In the signs of the end days: eschatological concerns of the Ruthenian publisher Francis Skaryna on the threshold of the Early Modern period
ENThis article seeks to explain the printing activities of Doctor Francis Skaryna through the prism of the eschatological tensions at the turn of the sixteenth century. By focusing on Skaryna’s prints, including the Ruthenian Bible of Prague (1517–1519), Malaia Padarozhnaia Kniha, Liber Viaticus [The Little Travelling Book] of Vilnius (1521–1522), and the Apostle of Vilnius (1525), I examine Francis Skaryna’s perceptions concerning the Last Judgement, salvation, and the future fate of humankind, as well as establish possible connections between the Ruthenian printer’s ideas and contemporary eschatological perceptions in Europe. To achieve this goal, I place Skaryna’s ideas and imagery in a wider European context, with particular emphasis on Southern Germany and the Kingdom of Bohemia. Keywords: Francis Skaryna; Ruthenian Bible; Prague; Eschatology; Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
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