial library (2014 volumes of books).

Також, in the middle of the 19th century. the former teacher of the Chernihiv Male Gymnasium robbed the archive collections of the Chernihiv Provincial Board, Yeletsky Men's Monastery and theological seminary library. Resulting, part of the manuscripts ended up in the library of the Krakow Academy of Sciences.

In the 60s of the XIX century. the library was located in the seminary "home" church of Mykhailo and Fedor (later, Archbishop Filaret transferred her to another seminary building).

1866 Chernihiv archpriest and historian Andrii Stradomsky handed over a certificate to the library 1723 year of Chernihiv Bishop Iradion Zhurakovsky, and Archpriest Yefimius Puchkovsky the Bible 1756 year.

На 1867 Dr.. the fundamental library of the seminary was near 11 thousand. books (the Catalog of the 1st part of the seminar library was compiled). There was also a student library (small 610 titles - more than 700 томів).

1868 year heirs of Chernihiv Archbishop Filaret (Gumilevsky) donated to the seminary library 2000 books, that belonged to the deceased archbishop (the catalog was compiled by the owner). Do 1871 Chernihiv Archbishop Varlaam (Denisov) transferred to the library 481 book. 1869 Archimandrite Yevgeny, rector of the Lithuanian Theological Seminary, donated 89 books for the student seminary. And 1884 In 2008, the famous Ukrainian philanthropist Ilya Lyzogub donated the Ostroh Bible to the seminary library 1581 year.

Books from Filaret's collection were kept in a separate account in the library (1231 title), Barlaama (450 title), Novgorod-Siversky Monastery (346 title).

Based on the inspection of the seminar library at 1911 Dr.. decided to transfer rare books to the library of the diocesan Brotherhood of St. Mykhailo and the library of the Chernihiv diocesan tree repository. That is, some part of the books could be removed from the seminar library, if the events of the First World War did not prevent this.

Chernihiv Theological Seminary as an educational institution was liquidated in 1917 Dr.. At that time, his book storage could store about 14 thousand. books.

У липні 1919 Dr.. the library commission of the section for the protection of monuments and art (In. Drozdov, A. Spanovsky, And. Churchman) checked the seminar library.

In August 1921 Dr.. Volodymyr Drozdov (head of the seminary library), Valentin Shugaevskyi (head of the superstructure and section of antiquities) and local historian Kostyantyn Sambursky were engaged in the creation of a church museum (the museum of cults). Probably, part of the property and most of the books of the library of the former seminary were transferred to the museum. So, To. Sambursky recalls, that in september 1921 was transported to the City Museum 8 carried books from the seminary library.

The book storage of the Chernihiv State Museum suffered significant losses during the Second World War, as from evacuation, as well as during the occupation of the city by German troops. So, the book "Morality" by Plutarch was evacuated in. Ufa.

Do 1953 Dr.. was removed from the Chernihiv State Museum and transferred to the Kyiv Public Library (National Library of Ukraine named after V.I. Вернадського) 99 books, which mostly came from the library of the Chernihiv Seminary.

So, today, the remains of the library of the Chernihiv Collegium (Chernihiv Theological Seminary) are stored in the Chernihiv Regional Historical Museum named after V.V. Tarnovskyi and the National Library of Ukraine named after V.I. Вернадського.

Books with the bookplate of Metropolitan Peter Mohyla, which were in the library of the Chernihiv Seminary:

• "Pandectae of the Scriptures of Victory and the New Testament" (1557 р.),
• "De meteoyis Tractatus most lucid in quin paves distinct" (1613 р.),
• "Episcopal practices are those that concern the office and power of the bishop" (1627 р.).

The books were handed over by Archbishop L. Baranovich:

• "A catechetical work on the sum of Christian doctrine" (1554 р.),
• "The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments" (1557 р.),
• "Binius Divini Epiphanius, bishop of Cynri, against eighty heretics" (1578 р.),
• "The moral mirror of all sacred scripture" (1600 р.),
• "Ecclesiastical Annals" (1602 р.),
• "The Works of John of Damascus" (1603 р.),
• "Each of the general and provincial councils could be found in the epistles and Roman Pontifical vitae" (1606 р.),
• "On the meteors we have clarified our treatise into five parts" (1613 р.),
• "The episcopal court containing those things which concern the office and power of the bishop" (1627 р.),
• "A vivarium of Christian virtues and scriptures, and a birth constructed with opinions" (1627 р.),
• "Commentary on the Gospel text" (1643 р.),
• "All works in two volumes" (1645 р.).

Books with bookplates of Feodosius Uglytskyi:

• "The Roman Martyrology of Fregorius XIII, published by order of the Pontifical Maximus" (1589 р.),
• "Greco-Roman law, both canonical and civil" (1596 р., Frankfurt, handed over from the archimandrite of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Chrysanthemum),
• "The supreme instruction of the priests in cases of conscience in eight distinct books" (1614 р.),
• "Commentaries on the prophet Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi" (1623 р.).

The books were handed over by Archbishop I. Maksimovich:

• "Bad Bible published by theologians and blind" (1587),
• "The flowers of the examples of the historical Catechism" (1625 р.),
• "Commentary on all the epistles of the Divine Paul" (1665 р.),
• "Fodder for the Christian soul or meditations" (1706 р.).

Candidate of historical sciences Maksym Blakytny