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Enina Apostolos, Old Bulgarian
Cyrillic manuscript (fragment) of the
11th century
Inscribed 2011
What is it
A fragment of thirty-nine parchment folios, forming the
oldest extant Slavonic copy of the Acts and Epistles of the
New Testament.
Why was it inscribed
The fragments contain one of the oldest forms of Cyrillic
script that is evidence of the crucial change in the history
of the Slavonian conversion to Christianity. The Enina
Apostolos has unique historical significance as testimony
of the old Cyrillic script, in the region from which
it emerged.
Where is it
SS. Cyril and Methodius National Library, Sofia, Bulgaria
The 11th-century Enina Apostolos is the most ancient
extant Slavonic copy of the Acts and Epistles. Written on
parchment, the fragment represents one of the oldest
forms of the Cyrillic script. It is important in the history
of Slavonic literacy and in particular, of the translations
from Greek made by St Cyril and St Methodius and
their disciples. The translations were transmitted in East
Bulgaria at the end of the 9th century and the beginning
of the 10th century.
� SS. Cyril and Methodius National Library, Sofia, Bulgaria
� St Cyril and St Methodius
Enina Apostolos is akin to other ancient Old Bulgarian
manuscripts, but has several very distinctive features.
The script is archaic Cyrillic ustav (uncial), sloping
to right and hanging from the ruling line, 3–3.5 mm
high. The illumination is represented by two headpieces,
of the band- or strip-type, and several initials preceding
each reading. Their ornament is prevailingly geometric
with early elements of the Slavonic teratological style.
A peculiar feature of the decoration is the giant initial on
f. 1v, comparable to those in two Glagolitic manuscripts –
Codex Zographensis and Codex Marianus, both datable
to the 10th century.
Even though the greatest part of the copy is missing,
the extant leaves form a unity, the synaxarion comprising
68 Enina Apostolos, Old Bulgarian Cyrillic manuscript (fragment) of the 11th century