The first phototype edition of an important Montenegrin manuscript “Cetinjski psaltir” from the 15th century, was published by Matica Crnogorska and the National Library of Montenegro “Đurđe Crnojević”. The digitized version of “Cetinjski psaltir” was ceded by the National and University Library from Zagreb (NSK), which keeps this manuscript under the signature R-3349.
According to the watermarks on the paper, the handwritten “Cetinjski psaltir” dates back to the first quarter of the 15th century and it was written in one of the scriptoriums on Skadar Lake at the end of the reign of the Balšić dynasty until 1421. As stated in the foreword of the editors, Ivan Ivanović, general secretary of Matica Crnogorska and Dragica Lompar, director of NLM “Đurđe Crnojević”, at that time these Montenegrin rulers strongly supported the rewriting of liturgical manuscript books in the scriptoriums of the monasteries of the Skadar basin.
– In the last decade of the 15th century, Cetinje became the new Montenegrin capital of the Crnojević dynasty, and “Cetinjski psaltir” was one of the first manuscript books brought to the library of the newly founded Cetinje Monastery, as the cathedral of the already officialized Montenegrin Orthodox Church. The establishment of the monastery library with manuscript books and the activation of copying literary activity was the basis for the establishment of the Cetinje Spiritual and Literary Center as a new core of Montenegrin literacy. “Cetinjski psaltir” therefore also served as a template for new transcriptions of this important Old Testament biblical book.
The edition is accompanied by an afterword in Montenegrin and English by prominent Montenegrin medievalist prof. Dr. Božidar Šekularac, who performed the codicological description of this manuscript and who was of great help during the realization of the entire project. Božidar Šekularac states that the importance of the “Psalter” as a liturgical book is best explained by the fact that the number of its editions is greater than the total number of all other liturgical books of the 15th-16th centuries, adding that this work, in addition to its religious and philosophical importance, has a special significance in the regular liturgical life of the church.
A psalter is a liturgical book, i.e. one of the biblical books of the Old Testament, which consists of songs or psalms. There are a total of 150 psalms, divided into 20 kathismas, and each kathisma ends with the doxology “Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit”. It was translated into the Slavic language by the all-Slavic educators Saints Cyril and Methodius. The handwritten text was written in two columns: the left one - written in a larger semi-constitution that somewhat turns into shorthand, and the right one (interpretations) - a smaller script of a similar type, with a different number of lines, which depended on the extensiveness of the “telling”. The Cetinje Psalter is written on paper measuring 27.5 x 20 cm, while the volume of the manuscript is 221 leaves.
– The psalms, which were sung in the Jewish church during the time of Tsar David during worship, were transferred to the Christian church at the first religious meetings. Immediately after Christ's Ascension, his disciples and the first believers in Solomon's department of the Jerusalem Temple attended the service with the singing of psalms, reading and interpretation of the Holy Scriptures. Even today, in the liturgical typology of the Orthodox Church, there is not a single service where individual psalms or groups of psalms are not read or sung. In literature, the so-called “Psalter style” developed in vocabulary, phraseology, poetic stylization and the content of literary creativity with all troparions and figures, which Slavic literacy took from Greek originals - states Šekularac and adds that, bearing in mind that a scriptorium and printing press worked in Cetinje at the Crnojević’s Court, “it is not without foundation to claim that this manuscript of the Cetinje Psalter with interpretations served the Cetinje scribes and printers as a model by which they worked, especially since the content of the text is almost the same.”
The phototype edition of “The Cetinje Psalter” was printed in a circulation of 300 numbered copies. In addition to the previous phototype editions of Matica Crnogorska and the National Library of Montenegro “Đurđe Crnojević”, this work additionally testifies to the continuity and reach of Montenegrin national culture, literacy and spirituality.
The first phototype edition of an important Montenegrin manuscript “Cetinjski psaltir” from the 15th century, was published by Matica Crnogorska and the National Library of Montenegro “Đurđe Crnojević”. The digitized version of “Cetinjski psaltir” was ceded by the National and University Library from Zagreb (NSK), which keeps this manuscript under the signature R-3349.
According to the watermarks on the paper, the handwritten “Cetinjski psaltir” dates back to the first quarter of the 15th century and it was written in one of the scriptoriums on Skadar Lake at the end of the reign of the Balšić dynasty until 1421. As stated in the foreword of the editors, Ivan Ivanović, general secretary of Matica Crnogorska and Dragica Lompar, director of NLM “Đurđe Crnojević”, at that time these Montenegrin rulers strongly supported the rewriting of liturgical manuscript books in the scriptoriums of the monasteries of the Skadar basin.
– In the last decade of the 15th century, Cetinje became the new Montenegrin capital of the Crnojević dynasty, and “Cetinjski psaltir” was one of the first manuscript books brought to the library of the newly founded Cetinje Monastery, as the cathedral of the already officialized Montenegrin Orthodox Church. The establishment of the monastery library with manuscript books and the activation of copying literary activity was the basis for the establishment of the Cetinje Spiritual and Literary Center as a new core of Montenegrin literacy. “Cetinjski psaltir” therefore also served as a template for new transcriptions of this important Old Testament biblical book.
The edition is accompanied by an afterword in Montenegrin and English by prominent Montenegrin medievalist prof. Dr. Božidar Šekularac, who performed the codicological description of this manuscript and who was of great help during the realization of the entire project. Božidar Šekularac states that the importance of the “Psalter” as a liturgical book is best explained by the fact that the number of its editions is greater than the total number of all other liturgical books of the 15th-16th centuries, adding that this work, in addition to its religious and philosophical importance, has a special significance in the regular liturgical life of the church.
A psalter is a liturgical book, i.e. one of the biblical books of the Old Testament, which consists of songs or psalms. There are a total of 150 psalms, divided into 20 kathismas, and each kathisma ends with the doxology “Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit”. It was translated into the Slavic language by the all-Slavic educators Saints Cyril and Methodius. The handwritten text was written in two columns: the left one - written in a larger semi-constitution that somewhat turns into shorthand, and the right one (interpretations) - a smaller script of a similar type, with a different number of lines, which depended on the extensiveness of the “telling”. The Cetinje Psalter is written on paper measuring 27.5 x 20 cm, while the volume of the manuscript is 221 leaves.
– The psalms, which were sung in the Jewish church during the time of Tsar David during worship, were transferred to the Christian church at the first religious meetings. Immediately after Christ's Ascension, his disciples and the first believers in Solomon's department of the Jerusalem Temple attended the service with the singing of psalms, reading and interpretation of the Holy Scriptures. Even today, in the liturgical typology of the Orthodox Church, there is not a single service where individual psalms or groups of psalms are not read or sung. In literature, the so-called “Psalter style” developed in vocabulary, phraseology, poetic stylization and the content of literary creativity with all troparions and figures, which Slavic literacy took from Greek originals - states Šekularac and adds that, bearing in mind that a scriptorium and printing press worked in Cetinje at the Crnojević’s Court, “it is not without foundation to claim that this manuscript of the Cetinje Psalter with interpretations served the Cetinje scribes and printers as a model by which they worked, especially since the content of the text is almost the same.”
The phototype edition of “The Cetinje Psalter” was printed in a circulation of 300 numbered copies. In addition to the previous phototype editions of Matica Crnogorska and the National Library of Montenegro “Đurđe Crnojević”, this work additionally testifies to the continuity and reach of Montenegrin national culture, literacy and spirituality.