The Dawn of Salvation through Intimate Prayer (Translated and Annotated): A New English Translation with Scriptural, Historical, and Explanatory Notes

This newly translated and annotated edition includes:

• A complete English translation of the recoverable Arabic witness
• Extensive scriptural, historical, theological, and explanatory notes
• An introduction to the author, context, and theology of prayer

The troubled heart is never far from God in this remarkable work of medieval Coptic spirituality.

Writing in thirteenth-century Egypt, the Coptic author Buṭrus al-Sadamantī gathers the language of the Psalms into fifty intimate petitions. He speaks from within fear, temptation, grief, illness, failure, and the repeated struggle to begin again—yet every page returns to the mercy, providence, and transforming grace of God.

The prayers move beyond consolation. They examine how thoughts become habits, how the soul learns watchfulness, how suffering can become healing, and how divine grace works with human willing. Biblical images of storms, lamps, physicians, cities, banquets, and the narrow way become a practical theology of repentance and hope.

This edition presents the complete recoverable text of the AUC/Iryan Moftah manuscript witness, together with a substantial introduction and scriptural, historical, theological, linguistic, and explanatory notes. Written for prayer as well as study, The Dawn of Salvation through Intimate Prayer opens a major witness to the Coptic Arabic tradition for clergy, scholars, and every reader seeking honest language for the life of the soul.