The ''Varaždin Apostol'' ( sr-Cyrl, Вараждински апостол, hr, Varaždinski apostol) is a hand-written 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 ...

written in 1454. It is named after the northern

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

n city of

Varaždin ) , image_photo = , image_skyline = , image_flag = Flag of Varaždin.svg , flag_size = , image_seal = , seal_size = , image_shield = Grb_Grad ...

. The book represents the oldest preserved text in Cyrillic from the territory of today's Croatia. It contains the Acts of the Apostles and the New Testament epistles, and is kept today in the Museum of Serbian Orthodox Church in Belgrade,

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

. The ''Varaždin Apostol'' was made by three transcribers of Countess Kantakuzina Katarina Branković, daughter of the Serbian despot Đurađ Branković and his wife

Irene Kantakouzene Irene Kantakouzene ( el, Ειρήνη Καντακουζηνή, ''Eiréne Kantakouzené'', modern pronunciation ''Eiríni Kantakouziní'' , sr, Ирина Кантакузин / ''Irina Kantakuzin''; 1400 – May 3, 1457), known simply as Desp ...

, and the wife of

Ulrich II, Count of Celje Ulrich (), is a German given name, derived from Old High German ''Uodalrich'', ''Odalric''. It is composed of the elements '' uodal-'' meaning "(noble) heritage" and ''-rich'' meaning "rich, powerful". Attested from the 8th century as the name of A ...

. The text is written in the Resava orthography (''

Manasija monastery The Manasija Monastery ( sr, Манастир Манасија, Manastir Manasija, ) also known as Resava (Ресава, ), is a Serbian Orthodox monastery near Despotovac, Serbia founded by '' Despot'' Stefan Lazarević between 1406 and 1418. Th ...

'') with elements of the Raška orthography and the Mount Athos redaction, too. The language is the Serbian dialect of Old Church Slavonic. On the occasion of the 550th anniversary of the ''Apostol'', the Serbian Orthodox Church issued a limited edition of 300 copies. As a gift from the

Metropolitanate of Zagreb and Ljubljana Metropolitanate of Zagreb and Ljubljana ( sr, Митрополија загребачко-љубљанска, Mitropolija zagrebačko-ljubljanska) is an Eastern Orthodox eparchy (diocese) and one of the five honorary Metropolitanates of the Ser ...

, copies went to, among others,

Serbian Patriarch Pavle Pavle ( sr-cyr, Павле, ''Paul''; 11 September 1914 – 15 November 2009) was the patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church from 1990 to his death. His full title was ''His Holiness the Archbishop of Peć, Metropolitan of Belgrade and ...

, Croatian president

Stjepan Mesić Stjepan "Stipe" Mesić (; born 24 December 1934) is a Croatian lawyer and politician who served as President of Croatia from 2000 to 2010. Before serving two five-year terms as president, he was prime minister of SR Croatia (1990) after the fir ...

, the

Lepavina Monastery The Lepavina Monastery ( sr, Манастир Лепавина, Manastir Lepavina) is a Serbian Orthodox monastery dedicated to the Presentation of Mary and located at the village of Sokolovac, near the town of Koprivnica in Croatia. From the B ...

, and the Celje city archive.http://www.manastir-lepavina.org/novosti/index.php/weblog/detaljnije/arhijerejska_liturgija_u_hramu_sv_arhidjakona_stefana_u_malom_pogancu1/

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Varazdin Epistle 1454 books 15th-century biblical manuscripts 15th century in Croatia Medieval Serbian literature Serbian books Serbian manuscripts South Slavic manuscripts Apostol History of the Serbs of Croatia Serbian Orthodox Church in Croatia Metropolitanate of Zagreb and Ljubljana Cyrillic manuscripts

See also

References