Ancient Muravitsky Gospel from Rivne region found in Moscow

As reported by "Rivne Vechirne", it was written on Facebook by Mykola Bendyuk, artist-restorer of the State historical and cultural reserve of the city of Ostroh, art critic.

“This is for the first time that I am exhibiting both photos and information about the Muravitsky Gospel, which was written for the Church of the Assumption of the HolyTheotokos in the castle of Muravytsia, whose settlement is now located in the vicinity of Mlyniv. Panteleimon Shostakov bought it for this church in 1624, probably at the same time, the printed engravings of the Evangelists in Lviv were pasted into the book. The church and castle then belonged to Vladyslav Dorogostaisky.

It is written on expensive paper of European origin. The book has many color head ornaments and miniatures.

Bohdan Khmelnytsky's Cossacks burned the castle and church in the 50s of the 17th century, and since then nothing is known about the location of the Muravitsky Gospel.

This year we celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Nobel Gospel, which also comes from Rivne region, it was reissued in a small edition and the efforts of Vasyl Yanitsky,” wrote Mykola Bendyuk.

According to him, the sacred books from Rivne region - the Peresopnytsia Gospel and the Ostrog Bible - were reprinted even earlier. Last year, he published a photo of the Dermanske Gospel, whereabouts of which are unknown to date. There is only a photo from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. And here is another find, which, as the art critic notes, in the future, it is necessary to scan it and issue a reprint.

It was easier with the Nobel Gospel since it is located in Lithuania, which is friendly to us. Still, with Moscow, according to Mykola Bendyuk, it will be much more challenging to do this.

"But the very fact that the Shrine was found and the information about it at least got back to Ukraine is already an event," the art critic wrote and thanked the patriot of Mlyniv, Yevhen Zablotsky for the information about the Muravitsky Gospel.

As regards the Muravitsky Gospel, as noted by the head of the Department of Old Printed Books in the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine Natalia Bondar, such handwritten Gospels with inserted engravings were created in Lviv or somewhere nearby in the first decades of the 17th century, up to a dozen of them are reported.