Nira Stone (b. 1938; d. 2013) studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, earning the degrees of BA, MA and PhD. Her interests focused on Armenian miniature painting, particularly on the interaction of religious ideas and iconography, typified in her well-known 1997 work The Kaffa Lives of the Desert Fathers. She also studied the illumination of stories with female heroes.Michael Edward Stone, BA (Hons,) Melbourne, PhD (Harvard), DLitt. (Melbourne), is Professor Emeritus of Armenian Studies and Comparative Religion in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has published numerous academic books and articles in both fields.Asya Bereznyak, BA, MA, PhD (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem), is a medievalist. She has recently completed her PhD dissertation, “Between Baptism and Faith: A New Perspective on the Christianization of Europe in the Early Middle Ages”, and currently works on a comparative study of post-Christianization identities in Eastern, Central and Western Europe.

'Stone's discoveries, revelations and insights have enriched our knowledge, appreciation and connection with the national treasures of the Armenian people, an accomplishment rare in scholarship.' Arthur Hagopian (https://hetq.am/en/article/109406)

• PrefaceAcknowledgementsList of ImagesBibliography of Nira StoneIntroductory RemarksAnna Leyloyan-YekmalyanIntroductory RemarksChristina Maranci1 An Illuminated Armenian Gospel Manuscript in the National and University Library, Jerusalem2 The Kaffa Manuscript of the Lives of the Desert Fathers3 The Peregrinatio Paphnutiana and Jerusalem MS 2854 Notes on the Floor Mosaic from Shellal (Besor Spring) and the Mosaic Workshop near Gaza5 Judith and Holofernes: Some Observations on the Development of the Scene in Art6 The Relationship Between Text and Illustration7 Apocryphal Stones in Armenian Manuscripts8 Jerusalem as a Point of Conversion from Sin to Sainthood a Story of a Woman Pilgrim in Art9 A Pair of Armenian Manuscript Missals in the Library of Congress10 Narrativity in Armenian Manuscript Illustration11 The Four Rivers that Flowed from Eden12 The Illuminations of the Transfiguration13 The Illumination of Non-Biblical Armenian Manuscripts14 A Handsome Armenian Gospel Leaf15 An Embellished Initial in a Jerusalem Document16 Birds from Heaven in Heavenly JerusalemIndex