20 August 2010, 13:51 | Church-state relations |  | 1 |   | Code for Blog |  | 

The Ukrainian government ordered a special celebration of 450th anniversary of the famous issue of Gospels in old Ukrainian language - the Peresopnytsia Gospels.

The Peresopnytsya Gospels are the most well-known translations of canonical texts into the Old Ukrainian language. Luxuriously decorated under the influence of the Italian Renaissance, the work also shows characteristic Ukrainian decorations, and a high artistic level in the miniatures of the Ukrainian icon-painting school connected with Byzantine and Eastern Slavonic traditions.

Four Ukrainian presidents took the oath of office on the Gospels: Leonid Kravchuk in 1991, Leonid Kuchma in 1994, Viktor Yushchenko in 2005, and Viktor Yanukovych in 2010.

The Peresopnytsya Gospels were commissioned by Princess Nastacia Yuriyivna Zheslavska-Holshanska (Zaslavska-Olshanska) of Volyn, and her daughter and her son-in-law (Yevdokiya and Ivan Fedorovych Czartoryski.

After its completion the book was kept in the Peresopnytsya Monastery. On April 17, 1701, it was presented to Pereyaslav Cathedral by Ivan Mazepa the Hetman of Ukraine. From 1799 it was kept in the Pereyaslav Seminary. Later on it was held in the Poltava Seminary, Poltava Museum of History and Regional Studies, Kyiv Pechersk Lavra preserve. On December 24, 1948, this treasure of Ukrainian culture was placed at the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine.