The book-manuscript ‘Passion of Jesus Christ and Selected Lives’, according to experts, was written by an unknown author in the second half of the 17th century. The Museum bought the book from a descendant of the old believers A. M. Buzlaev in 1983.
The manuscript (front cover decorated with miniatures) consists of 147 sheets and five parts. The book is created in accordance with the traditions of books read on the Holy Week. In addition to the following Gospel about the last days of the earthly life of Jesus Christ, the book includes ‘the Tortures of Saints Kirik and Julita’, ‘the Tale of the Monk Abraham’, ‘the Tale of Martiria the black-robbed’, the ending of ‘The Tale of the Hermit’, as well as illustrations for the famous parable of the rich man and Lazarus.
The manuscript arrived at the Museum in a deplorable condition — with stained pages and rotten spine, the effects of damage could not be fixed. After drying, the stains were left on the first and last sheet, visible bug stains and traces of mold. The ink also suffered, it turned from almost black to light brown.
The book is written in a semi-octave-a small rounded form of Cyrillic - and five different handwritings. The text retains stress marks, titles and remote letters, punctuation marks - only a few commas. Prepositions and conjunctions are drawn together with full words. The page contains approximately 20 lines. The text is framed with ornament, in the upper part of the frame is the table of contents, the pages are numbered at the bottom or on the right. On some pages, there are black and white images in the Baroque style and with floral motifs.
After sheet number 19 a clean blue sheet with a miniature image on the back is glued in, and the next - also blue, but with the inscription: ‘This Holy book of God-inspired Passion of our Lord is smart and useful.’ At the bottom of the sheet is another inscription: ‘Holy indeed to man for the salvation of the soul, ’ but to read it, you need to turn over the book. There is also an illustration on the back of this sheet.
The manuscript (front cover decorated with miniatures) consists of 147 sheets and five parts. The book is created in accordance with the traditions of books read on the Holy Week. In addition to the following Gospel about the last days of the earthly life of Jesus Christ, the book includes ‘the Tortures of Saints Kirik and Julita’, ‘the Tale of the Monk Abraham’, ‘the Tale of Martiria the black-robbed’, the ending of ‘The Tale of the Hermit’, as well as illustrations for the famous parable of the rich man and Lazarus.
The manuscript arrived at the Museum in a deplorable condition — with stained pages and rotten spine, the effects of damage could not be fixed. After drying, the stains were left on the first and last sheet, visible bug stains and traces of mold. The ink also suffered, it turned from almost black to light brown.
The book is written in a semi-octave-a small rounded form of Cyrillic - and five different handwritings. The text retains stress marks, titles and remote letters, punctuation marks - only a few commas. Prepositions and conjunctions are drawn together with full words. The page contains approximately 20 lines. The text is framed with ornament, in the upper part of the frame is the table of contents, the pages are numbered at the bottom or on the right. On some pages, there are black and white images in the Baroque style and with floral motifs.
After sheet number 19 a clean blue sheet with a miniature image on the back is glued in, and the next - also blue, but with the inscription: ‘This Holy book of God-inspired Passion of our Lord is smart and useful.’ At the bottom of the sheet is another inscription: ‘Holy indeed to man for the salvation of the soul, ’ but to read it, you need to turn over the book. There is also an illustration on the back of this sheet.
‘The Passions’ are illustrated by 31 miniatures: traditional, monumental, created with the use of well-known to the author exemplums, they occupy a separate page, and ‘The Life of Saints Kirik and Julita’ is illustrated by 22 miniatures. 37 miniatures arranged on the pages are devoted to other narratives. ‘The Passions’ are illustrated by 31 miniatures: traditional, monumental, created with the use of well-known to the author exemplums, they occupy a separate page, and ‘The Life of Saints Kirik and Julita’ is illustrated by 22 miniatures. 37 miniatures arranged on the pages are devoted to other narratives.
The color scheme of the miniatures is not rich: three colors are used for the main tones - yellow, green and red, the contours and depths are filled with ink. This simple combination is so successful that even thoughts do not even arise about the poverty of color solutions.
