Gospel Short Aprakos.
Middle of 16th cent. Composite applied covers of the 17cent.

F (265 õ 19 3). 345 leaves.
Paper. Ink, cinnabar, colours. Silver (?), panel stamping with revision by caulking hammer and chisel.

It is written in a semi-uncial hand.
There are head-pieces and initials of primitive drawing in the New Byzantine style (fols. 1r, 50r, 93r, 117r). Large headings are written in cinnabar with use of ligatures.
The sixteenth-century binding consists of boards covered with patterned cloth (brocade?). The upper board of the binding is decorated with onlaid decorative panels. The lower board is now lacking.

The composite applied cover dates, probably, from the fist third of the 17th century. The ornamental design consists of onlaid decorative metal fittings. It includes ten relief silver (?) panels with front images, made by the process known as panel stamping with revision by caulking hammer and chisel. The centre piece features The Crucifixion. The centre piece is accompanied by four matching rhombic panels depicting six-wing cherubs. The corner pieces show portraits of the Evangelists. The iconographic feature of these compositions is the depiction of Sophia-Wisdom, representing divine inspiration. These compositions, undoubtedly, are borrowed from miniatures of Altar Gospels and goes back to Novgorod examples of the first third of the 15th century.

In 1919 the manuscript came into the State Public Library along with the collection of St Sophia's Cathedral in Novgorod.

Shelfmark: ÐÍÁ. Ñîô. 16.