Evangheliarul de la Reims
The Reims Gospel

Summary/Abstract: The paper presents the Reims Gospel (French: Texte du Sacre, which means “Coronation Text”), one of the most important monuments of the Czech − and, Slavic literary culture, in general, whose destiny is linked to two ancient spiritual and cultural centres, which played a decisive role in the history of Slavic writing tradition, namely the Sázava Monastery, situated 60 km from Prague, and the Emmaus Monastery in Prague (Czech: Emauzský klášter, Na Slovanech, Emauzy). The Reims Gospel is an old Slavic Codex, thought to be issued from the hand of Saint Procopius, abbot of Sázava Monastery, and consists of two parts, one written in Cyrillic and one in the Glagolitic alphabet and used to be richly decorated with gold, precious stones and relics, among which a supposed fragment of the Holy Cross. The Codex was brought in 1451 to Constantinople where Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine (Czech: Karell Lotrinský) purchased it in 1574 and donated to the Reims Cathedral. Several French kings − François I, Charles IV, Henri II, Louis XIII and Louis XIV − took their oath on it, reason for which it was called Texte du Sacre. In 1717, during his visit in France Tsar Peter the Great saw the manuscript and recognized the Cyrillic writing. The book disappeared during the French Revolution and when found again it was stripped of all decorations and relics. Tsar Nikolai II funded its first publication in 1843 by Bartolomej Kopitar. Later on the manuscript was thoroughly studied by the Czech philologist Václav Hanka, who published it: Sazavo-Emmauntinum Evangelium nunc Remense, Praga, Ed. Haas, 1846 − for which he received the Order of Saint Anna from the Tsar and a brilliant ring from the Austrian Emperor Ferdinand. The most recent edition was issued by Vladimir Hawryluk: Evangéliaire de Reims, dit Texte du Sacre, Ed. Beaurepaire, Paris, 2009.

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