On September 12, 2025, following the ceremony of presentation of Letters of Credence by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Republic of Cyprus H.E. Mr. Sergii Nizhynskyi to the President of the Republic of Cyprus H.E. Mr. Nikos Christodoulides, a facsimile edition of the Peresopnytsia Gospel was presented as a gift. This outstanding manuscript monument of Old Ukrainian literary language and art is regarded as a spiritual treasure of the Ukrainian people – the very Book upon which the Presidents of Ukraine take their Oath of Office.
The Peresopnytsia Gospel was created between 1556 and 1561 at the Peresopnytsia Monastery in Volhynia, during a period when Ukrainians were searching for their own cultural, linguistic, and religious identity. Today, the Gospel has become a unique relic and one of the symbols of Ukrainian statehood.
It is highly symbolic that the Peresopnytsia Gospel was chosen as a protocol gift, since Cyprus is considered one of the cradles of Christianity, and the Church of Cyprus was granted the status of an autocephalous church at the Council of Ephesus as early as 431 AD.
The histories of our countries share certain parallels. For many centuries, Cyprus, like Ukraine, did not have its own statehood; yet its people preserved their traditions, historical memory, spiritual heritage, and nurtured the dream of independence. The Church of Cyprus has always been a guardian of national consciousness and a unifying force for its people.
It was indeed the Primate of the Church of Cyprus, Archbishop Makarios III, who became the first President of independent Cyprus in 1960. Equally symbolic is the fact that the Church of Cyprus recognized the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine on 24 October 2020, thereby affirming the legitimate right of our people to have their own Local Church.
By presenting this symbolic gift, Ambassador Sergii Nizhynskyi expressed profound respect for the Republic of Cyprus, represented by its President, and emphasized that the Peresopnytsia Gospel, upon which the Presidents of Ukraine swear their Oath of Office, stands as a symbol of hope and support. This hope is especially significant as Cyprus assumes the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2026, when President Nikos Christodoulides, together with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Heads of States of the EU, and the wider diplomatic community, will continue to act in support of Ukraine, the establishment of a just peace, and Ukraine’s unconditional accession to the European Union.
Ambassador Sergii Nizhynskyi also expressed his confidence that the Peresopnytsia Gospel, by its honor and status, should become the very first Ukrainian book on the shelves of Cyprus’s national library, and a symbol of cultural diplomacy consistently and clearly advanced by the Ukrainian diplomatic corps under the leadership of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Mr. Andrii Sybiha.