If you’ve been listening to Father Emmanuel’s weekly Bible Study podcasts, he quite often references books and authors in his talks.
Authors like, Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos of Nafpaktos, or St. Theophan the Recluse, or even the recently canonised, Saint Paisios. There are many others but these are just to name a few. So, when we get asked at the Library and the Bookstore, “which book would you recommend?” we keep referring back to these books.
With our system upgrade last year, you can browse our entire library catalogue online from the comfort of your own home.
Simply visit, https://evangelismos.libib.com, and it’s there! All of it!
But, just in case you feel overwhelmed by our huge range, how about we give you some ideas, starting with St. Theophan the Recluse.
Let’s begin with the most recent addition to our library…
The Spiritual Life: And How to Be Attuned to It
By St. Theophan the Recluse
“St. Theophan the Recluse, possessing a rare degree of patristic scholarship, combined with a thorough understanding of the soul of his native Russia and of contemporary people in general, was enabled to carve out a genuine understanding of spirituality for modern man. He made this understanding accessible to the average person, for he knew that each “average person” is the possessor of an immortal soul, and each soul is to be attuned here upon earth to live eternally with God in Paradise.
THE SPIRITUAL LIFE AND HOW TO BE ATTUNED TO IT was the result of a correspondence between a young lady of the upper middle class and St. Theophan the Recluse. In the compilation of his letters of spiritual direction to her, it can be seen that St. Theophan strove to make sure that this young soul would not only be familiar with the principles of spiritual life, but first of all be able to keenly hear the right “tone” of spiritual life.
This tuning of the soul is necessary so that the soul will be in harmony with the voice of God’s Providence echoing in the instrument of the heart. In that light, THE SPIRITUAL LIFE AND HOW TO BE ATTUNED TO IT could rightly be called a primer to be used before embarking into the realm of spiritual life.”
The Path to Salvation: A Manual of Spiritual Transformation
By St. Theophan the Recluse
“Patristic literature provides an age-old, tried and tested model of spiritual life, foreign to fleeting fashions. Throughout the last two thousand years, Christ has raised up patristic writers who have defended that original model. In modern times, however, this model is being pushed aside, the taste for genuine mystical expression is disappearing, and the initial Christian impetus is being disfigured.
That is why the works of St. Theophan the Recluse are so vital for today. He keeps the ancient patristic model sharp and clear, presenting it in modern language. He speaks to contemporary people who have been exposed to new realities, and thus renders inestimable help in linking them to the original Christian impetus and revealing to them the way into the Heavenly Kingdom.
The works of St. Theophan changed the spiritual face of Russia in the 19th century. With the publication of his greatest work, THE PATH TO SALVATION, the English-speaking world now has the opportunity to benefit likewise from this powerful inheritance to the people of the modern age.
Saint Theophan the Recluse is first and foremost a Church Father for modern times. Deeply aware of the roots of the modern age, he reinterprets ancient patristic wisdom in order to adapt it to the needs of the modern unchurched mind, which has been divorced from the Orthodox philosophy of life and even from the rudimentary principles of practical Christianity.
This classic textbook of spiritual life, now being offered in its entirety for the first time in English, seems to have been sent directly to today’s readers by the great Russian recluse himself. Every line breathes his profound psychological understanding, his intricate experience in spiritual struggle, and above all his love, compassion and all-consuming desire that every person might be saved. Inspiring the reader with a sober longing for acquiring the Kingdom of Heaven, St. Theophan provides an infallible system for taking the Kingdom by force, in a Christian life of grace and repentance.”
Thoughts for Each Day of the Year: According to the Daily Church Readings from the Word of God
By St. Theophan the Recluse
“…In the present book, Thoughts for Each Day of the Year, St. Theophan takes us through the yearly cycle of Gospel and Epistle readings, humbly and reverently offering us brief but powerful daily meditations on the word of God. He also addresses the problems of his day lack of faith, coldness of heart, trust in the rational mind rather than in the revealed Truth of God which are problems of our day as well.
Contemplating the sacred texts together with St. Theophan, the reader will learn to penetrate more deeply into Holy Scripture, and will receive answers to many dogmatic, moral, and spiritual questions which touch upon our salvation. Thoughts for Each Day of the Year can help us to more closely connect our lives with the life of Christ in His Holy Church, and to gain a better knowledge of how to fulfill His commandments. By reading St. Theophan’s daily exhortations and taking them to heart, one can be changed by the grace-filled power of our Savior, in accordance with the teaching of the Apostle Paul: Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Rom. 12:2).”
Preaching Another Christ
By St. Theophan the Recluse
“If you are an Orthodox Christian, consider this: How many times have you been approached by an Evangelical Christian asking whether you have been saved, or have Jesus in your heart, or have made a confession of faith in Jesus with your lips, etc? Whereupon you have been embarrassed, because you perceived that something was wrong with this approach, yet you could not come up with a proper answer. St. Theophan the Recluse, a holy bishop of 19th century Russia, shows us how to deal with this sensitive subject, allowing us to defend the truth and bring back those who have fallen into error.
If you are an Evangelical Christian, ponder seriously upon these writings with an open mind and without prejudice. Some teachings you hold on to very dearly as “based on the Bible,” such as Confessing the Lord with Your Lips, Faith Alone, You are Saved, Sola Scriptura, Invisible Church, etc., will be shown to you as having no standing at all. May the Lord, through this letter, reveal to you the difference between His True Self and another Christ, and the difference between His True, Orthodox Church and another Church.”
On Prayer (from the writings of Bishop Theophan the Recluse)
By Fr. Stefan Pavlenko
“These brief collected excerpts from the writings of the famous recluse form a sort of ‘Everyman’s Elementary Primer of Prayer.’ Few of us, perhaps, have progressed to the point in our spiritual lives where such basic suggestions are no longer relevant!”
