The communion-table Gospel residing in the Stavropol Museum of Fine Arts, was published in 1800 in Moscow under the order of Emperor Paul I. The book was a new edition of the Gospel of 1766, drawn and printed under Catherin II.

The run of 1,200 copies was prepared by the Moscow Synodal printing-house. After the 1720s, it became the main centre of Cyrillic book print and also kept the traditions of Russian Church book etching. It formed its own painterly system with new techniques, stylistic and iconographic guidelines and a peculiar narrative series of illustrations.

The museum copy of the 1800 Gospel is in a good condition. It has 253 pages of text in Church Slavonic — the traditional Slavonic language of Church services. The pages are printed in two colours — black and red, and drawn in frames of lines and typesetting ornaments. Foliation is done with Arabic figures in the upper corners. Initials, illuminations, cul-de-lampes, and frames on the margins are ornamented.

Illustrations in the Gospel are made in one of the oldest techniques — copperplate print. Pages 9, 72, 116 and 184 hold images of St Mathew, Mark, Luke and John the Evangelists. The book also contains head ornaments with the personified Holy Trinity, episodes from the Nativity of Christ, Epiphany, Annunciation, and Jesus Christ with the Cross.

The book is divided into five parts — four Gospels and one section with liturgical instructions. The compilers included the life of Apostle Mathew, Mark and Luke in the book, as well as a short note on St John, which had been written by St Martyr Dorotheus of Tyre. Each Gospel is complemented by a foreword and two lemmas — one by verses, the other by chapters. The accompanying texts are interlaced with engraved images of apostles, and the printers placed the full text of the relevant Gospel after them.

The binding of the Gospel is protected with a latten alloy cover — decoration often used for icons and sacred books. The front cover holds stamped and engraved compositions. A small triangle at the top has a shortened inscription Tetraevangelion in the Church Slavonic letters. There are shortened inscriptions over the images in the ovals: God in the centre, Mathew – in the upper left, John the Theologian – in the upper right, Luke – in the lower left, and Mark – in the lower right. The reverse side of the cover holds the letters МР ФУ, which stand for the Mother of God.