CARA Fellow
University of Birmingham
Oleksandr Okhrimenko is a CARA Fellow at the University of Birmingham, where his research focuses on medieval manuscript studies, codicology, fragmentology, and Ukrainian cultural heritage in British and European collections. He completed his doctorate at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. His work encompasses Western European Books of Hours, German incunabula, and early Cyrillic manuscripts and printed books, with a particular interest in manuscript fragments. He has held fellowships at the Linda Hall Library (Kansas City) and the Bibliographical Society of America, and is a member of the Early Book Society and Medieval Central Europe Research Network. His current research includes a census of surviving copies of Guido Bonatti’s Decem tractatus astronomiae (Augsburg, 1491) and a study of Ukrainian heritage dispersed across international institutions.
Friday, May 29 | 10:30-11:05 | Breakout 1
Apostolus Christinopolitanus Between Institutions and Cultures
The Apostolus Christinopolitanus represents the oldest and most complete Cyrillic translation of Acts and Epistles preserved in Ukraine. Created in the twelfth century during the cultural flourishing of medieval Ukraine, this manuscript embodies complex dynamics of textual transmission between Byzantine, Latin, and emerging Slavic traditions.
This paper examines how the Apostolus Christinopolitanus navigates institutional and cultural boundaries. Today the manuscript remains dispersed: Lviv Historical Museum (291 folios), Institute of Manuscripts in Kyiv (8 folios), and Princes Czartoryski Library in Kraków (4 folios). The 2020 discovery of additional folios in Kraków by Dr. Stanislav Voloshchenko represents a significant step in recovering this divided heritage. The facsimile edition (2023) has given new life to the manuscript, making it accessible to wider audiences. During the Russian-Ukrainian War, this medieval text has been transformed into a symbol of struggle, highlighting centuries of cultural appropriation through systematic removal of medieval written artifacts by Russian authorities. The manuscript has also stimulated discussion about derusification, including restoring the authentic name Khrystynopil instead of Soviet-era Chervonohrad for the town that gave the codex its name.
Codicological and textual analysis reveals the manuscript’s position at the intersection of multiple cultural spheres. The scribes demonstrated familiarity with Glagolitic signs, employed Latin headings, and carefully studied their Greek exemplars, evident in internal cross-references. We intend to compare selected passages from Acts with the Editio Critica Maior to trace which Greek textual tradition the Cyrillic translation represents. Particular attention will be given to marginal comments throughout the text, which we believe to be translations from Greek rather than original additions by the Cyrillic compiler. At least the visual presentation mimics Greek manuscripts of Acts and Epistles, illustrating cultural transmission in medieval Europe. While Western Europe experienced intellectual renewal through Latin translations from Arabic, Ukraine participated in this twelfth-century renaissance through Byzantine channels, rapidly developing distinctive national characteristics.This case study demonstrates how manuscript evidence illuminates textual transmission, institutional memory, and cultural exchange. By examining the Apostolus Christinopolitanus across geographical, institutional, and cultural boundaries, we better understand networks that shaped early Slavic biblical texts and their place within New Testament transmission tradition.