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by Robert Ewan (Editor), Sebastian P. Brock (Preface by)
This comprehensive anthology brings together a rich collection of poems, prayers and hymns by some of the most renowned Mystics of The Church of the East, spanning more than a thousand years. They have been carefully translated by Robert Ewan, an Aramaic speaker with an intimate knowledge of the nuances of the language, who has delicately woven the beauty of the Aramaic into English, preserving the soul of the poetry while maintaining the essence of the original with minimal modification.
Aramaic, the language which Jesus spoke in first-century Palestine, had already been in widespread use in the Near East for over half a millennium. The largest of the sizeable corpus of literatures that have come down to us in different forms of Aramaic is the Syriac, whose 'Golden Age' was the period from the fourth to the sixth century when Aramaic and Syriac poetry discovered its most exquisite form of expression. Many of the hymns from this 'Golden Age' are still sung in Eastern churches by congregations from all of the different denominations. This book allows us to share in this ancient Christian tradition through an exquisite tapestry of reflections, prayers, and meditations.
A brief biography is provided for each writer, making this a useful reference work as well as a treasure store of the finest poetry and prayers of Church of the East, some of which are here translated into English for the first time.
