The 1821 Gospel is a rare edition printed on the so-called Bible paper. Being very thin, light and durable, this type of paper is suitable for printing large books which have many pages.

The Gospel includes four books, which are named after their authors: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

This edition from the collection of the National Museum of the Republic of Mari El was the first publication in the Hill Mari language. The book was translated by Andrey Albinsky, a priest and one of the first educators of the Mari people. He was born in 1790 and served at a church in the village of Pertnury, which is now located in the Gornomariysky District of Mari El. Albinsky also opened a school there, teaching Mari children in their native language. He also conducted services in the Mari language, which was known as the Cheremis language at the time. A famous researcher Sergey Nurminsky, who studied the history of religion and public education, wrote about Andrey Albinsky,

Between March and October 1820, Albinsky lived in St. Petersburg, where he prepared his translation of the Gospel for publication. The Holy Synod approved his translation, and in 1821, it was published by the publishing house of Nikolay Gretsch.

The translation of the Gospel was not perfect: it contained phonetic errors, and the sentences were built according to the rules of the Russian, and not the Hill Mari syntax. Nevertheless, the Mari priests often used it during services.

Nine years later, in 1830, Andrey Albinsky compiled another book titled “Teachings composed and spoken by archpriest Andrey Albinsky for the newly baptized Cheremis people”, also known as “The Cheremis grammar”. In 1837, this edition was published by the printing office of Kazan University with a print run of 1,200 copies which was very impressive for that time. For a long time, the book served as a teaching aid in schools where the Mari language was taught. In this book, Andrey Albinsky compiled the entire alphabet of the Mari language for the first time in the history of Mari writing.