Gospel

The book was printed in 1794.

Printed in two colors (black and red), the text in Church Slavonic. The text sits within a double linear frame and contains catchwords. Letter foliation appears in the upper right corner of the frame. At the beginning of the book is a preface within an ornamental frame with a headpiece, illuminated with a round medallion bearing Gospel scenes.

Each of the four Gospels is accompanied by its table of contents and a preface within ornamental frames with illuminated headpieces. At the end of the book is an indication of which Gospel readings are appointed for each day.

The book is illustrated with four full-page engravings depicting the Evangelists with their symbols (engravers Vasilii Ikonnikov, Semen Nazarov, Aleksei Andreev, Stepan Yurimov).

The book's decoration is complemented by headpieces, tailpieces, decorative capitals, initials, and cast ornaments.

On the half-title is a manuscript inscription in black ink: "From the Archangel Michael Church of the village of Mykhailivka, Novomoskovsk district, Katerynoslav diocese, 22 July 1916. Priest [signature undeciphered]."

The Gospel is in a lavish Baroque binding. The boards are wooden, covered with metal plates.

The front cover is silver-toned, decorated with convex gold-toned oval medallions: in the corners, four medallions depicting the Evangelists and their symbols; at the center, the composition of the Ascension of Jesus Christ. The field of the cover is decorated with a floral composition with a vase, chased in high relief with the addition of a pearl ornament.

The back cover is decorated with a composition classic to Ukrainian religious art. At the center of the binding is a full-length image of the Theotokos of the Caves, of the Hodegetria type, with the Infant, standing on a cloud amid rays of glory. Below is a figure personifying the venerable father of the Caves, founder of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, lying beside the caves, churches, and monastery buildings that symbolize the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra. In the upper part of the binding is depicted the Lord Sabaoth (in his hypostasis of God the Father), blessing the Most Holy Theotokos and the whole earthly world. Below God the Father are the heads of cherubim on small clouds. The whole composition reflects the idea of Divine patronage over the Kyiv Pechersk monastery. The book had clasps, which are now lost.

The object entered the museum's holdings in 1954.