The Gospel Book and its liturgical function in the Byzantine-Slavic tradition

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The world of Byzantine manuscripts is fascinating but also confusing. Although they play an important part in modern studies on the history of Christian liturgy and on the textual history of the Bible, a clear overview of the vast amount of these manuscripts in their many different forms is lacking. A new approach in their cataloguing is called for. The present volume brings together a number of specialists in the field of Byzantine, liturgical and Biblical studies with the aim to develop a new methodology for codicological research of the Byzantine manuscripts, taking seriously the original environment of the integral codices in the monasteries and the churches in which they were manufactured and functioned.

Prof. dr. Klaas Spronk is Head of the Research Department Sources of the Protestant Theological University (PThU), location Amsterdam, and chairman of the CBM Academic Board.

Prof. dr. Gerard Rouwhorst is Professor of Liturgical History at the Tilburg School of Catholic Theology and member of the Department of Biblical Sciences and Church History of that institution. He is member of the CBM Academic Board.

Dr. Stefan Royé is member of the Research Department Sources of the Protestant Theological University (PThU), location Amsterdam, and CBM programme coordinator and secretary of the Academic Board.

This article explores the development of the Gospel lectionary and the Tetraevangelion in the Slavic regions. After a brief summary of the history of research an excursus is given of the structure of the Tetraevangelion and lectionary. The development and variety of the liturgical material in the Gospel books is discussed and an explanation is given of textual variations by the underlying Greek tradition and subsequent mixture between manuscripts. It is stressed that all forms of the Slavic Gospels are not only dependent on the Byzantine tradition but also have influenced each other. The Slavic Gospels are part of the complex history of the development of the liturgical books.