Ukraine Recovers 1758 Church Book Lost in WWII, Returns It to Vinnytsia Regional Museum

The Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine officially transferred a rare and historically significant early printed book called Oktoikh  (1758) to the Vinnytsia Regional Museum of Local History on April 15.

The repatriation of this unique liturgical volume was made possible through the efforts of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine.

Originally housed at the institution that now functions as the Vinnytsia Regional Museum, the Oktoikh was removed to Germany during World War II. It later reappeared in a private collection in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

While residing in the European Union, the collector voluntarily submitted digital copies of the book’s stamp impressions for scholarly analysis. The study confirmed the presence of the original oval and square stamps from the Vinnytsia Museum. Simultaneously, the absence of mandatory People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs  verification stamps from 1947 and 1952 – typically required for all museum holdings post-war – further substantiated that the book had been lost during the wartime period.

“The return of the Oktoikh, lost during the Second World War, constitutes a meaningful act of historical justice,” stated Serhii Bieliayev, Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. “This edition from the Uniate liturgical tradition is a valuable resource for scholars – historians, philologists, theologians. It provides insight not only through its sacred texts, but also through the stylistic, linguistic, and typographic markers embedded in its design.”

The 1758 edition was printed in Church Slavonic at the Pochaiv Dormition Lavra, one of the most prominent centers of spiritual and cultural life in Ukraine. The book included 380 folios, formatted in two columns using both red and black ink, richly decorated initials, headpieces, and ornamental elements, a leather-bound cover embossed with an image of the Mother of God with the Child and floral ornamentation on the front cover and a geometric motif on the reverse.

Earlier, while constructing defensive fortifications in southern Ukraine, soldiers from the 123rd Territorial Defense Brigade uncovered an ancient burial site dating back to the 6th–5th centuries BCE.

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