The text is written in two columns per page, 18 lines per page in
uncial letters. It contains 15 pictures. It is not known where it was created due to its
colophon being lost. Originally it was believed to have originated from the eastern provinces of the Byzantine Empire but later Russian analysis placed it as being from
Constantinople due to the art style. It combined Greek illustrations with Armenian pigments. It is believed to have been a commission from the Byzantine Emperor due to the level of detail within it. Though the Gospel still portrays the
Four Evangelists as being together in a single folio to demonstrate the harmony of the four Gospel accounts. The book was richly decorated with gold and jewels by the Trapezuntine Emperor
Andronicus. In 1858, the
Trebizond Gospel was presented by the Orthodox Metropolitan of
Trebizond to the Emperor
Alexander II of Russia, who donated it to the
Imperial Russian National Library, where is held to the present day (Codex Gr. 21, 21a). The manuscript is not cited in the critical editions of the Greek New Testament (UBS3), because of its small textual value. == See also ==