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Bible, Slavonic. Biblia sirech knigi Vetkhago i
Novago Zaveta. Ostrog, Duke K.K. Ostrozhskii’s printing-house, printer
Ivan Fedorov, on August, 12th 1581. The title page, the engraved Arms
of Prince K.K. Ostrozhskii on title verso, verses and preface by
Gerasim Smotritskii in Greek and Church Slavonic, [8] , 276, 180, 30,
56, 78 = 628 leaves. 50 lines to the page, in two columns. Title, part
headings and tables printed in red and black. Engraved initials ,
tail-pieces and endings. Fedorov’s engraved device in colophon.
Format: 33x20 cm. A few leaves repaired, spotting and damp-stain.
Contemporary calf binding, front cover paneled in blind with church
arabesque centred. The first complete edition of the Bible in
Slavonic. This landmark of Russian printing was prepared under the
auspices of Konstantin, Prince of Ostrog, who obtained from Moscow a
copy of the manuscript Bible of Archbishop Gennadius. He also
collected a large number of Greek and Slavonic manuscripts and
editions, and with the help of assistants he tested the Slavonic text
by the Greek and sometimes by the Latin, and substituted modern
expressions for those which were obsolete or unintelligible and
corrected errors. Actually, it’s the second variant–B — of the first
edition of the Bible. The first-A — on July, 12th, 1580. Variants A&B
of the edition a little than differ from each other.
The Bible of Ostrog printed by Ivan Fedorov took an outstanding part
in establishment of Church Slavonic language as the main language of
written book culture of east Slavs before XVIII century. It was
re-issued in Moscow in 1663 and respected by the following issues of
the Holy Bible in Church Slavonic language in Russia. The Bible of
Ostrog served the source of linguistic examples and references in the
code of Church Slavonic language, which is represented in famous
Grammar by Smotritskiy. In Moscow Russia of XVII and early XVIII
centuries, Grammar by Smotritskiy was the main regulatory manual of
Church Slavonic language. It approved and propagandised Church
Slavonic language, which was its tuning fork and source: language of
the Bible of Ostrog printed by Ivan Fedorov.
The Bible of Ostrog is known with two dates of issue: July 12, 1580
and August 12, 1581. Numerous versions, corrected misprints,
differences in setting and ornaments. The Bible was printed with
delays, it was necessary to correct defects, to give correct
textological solution of problems, to take care of translation.
Editing the Bible suspended its printing. In order to fill in delays,
they started to print other biblical books, which did not need any
corrections. These were, first of all, the Psalter and New Testament.
The Bible of Ostrog is a monumental issue of 628 pages with rich
decorations of specially designed illuminations and initials. With
respect to printing, the Bible of Ostrog was perfect. This is the
first Bible printed in Cyrillic font. It served the original and
example for further Russian issues of the Bible.
The circulation of the Bible was great for that time. When it was
printed, the Prince of Ostrog sent it to Ivan the Terrible, certainly,
in more than one copy. Ivan the Terrible could present a copy to an
Englishman, who visited Moscow at that time. Leaving Ostrog, Ivan
Fedorov took 400 copies of the Holy Bible with him. This was a great
property. The Bible of Ostrog was widely known in Ukraine, Russia and
Belarus as well as abroad. It is registered in the Oxford library, its
copies were held by Swedish King Gustav II, Cardinal Barberini, most
scientists and public figures of that time.
The importance of the Bible of Ostrog was great for the Orthodox
education. This education was inseparable from the Russian national
self-consciousness, which resisted against the Catholic attacks in
Southern and Western Russia. The demand for the Bible of Ostrog was
exclusively high and each of its copies was of the greatest value
though the circulation was unprecedentedly large. Some three hundred
copies survived by our days.
According to the heraldic references, Ivan Fedorov (or Fedorovich)
originated from Belarussian gentry family of Rogozov. He studied at
the Krakow University and graduated as a bachelor of free sciences;
living in Moscow he was a deacon of Saint Nicholas Gastun Church in
the Kremlin. His first books were published in Moscow (Apostle of 1564
and Sentinel of 1565). Due to persecution and, most probably, due to
accusation of printers in heresy as if they make corrections to the
text of the Holy Books, he had to move to Lithuanian Russia. There in
Zabludovo (now a town in Eastern Poland) in from 1564 to 1570, at the
printing house of Grand Lithuanian Hetman Grigoriy Khodkevich, Ivan
Fedorov printed the Teaching Gospel and Psalter. Later, at his own
printing house in Lvov, he issued the Apostle and first printed
eastern Slavonic ABC book (1574), which caused the determining
influence to all the following ABC books published in Russia before
Peter I. Since late 1570, Ivan Fedorov lived in Ostrog. Here, at the
printing house of Orthodox magnate Prince Konstantin of Ostrog, he
issued the New Testament with the Psalter and the famous Bible of
Ostrog (1581). It is based on the full collection of biblical books,
which was prepared in 1499 at the book yard of Archbishop Gennadiy in
Novgorod (so-called Bible of Gennadiy) and in several decades was
given with the authority of Ivan IV to Ivan Fedorov for a printed
issue. Ivan Fedorov died in two years after issue of the Bible of
Ostrog, in 1583. He was buried at the Onufrius Monastery in Lvov.
Reference literature:
1. Guseva A.A., №83.
2. Karataev I. «Description of Slavic and Russian books» v. 1. St. Petersburg, 1883, №102.
3. Stroev P. «Description of old printed Slavic and Russian books
being in the library of the count F.A.Tolstow» Moscow, 1829, №22.
4. Stroev P. «Description of old printed Slavic and Russian books
being in the library of the Tsarkiy» Moscow, 1836, №24.
5. Sakharov «Review», №67.
6. Undol’skii «Essay», №88.
7. Rodosskii, №20.
8. Ostroglazov, №18.
9. Sopikov, №109.
10. N.B., №46. |
