Izbornik

Izbornik (s”bornik, sbornik”,sobornik”). A Church Slavonic liturgical book with dates of the various religious services throughout the year, sometimes with the liturgical texts included; or a collection of texts from various sources. Many of the collections were translated from Byzantine variants. The Izbornik of Sviatoslav (1073) and the collection of homilies Zlatostrui, for example, were translations. Other collections, such as the Izbornik of Sviatoslav (1076) and the book of homilies Izmarahd, probably originated in Ukraine. Some collections were only supplemented with materials of Ukrainian origin: for example, Torzhestvennik, a book of homilies for feast days, was supplemented by the sermons of Cyril of Turiv. From the 16th to 18th centuries numerous private compilations of various texts appeared, particularly collections of verses and stories. In modern times the term izbornik is no longer used.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 2 (1989).]