The Lutsk Gospel, 14th century

The Lutsk Gospel of 14th century is one of the oldest liturgical books of Ukraine, which has been preserved up to the present. The manuscript belongs to the masterpieces of the Galician-Volynian Book-writing School. It shows clearly the graphic and linguistic features of this school. The marginalia (notes in the margins of the book) as well as the linguistic and paleographic features indicate that the place where the book was written was the Spaskiy Krasnoselskiy Monastery, near Lutsk.

At one time exploring the history of the non-existent Orthodox Krasnoselskiy Monastery, the Rector of the Holy Parasceve Temple of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Ratniv village of Lutsk district Archimandrite Onufriy (Kuts), became interested in the fate of the holy thing\holy manuscript. It turned out that the book is stored in the Russian State Library (Moscow). In February 2010, the Lordship Nifont, Metropolitan of Lutsk and Volyn UOC, Anna Gorobets, the Director of the Publishing House “Gorobets” and the Director General of the Library Olexander Visliy agreed on reproducing the Lutsk Gospel as a facsimile edition.

Compared to the original, the format of the 2011 edition of the facsimile type was reduced by 5 percent due to the technical impossibility of reproducing page edges, some tears, holes and crumpled pages. Pages were shown in their original form, color and without retouching. The stamping on the rim is restored according to the remains. The publication is planned in two parts: the first one is the facsimile edition with the description of the book in addition, the second - the research. Nowadays, many Slavists, linguists, fine art experts, and other researchers will be able to carry out scientific work on the Lutsk Gospel using a facsimile edition.

By the grace of God, the Lutsk Gospel has been preserved with the help of many generations. And now, after almost seven centuries of oblivion, the book has got a new life. We believe that it will become one of the first holy things of family libraries and will serve the spiritual and cultural revival of our people.

Year of publication: 2011
Format: 235 x 280 mm
526 pages + app 12
Paper: Munken Lynx 115 g / m2 from Arctic Paper Munkedals AB (Sweden)
Hard cover: 3 mm Dutch cardboard, Italian leatherette, two types of stamping: blind and matte foil.
Weight: 2570 g

Team

The idea of the project belongs to Archimandrite Onufriy (Kuts), Rector of the Holy Parasceve Temple in Ratniv village, Luck district, Volyn region.
Pre-press works of Gorobets Publishers LLC, the Director Anna Gorobets
Original layout by Volodimir Gurovich
Artist Volodimir Kleymenov
Scientific adviser Olena Galchenko

Addition: text preparation – Archimandrite Onufriy (Kuts), Archdeacon Zosimus (Gorod), L. Priymachuk
Editors Emiliya Kuts, Anatoly Lyaskovsky, Olga Kleymenova
Translation into Russian and English by Anatoly Lyaskovsky
Printing House “Master Print” the Director Kostyantin Kozhem’yaka
Bookbinding processes of OJSC «Biblos», Director General Jaroslav Svistun
Scanning of the original Russian State Library (Moscow), Director General O. Visliy.
Technological support of VitalIy Matyunin

In preparation of the publication, consultative assistance was provided by:

• Vasyl Nimchuk, Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Ukraine, Doctor of Philology, Professor, Head of the Department of History of the Ukrainian Language of the Institute of Ukrainian Language of the NAS of Ukraine;
• Vasyl Yaremenko, Candidate of Philology, Professor, Director of the Institute of Cultural and Ethno-Political Researches of the Interregional Academy of Personnel Management, Chairman of the Federation of Patriotic Publications;
• Olena Galchenko, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Senior Researcher at the National Library of Ukraine Vernadsky V.I.

Thanks to everyone who joined in the book publishing, in particular:

• the National Library of Ukraine Vernadsky V.I.
• The State Institution of the National History Library in Kyiv;
• Museum of Book and Printing in Kyiv;
• Volyn State Regional Library called after Elena Pchilka, Luck;
• State Archives of Volyn Region, Luck;
• Volyn Regional Natural Museum, Luck;
• Volyn Icon Museum, Luck;
• State Historical and Cultural Reserve “Stary Luck”, Luck;
• Book Museum, Luck;
• Department of Restoration of Monuments of Architecture and Urban Planning of Volyn Regional State Administration, Luck; 
• Volyn Antiquities State Enterprise, Luck;
• Book Museum, Ostroh; 
• Lviv National Museum, Lviv. 

Sponsors of the The Lutsk Gospel, 14th century 

• Individuals – about 500 people
• Volyn and Luck Eparchy of the UOC, Metropolitan Nifont