Cetinje Octoechos
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The ''Cetinje Octoechos'' ( sr, Цетињски октоих or ''Cetinjski oktoih'') is an Orthodox
liturgical book A liturgical book, or service book, is a book published by the authority of a church body that contains the text and directions for the liturgy of its official religious services. Christianity Roman Rite In the Roman Rite of the Catholic C ...
printed Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The e ...
in 1494 in
Cetinje Cetinje (, ) is a town in Montenegro. It is the former royal capital (''prijestonica'' / приjестоница) of Montenegro and is the location of several national institutions, including the official residence of the president of Montenegro ...
, the capital of the
Principality of Zeta The Principality of Zeta ( sr, Кнежевина Зета, Kneževina Zeta) is a historiographical name for a late medieval principality located in the southern parts of modern Montenegro and northern parts of modern Albania, around the Lake o ...
(present-day
Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = ...
). It is the first incunabulum written in the
Serbian Serbian may refer to: * someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe * someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people * Serbian language * Serbian names See also * * * Old Serbian (disambiguation ...
recension of
Church Slavonic Church Slavonic (, , literally "Church-Slavonic language"), also known as Church Slavic, New Church Slavonic or New Church Slavic, is the conservative Slavic liturgical language used by the Eastern Orthodox Church in Belarus, Bosnia and Her ...
, as well as the first book printed in
Cyrillic The Cyrillic script ( ), Slavonic script or the Slavic script, is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking co ...
in
Southeast Europe Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe (SEE) is a geographical subregion of Europe, consisting primarily of the Balkans. Sovereign states and territories that are included in the region are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia (a ...
. The
octoechos Oktōēchos (here transcribed "Octoechos"; Greek: ;The feminine form exists as well, but means the book octoechos. from ὀκτώ "eight" and ἦχος "sound, mode" called echos; Slavonic: Осмогласие, ''Osmoglasie'' from о́с ...
was produced under the direction of
Hieromonk Makarije Hieromonk Makarije ( sr, Јеромонах Макарије; 1494–d. after 1528) is the founder of Serbian and Romanian printing, having printed the first book in Serbian and the first book in the territory of Walachia (part of modern-day Rom ...
at the
Crnojević printing house The Crnojević printing house ( sr, Штампарија Црнојевића, Štamparija Crnojevića) or Cetinje printing house ( sr, Цетињска штампарија, Cetinjska štamparija), was the first printing house in Southeastern Eur ...
, which was founded in 1493 by
Đurađ Crnojević Đurađ Crnojević ( sr-cyr, Ђурађ Црноjeвић, cu, Гюргь Цьрноевыкь; d. 1514) was the last Serbian medieval Lord of Zeta between 1490 and 1496, from the Crnojevic dynasty. The son of Ivan Crnojević and Goisava Arianit ...
, the ruler of Zeta. Printed in two instalments, its first volume contains the hymns to be sung to the first four tones of the Octoechos system of musical modes, and the hymns for the remaining four tones are included in the second volume. The two volumes are called Octoechos of the First Tone (''Oktoih prvoglasnik'') and Octoechos of the Fifth Tone (''Oktoih petoglasnik''), respectively.


Octoechos of the First Tone

Octoechos of the First Tone (''Oktoih prvoglasnik'') was finished on 4 January 1494. There are 108 copies of this book which survived. It contains 270 leaves sized 29 x 21.6 cm. It is characterized by high quality and clean two-coloured printing, red and black, with finely formed letters. It is decorated with
headpieces A headpiece is an object worn on the head for decoration or protection. Headpiece may refer to: *A typically thin metallic crown, headband, or tiara worn around the forehead. Commonly worn by ancient rulers, such as Cleopatra, headpieces usua ...
and
initial In a written or published work, an initial capital, also referred to as a drop capital or simply an initial cap, initial, initcapital, initcap or init or a drop cap or drop, is a letter at the beginning of a word, a chapter, or a paragraph tha ...
s printed from
woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas tha ...
s in the spirit of the Renaissance with traces of old manuscript traditions. In the quality of its print and decoration it is considered to be at the same level as Venetian production at that time. The National Library of Montenegro "Đurđe Crnojević" in
Cetinje Cetinje (, ) is a town in Montenegro. It is the former royal capital (''prijestonica'' / приjестоница) of Montenegro and is the location of several national institutions, including the official residence of the president of Montenegro ...
published 600 facsimiles of Octoechos of the First Tone in 1987.


Octoechos of the Fifth Tone

Octoechos of the Fifth Tone (''Oktoih petoglasnik'') represents the first illustrated South Slavic incunabulum. It is preserved in fragments, the longest one containing 37 leaves. It has six woodcut illustrations, made by an artist who managed to put rather complex compositions with many characters on a relatively small space.


See also

*
Božidar Vuković Božidar Vuković ( sr-Cyrl, Божидар Вуковић, it, Dionisio della Vecchia, lat, Dionisius a Vetula; c. 1460 — c. 1539) was one of the first printers and editors of Serbian books in Montenegro. He founded the famous Vuković print ...


References


Sources

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Further reading

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External links


''Cetinje Octoechos''
(incomplete), the Library of Matica Srpska 15th-century Christian texts Medieval Serbian literature Montenegrin literature Serbian literature History of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro Principality of Zeta Cyrillic manuscripts Incunabula Psalters Serbian books Serbian manuscripts {{Montenegro-stub