Book of Hours, Moscow Printing House, 1653

The Book of Hours (Horologion) is a liturgical book containing the fixed prayers of the daily cycle of services; in old Russia it was also used to teach reading. This copy was printed at the Moscow Printing House in 1653, the year in which Patriarch Nikon, who had taken office in the summer of 1652, made the first moves of his church reform.

In February 1653 Nikon ordered the chapters on the number of prostrations and on the two-fingered sign of the cross to be removed from a Psalter being prepared for print, and soon afterwards sent a "Memorandum" on the three-fingered sign to the churches of Moscow. These orders began the revision of rites and books that split the Russian Church.

The binding dates from the late 19th century: wooden boards covered in tooled leather. The upper cover bears a "Golgotha" in a petal-shaped frame with the inscription "The Cross is the power of kings, the Cross is the affirmation of the faithful"; along the edges and on the lower cover run bands of plant ornament and strapwork, and the spine carries a tooled title.