THE PARTHENOMETOR

Presentation in a brief and concise way the Virgin Mary’s Life: Her early years, the engagement, the Annunciation, the Birth of our Saviour and all those events that took place in Her life afterwards until Her Assumption. Based on the Holy Scripture and the Fathers of Orthodoxy.

PRAYER: The GREAT PRIVILEGE

When man is given the opportunity to get to know the wonderful value of prayer – in relation with some other action which can be in the filed of science, arts, medicine, social and political action – it is not difficult to sacrifice material prosperity in order to enjoy the respite of conversing with God. Prayer is a great privilege which does not come to an end and which infinitelly surpasses the most  worthy achievementsof science, philosophy, art etc. At first the attempts to reach such a privilege may pose a disproportionate difficulty. However, the quest of freedom for prayer may become imperative.

The Hymn of Love

Based on St. Paul’s Hymn of Love in 1 Cor 13.

 

We don’t yet have The Law of God and the Man.

 

The devil sure hates this book. We’re deleting hundreds of comments attached to this book each week–and they all seem to have porn links in them.  This is the only book we carry that is being hit this way. 3/28/09

 

New from Greece, the second of five volumes of Spiritual Counsels by Elder Paisius of Mount Athos. The second volume of Elder Paisios’s Spiritual Counsels Consists of five parts:
The first part refers to the sense of indifference and irresponsibility prevailing in our time. In the second part, the elder kindles the zeal for spiritual work without confining us to a particular struggle. The third part refers to the short occupation of Satan, which will give Christians the opportunity to witness to Christ again. In the fourth part, which addresses divine providence, faith, trust in God and divine assistance, we are guided toward the source from which we can draw the strength to confront any adversity. Lastly, the fifth part focuses on the need for and power heartfelt prayer, a mighty weapon in combating the ever-increasing evil around us.

This is the classic work on the Jesus Prayer in which St. Ignatius Brianchaninov explains the pertinent works by various Holy Fathers of the Philokalia for beginners. If you are using the Jesus Prayer you should read this book.

This makes Volume 6 of Treasury of Serbian Spirituality and it makes Volume 1 of what is projected as 3 volumes of Missionary Letters–each consisting of 100 letters in Serbian and in English.

The volumes in this series are well translated and presented in a manner worthy of this golden-tongued saint. The letters are full of wisdom and inspiration. But hey! Let us not forget that this Serbian saint is also an American Saint, who spent his final years in exile here, who was one of the first to teach American seminarians in Engish. What a blessing to have a new volume shared with us in English.

There is much that remains mysterious about Elder Nektary of Optina Even though this book presents many accounts of his luminous personality. He is full of surprises. When the monastic brethren were choosing a new elder he started going about the skete in an old house robe and barefoot, playing the fool in hopes of escaping the post. The more mature brethren recognized the ruse–further they pointed out that it was a prophecy of times very soon to come. One chapter of this book is especially relevant to the misguided seekers of our time. It repeats his conversation with a renowned spiritualist.

Elder Macary was the disciple of Elder Leonid. A mature monk when he transferred to Optina, he insisted on being received as a disciple and not as a mature Elder. Elder Leonid made good use of his deep humility to provide lessons for the brethren. It was on Elder Macary’s watch that Optina began editing and publishing spiritual writings–manuscripts passed down by disciples of St. Paisius Velichkovsky and the skete began to attract many writers, artists and musicians looking for spiritual guidance and inspiration. This is the point where Sergei Nilus moved to a house near the skete in order to participate in the editing and publishing of necessary spiritual texts.

Elder Leonid was the first Elder to actually function in the appointed position of Elder because both Elder Moses and his brother, Elder Anthony were forced to take up administrative duties as Abbot of the monastery and skete Superior. This book is a delightful and inspiring read in which one begins to feel close to this leonine and yet humble elder.

The sweetness of humility is the most prominent characteristic of Elder Joseph, disciple of Elder Ambrose of Optina. Those who believe that a little more quiet and solitude could help them to develop spiritually will be amazed to discover that this elders formation took place entirely in Elder Ambrose’s reception room. This was Elder Joseph’s monastic cell–noisy and filled with people from before dawn till past dusk.  Those who doubted that such a humble monk could become anything like his sparkling and witty elder would test him, asking him a question and then asking Elder Ambrose. And they would get the same reply, word for word And Elder Ambrose assured them that Elder Joseph would be the greater elder. Warning: like many lives of saints and righteous ones, this book is the beginning of a relationship.

Beautiful, humble, Elder Anthony! As a youth he ran away to become a monk in the Roslavl Forest under his Brother, Elder Moses. The monks led a harsh life, cut off from contact with the world and cut off with the official monasticism of that time, dominated by government interference. In a word, they were monastic outlaws. They led a very strict life keeping the monastic cycle of services and copying translated spiritual texts. After standing through the long services they would also stand to copy the texts, out of respect for their holiness. What texts could inspire such a labor….many of the same books collecting dust on our bookshelves–and maybe on yours too. Think of it. How many saints acquired holiness with the help of one or two of the thousands of books now available to us, yet we don’t take time for.

The reader tends to develop a lot of compassion for Elder Anthony after he follows his brother to Optina and takes up administrative duties so foreign to his nature.