Miroslavs Gospel in Temple of Saint Sava

Miroslav Gospel ( sr, Мирослављево jеванђеље / Miroslavljevo jevanđelje, ) is a 362-page Serbian

illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, th ...

Gospel Book A Gospel Book, Evangelion, or Book of the Gospels (Greek: , ''Evangélion'') is a codex or bound volume containing one or more of the four Gospels of the Christian New Testament – normally all four – centering on the life of Jesus of Nazareth ...

parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves, and goats. It has been used as a writing medium for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins of ...

with very rich decorations. It is one of the oldest surviving documents written in the Serbian recension of Church Slavonic. The gospel is considered a masterpiece of illustration and calligraphy. During

Saint Sava Saint Sava ( sr, Свети Сава, Sveti Sava, ; Old Church Slavonic: ; gr, Άγιος Σάββας; 1169 or 1174 – 14 January 1236), known as the Enlightener, was a Serbian prince and Orthodox monk, the first Archbishop of the autocephalo ...

's time, a Serbian ''Prophliestologion'' (Cod. 313), a

Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the o ...

Sticherarion A sticheron (Greek: "set in verses"; plural: stichera; Greek: ) is a hymn of a particular genre sung during the daily evening (Hesperinos/Vespers) and morning (Orthros) offices, and some other services, of the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Cath ...

(Cod. 301), and Kiev

Irmologion Irmologion ( grc-gre, τὸ εἱρμολόγιον ) is a liturgical book of the Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite. It contains ''irmoi'' () organised in sequences of odes (, sg. ) and su ...

(Cod. 308 with

Old Church Slavonic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic () was the first Slavic literary language. Historians credit the 9th-century Byzantine missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius with standardizing the language and using it in translating the Bible and othe ...

musical neumatic notation were also found in the same place as Hilandar Fragments from the 10th and early 11th century (now in

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

). It is presumed that both Miroslav Gospel and Vukan's Gospel reached Hilandar at the same.

Origin and discovery

Miroslav's Gospel was commissioned in the 12th century (in the year 1180) by Miroslav, the ruler (''knez'') of Hum and the brother of

Stefan Nemanja Stefan Nemanja ( Serbian Cyrillic: , ; – 13 February 1199) was the Grand Prince ( Veliki Župan) of the Serbian Grand Principality (also known as Raška, lat. ) from 1166 to 1196. A member of the Vukanović dynasty, Nemanja founded the Nem ...

, the

Grand Prince of Serbia Grand Principality of Serbia ( sr, Великожупанска Србија, Velikožupanska Srbija), or Rascia ( sr, Рашка, Raška), was a medieval Serbian state that existed from the second half of the 11th century up until 1217, when it ...

. The first to discover and study the manuscript were three Russian scholars:

Vladimir Stasov Vladimir Vasilievich Stasov (also Stassov; rus, Влади́мир Васи́льевич Ста́сов; 14 January Adoption_of_the_Gregorian_calendar#Adoption_in_Eastern_Europe.html" ;"title="/nowiki> O.S._2_January.html" ;"title="Adoption of ...

, Fyodor Buslayev, and

Nikodim Kondakov Nikodim (or Nikodeme) Pavlovich Kondakov (russian: Никоди́м Па́влович Кондако́в; 1 (13) November 1844, Olshanka, Kursk Governorate, Russian Empire– 17 February 1925, Prague, Czechoslovakia), was an ar ...

in 1874. A leaf of the book which the Archbishop Porphyrius Uspensky had cut out of the book from the Hilandar Monastery library in 1845 was first publicly shown at an exhibition in

Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Kyi ...

in 1874. The earliest

facsimile A facsimile (from Latin ''fac simile'', "to make alike") is a copy or reproduction of an old book, manuscript, map, art print, or other item of historical value that is as true to the original source as possible. It differs from other forms of r ...

edition appeared in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

in 1897. The book was traditionally kept at the Hilandar Monastery on

Mount Athos Mount Athos (; el, Ἄθως, ) is a mountain in the distal part of the eponymous Athos peninsula and site of an important centre of Eastern Orthodox monasticism in northeastern Greece. The mountain along with the respective part of the penin ...

, before it was presented to King Alexander I of Serbia, on the occasion of his visit to the monastery in 1896. Today it is in the collection of the

National Museum of Serbia The National Museum of Serbia ( sr, / ) is the largest and oldest museum in Belgrade, Serbia. It is located in the central zone of Belgrade on a square plot between the Republic Square (Belgrade), Republic Square, formerly Theatre Square, and th ...

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 m ...

. The book was originally transcribed in

Kotor Kotor (Montenegrin Cyrillic: Котор, ), historically known as Cattaro (from Italian: ), is a coastal town in Montenegro. It is located in a secluded part of the Bay of Kotor. The city has a population of 13,510 and is the administrative ...

in modern-day

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

between 1186 and 1190 from an earlier text. Most pages are by an unknown scribe from

Zeta Zeta (, ; uppercase Ζ, lowercase ζ; grc, ζῆτα, el, ζήτα, label=Demotic Greek, classical or ''zē̂ta''; ''zíta'') is the sixth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 7. It was derived fr ...

, with the last few pages written by the scribe Grigorije of Raška, also known as Grigorije the Scribe or Pupil. Although Miroslav's Gospel is one of the earliest

Cyrillic The Cyrillic script ( ), Slavonic script or the Slavic script, is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking cou ...

-texted manuscripts, the document appeared later than other Serbian liturgical manuscripts written in

Glagolithic The Glagolitic script (, , ''glagolitsa'') is the oldest known Slavic alphabet. It is generally agreed to have been created in the 9th century by Saint Cyril, a monk from Thessalonica. He and his brother Saint Methodius were sent by the Byzan ...

. The language used is considered unique as it showed the transition between Old Church Slavonic and the first recognizably distinct Serbian language. In 2005, the Miroslav Gospel was inscribed in

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

Memory of the World Register Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...

in recognition of its historical value.

References

External links

Online digital copy of Miroslav's GospelIn the Beginning was the Word, History of the Miroslav Gospel
12th-century Christian texts 12th-century illuminated manuscripts Christian prayer books Christian illuminated manuscripts Serbian literature Medieval Serbia Medieval Serbian literature Serbian books Serbian manuscripts South Slavic manuscripts 12th-century biblical manuscripts 12th century in Serbia Gospel Books Memory of the World Register Medieval documents of Serbia World Digital Library Cyrillic manuscripts Cyrillo-Methodian studies Athos manuscripts Hilandar Monastery {{manuscript-art-stub

Origin and discovery

See also

References

Further reading

External links