Rare Books of Cyrillic Tradition in the Diocesan Collections of Tomsk

Abstract

The article gives a preliminary review of manuscripts and printed books of the Cyrillic tradition stored in the collections of Tomsk diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church (the Library of Tomsk Theological Seminary and the Tomsk Church and Archaeological Museum). The identified ownership records, stamps, and notes testify to the existence of these books in different regions of Russia and neighboring countries. The most notable is a previously unregistered exemplar of Ivan Fedorov’s Ostrog Bible with the records related to the noble family of Popel from the Peremyshl diocese and servicemen of the Moscovite Kingdom in the middle of the 17th century. The records give reasons to assume that John Popel was Vicar of Gorodets before being appointed to the Peremyshl cathedra. The General and Festal Menaion (1637) with records of the prosphora-baker’s family from the village of Gruzino gives previously unknown information about the Gruzino St. Andrew’s community of Obonezhskaya pyatina. The Rite of Election and Ordination of Hierarchs (1825) is connected with the history of construction of the Trinity Cathedral in Tomsk. The 16th-century manuscript Book of Canons presents the stage of formation of the orders of personal preparation for the Sacraments of Confession and Communion. The Prolog (1643), in the records of which Tsarevna Sophia Alekseyevna is mentioned, reflects a broad picture of the book circulation in the 17th–18th centuries. The manuscript Interpretive Psalter of the mid-19th century comes from a Pomorian scriptorium with its characteristic details of design. Old Believers’ books are also represented by printed editions: Life of Basil the Younger (early 19th century), Catechism by Lavrentij Zizanij (early 19th century), The Ladder by John Climacus (1785), and others.

Keywords

• archaeography
• rare books
• diocesan collections of siberia
• ivan fedorov
• ostrog bible
• sophia alekseyevna of russia