No comments about The Religion of the Russian People.

No comments about A History of Russian Christianity: The Synodal Era And the Sectarians 1725 to 1894.

No comments about Relatos De Un Peregrino Ruso/ Tales of a Russian Pilgrim (Ichthys).

3 comments about The Northern Thebaid: Monastic Saints of the Russian North.

1. When the great founders of monasticism in the East, Sts. Anthony and Pachomius, desired to leave the world and lead a life in worship and prayer in solitude, they turned to the Egyptian desert, founding both the hermitage and the monastery.

   When the first ascetics of Russia wanted to follow in the footsteps of the Great Fathers they didn't have a sunny heated and dry unfruitful desert, but instead they could turn to the vast cold and often inaccessible Siberian forests; "the desert of the North"!(Though not entirely restricted to Siberia). In these areas, under harsh conditions, they co-founded the Russian monasticism and spirituality as we know it today, though under circumstances often incomprehensible to modern man. The book is as exciting as any modern fiction "thriller" novel.

   This collection of the lives of many of the most important followers of the Desert Fathers who in turn became Desert Fathers themselves(many a hermitage ended up as a flourishing monastery) would have been a great loss, if the editors hadn't compiled them from the Russian originals to this one book. This is THE Lives of the Saints of the North.

   The book ought to be a "must" reading to all those seeking the true spirituality of Christianity.




2. This book is a true gem! Read it, enjoy it and share it with a friend. A fine introduction and a wonderful translation. Athonite monastics, the rhythm of life and the rationale of that most unusual mountain prepublic come alive through an excellent narrative and clever use of dialogue. Some segments are truly moving.



3. _The Northern Thebaid: Monastic Saints of the Russian North_ is a collection of Saints' lives edited by Fathers Seraphim Rose and Herman Podmoshensky of Platina, California and first published in 1975. Most of the source material in this book derives from old Russian texts of the Lives of Saints from the 19th century preserved after the Russian Revolution in America's émigré community. This book refers to the period between the fourteenth and early eighteenth centuries until Peter I and Catherine I closed down many monasteries during their "enlightened" reforms of the 1700s. The "Northern Thebaid" derives from the early Egyptian Thebaid, the desert to where hermits and monks would flee in order to live with Christ alone and be free of worldly pressures. Russia's conversion to Orthodox Christianity began during 988 AD under the reign of St. Vladimir. In the subsequent centuries, a repeat of the phenomenon of desert monasticism that had occurred during the Roman Empire beginning with St. Anthony the Great of Egypt in the fourth century AD. A monk would venture into the desert by himself, separate from the world, and would later attract followers. These disciples would collaborate and establish an official monastery. The next generation of hermits would leave monastic settlements and venture into the woods and later attract his own following, thereby repeating the process. In this way monasticism spread through the vast forests and wilderness of northern Russia and Siberia. The Russian Orthodox ascetic struggle involved fasting, labor, chastity, humility, obedience and prayer. The first Orthodox missionaries to America in the 18th century were monks; the most noted of whom is St. Herman of Alaska. The first Saint discussed in this volume is Sergius of Radonezh who lived as a hermit and monk during the 1300s, founding monasteries and was renowned as a spiritual teacher. St. Sabbatius of Solovki founded a monastery on an island in the Arctic Sea, which was later headed by St. Zosimas, and developed into a noteworthy center of Orthodox piety in the far north. Unfortunately, Solovki was dismantled and used as a Communist prison after the Revolution. The lives of most of these Saints, notes the authors, follow a similar pattern. They look for solitude and prayer in the wilderness and face a variety of temptations, both physical from the demanding environment and supernatural evil powers. After their deaths, many miracles and healings were attributed to these Saints, some even appearing in person after death to guide future ascetic saints in the Orthodox faith. A few chapters address the Lives of female saints. The authors note that there is much less material on female Saints because of the humility of Russia's holy women. However, many of the Saints' Lives and Church records of similar type were written by women. _The Northern Thebaid_ is almost a first volume of a two volume series. It does not continue in depth with the history of Blessed Paisius Velichovsky and the Hesychast revival after Russian monasticism's nadir under Peter I and Catherine I. Fr. Seraphim, in his epilogue, notes that by the time of Blessed Paisius, Russia had developed its own tradition of Orthodox sanctity equal to that of old Byzantium.

No comments about Keeping the Faith: Russian Orthodox Monasticism in the Soviet Union, 1917 1939 (Eastern European Studies (College Station, Tex.), No. 27.).

No comments about Living Without Hypocrisy: Spiritual Counsels of the Holy Elders of Optina.

1 comments about The History of Russian Christianity Volume 1: From the Earliest Years Through Tsar Ivan IV.

1. This first volume of the history of Russian Christianity deals with the period from Apostle Andrew to the death of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, a period of almost 1600 years. The information provided is intensive and objective, dealing with the events, people and politics of the development and expansion of Christianity in Russia. The book covers the earliest of traditions, the rise and dominance of the Russian Orthodox Church, the many dissenters and sectarians that evolved over the centuries and their persecution, and the influx of Catholicism and Judaism and other minority religions into Russia. The history covers the involvement of tsars and princes, as well as saints and serfs, and monks and mystics .
   (This 3-volume series of the history of Christianity in Russia will extend to the conclusion of Soviet authority in 1990.)

No comments about A History of Russian Christianity: Tsar Nicholas II to Gorbachev's Edict on the Freedom of Conscience.

No comments about The Life and Miracles of Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg (Great Ascetics of Russia, Book 2).

5 comments about Little Russian Philokalia : St. Seraphim of Sarov.

1. Just read it, you have to, no description can give it justice. All I can say is this, it's comparable to Issac of Nineveh's "On Ascetical Life" in its beauty, depth, and penetrating words of love, peace, and prayer. Just read it, this book will change you forever.



2. Simple, elegant, uplifting, and profound.
   
   I am glad to see that we now have a Russian companion volume to the traditional Philokalia.
   
   I found that the pictures of St. Seraphim spoke to me too.



3. While preparing a lecture on Surat Shabd Yoga, I came across the Philokalia and thought it might be useful in my talk. "Surat" is a Sanskrit word for "Soul", "Shabd" is the Sanskrit word for "Holy Spirit". "Yoga" simply means "To Yoke". Hence, Surat Shabd Yoga is the process of connecting the soul to the Holy Spirit. In the "Little Russian Philokalia", Saint Seraphim of Sarov taught that the main aim of Christian life is to acquire for oneself the Spirit of God. His amazing and supernatural conversation with N.A. Motovilov on "The Acquisition of the Holy Spirit" is included in this volume.



4. I've been really enjoying the Russian Philokalia series, more so, even, than the original Philokalia and the sayings of the Desert Fathers.
   
   From an evangelical perspective the Desert Fathers can often come across as legalists whose religion has less to do with a Christ centered faith, than it does with trying to outdo each other in their rules of piety (ie: the argument about whether a true monk would (a) never lay eyes on a woman or (b) be able to look at a woman and not even recognize her as being of the opposite gender).
   
   The original Philokalia, on the other hand, reads more like a text on Hindu meditation: weird mystical concept and breathing techniques mixed with Christian references and other rules for achieving enlightenment (or seeing the uncreated light of God).
   
   The Russian Philokalia series, on the other hand, especially this volume of the writings of St. Seraphim, are far more "down to earth" or at least more familiar. Seraphim's sayings, for example, are generally rooted in a Spirit-centered faith, and hence, more accessible to evangelicals and others looking at Orthodoxy for the first time. I don't know what makes them more accessible. Perhaps its because these men lived closer to our own time; perhaps its because the Orthodox church in their day had been influenced by Western thinking; or perhaps its because they were simple Russian peasants. In any case, I really enjoyed this series of books and would readily reccommend them to interested readers.



5. This first volume in the set of 6 (I sincerely hope that there will be more to come) is, in my opinion, essential reading for every Christian.
   
   We in the USA need to unlearn everything that we were told about "the big, bad, Red Russians"... This set is a good start in introducing westerners to the amazing and profound depth of Russian spiritualism!