"...a milestone in American religious publishing." New Catholic World Ephrem the Syrian: Hymns translated and introduced by Kathleen E. McVey preface by John Meyendorff "Blessed be the Child who today delights Bethlehem. Blessed be the Newborn Who today made the humanity young again. Blessed be the Fruit Who Bowed Himself down for our hunger. Blessed be the Gracious One Who suddenly enriched all of our poverty and filled our need." Ephrem the Syrian (c.306-373) Ephrem was born in the Mesopotamian city of Nisibis toward the end of the third century. An outpost of the Roman Empire, Nisibis and its Christian citizens were to be formed by the reign of Constantine and by the doctrines of the Council of Nicea. There, in the context of a large and sophisticated Jewish population and numerous Gnostic sects, Ephrem sought to defend orthodox Nicene Christianity. His teaching and writing made him an influential voice in the life of Syriac Christianity through the peaceful years of Constantine's patronage, the years of persecution after 361 under Emperor Julian, and the conflict between Persians and Romans which ultimately forced Ephrem to move to Edessa where he stayed until his death in 373. It was as a poet that Ephrem made his greatest impact. Writing in isosyllabic verses called madrashe, he attained a literary brilliance that won him a place of prominence not only in his own tradition, but also in the Coptic, Ethiopian, Armenian, and Arabic traditions as well. His hymns, praised in the West by Jerome, had a formative influence on the development of medieval religious drama in Europe. Blending Greek forms with his native style, he wove a highly crafted poetry of rich symbolism, attempting to fit the events of his day into a cosmic framework of God's redemptive act in Christ. Ephrem's combination of elements of Stoicism and Middle Platonism with Christian belief in a form reminiscent of the great second century apologists produced a corpus that speaks of his own literary genius and even more eloquently of the majesty and beauty of the divine source of all true poetry. Here, in a fresh and lively translation, are the Hymns on the Nativity, Hymns Against Julian, and the Hymns on Virginity and the Symbols of the Lord in which that voice may be heard closely and appreciated, wondered at, and enjoyed.

Presenting the first formulation of the central subject, this volume challenges major assumptions long held by Western art historians and provides new ways of thinking about, looking at, and understanding Byzantine art in its broadest geographic and chronological framework, from A.D. 300 to the early nineteenth century.

Byzantine art abandoned classical ideals in favor of formulas that conveyed spiritual concepts through stylized physical forms. Scholarship dealing with Byzantine icons has previously been largely focused on depictions of holy figures, dismissing representations of architecture as irrelevant space-filling background. "Architecture as Icon" demonstrates that background representations of architecture are meaningful, active components of compositions, often as significant as the human figures. The book provides a critical view for understanding the Byzantine conception of architectural forms and space and the corresponding intellectual underpinnings of their representation.

Introduced by four thought-provoking essays, the catalogue divides the material as included in the exhibition into four categories identified as: generic, specific, and symbolic representations, and a final grouping entitled "From Earthly to Heavenly Jerusalem." This handsomely illustrated volume addresses various approaches to depicting architecture in Byzantine art that contrast sharply with those of the Renaissance and subsequent Western artistic tradition.