The handwritten and printed heirmologions as an important source of investigations in development of musical education and ecclesiastic singing in Transcarpathia of the XVIII – the beginning of XX centuries

The interest to regional processes of education and culture development, as well as the awareness of spiritual and artistic treasures of sacred art can be traced in modern scientific investigations. The awareness of history of ecclesiastic music education, folk - song and religious traditions, constituting the part of spiritual culture of the people are of great importance nowadays. The oldest layer of Transcarpathian musical culture is represented by sacred monodies, the sources for the study of which are handwritten and printed Heirmologions. The significant contributions to these studies are Professor Yu. Yasinovsky's investigations. The aim of the article - to generalize the spread and usage of handwritten and printed Heirmologions in educational and liturgical practice in Transcarpathia of the XVIII - the beginning of XX centuries. Preservation and spread of ancient ecclesiastical singing traditions is closely connected with the monasteries, where educated monks worked, the Chronicle and the considerable number of liturgical literature was kept and rewritten, including Heirmologions. In Mukachevo monastery the Heirmologions printed in Lviv and Pochaiv have been used. Handwritten and Pochayiv printed Heirmologions of 1766 and 1794years have been used in Basilian Fathers Máriapócs monastery. The preserved marginal records of handwritten Heirmologions include information about the place and time of their creation, as well as the surnames of the owners. The Heirmologions have been rewritten by the students that were the studying musical literacy under the supervision of priests and cantors. Well-known Transcarpathian poet-philosopher, priest Basil Dovhovych (1783-1849) in his autobiography says that he studied the Hermologion and canon singing under church clerks of villages Zolotarevo and Drahovo. In teaching the Lviv printed editions (of 1700, 1709, 1757), Pochaiv editions (of 1766, 1775, 1794) as well as printed collections of mid XIX - beginning of XX century Heirmologions have been used alongside with handwritten ones. For example, the Lviv Heirmologion of 1709 and Pochaiv Heirmologion of 1794 have been used in Uzhgorod Theological Seminary. Convincing evidence of the strength of religious culture traditions, respect for spiritual heritage of church communities nowadays are the preservance of old printed Heirmologions of XVIII century in some Transcarpathian churches. Marginal records of the Heirmologions in churches of Imstychevo, Zaluzh, Turi-Remety confirm their use in liturgical practice from the middle of the XVIII – the beginning of the XX century. In the library of Uzhhorod National University the Lviv printed Heirmologion of the 1700 edition with unique remarques, exists, due to the Meshko family efforts during two centuries. Peripheral recordings in the Heirmologion, is a kind of a Chronicle of the book preservation in the families of many generations, where the traditional profession was of a priest and a teacher. The events observed, cover the period from 1738 till 1933, made it possible to trace its usage in parochial congregations in Ardanovo, Deshkovytsia, Svaliava, Vishkovo, Bogdan, Syhot and Uzhhorod. Handwritten and printed Heirmologions were important aids in the acquisition of musical literacy, the learning of liturgy singing during the study process in Uzhhorod teachers' Seminary (1794-1944), which played an important role in the development of regional musical education. The carried out review expands our understanding of the creative processes of spread and usage of handwritten and printed Heirmologions in liturgical practice of monasteries, ancient forms functioning of sacred monody in parochial centers, in educational establishments during the XVIII - and the beginning of the XX century, indicating the necessity of further studies of Transcarpathian ecclesiastic singingtraditions.