Memory of the World; 2012 - unesdoc - Unesco

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Ostromir Gospel (1056–1057)
Inscribed 2011
What is it
The 11th century Ostromir Gospel, written less than
80 years after Christianity was accepted in Russia.
The manuscript is written in Old Russian using the
Cyrillic alphabet.
Why was it inscribed
Written in 1056–57, the Ostromir Gospel is the world’s
oldest-known East Slavonic manuscript. The text
introduced Christianity to previously isolated and pagan
East Slavonic tribes. As an art object, it also represents
the genesis of Russian literature and culture.
Where is it
National Library of Russia, St Petersburg, Russia
Christianity was adopted in Russia as late as AD 988 and
the Ostromir Gospel was commissioned during its first
century as the official religion. The manuscript was created
between 21 October 1056 and 12 May 1057, according to
an inscription by its scribe, Deacon Grigory, by the order
of Ostromir, the governor of Novgorod, then one of the
richest cities in Russia.
The manuscript is an aprakos, that is, a lectionary of the
Gospels as used in Orthodox Catholic Church services,
arranged in weekly order. Unlike Western Church
lectionaries, the works of the evangelists begin with
John rather than Matthew. It was created as a donation
to St Sophia’s, the new cathedral of Novgorod, where it
remained for several centuries until its removal to Moscow.
In 1806, it was moved to the then Imperial Public Library,
now the National Library of Russia in St Petersburg.
The Ostromir Gospel is an expression of the dynamic
religious and cultural development in 11th-century Russia,
encompassing the dissemination of Christianity among
the pagan Slavs, the moves towards a unified state of the
Eastern Slavs and the growth of writing. The Gospel is the
oldest known manuscript in the Old Russian language and
is written in the Cyrillic alphabet which was devised in the
10th century. As an early example of how Russian Cyrillic
became the new means of expression of the Christian
religion, the manuscript is centrally important in the
78 Ostromir Gospel
dynamic evolution of the religion, language and culture
of Russia at that time.
More specifically, it expresses the confidence of Russia
in its new religion and its place in the world. Russian
princes had close connections with the leaders of the
Byzantine Empire and European nations further afield,
and the cultural and artistic traditions of those lands were
influential in Russia. The Gospel is the only book of the
10th and 11th centuries that fuses elements of Byzantine
and Western illumination and decoration. It was also
among the last major works produced within the unified
Christian Church – although the Great Schism between
East and West is officially dated at 1054, before the Gospel
was produced, in practical, day-to-day terms the church
carried on as before. The calendar of saints in the Gospel is
drawn from the unified Christian tradition.
A miniature from the Gospel depicted
on a postage stamp of the former USSR. �