Facsimile edition of Reims Gospel presented in Kyiv

On October 21, a facsimile edition of the Reims Gospel, the oldest manuscript book from the library of Yaroslav the Wise, was presented in Kyiv. This is reported by UKRINFORM.

“Today, I hold the Reims Gospel in my hands for the first time. One of my dreams in life came true — it is the return to Ukraine of the oldest manuscript associated directly with Kyiv, with St. Sophia Cathedral, with the names of prominent historical figures. The Reims Gospel is the oldest handwritten book from the library of Yaroslav the Wise, which is connected with the history of our state,” said the Director-General of the National Reserve “St Sophia of Kyiv” Nelia Kukovalska.

She recalled that, unfortunately, the original of the Gospel is not owned by us, but is stored near Paris, in the city of Reims, in the Carnegie Municipal Library. And also noted that together with the Director of LLC Publishing House Horobets, Hanna Horobets they had an idea to make the project the national publication at the expense of the donors. And it was possible to realize, part of the funds received from the Ukrainian Сultural Fund.

"We wanted to make a full facsimile copy, having both Cyrillic and Latin text, as the original looks in the library. We spent a year and a half to get an agreement. The agreement was signed at a serious level. We were given permission to release thousands of copies, but not for commercial distribution, but for donation to libraries, distribution in Ukraine," said the head of the St Sophia of Kyiv Reserve.

Kukovalska also clarified that the publication is a two-volume. Apart from the facsimile, it is a volume of scientific research.

"There are a lot of rumors about the origin of the Reims Gospel, so we set out to once again check the history of this book. This was done by a team of scientists led by Vyacheslav Kornienko, who is the Doctor of Historical Science, Deputy General Director of “St Sofia of Kyiv”. And here the whole history of the Reims Gospel is written in a new way so that no one has any doubts about its origin and its history. And the probable concept is that the Reims Gospel comes from the scriptorium of St. Sophia Cathedral,” said Kukovalska.

Doctor of Philology, Professor of Zhytomyr University Viktor Moisiyenko noted that familiarity with the original allowed to come to the conclusion: “This is a Russian record, written in Kyiv and rewritten by a Kyivite.”

“I think that from now on the Reims Gospel will deepen the anthologies, the history of the Ukrainian language, the history of the Ukrainian literary language and half of the XI century. And, accordingly, students-philologists, historians can refer to this monument,” the scientist emphasized.

According to Hanna Horobets, Director of LLC “Publishing House Horobets”, where the book was published, they just have released the handwritten facsimile “Vienna Octoich”, the original of which is stored in the Vienna national library. The other day the publication was presented in Vienna. She also noted that both publications have done for six months, and even launched a website “Ukrainian manuscript book”.

As noted, today 300 copies of the Reims Gospel have been published, which will be donated to libraries, patrons and 4 copies – to the Reims library. The fundraising will be conducted to release the remaining 700 copies.

Kukovalska also said that the big presentation of this edition will be held on October 22 in St. Sophia Cathedral. On October 25, a series of presentations will begin in France, in particular at the Embassy of Ukraine in France, in Reims, and the largest in Senlis where Anna Yaroslavna lived. Then there will be presentations in Ukraine, in particular in Ostrog, Lviv, Zhytomyr, Nizhyn, Glukhiv.

Both facsimile editions of manuscript books the Reims Gospel, a record of the XI century, known in Ukraine as the Bible of Anna Yaroslavna, and the Vienna Octoich, XII century, were published by the Publishing House Horobets. Until now, only a facsimile edition of the Cyrillic part of the Reims Gospel has been released in Ukraine.