This book is the introduction to the Orthodox Church!
Bishop Kallistos' book tells the history of Orthodoxy, outlines its beliefs and gives a fair assessment of Orthodoxy today.

Published by Penguin
You can buy this book with Amazon's discount prices

If you liked this site -- you'll definitely like this book!

Full of the Stories and Sayings of the
Fathers of the Egyptian Desert

A striking example of a modern expression of Desert Spirituality!

Reviews by Doxa Magazine, Christmas 1996 "In brief, this is a splendid book in every way . . . Extremely well written, highly informative, and very inspiring. Fr. Alexander and St. Tikhon's Seminary Press have done the English-speaking Orthodox world a magnificent favor by producing this book. Please forgive our superlatives, but we are really excited by this publication. This is definitely a 'rush out and buy it!' book . . . Fr. Alexander manages to make his timely introduction. . . both spiritual uplifting and delightful . . . His . . . compelling explanation of the monastic life [is] probably the finest written in modern times . . . The extended introduction . . . alone would make this book worth purchasing . . . The story of how our beloved St. Herman has come to be loved and honored in Greece is . . . simply inspiring . . . One can read this book straight through with eager interest, and then pick it up again and again . . ."

Saint Silouan, the Athonite

by Archimandrite Sophrony

Archimandrite Sophrony went to Mt. Athos in 1925 and there, at the Monastery of St. Panteleimon

The Philokalia is a collection of texts written in Greek between the fourth and fifteenth centuries by spiritual master of the Orthodox tradition. Compiled in the 18th century and first published in Venice in 1782, it has had a profound influence on the spiritual life of the Easter churches." -Theology Digest

A portrait of the traditions and interior life of Russian Orthodox spirituality. A great introduction to the prayer of the heart

A Night in the desert of the Holy Mountain is a book which brings to light the quintessence of Orthodox spiritual life: the Jesus prayer or prayer of the heart and how it can be practised by both monks-nuns and lay people. The discussion flows in a spontaneous and immediate way -the dialogue form of the book helping in that. The reader enjoys the simple presentation of all the teaching of the Church on the Jesus prayer through the authentic experience of an Authonite hermit. And "when a hermit's mouth opens it will fill you with fragrance". The book has been a classic of its kind in Greece where it is now in its twelfth edition.

This book contains the important message that the church can heal an ailing personality. The term "Orthodox Psychotherapy" does not refer to specific cases of people suffering from psychological problems of neurosis. Rather it refers to all people. According to Orthodox Tradition, after Adam;s fall man became ill; his "nous" was darkened and lost communion with God. Death entered into the person's being and caused many anthropological, social, even ecological problems. In the tragedy of his fall man maintained the image of God within him but lost completely the the likeness of Him, since his communion with God was disrupted. However the incarnation of Christ and the work of the church aim at enabling the person to attain to the likeness of God, that is to reestablish communion with God. This passage way from a fallen state to divinization is called the healing of the person, because it is connected with his return from a state of being contrary to nature, to that of a state according to nature and above nature. By adhering to Orthodox therapeuthic treatment as conceived by the Holy Fathers of Church man can cope succesfully with his thoughts (logismoi) and thus solve his problems completely and comprehensively.

The twentieth century, from a Christian point of view, is called the age of Ecclesiology and Eucharistiology because much has been said about what the Church is and what the value of divine Eucharist is. People, disapprointed by an individualistic life, seek true social relations which they feel they will find in the Church.

Indeed, man finds true communion with God, men and all creation within the Church and through the Divine Eucharist which is the deepest core of Ecclesiastical life.

At the same time many problems have arisen concerning Church and the ecclesiastical mind-set. Various traditions relating to the Church have created intense speculation.

This present book which is now published in English consists of nine talks addressed to the Catechists and aimed at locating various ecclesiological problems, without, of course, exhausting the subject. Nevertheless they set out the foundation of Ecclesiology according to the Fathers and they try to help us avoid the temptations of so called "Baptismal theology" and of "dogmatic syncretism" as well as avoid the dangers of legalism and secularization

The term Orthodoxy consists of two words: "orthos" (true, right) and "doxa". "Doxa" means, on the one hand, belief, faith, teaching and on the other, praise or doxology. These two meanings are closely connected. The true teaching about God incorporates the true praise of God; for if God is abstract, then prayer to this God is abstract as well. If God is personal then prayer assumes a personal character. God has revealed the true faith, the true teaching. Thus we say that the teaching about God and all matters associated with a person's salvation are the Revelation of God and not man's discovery

The spirituality of the Orthodox Church, however, does not lead to abstract religious life; nor is it the fruits of man's inner strength. Spirituality is not an abstract religious life because the Church is the Body of Christ. It is not simply a religion which believes in a God, theoretically. The Second Person of the Holy Trinity -the Logos of God- assumed human nature for us. He united it with his hypostasis and became the Head of the Church.

Includes:

Interpretative analysis of the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus
The separation of the soul from the body
Death and the ancestral sin
Contemporary after-death experiences.
The immortality of the soul
The Second Coming of Christ
The coming of Christ in glory
The resurrection of the dead
The coming judgement
Paradise and Hell
Eternal life
The Kingdom of God
The renewal of creation
Time in the Orthdox conception
The Feast of the Kingdom