Lusine Sargsyan, Armenian Gospel of Surxat’ (Crimea) at the Armenian Catholic Parish of Gheorghieni
The Armenian Catholic parish of Gheorgheni holds a collection of Armenian manuscripts and old printed books as evidence of the Armenian community, having more than 300 years of history. I had the opportunity to study this library during my research trip to Romania in May–June 20172. The importance of each manuscript in this collection is beyond doubt, however, first I directed my attention to this Gospel (new inv. no. 85, old inv. no. 245) for two reasons: it is the most valuable sample from the artistic point of view and also is the earliest dated manuscript of the collection. There is no information when and how this Gospel appeared in this collection. Only the first folio of the principal colophon has been preserved (fol. 287v, ill. 5): it provides information about the date and place of writing of the Gospel: it was copied in 1354 in Surxat’ (Crimea).