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The restored Mariinsky Gospel, which is considered one of the oldest copies of the Slavic scripture, has been transferred to the Russian State Library (RSL). The restoration of the book monument dated 10-11 centuries lasted about two years, it was carried out by leading experts of the RSL, RIA Novosti reports.
As the special representative of the President of the Russian Federation for international cultural cooperation Mikhail Shvydkoi noted, this ancient monument of literature unites European peoples, it is priceless and unique. The relic is very important for Russian culture, Orthodoxy, and for European thought.
The Mariinsky Gospel is one of the 11 oldest monuments in Glagolitic that have survived to our time. It was discovered in the 19th century by the scientist and collector of antiquities Viktor Grigorovich in the Russian skete of the Assumption of the Most Holy Theotokos on Mount Athos. After the collector died, his collection of books, including the Gospel, entered the Rumyantsev Museum (RSL).
Scientists believe that the book contains the oldest Slavic translation of the Gospel with some changes. Researchers believe that the book was written in the Serbian version of the Old Church Slavonic language. There are suggestions that the text was composed by a Serb, Bulgarian, Macedonian or Croat. The Gospel contains some losses, two opening sheets are in the Austrian National Library.
The RSL stressed the significance of the event and indicated that the book would be available to researchers and readers.
Russkiy Mir
