Memory of the World; 2012 - unesdoc - Unesco

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Codex Suprasliensis –
Mineia �etia, Mart
(The Supra�l Codex – Menology, March)
Inscribed 2007
What is it
The largest and oldest of the few surviving manuscripts
written in Old Church Slavonic.
Why was it inscribed
Codex Suprasliensis is the main source for studying Old
Church Slavonic. It is also one of the earliest testimonials
to the reception of Orthodox Christianity among
the Slavs.
Where is it
National and University Library in Ljubljana, Slovenia;
National Library of Russia, St Petersburg, Russia;
National Library, Warsaw, Poland
The Codex Suprasliensis is a unique manuscript written
by a monk named Retko around 1014 in one of the
monasteries near Preslav, the old capital of Bulgaria. In
1823 it was discovered by Professor Michał Bobrowski
in the library of the Basilian monastery in Supraśl near
Białystok, Poland, where it had been brought by monks
from Athos, Greece. The item was divided in 1838 and 1839
and is now kept in three libraries: in Warsaw, Ljubljana and
St Petersburg.
The codex was written in Old Church Slavonic, using
the Cyrillic alphabet in Slavonic majuscule. It consists
of 285 (118+16+151) parchment folios. It describes the
lives of saints and the teachings of fathers of the church
for readings in March (the final fragment of Mineia
četia). It is especially valuable for linguists who study Old
Slavonic languages because of its age and extent. It does
not possess illuminations; its decorations are very modest
and consist of ink-painted initials and narrow vignettes.
The script is a very beautiful, regular, broad Cyrillic.
Old Church Slavonic was the first literary Slavic
language, developed by the 9th-century Byzantine
Greek missionaries St Cyril and St Methodius who used
it to translate the Bible and other Christian texts into a
language that ordinary Slavic peoples could understand.
The introduction of a national language to the liturgy
� Codex Suprasliensis
influenced the reception of a religion and had great
significance in forming national languages.
The codex is irreplaceable as a testimonial to Orthodox
Christianity and Slavdom at the time when Old Slavonic
was evolving into national languages (Old Bulgarian,
Old Slovenian, Old Polish). Being supranational and
supraregional, it is a significant fragment of European
and world culture.
The discovery of the codex in the 19th century was
important for the rapidly developing field of Slavonic
studies and for the strengthening of national
consciousness among the Slavs who were subjects
of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Turkish
state (e.g. Bulgarians, Slovenians, Serbs).
The first part of the codex (Ljubljana) consists
of sixteen unbound quires (one hundred and eighteen
folios) kept in a special acid-free case. The text contains
twenty-four lives of saints and twenty-three homilies,
separate for Lent and Easter cycles, and one prayer.
The second part of the codex (St Petersburg) consists
of two quires (sixteen folios). The text contains Colloquy
on Annunciation, assigned to John Chrysostom; Colloquy
on Annunciation by John Chrysostom, 25 March;
St. Irene’s Torment, 26 March; Torment of the St. Iona
and St. Varahisi, 29 March.
The third part of the codex (Warsaw) consists of 151 folios.
The text contains: six lives of saints, eighteen sermons of
John Chrysostom, one sermon of Photius (patriarch of
Constantinople) and one sermon of Epiphanius.
Codex Suprasliensis Mineia četia, Mart (The Supraśl Codex – Menology, March)
71