Church-goers have prayed for a thief who robbed them of more than 50 years of their history.
The visitors’ book had sat at the entrance of Tenandry Church since the end of the Second World War.
The leather-bound tome included messages from couples who had married at the church, which sits around a mile outside Killiecrankie.
Shocked parishioners discovered it was missing last month after vandals targeted the building, leaving it in disarray.
Church elder Julian Haviland said: “To everyone’s sorrow the church was mildly vandalised on a day in early May. There is only one enduring loss: the visitors’ book which lay on the table in the porch for many years has been taken.
“The Reverend Robert Sloan, who was told of this when about to lead our worship on May 12, opened the service with words which included a prayer for the thief, who was likely someone needing help.”
He added: “It could have no value for anyone except present or past members of our congregation and will have been taken no doubt without thought, perhaps by someone on drugs. Perhaps it was chucked in a ditch or a bin. Perhaps it will yet turn up somewhere.
“Messages were often left by those who had worshipped in Tenandry in past years, or whose family had known it, or who had been married or baptized in it. These are the shared memories now stolen from us.”
Mr Haviland added that while they would look at security measures, they had no desire to lock down the church.
“A recent entry echoed many earlier ones when visitors had expressed gratitude that we felt able to keep our doors open when other churches, for sound reasons of security, were so often found closed and locked,” he said.
“One visitor who returned regularly used to write: ‘just dropped in to have a word with a friend’. He will still be able to do that: we will surely keep the church open, and his friend will always be present there.”
A spokesman for Police Scotland said: “At the beginning of May a visitors’ book was stolen from Tenandry Church at Killiecrankie. The book has no monetary value. It is described as leather bound, dark brown and ¾ the size of a laptop computer.”
The theft is one of a number that has taken place at churches in Perthshire in recent years.
Most notably a 7th century Celtic hand bell was stolen from Fortingall Church, where it had been for 1,300 years, in September 2017.
