The Niagovo Postilla

The Ňagovo postilla (interpretive gospel) was composed by an Orthodox priest from Maramoroš in the 16th century and survives in manuscript copies from the 17th and 18th centuries. Written “in a language which the people speak so that the faithful poor might understand” under the influence of the Protestant Reformation, it is considered the first original monument of Subcarpathian Rusyn literature and is the best known work in the Carpatho-Rusyn postilla tradition. It is highly valuable for Carpatho-Rusyn religious history and historical linguistics.

The Russian historian Alexey Petrov was the first to decipher and publish the postilla in 1914 (2nd ed. 1921). This facsimile edition (2006) includes a supplement by László Dezső, which provides the historical context of the document.