Romanian Gospel 1581 year

28 September 2023 In 2015, a presentation of the ancient handwritten book - Romanian Gospel 1581 year.

At the museum meeting, which united the scientific community of Chernigov and scientists from Romania, museum staff presented the results of the research for this book. So, senior researcher Myroslav Mai-Boroda talked about the place and time of writing the Gospel, the history of the "journeys" of the book until the time of its arrival in the museum funds.

The book was written at the church of the holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel in Suceava (Румунія) and donated to the Holy Resurrection Church "Ostroy Village", which is indicated in the gift inscription of the end of the 16th century. stored in the book. It has not been possible to reliably identify this settlement at the moment. Maybe the donor called the settlement that way, which arose on the site of the destroyed 1240 year by the Mongol-Tatars of Old Russian Ostro (now the city of Oster, Chernihiv district). Indirect confirmation of this version can be the fact, that in Ostra during the XVII-XIX centuries. built churches in honor of the Resurrection of Christ after the previous church with the same name ceased to exist for one reason or another.

The village of Ostra in the county of Suceava may also be the place where the Gospel was offered. Ms. Gabriela Haža, director of the Alexandru Filippide Institute of Romanian Philology of the Romanian Academy, gave a report on the history of this settlement. (branch in Iasi). Arguments for and against the two versions were lively discussed by the participants of the meeting.

Ms. Olimpia Mitrich, a professor at the Štefan cel Mare University of Sučava, shared with the listeners the research of the history of the Church of the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel in Suceava..

It seems, that the book survived the fire. Traces of soot remained on it, although it itself did not burn. Perhaps she was doused with water when extinguishing the fire. The result was that, that the pages in it are now stuck together in whole blocks. The Gospel needs painstaking, highly professional restoration. Те, that the page with the original data about it has remained open is a great fortune for researchers.

During the study of the book, it was possible to find another entry in it as early as the 19th-20th centuries. on a pasted sheet, which is between the pages, that stuck together. After a careful operation, it was possible to open part of the sheet without damaging the Gospel. This made it possible to get new information about the history of the book. We will find out from the inscription, that the last place where the Gospel was located was the St. Nicholas Church in the village of Olbyn, Oster district. Probably, this sheet was enclosed during the transfer of the ancient handwritten Gospel to the Chernihiv diocesan antiquities repository - the church museum, which was created 14 October 1906 year. However, it is currently difficult to establish the time of arrival of the Gospel to the museum. During the Second World War, the museum burned down and, Unfortunately, all the documentation was lost.

The presence in the Chernihiv Historical Museum named after Vasyl Tarnovsky of such artifacts as the handwritten Gospel 1581 year from Suceava, that are of scientific interest as Ukrainian, and foreign researchers is a vivid confirmation of the uniqueness of our museum collection.

Старший науковий співробітник музею,
Candidate of Theology Miroslav May-Boroda