An exhibition of old religious books was mounted in the hall of the National Library in Chisinau on April 5. This includes gospels, books with prayers and with liturgical songs dating from the 16th – 20th centuries, IPN reports.

The Bible of Ivan Feodorov, which was printed in Ostrog in 1581, is the oldest of the exhibits. Among other remarkable books are the Gospel printed at the Neamt Monastery, which is covered with metal and semiprecious stones, and the Bible in Romanian that appeared in St. Petersburg in 1819. Some of the books contain notes about the previous owners.

Veronica Cosovan, head of the Old and Rare Books Section of the National Library, said a separate chapter of the exhibit is devoted to books of liturgical songs and gospels in foreign languages. Outside the exhibition, the books are kept in a special store to which only researchers have access.

Attending the inauguration, priest Andrei Rusu, of the Chisinau Church “Saint Great Martyr Dumitru”, said the exhibition of religious books is a phenomenon. A religious book means relics, which are church articles. “The displayed books are not only historical exhibits. They are also holy things. Together we make a church here as where there are relics there is a church,” he stated.

Elena Pintilei, director of the National Library of Moldova, said that for the first time the National Library, before the Easter holidays, highlights the national written Orthodox heritage. The collection consists of over 300,000 books. “The exhibited books have an incontestable value. No one knows there price, but we know that they are a value for this country. The books are incrusted with precious stones and with silver, not speaking about their content. They present the history of the Slavic and Orthodox Romanian books. They are our true history that cannot be falsified,” stated Elena Pintilei.

The exhibition will continue until April 22.