Armenia’s Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts, known as the Matenadaran, will display one of its rarest artifacts — the “Gospel of Shuryshkin,” a 15th-century Armenian manuscript long revered as a miraculous book.
Also known as “Grandfather,” “Red,” and “Surp Barseg Kesaretsi,” the handwritten Gospel was created in 1498 in the village of Aspisnak, in the province of Kajberunik in the historic Van region. The manuscript was written by the priest and scribe Barseg, with authorship traditionally attributed to Turuand.
According to historical tradition, the Gospel was relocated during the 1603–1604 deportations of Armenians to the village of Shuryshkin in the Persian province of Peria, where it was kept at the Monastery of St. Basil of Caesarea. To protect it from danger, the manuscript was hidden underground. A spring later formed above the hiding place, and the Gospel was recovered seven years later, largely undamaged.
For centuries, believers have regarded the manuscript as a source of hope, healing, and answered prayers.
