Chu Psalter
The Chu Psalter is a 13th-century Christian Turkic Psalter in Syriac script from the Chu valley. It was bought in 1881 by a tsarist orientalist expedition and has since been held in an academic collection in St Petersburg. Its return is the main manuscript claim of the Syro-Iradi Catholic Church.[1]
The claim
The archeparchy asked for the Psalter in 1993, 2007 and 2018, and the ISEZ backed the request in 2018. The Russian answer is that it was lawfully acquired and is part of Russia's collections. A full-size facsimile has stood in the Cathedral Seminary Library of Iyık Janyl since 2021, beside the library's own treasures, among them the Talas Gospel Lectionary of about 1185 and the 13th-century Gospels of Iyık Janyl copied by the monk Marqos.[1][2]
The Psalter's return is a standing line in speeches in Talas, while Russo politicians in Nurzhan complain that Talas politicizes scholarship.[2]
References
- ^ Cathedral Seminary Library of Iyık Janyl (2021). The Chu Psalter: Facsimile and Commentary. Iyık Janyl.
- ^ Talas Herald (2018). 'Archeparchy asks Russia again for the Chu Psalter.' Talas.