The Warda

An East Syriac Hymnological Collection: Study and Critical Edition

by Anton Pritula

Book cover: The Warda

Extent: 559 pages

Publisher: Harrassowitz Verlag

Subjects: Religious Studies

Series: Göttinger Orientforschungen, I. Reihe: Syriaca

Series volume number: 47

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(November 2015)

ISBN: 9783447104753

Price: $177.00

In stock

In the liturgical literature of the Church of East (the so-called Nestorian), the “Warda” collection, meant for the liturgical performance at night services on the festival days and Sundays of the whole liturgical year, holds a special place. Strophic hymns – “?onita” (pl. “?onyata”) – contained in the collection are still a part of the liturgy of the East Syrian Church. Altogether, the collection comprises more than 120 hymns, most of which are ascribed to Giwargis Warda (13th century), who is the eponym of this book. According to their content, the hymns can be divided into five categories: exegetic, hagiographic, apocryphal narratives, describing historical events and calamities, dedicated to other subjects. The first part of the book is a detailed study of the textual, poetical and historical peculiarities of the “Warda” collection. Ist evolution stages and the main types have been reconstructed. A special chapter focuses on the position of this book in Syriac church literature and defines ist main sources. The second part represents a critical edition of 35 hymns from the “Warda” collection according to the existing manuscripts, including English translations. Many of these hymns have been translated for the first time.

  • By (author) Anton Pritula

"This herculean effort by Pritula opens another window for the student unto the Syriac Renaissance. Pritula's English translations capture the vitality of these sophisticated Syriac poems, which are engaging and delightful reading, along with providing an extensive resource for further study." --Robert A. Kitchen, Review of Biblical Literature 8.10.2017
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