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Old Church Slavic and Church Slavic: Primary and Secondary Resources at the Library of Congress

Microfilm

In 1994 the Department of Defense made a long-term loan of microfilming equipment to the Institute of Russian Literature--Pushkin House External (Институт Русской Литературы-Пушкинский Дом) in St. Petersburg, Russia, in order to make available on microfilm medieval Russian manuscripts not hitherto accessible in the United States and to assist the internal preservation and conservation program of the Institute. A small committee of scholars prepared a list of medieval Russian manuscripts to be filmed under the project, which was coordinated by the Library of Congress.

The Pushkin House maintains one of the richest collections of medieval Russian manuscripts in the world. The manuscripts selected for filming by the Library of Congress represent those that are of greatest scholarly value from a linguistic, historical, religious, and artistic point of view.

Researchers may request to view this microfilm in the European Reading Room. A guide to the reel contents is presented below. The guide includes the title of the manuscript (or collection of manuscripts), reel number, approximate date of composition and a brief description. The title column also includes the call number for the item at Pushkin House, detailing where the item is stored at that institution (opis or inventory/finding aid abbreviated as op. and nomer or number abbreviated as no.) It should be noted that several reels were not received by the Library of Congress and are, therefore, missing from the collection. Those missing are S-1, S-7, S-8, S-23 through S-28 and S-32. The catalog record for the microfilm collection can be found at the following link:

Guide to the Old Russian Manuscripts of the Pushkinskii Dom on Microfilm

Reel Title(s) Year/Century Description
S-2 Sbornik; Karel'skoe sobranie (no. 476) early 15th-late 17th centuries A collection of service books from the Karelian region. Contents include: Chasovnik, Kanon Troitse, "Pokhval'ni" v nedeliu Bogoroditsy, Sluzhba v subbotu tsvetnuiu, Sluzhba na Paskhu, Sluzhba na Preobrazhenie (6 avg.), Sluzhba na Uspenie Bogoroditsy (15 avg.), Sluzhba Simeonu Stolpniku (1 sent.), Sluzhba Vozdvizheniiu (14 sent.), Sluzhba Pokrovu (1 okt.), Sluzhba Nikole Chudotvortsy (6 dek.), Kanon zaupokoinyi (glas 8), Sluzhba prichshcheniiu, Oblichenie na Chelobitnuiu Nikity Pustosviata(the beginning and end of this work are lost).
S-3 Sbornik sluzhebnyi; kollektsiia V. N. Perettsa (no.21) 1405-early 16th century Vladimir Nikolaevich Peretts (1870-1935) was a prominent scholar of Old Russian and Ukrainian literature. An avid collector of manuscripts, Peretts' large collection was eventually transferred to Pushkin House. This is a selection of materials from item folder no. 21 of Peretts' collection. It includes the following: Sluzhba Isusu Khristu (inoka Feoktista), Kanon Bogoroditse (tvorenie Iosifa), Chin prichashcheniia (only the beginning), molitvy Bogoroditse, Chin prichashcheniia, Sluzhby Bogoroditse,Mesiatseslov (s tropariami i kondakami), Posledovanie Chetyredesiatnitsy, Chasovnik, Posledovanie chasov v naverchie Rozhdestva Khristova, Posledovanie chasov v navecherie Kreshcheniia, Posledovanie chasov v Velikuiu Piatnitsy, Sluzhba blagoveshcheniiu (fragment).
S-3 Slova postnicheskie Vasiliia Velikogo 1482 Church Slavic translation of Basil the Great's (Rus.-Vasilii Velikiii) Asketika, a work detailing rules for monastic life. Basil the Great was a bishop from Cappadocia in present-day Turkey. He is revered as the father of communal monasticism within the Eastern Orthodox church.
S-4 Sinodik Iosifo-Volokolamskogo monastyria, otdel'nye postupleniia (op. 23, no. 52) 1479-1507 Compiled by Iosif Volotskii (1439-1515), an Eastern Orthodox monk and writer who established the Iosifo-Volokolamskii monastery in 1479. A sinodik is a memorial book listing the names of those who made financial or material contributions to the monastery. This particular sinodik also contains other religious writings, mainly about the dangers of heresy and the salvific importance of honoring the deceased.
S-4 Evangelie ot Ioanna (na grecheskom iazyke); kollektsiia V. N. Perettsa (no. 1 (glavy XVIII, 22-XXI, 15) 12th-13th centuries An excerpt of the Gospel of John in Greek.
S-4 Evangelie Aprakos Polnyi (op. 25, no. 30) 1360s-1380s This is a complete aprakos from the 14th century. An aprakos is a liturgical book containing the four gospels of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John).The arrangement of an aprakos is unique, however, due to the fact that the Gospels are arranged according to the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar as opposed to their canonical order.
S-4 Pandekty Nikona Chernogortsa (glavy 37-63) (op. 23, no. 19) late 15th century Nikon of the Black Mountain (Rus. - Nikon Chernogorets) was an influential Byzantine monk and writer active in the 11th century. This is a translation of his "Regulations" which primarily contains rules for monastic life but also includes writings about other church figures.
S-4 Apostol; Novgorodsko-Pskovskoe sobranie (no. 21) late 15th-early 16th centuries Apostol refers to several books of the New Testament, including the Book of Acts and the epistles. The Novgorodsko-Pskovskoe sobranie is a collection of manuscripts at Pushkinskii Dom from the Novgorod and Pskov regions, many of which relate to the Old Believer community. Apostolis item 21 in the collection. Note: Adverse technical conditions precluded the completion of filming of this manuscript in the affected portion of microfilm, per filmed handwritten explanatory notice in Russian.
S-5 Evangelie uchitel'noe; kollektsiia V. N. Perettsa (no. 9) late 15th-early 16th centuries Evangelie uchitel'noe, or Didactic Gospels, is a codex originally compiled by the Bulgarian writer Konstantin Preslavskii at the end of the 11th century. The codex contains dialogues between two important figures of the early Church from the 5th century - John Chrysostom (Rus. - Ioann Zlatoust) and Cyril of Alexander (Rus. - Kirill Aleksandriiskii). The Didactic Gospels is organized according to the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar. The codex is also notable for including a poem in its introduction known as azbuchnaia molitva, an acrostic of the Cyrillic alphabet that expounds on Church beliefs and doctrine.
S-5/6 Kormchaia; Novgorodsko-Sofiiskoi redaktsii, Prichudskoe sobranie (no.48) 1510s The Kormchaia is a collection of ecclesiastical laws for the Eastern Orthodox church, modeled after the Byzantine Nomocanon. This particular edition of the Kormchaia is known as the Novgorodsko-Sofiiskoi redkatsii which came about in the 13th century when several versions of the Kormchaia were brought together along with other secular law codices such as Russkaia Pravda.
S-6 Triod' postnaia; Ust'-TSilemskoe sobranie (no.48) 1500 A triod' is a liturgical book in Eastern Orthodoxy which contains hymns sung in honor of a particular saint or holiday. The triod' postnaia is a collection of hymns intended for the Great Fast leading up to the celebration of Easter.
S-9 16 slov Grigoriia Bogoslova s tolkovaniiami Nikity Irakliiskogo; kollektsiia V. V. Velichko (no.2) 16th century (after third decade) Gregory of Nazianzus (Rus. - Grigorii Bogoslov) was an important early Church figure from the 4th century. He wrote a series of 45 treatises on various religious topics, including Easter, baptism and the Pentecost. These treatises are known as "slova" or words in Russian. This manuscript contains the first sixteen of those treatises, with commentary by a later Church bishop, Nikita.
S-9/10 Rimskie deianiia (op.23, no.80) late 17th century Old Russian translation of Gesta Romanorum, a medieval codex in Latin featuring moral tales about Roman leaders.
S-10/11 Trefologion; kollektsiia V. N. Perettsa (no.74) 1610s-1620s A trefologion (also known as a prazdnichnaia mineia) is a religious calendar detailing all the fixed holidays (those that are consistently celebrated on the same date every year) in the Eastern Orthodox church.
S-11/12 Sbornik sochinenii Dionisiia Areopagita s tolkovaniiami M. Ispovednika; kollektsiia V. V. Velichko (no.11) 17th century (second quarter) Dionysius the Areopagite (1st century AD) was converted to Christianity by Paul the Apostle and later became the first Bishop of Athens. In the sixth century, a series of religious and philosophical writings were attributed to Dionysius called Corpus Areopagiticum in Latin. These writings, on topics ranging from the nature of God to the church hierarchy, had an enormous influence on Christian philosophy and thought. This is the Church Slavic translation of the corpus, with commentary by Maximus the Confessor, a 7th century Byzantine monk. Today, the majority of scholars dispute Dionysius' authorship of the corpus, although an alternative author has not been agreed upon.
S-12 Sbornik; kollektsiia M. F. Pershina (no.9) 17th century (second quarter) Contents include: Apokalipsis s tolkovaniiami Andreia Kesariiskogo, "Tropnik" Innokentiia papy rimskogo, Zhitie Grigoriia Omiritskogo (19 dekabria) and "Tolk apostolstei sobornei sviatoi tserkvi" (glavy o tserkvi, obraze Khristovom, o prosfore i o vine, tolkovanie bozhestvennoi sluzhby).
S-13 Prolog; Severodvinskoe sobranie (no.120) 17th century (second quarter) The Severodvinksoe sobranie at Pushkinskii Dom is a collection of manuscripts from the city of Severodvinsk located in northern Russian near Arkhangel'sk. Prolog is item no. 120 from the collection. First produced in 1640,Prolog is a codex containing the hagiographies and teachings of various saints and is arranged according to the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar. The codex was originally based on the menologia of the Greek Orthodox Church.
S-14/15 Kormchaia; kollektsiia M. F. Pershina (no.20) mid-17th century The Kormchaia is a collection of ecclesiastical laws for the Eastern Orthodox church, modeled after the Byzantine Nomocanon.
S-16 Velikoe zertsalo; kollektsiia V. N. Perettsa (no.174) early 18th century Russian translation of the medieval Latin encyclopedia Speculum majusof the 13th century. The encyclopedia was translated into Russian in the 17th century as a collection of moral tales and anecdotes. The collection enjoyed immense popularity and had a major impact on the development of Russian literature.
S-17/18 Triod' tsvetnaia; Karel'skoe sobranie (no.535) 1610s A triod'is a liturgical book in Eastern Orthodoxy which contains hymns sung in honor of a particular saint or holiday. The triod' tsvetnaia contains hymns for the period spanning from Easter to the Sunday after Pentecost.
S-19 Psaltyr' tolkovaia; kollektsiia F. A. Kalikina (no.72) 1530s-1540s A psalter containing commentary from leading early figures of Christianity.
S-20 Sbornik; otdel'nye postupleniia (op.24, no. 26) 16th century A collection of materials from the Grebenstchikov House of Prayer (Rus.-Rizhskaia Grebenshchikovskaia staroobriadcheskaia obshcina) in Riga, Latvia, an Old Believer community established in 1760. The collection includes the following titles: Zhitie Aleksandra Nevskogo; Zhitie Borisa i Gleba; sochineniia Epikteta.
S-21 Zhitie i chudesa Antoniia Siiskogo, sluzhba emu (s dopolneniiami); otdel'nye postupleniia (op.23, no. 292) 1670s-1680s-second quarter of the 18th century A hagiography zhitie) of Antonii Siiskii (1477-1556), a monk and icon painter from the Republic of Novgorod. He founded the Antonievo-Siiskii monastery. Originally composed in the 16th century.
S-21/22 Sbornik; Pinezhskoe sobranie (no.113) late 17th-last quarter of the 18th centuries The Pinezhskoe sobranie is a collection of manuscript books at Pushkin House that were found in the Pinezhsky district of northern Russia (near the city of Arkhangelsk).This is a selection of materials from item folder no. 113 of the Pinezhskoe sobranie. It includes the following titles: Alfabit o p'ianstve (v stikhakh); Aleksei mitropolit. Slovo v pochitanii apostolov, sviatitelei i prepodobnykh otets; Sillabicheskie virski (o strastiakh Khristovykh, pokhvala velikomuchenitsy Evdokii, posviashchennye otdel'nym prazdnikam i t. d. ), govorimye pri tarskom dvoere v 1681-186 gg.; Pouchenie ottsa k synu; Slova Ioanna Zlatousta (k zhenam, kak zhit' s muzh'iami, o zlykh zhenakh); o Mel'khisedeke; Strasti Khristovy; Zhitiia Alekseia, cheloveka bozhiia; Evangelie (tolkovoe) Kirilla Trankviliona; Bukvar' 1701 g. novgorodskogo mitropolita Iova; Fiziolog; Stat'i po geografii (opisanie Azii, Evropy, Ameriki, Moskovii), perevedennye s latinskogo iazyka (s gollandskikh listov)
S-29/30 Sbornik; kollektsiia V. V. Velichko (no.12) Second to the third quarter of the 17th century Valerian Velichko (1874-1956) was a Russian doctor, famous for being the personal physician to Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin and his family. Velichko was also an avid collector of rare Slavic manuscripts, books and art. Part of his collection was donated to Pushkinskii Dom. This is item no. 12 from the collection. Contents include: illiustratsii k sotvoreniiu mira (iz Palei tolkovoi), Peleia tolkovaia i istoricheskaia, "Stiazanie byvshee vraktse Ierosalime pri Sofronii arkhiepiskope o vere khristiian'stei i zakone evreiskom," Apokalipsis tolovyi, "Syn tserkovnyi," Delo Viskovatogo i materialy Bashkina. 
S-30 Sbornik sluzhebnyi; kollektsiia V. N. Perettsa (no.113) 1610s-1620s Vladimir Nikolaevich Peretts (1870-1935) was a prominent scholar of Old Russian and Ukrainian literature. An avid collector of manuscripts, Peretts' large collection was eventually transferred to Pushkin House. This is a selection of materials from item folder no. 113 of Peretts' collection. It includes the following titles: Kanony (russkim sviatym); Mesiatseslov i sviattsy; Paskhaliia Chasoslov.
S-31 Sbornik; Severodvinskoe sobranie (no.65) mid-18th century The Severodvinksoe sobranie at Pushkinskii Dom is a collection of manuscripts from the city of Severodvinsk located in northern Russian near Arkhangel'sk. Contents include:vypiski iz Katekhizisa, Knigi o sviashchenstve, Prosvetitelia Iosifa Volotskogo, Besedovaniia (o poznanii istinnoi very), Pouchenie o khristianksom zhitii (chapter 7), vypiski iz raznykh knig o bradobritii i sviashchenstve, iz Katekhizisa (o cheloveke, o sudnom dne i ego znameniiakh), iz Margarita, Poslanie poskovskogo startsa Filofeia d'iaku Mikhailu Munekhinu o zvezdochettsakh, Slovo sv.Nila o vos'mi pomysliakh, Slovo ob Antikhiste (staroobriadcheskoe), vypiski is Kormchei, Slovo Maksima Greka ob alliluie, vypiski iz proroka Iezekilia i iz raznykh knig o pastyrstve, "Istoriia o vziatii Solovetskogo monastyria" Semena Denisova, vypiski o trapeze, Solovetskaia chelobitnaia 1667 g., tolkovanie na chtenie iz Evangeliia ot Ioanna, Slovo o kreste Khristovom i Skazanie o krestakh (vygovskie), vypiski iz Slova Maksima Greka ob Antikhriste, iz Kormchei, Kirillovoi knigi, Poslanie iz Dalmatskogo monastyria v Tiumen' ob Antikhriste, vypiski o kontse sveta i o bradobritii, Poslanie inoka Avraamiia k boiaryne Morozovoi, "Beseda dukhovnaia po prosheniiu ot pisaniia drugov dukhov/n/ykh" i drugie staroobriadcheskie sochineniia o kreste Khristovom i Antikhriste, vypiski is Kirillovoi knigi i Premudrostei Solomona, "Vozveshchenie ot dukhovnogo ko ottsu dukhovnomu" (poslanie v Pustozersk k protopopu Avvakumu), vypiski ob Antikhriste i kontse sveta, iz Kormchei, slov Petra Damaskina, Skitskogo paterika i dr.
S-32/33 Sbornik; Verkhnepecherskoe sobranie (no.4) 18th century (1780s) The Verkhnepecherkoe sobranie is a collection of manuscripts from Verkhnie Pechery, a group of microregions located in the city of Nizhnii Novgorod. The area is home to the Pecherskii Voznesenskii monastery. This is item no. 4 from the collection.
S-33 Sbornik; sluzhebnyi; Ust'-TSilemskoe sobranie (no. 366) 16th century (last quarter) The Ust'-TSilenskoe sobranie is a collection of manuscripts from the Ust'-TSil'ma region located in the Komi Republic. This is item no. 366 from the collection. Contents include: Mesiatseslov, stat'i ustavnogo kharaktera, vychislitel'nye tablitsy
S-33/34 Kormchaia nikonovskaia; kollektsiia V. N. Perettsa (no. 307) 18th century (1760s) The Kormchaia is a collection of ecclesiastical laws for the Eastern Orthodox church, modeled after the Byzantine Nomocanon. Produced in Slavic-speaking regions since the 13th century, this version of the Kormchaiais known as Kormchaia nikonovskaia ('Nikon's Kormchaia') after Patriarch Nikon. It was first printed in 1653 and was intended to correct discrepancies found in earlier version of the text.
S-34/35 Pomorskie otvety; kollektsiia V. N. Perettsa (no. 226) 18th century (1740s) Also known as Otvety pustynozhitelei na voprosy Ieromonakh Neofita; tak naz. Pomorskie otvety ('The Answers of the Recluses to the Questions of Hieromonk Neophyte; that is ‘The Sea-side Replies'). The work was written by Andrei Dionis'evich Denisov and his brother Semen, two members of the Old Believer faith community, in response to 106 questions asked by Hieromonk Neophyte, a missionary sent to the Old Believers.
S-35 Sbornik; Ust'-TSilemskoe sobranie (no. 10) 17th century (last quarter) The Ust'-TSilenskoe sobranie is a collection of manuscripts from the Ust'-TSil'ma region located in the Komi Republic. This is item no. 226 from the collection. Contents include: "Otvet pravoslavnykh" d'iakona Fedora, "O volke i khishchnike i bogootmetnike Nikone dostoverno svidetel'stvo, izhe byst' pastyr' vo ovchei kozhi, predtecha Antikhristov," Chelobitnaia popa Lazaria tsariu Alekseiu Mikhailovichu, Chelobitnaia popa Lazaria patriarkhu Ioasafu
S-35 Kniga perepisnaia otvodnaia riznich'ia Solovetskogo monastyria; kollektsiia F. A. Kolikina (no. 58) 1712 The Solovetsky Monastery was founded in the 15th century on the Solovetsky Islands in northern Russia. This is an inventory book detailing the monastery's property. It was produced when the monastery's leadership was being transferred from one hegumen to another (a hegumen in Eastern Orthodoxy is comparable to an abbot in the Western Christian tradition).
S-36 Sbornik sluzhebnyi; Severodvinskoe sobranie (no. 4) 17th century (1640s) The Severodvinksoe sobranie at Pushkinskii Dom is a collection of manuscripts from the city of Severodvinsk located in northern Russian near Arkhangel'sk. This is item no. 4 from the collection. Contents include: Pouchenie Grigoriia Nisskogo o ispoveduiushchikhsia, Chin ispovedaniia, molitvy proshchal'nye, Epitimeinik, molitvy razreshitel'nye, nad oskvernennym kolodtsem, khramu "v nem zhe roditsia otrocha," mladentsam, rozhenitsam, vospriemnitsam, materi so mladentsem, Sviatsy
S-36/37 Sbornik; Otd. Postupleniia (op. 24, no. 150) 16th century (third quarter)-17th century (first quarter) Contents include: Zhitie Vasiliia Ankirskogo, Chudo Vasiliia Velikogo o prel'shchennom otroke, slova Ioanna Zlatousta na Bogoiavlenie, zhitiia Ioanna Kushkina, Petra tsarevicha Ordynskogo, Antoniia RImlianina, Afanasiia Aleksandriiskogo, Skazanie o Feofile patriarkhe Aleksandriiskom, Zhitie Ksenofonta, Sobor Vasiliia Velikogo, Grigoriia Bogoslova i Ioanna Zlatousta, Slovo Ioanna Zlatousta o lzhi i klevete, zhitiia Nikity Novgorodskogo, Dimitriia Prilutskogo, Alekseiia mitropolita, muchenitsy Evdokii, Muchenie i stradanie soroka velikomuchenikov sevastiiskikh, Zhitie Alekseia cheloveka Bozhiia, slova Grigoriia Bogoslova i Ioanna Zlatousta na Blagoveshchenie, Povest' o obretenii moshchei i chudesa Nikity Novogorodskogo, Muchenie Khristofora, zhitiia Isidora Rostovskogo, tsarevicha Dimitriia, Leontiia Rostovskogo, Nikity Pereiaslavskogo, Petra i Fevronii Muromskikh, apostolov Petra i Pavlaand Prokopiia Ustiuzhskogo.
S-37/38 Sbornik; Latgal'skoe sobranie (no. 329) 15th century (1470s-1480s)-19th century (end) The Latgal'skoe sobranie at Pushkinskii Dom is a collection of manuscripts from the Latgale region of eastern Latvia. Latgale (Rus.-Latgaliia) is known for its large minority population of Russian speakers, especially Old Believers. This is item no. 329 from the collection. Contents include: Zhitie Grigoriia Omiritskogo i Prenie ego s Ervanom zhidovinom, Povest' o Viritskoi ikone Isusa Khrista (beginning is lost; end finished in the 19th century), "O pogrebenii Gospodni" (excerpt from larger work), otryvki liturgicheskikh tekstov na Rozhdestvo Khristovo i Ioannu Predteche, stikhiry (kriukovye) na Rozhdestvo Khristovo, tropar' Bogoroditse
S-38 Zvezda presvetlaia; Ust'-TSsilemskoe sobranie (no. 143) 1709 Zvezda presvetlaia ('The Most Bright Star') is a collection of stories describing miracles of the Virgin Mary, especially those involving her icon. The collection appeared in Russia during the second half of the 16th century. The stories mainly originate from unknown Western European sources and carry a strong Catholic character. There are, however, a small number of stories which take place in Russia.
S-39 Torzhestvennik; Ust-TSilemskoe sobranie (no. 150) 1720s-1730s A torzhestvennik is a book originally organized according to the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar. The book contains the hagiographies (or zhitie) of important early Christian figures, including Kirill Turovskii from the Eastern Orthodox tradition. The genre appeared in Russia in the 14th century.
S-39 Azbukovnik (s dopolneniiami); Otd. postupleniia (op. 23, no. 309) 1620s-1630s An azbukovnik is a type of glossary originating in the 13th century. Its goal was to define foreign language words and phrases (listed in alphabetical order) which would be unfamiliar to Slavic readers.
S-40 Zhitie Nikolaia Mirlikiiskogo so slovami na ego rozhdestvo i perenesenia moschei; kollektsiia M. S. Lesmana (no. 2) 1563 A hagiography (or zhitie)of St. Nicholas of Myra (Rus.-Nikolai Chudotvorets or Nikolai Mirlikiiskii). St. Nicholas (270-343) was a Christian bishop who, due to his renowned generosity, is the model for the legend of Santa Claus. He remains one of the most popular saints in Russia.
S-40 Zhitie Makariia Zheltovodskogo i Unzhenskogo; kollektsiia V. V. Luki'ianiva (no. 51) 18th century (second quarter) A hagiography (or zhitie)of Makarii Zheltovodskii (Macarius of Unzha) (1339-1444), a monk and missionary from Nizhnii Novgorod. Makarii is credited with founding four monasteries. His hagiography was first written in the 16th century.