Mstislav Gospel is a 12th-century manuscript of the four

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

s on parchment in Old Church Slavonic. It is kept in the

State Historical Museum The State Historical Museum ( Russian: Государственный исторический музей, ''Gosudarstvenny istoricheskiy muzyey'') of Russia is a museum of Russian history The history of Russia begins with the histories of ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

. The manuscript contains the text of the four Gospels on 213 parchment leaves (35.3 by 28.6 cm). Its miniatures, headpieces, and illuminated initials are in several colors and contain copious amounts of gold. The book was commissioned by Mstislav the Great and written by scribe Alexa for one of the churches in Novgorod In 1551, Ivan the Terrible commissioned a

treasure binding A treasure binding or jewelled bookbinding is a luxurious book cover using metalwork in gold or silver, jewels, or ivory, perhaps in addition to more usual bookbinding material for book-covers such as leather, velvet, or other cloth. The act ...

which incorporates 13 Byzantine miniatures from the 10th century, 5 miniatures from the 11th century and 6 Russian miniatures from the 12th century. After the

Massacre of Novgorod The Massacre of Novgorod was an attack launched by Tsar Ivan IV (The Terrible)'s ''oprichniki'' on the city of Novgorod, Russia in 1570. Although initially an act of vengeance against the perceived treason of the local Orthodox church, the massac ...

, like other ancient treasures of Novgorod, the book was brought to the Moscow Kremlin, where it was placed in the

Cathedral of the Archangel The Cathedral of the Archangel (russian: Архангельский собор, Arkhangel'skiy sobor) is a Russian Orthodox church dedicated to the Archangel Michael. It is located in Cathedral Square of the Moscow Kremlin in Russia between the Gr ...

References

External links

* Church Slavonic manuscripts Medieval literature Old Church Slavonic literature 12th-century biblical manuscripts Gospel Books 12th-century illuminated manuscripts Cyrillo-Methodian studies {{manuscript-art-stub

References

Further reading

External links