On September 6, 2021, a presentation of the facsimile edition of the Mazepa Gospel took place in the National Reserve “Hetman’s Capital”, in the palace of Hetman K. Rozumovsky. This unique edition was published in January 1708 in the city of Aleppo at the expense of Hetman of Ukraine Ivan Mazepa and contains a dedication to the patron hetman written by the Patriarch of Antioch Athanasius III. The book testifies to the close connection between Ukraine and the Orthodox East, and also demonstrates how interesting and multifaceted Ivan Mazepa was. For a long time, this symbol of the spiritual connection between the Far East and Ukraine was lost in our country. But the efforts of the Embassy of Ukraine in Lebanon and the Foundation in memory of His Beatitude Metropolitan Volodymyr and the staff of the National Library of Ukraine. V. Vernadsky’s reprint of the Mazepa Gospel became possible.
The publication was presented to the guests of the event by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Republic of Lebanon Ihor Ostash and Metropolitan Oleksandr Drabynko of Pereyaslav and Vyshneve. As Ihor Ostash noted, “It is an extraordinary honor today to restore historical justice and return to Baturyn the Mazepa Gospel, published at the expense of the Grand Hetman in January 1708. 313 years have passed and this historical relic of Ukraine will be exhibited in the Hetman’s Hall of the Hetman’s Capital Reserve.
