The Aromanian Missal (; ) is an anonymous Aromanian-language instructive

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 Church service, religious services. Christianity Roman Rite In the Roman Rite of ...

(

missal A missal is a liturgical book containing instructions and texts necessary for the celebration of Mass throughout the liturgical year. Versions differ across liturgical tradition, period, and purpose, with some missals intended to enable a priest ...

) variously referred to as dating from the beginning, the first half, the middle and the second half of the 18th century. It is the first extensive text in Aromanian, and includes translations of

sermon A sermon is a religious discourse or oration by a preacher, usually a member of clergy. Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present context ...

s and other religious texts into Aromanian. The Aromanian Missal is believed to have been written in

Moscopole Moscopole or Voskopoja (; , with several other variants; ) is a village in Korçë County in southeastern Albania. During the 18th century, it was the cultural and commercial center of the Aromanians. At its peak, in the mid 18th century, it h ...

, once a prosperous Aromanian city, and uses the

Greek alphabet The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BC. It was derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, and is the earliest known alphabetic script to systematically write vowels as wel ...

due to archaic forms of

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

being considered the appropriate language for high and literary functions in those times within the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

. In recent times, the text of the liturgy has begun to circulate more actively among the

Aromanians in Albania The Aromanians in Albania (; ) are an officially recognised Ethnic groups in Europe, ethnic minority in Albania. History Mentions to Vlachs in what is modern-day Albania dates back to the Middle Ages, with Vlach (Latin-speaking) remnants of ...

with support from the

Aromanian diaspora The Aromanian diaspora () is any ethnically Aromanian population living outside its traditional homeland in the Balkans. The Aromanians are a small Balkan ethnic group living scattered throughout Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, North Macedonia, Roman ...

. In a 2002 study on the Aromanians, German researcher

Thede Kahl Thede Kahl (born 30 March 1971 in Hamburg) is a German ethnographer and ethnolinguist. He is the head of the Institute of South Slavic Studies in the University of Jena (in which he is a professor), in Germany. His research focuses are the Slavs, ...

stated that priest Thoma sang this Aromanian-language liturgy at the St. Nicholas Church () of Moscopole. The Aromanian Missal was discovered in 1939 by

Ilo Mitkë Qafëzezi The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is one of the firs ...

, a scholar and writer of mixed

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

–Aromanian origins, in the archives of the

National Library of Albania The National Library of Albania () is Albania's national library headquartered in the country's capital, Tirana. It was founded in 1920 and inaugurated on December 10, 1922. History The Library Commission of Albania began planning the National ...

Tirana Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in Albania, largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills, with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest ov ...

. Upon its discovery, Qafëzezi sent copies of the manuscript to his colleagues at the

University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest (UB) () is a public university, public research university in Bucharest, Romania. It was founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princely Academy of Bucharest, P ...

Theodor Capidan Theodor Capidan ( – September 1, 1953) was an Ottoman-born Romanian linguist. An ethnic Aromanian from the Macedonia region, he studied at Leipzig before teaching school at Thessaloniki. Following the creation of Greater Romania at the end of ...

and , as well as to the

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

newspaper ''

Universul ''Universul'' was a mass-circulation newspaper in Romania. It existed from 1884 to 1953, and was run by Stelian Popescu from 1914 to 1943 (with a two-year break during World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 No ...

''. Later, in 1957, Qafëzezi sent copies of the document to the for the missal's study. In a 1962

monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

, the Aromanian linguist

Matilda Caragiu Marioțeanu Matilda Caragiu Marioțeanu (20 July 1927 – 11 March 2009; ) was a Romanian linguist. She studied in the University of Bucharest, where she became a professor, having also taught at the University of Salzburg and the Goethe University Frankfur ...

formally published the contents of the missal as the ''Liturghier aromânesc'' ("Aromanian Missal"). The Aromanian Missal is one of the earliest Aromanian-language works along with the also anonymous Codex Dimonie and the publications of

Theodore Kavalliotis Theodore Anastasios Kavalliotis (; ; , 1718 – 11 August 1789) was a Greek Orthodox Church, Greek Orthodox priest, teacher and a figure of the Greek Enlightenment. He is also known for having drafted an Aromanian–Greek–Albanian dictionary. ...

Daniel Moscopolites Daniel of Moscopole or Daniil of Moscopole (1754–1825; or ; ), also known as Mihali Adami Hagi (), was an Aromanian scholar from Moscopole and student of Theodoros Kavalliotis, an 18th/19th-century professor and director of New Academy of Mo ...

and

Constantin Ucuta Constantin Ucuta was an Aromanians, Aromanian academic and protopope. He was born in Moscopole, an economically powerful city and Aromanian centre at the time then part of the Ottoman Empire and now part of Albania. He migrated to Poznań, Posen ...

. Caragiu Marioțeanu described the Aromanian language of the missal as being "relatively unitary, systematic, and consistent, and closer to the language used by the writers from the end of the 19th century". She also highlighted that it is the only Aromanian-language book for divine service without

or newly-introduced

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

influences.__NOTOC__

References

Citations

Bibliography

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External links

* , modern digitized version in Latin script by Dumitru Piceava {{Moscopole Aromanian manuscripts History of the Aromanians History of the Aromanian language Moscopole Anonymous works Eastern Orthodox liturgical books 18th-century Christian texts 18th-century manuscripts Missals Aromanian studies