The oldest Russian book. Ostromir Gospel

"Great bThere are benefits from book learning. We gain wisdom and abstinence from bookish words: these are the rivers that water the universe, these are the sources of wisdom; books have innumerable depth..."

The Ostromir Gospel is the oldest dated

monument to Slavic writing and book art

Ancient Rus'

The ancient Romans said that books are like people, have their own destiny. The fate of the oldest Russian dated book, a facsimile edition of which is kept in the collections of our library, is incredibly interesting and mysterious.

Ostromir Gospel of 1056-1057 - a monument of outstanding significance for the history of Slavic linguistics, for the history of paleography, bookmaking, art and culture of mid-Rus' XI century. In addition to all-Russian features, it also reflects linguistic features that over time have become characteristic of the Ukrainian language.

The famous historian of Russian literature P.N. Polevoy, speaking about the significance of the Ostromir Gospel among other ancient monuments, notes: “In this precious manuscript we possess the greatest treasure: both in the sense of antiquity and in the sense of the external beauty of the monument”.

The Ostromir Gospel is a thick, large-format volume written on 294 sheets parchment (called “haratiya” in Rus'). According to the content and structure of the text, the Gospel is brief aprakosom , that is, refers to liturgical books.

On the last page of the book the scribe says his name: "Az Gregory The deacon wrote this Gospel." He began his work on October 21, 1056, and finished on May 12, 1057. The deacon wrote the book by order of a man whose name was “Joseph was baptized, and Ostromir was baptized.” The son of Yaroslav the Wise, Izyaslav, entrusted him with governing the Novgorod land.

Ostromir is a representative of one of the most ancient Russian families. His grandfather Dobrynya (the epic Dobrynya Nikitich) was the uncle of the holy prince Vladimir the Red Sun and actively participated in the baptism of Rus'. After the name of the first owner, the book is called the Ostromir Gospel.

Soon Ostromir, at the head of the Novgorod militia, went on a campaign “to Chud” and was killed. It can be assumed that the creation of Deacon Gregory ended up in the Novgorod St. Sophia Cathedral, built shortly before on the high bank of the Volkhov. The book remained here for several centuries.

Already at the beginning of the XVIII V. There is a mention of it in the inventories of the Resurrection Palace Church of the Moscow Kremlin. It was kept here in a “large chest”. It is difficult to say how the Ostromir Gospel got to Moscow. Perhaps the book, along with other treasures and monuments of ancient Russian culture, was taken from Novgorod by Tsar Ivan the Terrible, who suspected this city of treason and destroyed it in 1570.

This is not the last journey of the manuscript.

In November 1720 Peter I ordered "the book of the Gospel written in parchment that is 560 years old, send it to Pieter-Burch.” With great care, the book was packed and taken on a sleigh under guard to the new capital. Collecting various rarities, Peter I I also wanted to get acquainted with the oldest surviving Russian book.

Soon the king died, and the Ostromir Gospel was lost. Found it 80 years later by Ya.A. Druzhinin - Catherine's personal secretary II.

« Upon inspection carried out by me, stored in the wardrobe of the late Empress Catherine IIdresses, - said Druzhinin, - I found this Gospel last year 1805. It is not recorded anywhere in the inventory or in the parish and therefore it is unknown how long ago it went there and from whom. Probably, it was presented to Her Majesty and given for storage in her rooms, and then put into the wardrobe. The valets and wardrobe assistants left him without respect, and it is forgotten."

This is how the oldest book of Rus' almost disappeared.

In 1806, the Ostromir Gospel was transferred to the Imperial Public Library - now the Russian National Library (St. Petersburg).

In 1843, the text of the Ostromir Gospel was reproduced in printing for the first time. The work in the publication was undertaken by Academician A.F. Vostokov, a great expert in the Old Russian language. Part of the donated funds for the publication of the Gospel was used to create a luxurious binding decorated with precious stones. Because of this salary, the book subsequently almost disappeared.

The text of the first Russian book was not just reprinted, but reproduced using photolithography, preserving many of the features of the original. Such publications are called facsimile.

And the last adventure of the book, which almost became fatal for her. In 1932, the water supply in the Manuscript Department of the Public Library broke down. The master who came to repair it was attracted by the shine of the silver frame of a book lying in one of the display cases. He broke the glass, tore off the frame, and threw the priceless manuscript behind (on) the cabinet. The criminal was caught the same day. And they decided not to bind the Ostromir Gospel anymore. The leaves were sewn into notebooks with surgical silk, each notebook was placed in a paper cover, and the entire block was placed in a heavy polished oak case.

After some time, the book was removed from the safe and every page was photographed. Color photographs were used to prepare a new facsimile edition, which was published in 1988 and was timed to coincide with the 1000th anniversary of the baptism of Rus', and currently plays the role of the main security copy of the priceless monument. One copy of the 5 thousand circulation is stored in the KhNAU library collection, which allows our readers to touch one of the oldest publications.

Besides its incredible value, Ostromir Gospel allows us to learn about the production of handwritten books in Ancient Rus'.

Getting to work, the scribe took a stack of parchment sheets, which were made from the skin (mainly of young calves) and carefully drew them in parallel lines using a blunt awl. Large format manuscripts were written in two columns; This is how the Ostromir Gospel is written. Each column has 18 rows.

The scribe's main tool was a quill pen, which was supposed to be split and sharpened. They did this with a small knife, which since those ancient times has been called pen.

They wrote with ink made from rusty iron, soot, and special ink nuts. The titles were played with red cinnabar (a mixture of gold powder and fish glue).

The Gospel is written in strict and clear handwriting. The vertical strokes of the letters here are strictly perpendicular to the lines of the lines. This type of letter is called bylaws.

Ancient manuscripts were illustrated and carefully decorated. The Ostromir Gospel contains three illustrations depicting the legendary evangelists Mark, Luke and John. There should also be a fourth miniature depicting the Apostle Matthew. Apparently the scribe did not have time to complete it, as he left a blank sheet for it.

Each new section in the ancient Russian book began with a new sheet, in the upper part of which an ornamental, most often rectangular decoration was placed - screensaver . In the Gospel, the headpieces are filled with bright and pure colors - scarlet, blue, green and written in gold. The main motif of the ornamentation is large five-petaled flowers.

The artistic decoration of the manuscript was complemented by large initial letters, which began independent sections of the text. Such an ornament, as in the Ostromir Gospel, is called Old Byzantine. Large flowers enclosed in circles, triangles, and hearts resemble cloisonne enamel, excellent examples of which were left by Byzantine and Old Russian jewelers.

Old Byzantine style XII – XIII centuries was replaced teratological. The word comes from the Greek teratos, which means monster. Its main feature is the figures of people or animals that are included in the fabric, in the composition of the headpiece and initial.

Deacon Gregory wrote the Ostromir Gospel for almost 7 months. He managed to write no more than 3 pages per day. It was hard and exhausting work. The working day lasted in summer from sunrise to sunset, while in winter they also covered the dark half of the day, writing by candlelight or torches. Sometimes the scribe was overcome by drowsiness, and he made mistakes.

Such a high labor intensity in making a book, and the high price that had to be paid for parchment, ink and paints, led to the fact that manuscripts were very expensive.

In 2011, the Ostromir Gospel was included in the UNESCO Memory of the World register, which unites the most valuable and significant monuments of the world cultural heritage of mankind.

Literature

1. Ostromir Gospel. - Fax machine. playback ed. 1056 – 1057 – L.; M.: Aurora, Moscow. Patriarchy, 1988. – 294 l. +Adj. (16 p.).

2. Barenbaum I.E. History of the book: textbook / I.E. Barenbaum. – 2nd ed., revised. – M.: Book, 1984. – P. 15.

3. Gulko L. Holy abetki: up to 950 years of the Ostromir Gospel / L. Gulko // Ukrainian culture. – 2007. – No. 12. – P. 6 – 7.

4. Nemirovsky E. The oldest handwritten monument / E. Nemirovsky // Librarian. – 1983. – No. 11. – P.50 – 52.

5. Nemirovsky E.L. Journey to the origins of Russian printing: a book for students / E.L. Nemirovsky. – M.: Education, 1991. – P. 5 – 18.

6. Ostromir Gospel / A. Lyashenko // Encyclopedic Dictionary / ed.: F. Brockhaus, I. Efron. – St. Petersburg: I.A. Efron, 1897. – T.22 (half volume 43). – P. 365 – 366.

7. Polevoy P.N. History of Russian literature from ancient times to the present day / P.N. Field. – St. Petersburg: A.F. Marx, 1903. – T.1. – pp. 51–52.

8. Ostromir Gospel (1056 – 1057) and the Russian National Library: storage and study of the monument [Electronic resource]. - Access mode: www. nlr/exib/Gospel/ostr/.

On the last page of the Ostromir Gospel it is written (translated into modern Russian): “Glory to Thee, Lord King of Heaven, for deigning me to write this Gospel. I began writing it in the year 1056, and finished it in the year 1057. I wrote it for the servant of God, called Joseph in baptism, and in worldly Ostromir, who was related to Prince Izyaslav. Prince Izyaslav then owned both regions - his father Yaroslav and his brother Vladimir. Prince Izyaslav himself ruled the throne of his father Yaroslav in Kyiv, and he entrusted the throne of his brother to his brother-in-law Ostromir in Novgorod. Grant, God, many years of life to the one who gave the means for this Gospel for the consolation of many Christian souls. Give him, Lord, the blessing of the holy Evangelists John, Matthew, Luke, Mark and the holy forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - to himself and his wife Theophan and their children and their spouses. Live well for many years as you manage what is entrusted to you. Amen.

I, Deacon Gregory, wrote this Gospel. The one who writes better than me, do not condemn me, a sinner. He began writing on the 21st of October, on the feast day of St. Hilarion, and finished on May 12, on the feast day of St. Epiphanes. I ask everyone who will read, do not judge, but correct and read. So the Apostle Paul says: bless, and do not condemn. Amen".

This postscript - the Afterword - is a tribute to a long-standing, even Byzantine tradition: having finished their hard work, book writers thanked God, sometimes praised the person who ordered the book, and always apologized to future readers for mistakes made during correspondence and asked them to correct them. To this, Deacon Gregory added his own indication of the social position of the book’s customer, briefly outlining the internal political situation at the time of its creation.

Information about the origin of the Ostromir Gospel contained in this book itself is confirmed by historical sources. The further fate of the monument has been documented only since the beginning of the 18th century. The Ostromir Gospel is named in the inventory of the property of one of the churches of the Moscow Kremlin, compiled in 1701; the compiler of the inventory apparently understood the significance of this book and noted the date of its creation. An Afterword by Deacon Gregory was added to the copy of the inventory taken in 1720. This year, Emperor Peter I issued a decree that “in all monasteries... and cathedrals, previous grants of letters... and historical handwritten books should be reviewed and rewritten... and those census books should be sent to the Senate.” And in the same year, the Ostromir Gospel was sent from Moscow to the new capital of the Russian Empire - St. Petersburg. Its discovery among the property of Empress Catherine II should not be surprising: the Russian queen showed interest in Russian history. Emperor Alexander I ordered the found Gospel to be transferred to the then Imperial Library - now the State Public Library named after M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin in Leningrad, where it is kept now (GPB, R.p.1.5).

His copyist, the deacon, of course, was well aware of the rules for reading Biblical texts. The luxurious decoration of the Ostromir Gospel and its excellent state of preservation indicate that from the very beginning it was not intended for everyday use. If we keep in mind that this book was created by order of a rich and noble man, co-ruler of the Kiev prince, who, of course, had wide opportunities to choose artists, then the figure of Deacon Gregory becomes even more significant. Apparently, he served either in the princely or in the posadnik church, where holiday services were celebrated with especially solemnity. Perhaps he noted his outstanding position among the “court” clergy, despite his low clergy (a deacon is one of the lowest levels of the Orthodox church hierarchy), by writing his name in the largest lowercase letters in the Afterword.

Analyzing the artistic design of the Ostromir Gospel, one cannot forget for a moment about the functional purpose of this book - its “sound” during the solemn reading “for all to hear.” From the very beginning of its existence, the Russian book should be considered as a synthesis of verbal and visual art. This, as already mentioned, was emphasized in the production of a “sounding” book - a singing book or intended for loud reading. Moreover, as the Soviet art critic O.I. Podobedova claims, “the arrangement of identification marks for the reader brought to life, first of all, the ornamental decoration of the book.”

All the elements of artistic design of the ancient handwritten book are present in the Ostromir Gospel, even in expanded form, and this reinforces the belief that the earliest surviving dated Russian book is not the first book of Ancient Rus', it is the result and evidence of the rapid development of the art of the book.

The first page of the text of the Ostromir Gospel is crowned with a large headband-frame, filled, just like the miniatures, with colorful Byzantine-style ornaments. The title of the first reading is inscribed in it in gold: “The Gospel of John, chapter 1.” The text itself begins with a large, colorful gold capital letter - the initial N (modern I), with which the text of the Gospel reading on the first day of Easter began: (In the beginning was the word).

The first headpiece of the Ostromir Gospel, made, like all the other details of his artistic design, with very dense, “heavy” paints, which have such relief that they seem superimposed, shines through the parchment. Therefore, the text on the back of the sheet is written below its top edge, at the distance that this headband occupies. The continuation of the text here by one of the readers was later painted with thick black paint - very carefully, covering all the details of the letters. (Similar things can be seen in the future.) At the same time, the ecphonetic signs were also renewed with bright red cinnabar, but over some of them the lines - “coverings” - remained unmade. This reflected the evolution of ekphonetic signs: by the time this text was written, some of them had undergone changes in their outline and meaning.

The first reading of the Ostromir Gospel ends in the second column of sheet 3, which is marked by special signs behind its last word. After this, in gold, like all the headings of the readings in the future, the instructions for the second reading are written: the day on which it is read is “On Monday of the holy (i.e. Easter - N.R.) week of the holy apostles”, “voice” - one of the eight canonical melodies of the Orthodox Church, on which on a given day one is supposed to sing “Hallelujah” (praise to the Lord) before the start of the Gospel reading, and which verse from the Psalter is supposed to be recited at the same time. The title ends with an indication of the source of the next reading - “John, chapter 8.”

The subsequent headings of the readings of the first part of the Ostromir Gospel were compiled according to this plan. The composition of the titles of the first part varies only slightly (some of them are not indicated, for example, “Hallelujah”). But the painting of the artistic design element of the Ostromir Gospel that follows the title - his wonderful initials - is characterized by truly amazing variation.

The first art critic to study this book, V.V. Stasov, noted, as has already been said, that they contained features not known in Byzantine books of previous centuries. V. N. Lazarev also writes about the “unusuality” of the initials of the oldest Russian book for Byzantine books, about the “realistic” interpretation of their anthropomorphic and zoomorphic elements. A. N. Svirin notes the similarity of the manner of execution of the initials of the Ostromir Gospel with the techniques of monumental, fresco, painting, as well as the presence of oriental elements.

The variety of techniques for constructing and ornamenting the initials of the Ostromir Gospel, paradoxical as it may seem, can be explained by the uniformity of the initials themselves. The vast majority of Gospel readings begin with the words: either (At that time) or (The Lord said).

These identical beginnings are followed by a new text of different content, emotional sound and manner of presentation. And all these shades had to be conveyed by the reader-performer. Deacon Gregory considered it necessary to note the diversity of content and manner of presentation of the Gospel readings, first of all, by the variation of their initial letters, which amazes everyone who turns to this book. It contains 135 capital initials B and 88 - P as the initial letters of the readings, and the pattern is not repeated in any of them! In addition, the initials N (modern I) appear four times, P three times, one each B, S, K and some others.

If we assume that several artists worked on the initials of the Ostromir Gospel, and this is quite likely, then it seems that on these sheets they seem to compete with each other in ingenuity. And the one who loved to draw faces, after his colleagues depicted such diverse animals, seemed to have decided to also draw something unusual for himself. So, on sheet 27 a beautiful, most likely female, face appears, drawn, like the heads of animals, in profile. Four sheets later, also at the top of the initial R, the same profile is drawn, but here an ornamental pattern is painted on the chin with white on a blue background, and the result is the head of an old man (fol. 32 vol.).

On the reverse of folio 56 ends the first cycle of readings from the Ostromir Gospel - from Easter to Trinity, consisting almost entirely of fragments of the Gospel of John. The next cycle begins with readings from Matthew, and a blank sheet of paper is left in front of it, probably to depict the Evangelist. Why the miniature was left unpainted is unknown; This is one of the mysteries that has not yet been solved.

Particularly noteworthy is the initial B on the reverse of sheet 66: its lower part is formed by a green and red figure of a half-beast, half-bird. According to the definition of A. N. Svirin, this is the ancient Iranian deity Senmurv-paskuj, whose images are known from objects of applied art and fabrics from the era of the Persian Sassanid dynasty (III-VII centuries). It is noted that similar figures are also known from monuments of Russian architecture - in decorative reliefs of cathedrals of Vladimir-Suzdal Rus' - and an assumption is made that Senmurv corresponds to the ancient Slavic deity Simarglu, mentioned in Russian chronicles (71, p. 56). If this is so, then is it not possible to assume in some of the other zoomorphic initials of the Ostromir Gospel a reflection of the images of ancient Russian pagan deities, which we see, for example, in the teratological ornament of Russian books of the 14th-15th centuries? And perhaps the initials of the oldest Russian book reflect that dual faith - a mixture of paganism and Christianity, which is currently attracting the close attention of scientists? In the ornamentation of a book created in the first century of Christianity in Rus', the influence of this dual faith should manifest itself more strongly than in the decoration of books of subsequent centuries.

With all the variety of graphics and colors of the initials of the Ostromir Gospel, the unity of the art school is felt in them, which cannot be said about the miniatures of this book. Two of them, sewn in, were most likely ordered “outside,” and the artists clearly did not work together with the scribe and the “golden writer.” As for the painting of the initials, the latter fit exactly into the text, and it is impossible even to assume that they were made later than the time of writing the text of the Ostromir Gospel. It seems that the ornamenters, as well as the “golden writer,” sat next to the bookwriter, who, having finished writing the next reading, gave up his place first to the “golden writer” and then to the ornamentators. However, one more assumption seems possible: could the scribe himself, if not paint, then at least “mark”, that is, designate, the contours of the initials. N. M. Kariysky, who identified the scribe of the first twenty-four pages of the Ostromir Gospel with the “golden writer,” admits the possibility of his participation in the ornamentation of the initials.

The study of the Ostromir Gospel is carried out today in several directions. This is, first of all, a continuation of its traditional study as a monument of the ancient Slavic language. The art historical research of the Ostromir Gospel, begun by V.V. Stasov, requires continuation. Particular attention should be paid to this book as a monument to both verbal and musical art. And of course, clarifying the place of the Ostromir Gospel in the history of Russian books requires further bibliological study.

What a study of the fate of Deacon Gregory’s Afterword alone can provide for the history of Russian books can be seen from the following. As already mentioned at the beginning of this article, the tradition of afterwords by book writers dates back to the Byzantine book. The oldest such surviving Russian postscript was made 10 years before the Ostromir Gospel. Deacon Gregory introduced a new element into this tradition, a historical one, which was developed in the further history of the Russian book. Russian book writers of subsequent centuries often added notes to the books they produced. At the same time, many of them, like Gregory, did not limit themselves to traditional and obligatory elements, but in their notes also noted the events that worried them, sometimes citing literary monuments, and not only the books of Holy Scripture. It is enough to give just one example - the famous postscript to the Apostle of 1307, in which an unknown scribe, noting the evil that princely civil strife brought to the people, quotes a wonderful monument of Russian literature of the late 12th century, “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” A quotation from another masterpiece, “Tales of Law and Grace” (11th century), is given in the so-called Gospel List of 1339, written by order of the “gatherer of the Russian land” after long princely feuds and foreign yoke - the Moscow prince Ivan Kalita. Thus, researchers have at their disposal documentary evidence of the establishment of the tradition of the Afterword of the Ostromir Gospel on Moscow soil. Therefore, it is no coincidence that the famous Afterword to the first Russian printed book - the Apostle of 1564, published by Ivan Fedorov - so clearly echoes a similar part of the oldest Russian dated handwritten book.

Finally, when studying the Ostromir Gospel, it is worth paying attention to what directly and directly relates in it to Deacon Gregory himself. This man, undoubtedly, was not only the main executor of Ostromir’s order: he devoted himself wholeheartedly to the creation of this book and managed to select and unite like-minded masters around him in order to jointly create a true masterpiece - an outstanding monument of ancient Slavic writing and the art of books of Ancient Rus'.

(Rozov N.N. Ostromirovo Gospel Aprakos 1056-1057 - the oldest monument of Slavic writing and book art of Ancient Rus' // Ostromirovo Gospel 1056 - 1057. L.; M., 1988.)

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History of creation

Written by Deacon Gregory in 1056-1057. for the Novgorod mayor Ostromir, who in the inscription of the book is called a “close” (relative) of Prince Izyaslav Yaroslavich (according to the hypothesis of AndrzejPoppe, Ostromir’s wife Feofan mentioned in the inscription could be the daughter of Vladimir Svyatoslavich and Anna of Byzantium). The manuscript is especially interesting because at the end the copyist spoke in detail about the circumstances of its production and the time of work: Thus, the “Ostromir Gospel” is the oldest precisely dated volumetric handwritten monument created in Rus'. In addition to all-Russian features, it also reflects linguistic features that over time have become characteristic of the Ukrainian language. According to the latest research, the codicological characteristics, artistic design techniques, statutory and calendar features of the Ostromir Gospel fully correspond to the time of creation of the codex, indicated by Deacon Gregory.

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Working with the catalog

In 1720, by order of Peter I, the gospel was sent, along with other old books, to St. Petersburg. After the death of Catherine II, the manuscript was found in her chambers by Ya. A. Druzhinin, who served under the Empress, who in 1806 presented it as a gift to Alexander I. The Emperor ordered the book to be transferred for storage to the Imperial Public Library (now the Russian National Library, St. Petersburg) , where it is kept to this day. Currently, the Ostromir Gospel is in the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg. Like other manuscripts in this book depository, this ancient Russian book has its own library code: GPB, F.p. 1.5.

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First page of the Ostromir Gospel

The first page of the Ostromir Gospel is blank, without text or any decorations; there is only a mark on it in later cursive writing: “Gospel of Sophia aprakos.” The first page of ancient handwritten books, which was in direct contact with the top board of the binding, always wooden, rubbed against it, which would inevitably lead to erasing the colors of the text or ornament. Therefore, the first page of parchment books was always left blank, and sometimes glued to the top board of the binding. In later bindings of such books, paper, so-called protective sheets, were sewn at the beginning and end of the block; in this case, the first sheet was separated from the binding board. Traces of gluing the first sheet to the binding board remained in the Ostromir Gospel. Judging by the above-mentioned mark on the first page, dating no earlier than the 16th century, which, naturally, could only appear after the first sheet was peeled off from the cover of the binding, the book lost its ancient binding at least four centuries ago. The first page of the text of the Ostromir Gospel is crowned with a large headband-frame, filled, just like the miniatures, with colorful Byzantine-style ornaments. The title of the first reading is inscribed in it in gold: “The Gospel of John, chapter 1.” The text itself begins with a large, colorful gold capital letter - the initial N (modern I), with which the text of the Gospel reading on the first day of Easter began: (In the beginning was the word).

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Description of the document's appearance

The manuscript consists of 294 sheets of good quality parchment. There are several sheets with sewn up cuts and holes (in places where gadflies have bitten) that were there before the text was written. The main text of the Ostromir Gospel is written in one style and one handwriting, that is, the handwriting of the scribe-calligrapher Deacon Gregory. It was he who chose high-grade, white and thin parchment for the book, it was he who determined the proportions of the margins and text, the size and design of the letters of the then only letter of the charter. But the first 23 pages are written in a completely different style. There is no clear explanation for this yet. It is the first pages that are more characteristic of Russian colloquial speech than the entire book, which is more consistent within the framework of the Church Slavonic language. But it is interesting because it is the first East Slavic manuscript, that is, the influence of the Russian spoken language on Church Slavonic is clearly visible in it. The manuscript was written in ustav - a style that goes back to the Byzantine unical letter. It is characterized by special clarity and rigor of the characters. This type of writing requires high scribe skill and considerable time, since each element of the letter is written in separate movements with the pen being lifted from the parchment. Written in Cyrillic. The Gospel is written in the charter on glassine in ink and gold. The text uses cinnabar. Title page – The book is “wrapped in red velvet, with silver clasps and clasps.” The dimensions of the sheets are “length 8 vershoks, width slightly less than 7 vershoks” => 20x24 cm. Number of sheets – 294. The book was bound in a cover with precious stones, but the cover was lost (torn out) in 1932. They did not re-weave the gospel.

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Composition of the document

The book is not presented in abbreviation; no empty spaces were found in the book. The main text of the Ostromir Gospel is written in one style and one handwriting, that is, the handwriting of the scribe-calligrapher Deacon Gregory. But the first 23 pages are written in a completely different style. There is no clear explanation for this yet. It is the first pages that are more characteristic of Russian colloquial speech than the entire book, which is more consistent within the framework of the Church Slavonic language. The book is equipped with three large miniatures depicting the evangelists John, Luke and Mark. It is believed that these miniatures were painted by a Greek artist, since they were made using the inlaid enamel technique, which was then used exclusively in Byzantium. The general design of the Ostromir Gospel, with its two-column text, titles in gold, spacious margins and numerous patterns, generally follows the Byzantine tradition. The ruling lines are not visible. But it is obvious that they wrote above the line. There are no notes in the margins. The manuscript is written in 2 columns of 18 lines.

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Miniatures in the World Gospel

Evangelist Mark Evangelist Matthew and John Chrysostom Evangelist Luke

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ornament

The main motif of the ornaments is “petal”; sections of stems and flower petals, combined in various combinations, are also traditional for Byzantium. But in the book’s initials and ornaments motifs appear that are completely alien to Byzantine art.

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Large masks, or “masks,” are inscribed in the composition of many capital letters. All of them are very large letters in relation to their size, round, full-bodied, ruddy, rather female. The masks have a sharply defined character and sharpness of views, and the depiction of such masks is completely unusual for Byzantine and Greek manuscripts. Such large and carefully executed masks are not found in Latin illuminated manuscripts. Animal motifs in ornaments look more familiar - monsters, or rather their heads, similar to dogs, crocodiles, or fictional creatures. Such monsters, alarming and dangerous, are completely alien to the Byzantine tradition; they were carefully avoided.

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Presentation style

The manuscript is written in large formal handwriting. The Ostromir Gospel belongs to the aprakos gospels, where the texts are arranged according to weekly and daily readings, starting with Easter, in accordance with the order of church services. The aprakos type of Holy Scripture was characteristic of the book-linguistic environment of Byzantium, from where it was borrowed by Old Russian scribes. The Ostromir Gospel was written less than 70 years after the adoption of Christianity and the appearance of Slavic writing in Rus'. The perfection of the artistic design of the manuscript indicates that ornamental and applied art were very well developed in the pagan era, and represented a distinctive Slavic style that had much more in common with Western Europe than with Byzantium.

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The Ostromir Gospel is a manuscript from the mid-11th century, a monument of the Old Church Slavonic language. For a long time, before the discovery of the Novgorod Codex in 2000, it was considered the oldest book created in Rus'.

The Ostromir Gospel was the altar Gospel of the Novgorod St. Sophia Cathedral; it was solemnly carried out during processions, raised and shown to the people at certain moments of the liturgy. According to some sources, the Ostromir Gospel was ordered as a copy of the altar Gospel of the Kyiv Sophia. It is decorated with floral patterns in the headpieces characteristic of Byzantine manuscripts, large initials with very rare motifs for Byzantine manuscripts, as well as three portraits of the evangelists - John (ill. 58), Luke (ill. 59) and Mark. For some reason, the image of Matthew was not completed, and the sheet intended for it remained empty.

The manuscript is written in large formal handwriting in two columns of 18 lines on an area of about 20x24 cm. The book consists of 294 sheets of parchment.

The book was bound in a binding with precious stones, but the binding was lost (torn out) in 1932. They did not re-weave the gospel.

Information about the book's origin is contained in the traditional entry on the last page. The author of the Ostromir Gospel, Deacon Gregory, began writing it in the fall of 1056, and finished it in May 1057. Gregory reported in his afterword the name of the customer of the manuscript.

The customer was the Novgorod mayor Ostromir, who was a close associate of the Kyiv prince Izyaslav, the son of Yaroslav the Wise. But even if the customer remained unknown, it is clear that a book of such volume and quality could only have been ordered to the scribe by a very wealthy person.

The Ostromir Gospel belongs to the aprakos gospels, where the texts are arranged according to weekly and daily readings, starting with Easter, in accordance with the order of church services. The aprakos type of Holy Scripture was characteristic of the book-linguistic environment of Byzantium, from where it was borrowed by Old Russian scribes.

Actually, the Byzantine influence is visible in everything: the general appearance of the sheets of the Ostromir Gospel, with two-column text, spacious margins framing it and numerous patterns, has a generally Byzantine character, typical of Greek manuscripts of the 11th century.

Images of the evangelists John, Luke and Mark are a widespread Byzantine tradition, as is the technique of making miniatures - inlaid enamel, which was used at that time only in Byzantium.

The style of miniatures depicting the evangelists in the Ostromir Gospel is textbook Byzantine, not one iota different from the canon. There is a version that a Greek artist worked on the miniatures.

In manuscripts throughout the Christian Middle Ages, including Byzantine and Russian, the moment of divine grace descending from heaven, which inspired the compiler of the text, was often depicted. Miniatures became especially famous in this regard in Western European manuscripts of the Carolingian circle, 8th-9th centuries, where fantastic creatures - personifications of evangelists unfold texts brought from heaven over the sitting authors.

The compositions in the Ostromir Gospel, with their assertiveness and clarity of depiction of Divine inspiration, are reminiscent of Carolingian miniatures, although they do not copy them in detail. Perhaps such an iconographic version once existed in Byzantine art, but it came to us only in the form of a Slavic echo in the Ostromir Gospel. Animal symbols (the eagle in John, the calf in Luke, the lion in Mark) hold scrolls with texts, lowering them from heaven, and the evangelists, reverently raising their hands to them, strive to accept the precious gift. The squat proportions of the figures, enlarged hands, the expression of boundless devotion on the faces, the feeling of great significance of the event - all this makes the miniatures of the Ostromir Gospel similar to the monumental paintings of Sophia of Kiev, and most of all - with the figures of the apostles from the mosaic “Eucharist” in the apse. This roll call of images is explained not only by the stylistic homogeneity of the monuments, but also by the roll call of situations: both here and there the apostles and evangelists become familiar with divine truth and receive grace.

Evangelist Luke. Miniature of the Ostromir Gospel. 1056-1057.

For the newly baptized Slavic environment, it was very important not only to clearly depict the event, but also to explain it. That is why on one of the miniatures - with Luke - right in the background it is inscribed in large letters: “In this way the Holy Spirit appeared to Luke as a calf.”

Evangelist John with Prokhor. Miniature of the Ostromir Gospel. 1056-1057.

The miniatures were created by two artists. The first of them, who wrote the composition with John the Theologian, worked in the “grand style”; he could well paint icons and participate in the painting of the temples of Yaroslav the Wise. His figures are monumental; they, if not statuary, then occupy a certain place in space. The draperies of the clothes are tangible and embossed, and the only well-preserved face - that of young Prokhor - is round, ruddy and big-eyed. It resembles the faces from the Sofia frescoes.

The other two miniatures are executed in an inimitable style, one of a kind. The master of these miniatures imitated cloisonné enamel: its thin golden contours, flat silhouette images, smooth areas of saturated colors, intense pink carnation and bright inlaid eyes with black pupils on white enamel. From the 11th century Neither in Byzantium, nor even in Rus' have such large enamel plates and such monumental, majestic images been preserved. The second master of miniatures, the Ostromir Gospel, was a virtuoso who created a unique paraphrase of works of “small forms” in painting.

Headpieces at the beginning of the text and individual chapters are traditional for manuscripts of that time; this is how books were written both in Byzantium and in the scriptoriums of Western Europe. However, the decorative elements are large in size, much larger than is usually the case in Byzantine manuscripts.

Large masks, or “masks,” are inscribed in the composition of many capital letters. All of them are very large letters in relation to their size, round, full-bodied, ruddy, rather female.

The masks have a sharply defined character and sharpness of views, and the depiction of such masks is completely unusual for Byzantine and Greek manuscripts.

Such large and carefully executed masks are not found in Latin illuminated manuscripts.

Animal motifs in ornaments look more familiar - monsters, or rather their heads, similar to dogs, crocodiles, or fictional creatures. Such monsters, alarming and dangerous, are completely alien to the Byzantine tradition; they were carefully avoided.

But Latin manuscripts are “teeming” with monsters; such images are common in European art. The similarity of these motifs, as well as the Slavic “wickerwork” with Celtic ornaments, is striking.

It’s hard to say where there is such a coincidence of applied art motifs among people living in different parts of Europe. We can say for sure that such elements are alien to Byzantine decor, and their combination in one book is extremely unusual.

The Ostromir Gospel was written less than 70 years after the adoption of Christianity and the appearance of Slavic writing in Rus'. The perfection of the artistic design of the manuscript indicates that ornamental and applied art were very well developed in the pagan era, and represented a distinctive Slavic style that had much more in common with Western Europe than with Byzantium.

But not a single motive depicted in miniatures Ostromir's Gospel, is not a product of Russian soil; all of them, or almost all, find an analogy in the art of Byzantium. However, the miniatures of the Novgorod manuscript differ from contemporary Byzantine works not only by the choice of a rare iconographic variant, lush ornamental frames, especially in the composition with John, the relaxed design of a lion, as if walking over this miniature, not only by the unique experience of imitation of cloisonne enamel, but also by a special combination of monumental seriousness with simple-minded spontaneity, which was influenced by the local, Russian cultural environment, which absorbed the norms of Christian art and responded to them in its own way.

This is the first handwritten book of our state that has come down to us. The monument received its name after the Novgorod mayor Ostromir, a distant relative of Prince Izyaslav, who was the son of the Kyiv prince Yaroslav. Ostromir was the highest official of Novgorod. He was subsequently baptized and received the Christian name Joseph.

The author of the Ostromir Gospel, Deacon Gregory, began writing it in the fall of 1056, and finished it in May 1057. Gregory reported in his afterword the name of the customer of the manuscript. But even at the first glance at the manuscript, it becomes clear that it could only have been ordered from the scribe by a very wealthy person. This is a “festive”, rich book created for the close prince of Kyiv.

The main text of the Ostromir Gospel is written in one style and one handwriting, that is, the handwriting of the scribe-calligrapher Deacon Gregory. It was he who chose high-grade, white and thin parchment for the book, it was he who determined the proportions of the margins and text, the size and design of the letters of the only letter at that time - the charter. But the first 23 pages are written in a completely different style. There is no clear explanation for this yet. It is the first pages that are more characteristic of Russian colloquial speech than the entire book, which is more consistent within the framework of the Church Slavonic language. But it is interesting because it is the first East Slavic manuscript, that is, the influence of the Russian spoken language on Church Slavonic is clearly visible in it.

The design of the book amazes with its beauty, bright colors, and amazing ornaments. The festivity of the book is emphasized by the variety of painted initials of the same letters. For example, the initial letter “B” is repeated 135 times, but each of them is different from the others! In addition, the book is equipped with three large miniatures depicting the evangelists John, Luke and Mark. It is believed that these miniatures were painted by a Greek artist, since they were made using the inlaid enamel technique, which was then used exclusively in Byzantium.

The history of the book is no less interesting than the book itself. Scientists consider Ostromir to be the son of mayor Konstantin, and he was the son of Dobrynya (that same epic Dobrynya Nikitich!). It is not surprising that Ostromir led the Novgorod militia, which went “to Chud,” where the leader was destined to fall in battle for his homeland.

It is assumed that the “Ostromir Gospel” was kept in the St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod for several centuries. And only at the beginning of the 18th century a mention of it appeared in the inventory of the Resurrection Palace Church of the Moscow Kremlin. In 1720, Peter I ordered it to be delivered to the capital. After the death of Peter, the book was lost, but, fortunately, did not disappear without a trace. It was found by Catherine II's personal secretary in her personal belongings, which he was sorting out after the death of the Empress. Alexander I ordered it to be kept in the Imperial Public Library. The first news about the “Ostromir Gospel” in print appeared in the magazine “Lyceum” for 1806. Currently, the book is stored in the Russian National Library named after M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin in St. Petersburg.