Miroslavs Gospel in Temple of Saint Sava

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

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe * someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people * Serbian language * Serbian names See also * * * Old Serbian (disambiguation ...

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 on

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 ...

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's time, a Serbian ''Prophliestologion'' (Cod. 313), a Novgorod Sticherarion (Cod. 301), and Kiev Irmologion (Cod. 308 with Old Church Slavonic musical neumatic notation were also found in the same place as Hilandar Fragments from the 10th and early 11th century (now in Odessa). It is presumed that both Miroslav Gospel and

Vukan's Gospel Vukan's Gospel ( Vukanovo jevanđelje) is a 13th-century Serbian illuminated manuscript ( Gospel Book) in Serbian recension of Church Slavonic. It is one of the oldest preserved Serbian medieval books, with more than 189 pages. It was produc ...

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, 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 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 in 1874. The earliest facsimile 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 peni ...

, before it was presented to King

Alexander I Alexander I may refer to: * Alexander I of Macedon, king of Macedon 495–454 BC * Alexander I of Epirus (370–331 BC), king of Epirus * Pope Alexander I (died 115), early bishop of Rome * Pope Alexander I of Alexandria (died 320s), patriarch of A ...

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 in

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 mi ...

. The book was originally transcribed in Kotor in modern-day

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

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 f ...

, 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 co ...

-texted manuscripts, the document appeared later than other Serbian liturgical manuscripts written in Glagolithic. 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 List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

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 remembere ...

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