Eastern Christian Manuscripts

HMML’s Eastern Christian manuscript collection contains digital images and microfilms for approximately 75,000 manuscripts located in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. Partnering with over 70 communities since the 1970s, HMML now holds a unique resource for the study of Eastern Christianity in its historic cradle and areas of early expansion, including important holdings of Armenian, Christian Arabic, Coptic, Ethiopic, Malayalam, Church Slavonic, and Syriac manuscripts.

Highlights

Abba Garima Gospels—the oldest known painted gospel books in the world, part of the collection of the Endā Abbā Garimā Monastery, Tigray Province, Ethiopia (AG 1 and AG 2)
EMML microfilm collection of 8,000 Ethiopian manuscripts—the largest in the world—photographed throughout Ethiopia during the 1970 and 1980s
A 16th-century copy of the 12th-century Chronicle of Michael the Great, part of the collection of the Syrian Orthodox Church, Archdiocese of Aleppo (SOAA 00250 S)
Oldest manuscript in HMML’s collections, a 6th-century gospel book from Meryem Ana Kilisesi, Diyarbakir, Turkey (DIYR 339)
Peshitta Institute biblical microfilms of the Middle East (now at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam)
Arthur Vööbus microfilm collection (formerly at the Lutheran School of Theology, Chicago)
Syriac and Ethiopian manuscripts and scrolls at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota
A significant collection of manuscripts in Church Slavonic at the L'viv Historical Museum, Ukraine (LHMU)

Manuscripts Repositories

Countries

Croatia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Hungary, India, Iran, Iraq, Jerusalem, Lebanon, Montenegro, Romania, Syria, Turkey, and Ukraine (Eastern Christian manuscripts are also found throughout the Western European and Malta collections)
Date Range

6th–21st century
Languages

Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Bulgarian, Church Slavonic, Coptic, Geʻez (Ethiopic), Georgian, Greek, Latin, Malayalam, Mandaic, Romanian, Russian, Slavonic, Syriac, Turkish, and others
Curator

Dr. Josh Mugler, Curator of Eastern Christian and Islamic Manuscripts

Abba Garima Gospel book, Endā Abbā Garimā Monastery, Tigray Province, Ethiopia. (<a href='https://w3id.org/vhmml/readingRoom/view/132896'>AG 1</a>)

Abba Garima Gospel book, Endā Abbā Garimā Monastery, Tigray Province, Ethiopia. (AG 1)

HMML’s Eastern Christian collections include a large number of Armenian manuscripts containing important texts and bookbindings, like this silver and jeweled cover of an Armenian gospel book located in Anṭilyās, Lebanon. (ACC 8)