Little-known Ukrainian monument “Reshetylivka’s Didactic Gospel”

The written records of the Ukrainian language are a valuable source for studying the development of the language system of the Middle Ukrainian period. Didactic Gospel of Reshetylivka is analyzed in this article. It is a unique written record that reflects the development of the religious style and the whole language system on the territory of spreading the Middle-Dnieper dialect in the 17th century, which formed the basis of the Ukrainian literary language. This written book is one of the didactic Gospels, which temporal and areal attribution can be determined quite accurately. It is noticed that this book of sermons is written in simple language, because the author tried to explain the Gospel texts and Orthodoxy dogmas even to the simplest man. The didactic Gospel is destined for using during the church year. The author of the article reconstructs the full name of the manuscript, specifies the genre of the book and the time when it was written. The main peculiarities of the development of the sermon genre, the reasons that influenced to their structural and stylistic modification and creating the new model of sermon during the 16th–17th centuries are determined. The area of distribution of the didactic Gospels in this period is also represented. Structural features and subject-matters of the sermons in the manuscript of Reshetylivka, which the author calls sciences, are described. It is established that the book presents two graphic systems – semi‑uncial and cursive. The translations of the Gospel chapters were written in Old Ukrainian language by semi-uncial graphical system. But the main part of the book is represented by homilies written in Old Ukrainian language by cursive graphical system. The written didactic Gospel of Reshetylivka is undoubtedly a unique monument of the Ukrainian language and an important source of researching the development of the language system. Keywords: Old Ukrainian language, written record of the Ukrainian language, manuscript, didactic Gospel, sermon, cursive, semi-uncial.