Heritage & Theology
History of the Churches and Monasteries
A journey through the sacred geography of the medieval Christian world: churches, monasteries, relics, pilgrimage and the communities who preserved them.
Edition details
Paperback
- Format
- Paperback
- Language
- English
- Pages
- 388
- ISBN-13
- 9781764957816
- Dimensions
- 7 × 10 in
- Amazon ASIN
- 1764957814
- Availability
- Available now
Hardcover
- Format
- Hardcover
- Language
- English
- Pages
- 388
- ISBN-13
- 9781923901018
- Dimensions
- 7 × 10 in
- Amazon ASIN
- 192390101X
- Availability
- Available now
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About This Book
Across the churches, monasteries, cities and deserts of the medieval Christian world, the work associated chiefly with Abū al-Makārim preserves an extraordinary landscape of faith and memory. It records sanctuaries and altars, monasteries and holy wells, relics and icons, clergy and patrons, destruction and rebuilding, and the traditions by which Christian communities remembered the places in their care.
This new English translation presents the primary text in its reconstructed order: Lower Egypt; Sinai, the Levant, Asia and Europe; then al-Basātīn, al-Fusṭāṭ, Miṣr and the regions that follow. It draws upon the surviving Arabic manuscript tradition together with Bishop Samuel al-Suryānī’s published Arabic volumes. Concise historical footnotes illuminate important places and events while preserving the voice and uncertainties of the medieval text.
More than a catalogue of buildings, the work preserves a living history of Christian communities. Its pages describe pilgrimage, liturgy, relics, miracles, artistic treasures, political upheaval and the practical work of repairing sacred places. Together, these details reveal how faith shaped the social and spiritual geography of the medieval world.
Both a record of vanished sacred places and a witness to communities that continued to worship, rebuild and remember, History of the Churches and Monasteries opens a remarkable window onto the Christian Middle Ages.
Abū al-Makārim was a medieval Coptic priest and compiler whose precise life dates are uncertain. The layered work survives in an Arabic manuscript tradition including a copy dated 1338. Generative artificial intelligence assisted this accessible English edition. Its primary text follows Bishop Samuel al-Suryānī’s Arabic volumes in reconstructed order; it is not a general collation of the surviving manuscripts. It does not replace primary texts, printed editions or surviving manuscripts. Scholars should verify quotations, textual readings and academic conclusions against those sources.
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An access edition
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This edition is intended to improve access to the work. Advanced digital tools, including generative AI, were used in its production, with responsibility for the final text and editorial decisions remaining with the editor.
This access edition is intended for general reading, discovery and further exploration. It may also serve as a stepping stone for academic study. Some passages may remain uncertain or benefit from further refinement. Readers undertaking academic research or detailed theological study should consult the original-language sources, relevant manuscripts and specialist scholarship; this edition is not presented as a scholarly translation or critical edition.
Source and edition details: The primary Arabic text follows Bishop Samuel al-Suryānī’s Volumes 1, 3 and 2 in reconstructed order. Volume 4 is supplementary, not part of the continuous translation. The transmitted text is associated chiefly with Abū al-Makārim, not solely with the older attribution to Abū Ṣāliḥ the Armenian; no general manuscript collation is claimed.
For corrections, please give the edition or version printed in your copy, or state that it is not identified.
We welcome suggested corrections, alternative readings and supporting evidence. Accepted changes are published in a dated record and incorporated into subsequent editions, with acknowledgement by permission.