Gospel Readings.
985. St Basil Monastery. One of Scribes: Monk Michael

F (266 õ 189). II+303+I leaves. Two and two parchment leaves from the ninth-century Gospel Readings are added to the beggining and the end (see their description: Eugenia Granstrem 1. Page 239, no 92).
Parchment. Ink, cinnabar, colours.

It is written in two columns. The scribe used minuscule script: so-called ecriture bouletee and "pearl script". Text has ekphonetic signs.

There are 4 multicolour ornamental head-pieces (fols. 1r, 47r, 119v, 207v); approximately 300 ornamental initials; one-colour ornamental tail-pieces. The inscription of the scribe Michael on folio 303, who copied the last two signatures of the codex, says that he completed his work on 27 July in 985 during the rign of Byzantine Emperors Basil II and Constantine VIII.
The style of handwriting and artistic design of the codex reflects influences of both Constantinople skriptoriums and traditions of eastern provinces. The manuscript was created in an unknown center for copying manuscripts, which merged different stylistic tendencies in the second half of the 10th century .

In 1891 the manuscript was presented to the library of the St Petersburg Theological Academy by Privy Councillor Vladimir Sabler, the head of the chancellery of the Synod. It entered the State Public Library along with the collection of the St Petersburg Theological Academy in 1929.

Shelfmark: ÐÍÁ. ÑÏáÄÀ Á I/5.