Іван Федорович

Fields of activity: Printing, Science and Education
Date of birth: circa 1510
Date of death: December 15, 1583, Lviv
Navigator: Late Middle Ages. Rus’ after Rus’

Printer, engineer, engraver, and founder — often called the “father of the Ukrainian primer.”

Reliable information about Ivan Fedorov’s origins has not survived. Sparse historical evidence suggests he was born on the Ukrainian-Belarusian borderlands. He received his education in European institutions, including in Kraków. Later, he served as a deacon at one of the Moscow churches and already owned a printing house, where together with Pyotr Mstislavets he published liturgical books.
When the printing house burned down in the autumn of 1565, they moved to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. There they were warmly received by local nobles, particularly the military commander and magnate Hryhorii Khodkevych, who established a printing house in Zabłudów where Fedorov worked for some time. In 1568–1569 he published the Didactic Gospel, and in 1570 began work on the Apostolos, a book containing the biblical Acts and Epistles of the Apostles.
In September 1572, Fedorov moved to Lviv, where he either founded his own printing house or revived a neglected one. It was there, in February 1574, that the Apostolos was published — the first known Ukrainian early printed book. A few months later, he issued the Azbuka (“Alphabet” or “Primer”), the first East Slavic book intended for elementary education. The title is conventional: the book lacked a title page (or it has not survived), and it is named after the opening words, “This alphabet…”.
Only two original copies of the Azbuka have survived: a complete copy in good condition is held by Harvard University; another, damaged during rebinding, was purchased in 1982 by the British Museum from a private collection. In 1964 and 1975, the Kyiv publishing house “Dnipro” produced facsimile editions of the Azbuka.
After publishing these two books, lacking funds to continue his work in Lviv, Fedorov accepted the invitation of Prince Kostiantyn-Vasyl Ostrozky and moved to Ostroh. There he headed the printing house at the newly founded Ostroh Academy, where his services were highly valued by professors and students alike.
Prince Ostrozky sought to transform his residence into a major cultural and educational center. He gathered a circle of scholars whose primary goal was to translate the Bible into Church Slavonic. Within this intellectual environment, Fedorov — known as Ivan the Printer — edited books, wrote commentaries, and oversaw the publication of the Psalter, the New Testament, and the Chronology by the poet and translator Andrii Rymsha.
In 1578, he reissued his Azbuka in Church Slavonic and Greek; its preface recounts the founding of the Ostroh School, for which the book was intended. He was the first to print important Slavic literary monuments such as On Letters by Chernorizets Hrabar and the Didactic Gospel containing texts by Kyrylo of Turov.
Fedorov’s most famous book, however, was his last — the celebrated Ostrog Bible, published in 1580–1581. At the beginning of 1582, he returned to Lviv, attempting to restore his printing house and working together with his eldest son, Ivan Drukarevych. In December 1583, Fedorov died. Because the printing equipment had been pledged as collateral, it passed into the hands of creditors. In 1585, at the initiative of Lviv Bishop Hedeon Balaban, the press was redeemed for 1,500 gold coins, and its equipment continued to be used for many years by the Lviv Brotherhood School.
On Ukrainian lands, Ivan Fedorov published eight editions in various print runs. The tradition of printing primers that he initiated was continued by Cyrillic printing houses of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Although he was not the only printer of his time, his books stood out for their remarkable technical and artistic excellence.
In the early 1970s, art historian Borys Voznytsky discovered Fedorov’s burial site in the church of the Onuphrius Monastery in Lviv. It took several decades to confirm that the remains indeed belonged to the pioneer printer. Initially transferred to the Museum of the Old Book, they were reburied in December 2014 in the same monastery church where Fedorov had rested for centuries.

Brief Conclusions

Statesman and reformer — not a statesman in the modern sense, but a key figure in the history of Ukrainian printing; founded the first printing houses in Lviv and Ostroh.
Legislator — not a legislator; known as an East Slavic printer, engraver, engineer, and founder.
Patron and builder — his work contributed significantly to the development of education and the spread of knowledge.
Church policy — printed religious books that were crucial for the dissemination of Orthodox faith and education; in cooperation with his son, published the first complete Slavic Bible.
Legacy — founded printing in Ukraine, publishing the first Ukrainian books: the Apostolos, the Primer, and the Ostrog Bible. Made a major contribution to book culture and education.

Author: Oksana Smorzhevska