Discovery of an Upper Sorbian rarity: Prussian church agenda from 1899

Research in the course of an inquiry from Lithuania to the Sorbian Institute in Bautzen in eastern Saxony has led to the discovery of a rarity. An Upper Sorbian edition of the Prussian Church Agenda from 1899 was found in an archive in the region, as the institute announced on Wednesday. The book containing the order of service, prayers and liturgical forms for church services and devotions has been digitized and has been publicly accessible on the sachsen.digital portal since the end of March - and the original has been returned to its original location.

According to the information, a researcher at the University of Klaipeda was looking for an edition of the agenda published around 1900 and contacted the Sorbian Institute in August 2023. A handwritten reference to a copy that had been photographed in the 1970s was found in a book there.

The edition was then quickly found in the Groß Särchen parish archive, according to the Sorbian Institute. The parish church council there had agreed to the digitization for the Saxon State and University Library Dresden.

The Upper Sorbian Prussian Agenda was printed in Bautzen in 1899. The text was prepared by a commission of Prussian clergymen and was mainly written by an archdeacon from Hoyerswerda. According to the institute, the printing cost 1400 marks at the time, around 11,500 euros today, and was paid for by the Oberkirchenrat in Berlin.

The book was only used in a few parishes in Prussian Upper Lusatia between Hoyerswerda, Bad Muskau and Gebelzig. How many copies still exist is unknown.