Peressopnytsia Gospels
The Evangeliar of Peressopnyzja ( Ukrainian Пересопницьке євангеліє Peresopnyc'ke jevanhelije ) is an illuminated manuscript that one of the first Ruthenian translations of the Gospels text contains. The Gospels became more widely known because it is the book on which the Ukrainian presidents have sworn their oath of office since Ukraine gained independence in 1991 . This testifies to the importance of handwriting for Ukrainian culture.
The Peressopnytsja Gospel Book was written on parchment from 1556 to 1561 in the Peressopnyzja Monastery in Volhynia and is a translation of the Gospel text from Church Slavonic into the literary language of the Ukrainians and Belarusians of the time, Ruthenian .
The language of handwriting is particularly interesting. It represents a mixture of archaic and innovative elements: While the spelling of the manuscript is strongly influenced by the Second South Slavic influence and is sometimes very archaic (for example, the spelling of the Old Slavic syllabic liquids with softened vowels, i.e. оутв рь жено instead of the genuine East Slavic утв ер жено ) and reminiscent of the traditional Church Slavonic literature of this area, there are clearly modern features in the area of other language levels such as morphology , syntax and, above all, lexicons , which testify to a strong influence of the Ukrainian dialects. In particular, the glosses that explain difficult passages in the text show a large number of vernacular elements; This gives the Gospel of Peressopnytsja a unique position for the study of Ruthenian, the first literary language in the area of the Slavia Orthodoxa , which was able to emancipate itself from Church Slavonic.
Today the manuscript is in the manuscript department of the National Library of Ukraine in Kiev . Facsimiles was published by ADEF in Kiev in 2008 and 2011.
