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This codex contains the Gospel passages that are read in church, and is also known as the Gospel of Prince Alexander, who added the expensive binding and donated it to the Sinai dependency in Romania in the sixteenth century. The only miniature illustration in the codex (folio 1v) depicts the Deesis scene, and includes portraits of the Evangelists, who in earlier depictions are shown to present Christ with their Gospels. The scene alludes to liturgical worship, and emphasizes the mediating character of the Mother of God and saint John the Baptist for the salvation of the faithful. This scene is regularly encountered in the beginning of Gospel Lectionaries, as well as in the iconography scheme of the iconostasis. It is possible that this is the work of a Cypriot painter.


Parchment, 254 sheets
Second half of twelfth century
38,3 Χ 28,2 cm
Cod. 208

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