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The Book of Hours of the Armenian Church (Žamagirk‘): English Translation, Contexts, and Perspectives offers the first critically grounded English rendering of one of the central liturgical books of the Armenian Christian tradition—and, as such, the first complete translation of this text into any language. Long central to the daily cycle of prayer, the Žamagirk‘ preserves a rich and layered inheritance reaching back to the formative centuries of Christian worship, even as it bears the marks of later historical development. Prepared by a leading scholar of Armenian liturgy, with broader expertise in eastern Christian liturgical traditions, the translation attends closely to the structure, language, and internal logic of the text. It is designed not only to make the Žamagirk‘ accessible to English-speaking readers, but also to reflect, as faithfully as possible, the texture and rhythm of the original, and will be of interest not only to scholars but also to those who wish to engage the text for devotional use. The translation is accompanied by an extensive analytical study that situates the work within its historical, theological, and liturgical contexts. Particular attention is given to the distinctive features of the Armenian Liturgy of the Hours: its organization of psalmody and hymnography, its unique combinations of biblical and poetic materials, and its preservation of elements that point to early Jerusalemite practice. At the same time, the study explores the ways in which the tradition has remained dynamic, incorporating new layers while retaining older forms in often surprising configurations. More than a reference work, this volume opens a window onto the spiritual world embodied in the Armenian daily office, a world marked by a striking interplay of solemnity and lyricism, scriptural depth and poetic imagination, penitential gravity and buoyant hope. It will be of interest to scholars and students of liturgy, historians of Christianity, and all readers seeking to encounter one of the great yet comparatively little-known traditions of Christian prayer.

With their courageous and engaging critique of Communism in the 1950s, these critically acclaimed Slovak classics demask one of the founding myths of modern Slovakia.

The Hours and The Minutes was first published in Bratislava in 1956, the year of Nikita Khrushchev’s “secret speech,” in which the Soviet leader formally acknowledged Stalin’s tyranny and opened the way for political reform throughout the Eastern Bloc. Alfonz Bednár’s writing was one of the first free of nationalist and communist propaganda, rejecting earlier ideologization of life by both the fascist right and Stalinist left and finding more empathetic ways to explore the complexity of human experience. His novellas defy traditional heroic depictions and portray the human individual, his relations, and morality as the subject of history rather than a utopian, collectivist ideology.

In these five novellas, Bednár is preoccupied with the insensitive, even inhuman, rootless, and amoral modernity that the war and Communist Party import into traditional Slovak life. The destruction of the traditional Slovak countryside during the twentieth century through modernization and urbanization, and with it a particular approach to life, forms his central theme. His spare, epic style and devotion to plot and dynamic narration render The Hours and The Minutes a genuine and gripping read.

A stunning facsimile copy of an illuminated manuscript owned by the French queen Marie de Medici.

At the turn of the fifteenth century, private devotionals became a specialty of the renowned Ghent–Bruges illuminators. Wealthy patrons who commissioned work from these artists often spared no expense in the presentation of their personal prayer books, or “books of hours,” from detailed decoration to luxurious bindings and embroidery.

This manuscript owes its name to the French queen, Marie de Medici, widow of King Henri IV. The manuscript was painted by an artist known as the David Master, one of the renowned Flemish illuminators of the sixteenth century. Fine architectural interiors, gorgeous landscapes, and detailed city scenes form the subjects of three full-size illuminations and forty-two full-page miniatures. It is one of the finest examples of medieval illumination in a personal prayer book and the most copiously illustrated work of the David Master to survive.

Together with a scholarly introduction that gives an overview of Flemish illumination and examines each of the illustrations in detail, this full-color facsimile limited edition, bound in linen with a leather quarter binding and beautifully presented in a slipcase, faithfully reproduces all 176 leaves of the original manuscript.

Written by Dominican preacher and mystic Bl. Henry Suso (c. 1300-1366), Horologium Sapientiae, or Wisdom's Watch upon the Hours, was one of the most successful religious writings of its time. Now it is offered to the English-speaking world in a new translation based on Pius Knzle's critical Latin edition.