Peresopnytsia Gospel Marks 465th Anniversary — the Book Used in Presidential Oaths

Peresopnytsia Gospel Marks 465th Anniversary — the Book Used in Presidential Oaths AI

On 29 August 2026 the Peresopnytsia Gospel reaches 465 years since its completion in 1561. The mid-16th-century parchment manuscript — one of the first Ukrainian-language Gospel translations, weighing more than nine kilograms — is the text presidents use when taking the Ukrainian oath. The original Peresopnytsia Gospel is kept in Kyiv; two facsimile copies are on display at the Peresopnytsia cultural‑archaeological centre in Rivne region.

Espreso reports that 29 August marks 465 years since the Peresopnytsia Gospel was finished at the Peresopnytsia Prechystenska monastery on 29 August 1561. The manuscript is a large-format, mid-16th-century parchment work and one of the earliest Ukrainian translations of the four Gospels, produced between 1556 and 1561 by Mykhailo Vasylevych of Syanok and Archimandrite Hryhoriy.

The Gospel weighs more than nine kilograms and was written in dark brown to black ink, with red cinnabar and gold. Besides the four Gospels it contains several later additions. The original is held in Kyiv; visitors to the Peresopnytsia cultural‑archaeological centre can see two facsimile copies. The centre itself opened on 29 August 2011, chosen to mark the 450th anniversary of the manuscript’s completion, Espreso notes via Suspilne.

Know what Kyiv knows.