Living Icons presents an intimate portrait of holiness as exemplified in the lives and thoughts of ten people of faith in the Eastern Orthodox Church. In this inspiring volume, Michael Plekon introduces readers to a diverse and unusual group of men and women who strove to put the Gospel of Christ into action in their lives.The “living icons” Plekon describes were, among other things, priests, theologians, writers, and caregivers to the homeless and poor. One was an artist who became the greatest icon painter in this century; another was assassinated for his teachings in post-Soviet Russia. These remarkable people of faith lived through times of great suffering: forced emigration, the Great Depression, World War II, and the Cold War. Many of them were criticized, if not condemned, by ecclesiastical opponents and authorities. Yet each demonstrate a unique pattern for holiness, illustrating that the path to sainthood is open to all.With the fall of state socialism, Eastern Orthodox churches and monasteries are being reopened and receiving renewed interest from believers and nonbelievers alike. Plekon calls to our attention people like Saint Seraphim of Sarov (1759–1832), a monk, mystic, counselor, healer, and visionary; Father Alexander Men (1935–1990), a Russian whose writings after Glasnost ultimately led to his tragic assassination; Mother Maria Skobtsova (1891–1945), a painter, poet, and political activist who was killed in a concentration camp for hiding her Jewish neighbors; and Father Lev Gillet (1893–1980), one of the twentieth century’s greatest spiritual teachers.Living Icons, which includes a foreword by Lawrence S. Cunningham, brings to life the beautiful, and often unfamiliar, spirituality of the Eastern Orthodox Church through some of its most remarkable members. It shows with simplicity and clarity that Christ and the Gospel are often manifested in extraordinary ways in the lives of ordinary people.

Living Icons: Persons of Faith in the Eastern Church

Biographies & Memoirs

Plekon, Michael

Leaders & Notable People

University of Notre Dame Press

Living Icons presents an intimate portrait of holiness as exemplified in the lives and thoughts of ten people of faith in the Eastern Orthodox Church. In this inspiring volume, Michael Plekon introduces readers to a diverse and unusual group of men and women who strove to put the Gospel of Christ into action in their lives. The “living icons” Plekon describes were, among other things, priests, theologians, writers, and caregivers to the homeless and poor. One was an artist who became the greatest icon painter in this century; another was assassinated for his teachings in post-Soviet Russia. These remarkable people of faith lived through times of great suffering: forced emigration, the Great Depression, World War II, and the Cold War. Many of them were criticized, if not condemned, by ecclesiastical opponents and authorities. Yet each demonstrate a unique pattern for holiness, illustrating that the path to sainthood is open to all. With the fall of state socialism, Eastern Orthodox churches and monasteries are being reopened and receiving renewed interest from believers and nonbelievers alike. Plekon calls to our attention people like Saint Seraphim of Sarov (1759–1832), a monk, mystic, counselor, healer, and visionary; Father Alexander Men (1935–1990), a Russian whose writings after Glasnost ultimately led to his tragic assassination; Mother Maria Skobtsova (1891–1945), a painter, poet, and political activist who was killed in a concentration camp for hiding her Jewish neighbors; and Father Lev Gillet (1893–1980), one of the twentieth century’s greatest spiritual teachers. Living Icons, which includes a foreword by Lawrence S. Cunningham, brings to life the beautiful, and often unfamiliar, spirituality of the Eastern Orthodox Church through some of its most remarkable members. It shows with simplicity and clarity that Christ and the Gospel are often manifested in extraordinary ways in the lives of ordinary people.

In his new book, Saints As They Really Are, priest and scholar Michael Plekon traces the spiritual journeys of several American Christians, using their memoirs and other writings. These “saints-in-the-making” show all their doubts and imperfections as they reflect on their search for God and their efforts to lead holy lives. They are gifted yet ordinary women and men trying to follow Christ within their flawed and broken humanity―“saints as they really are,” as Dorothy Day put it. Saints As They Really Are is the third book in Plekon’s critically acclaimed series on saints and holiness in our time. He draws on the autobiographical work of Dorothy Day, Peter Berger, Thomas Merton, Kathleen Norris, and Barbara Brown Taylor, among others, as well as from his own experiences as a Carmelite seminarian and brother. Plekon shares the power of these individuals’ stories as they unfold. The book offers a strong argument that our failings and weaknesses are not disqualifications to holiness. Plekon further confronts the institutional church and its relationship to individuals seeking God, focusing on some of the challenges to this search―the destructive potential of religion and religious institutions, as well as our personal tendencies to extremism, overwork, pious obsessions, and legalism. But he also underscores the healing qualities of faith and the spiritual life. Plekon's insights will help readers better understand their own spiritual pilgrimages as they learn how others have dealt with the trials and joys of their path to everyday holiness.

Saints As They Really Are: Voices of Holiness in Our Time

In Hidden Holiness, Michael Plekon challenges us to examine the concept of holiness. He argues that both Orthodox and Catholic churches understand saints to be individuals whose lives and deeds are unusual, extraordinary, or miraculous. Such a requirement for sainthood undermines, in his view, one of the basic messages of Christianity: that all people are called to holiness.
 Instead of focusing on the ecclesiastical process of recognizing saints, Plekon explores a more ordinary and less noticeable "hidden" holiness, one founded on the calling of all to be prophets and priests and witnesses to the Gospel. As Rowan Williams has insisted, people of faith need to find God's work in their culture and daily lives. With that in mind, Plekon identifies a fascinatingly diverse group of faithful who exemplify an everyday sanctity, as well as the tools they have used to enact their faith. Plekon calls upon contemporary writers—among them, Rowan Williams, Kathleen Norris, Sara Miles, Simone Weil, and Darcey Steinke—as well as such remarkable and controversial figures as Mother Teresa, Thomas Merton, and Dorothy Day—to demonstrate ways to imagine a more diverse and everyday holiness. He also introduces four individuals of "hidden holiness": a Yup'ik Alaskan, Olga Arsumquak Michael; the artist Joanna Reitlinger; the lay theologian Elisabeth Behr-Sigel; and human rights activist Paul Anderson. A generous and expansive treatment of the holy life, accessibly written for all readers, Plekon's book is sure to inspire us to recognize and celebrate the holiness hidden in the ordinary lives of those around us. "There is a widespread idea that holiness, if it exists at all, is something that happened in the long-ago past. This book is evidence to the contrary. It contains stories of holiness, typically hidden, in the midst of modern times. Some will find in these stories confirmation of their faith, all may read the stories as moving accounts of human drama.” —Peter L. Berger, emeritus University Professor, Boston University and Institute of Religion and World Affairs
 “Father Michael Plekon pushes a boundary here. Our usual understanding of those who are saints involves something heroic, something extraordinary—and it allows us to put too comfortable a distance between ourselves and those we consider saints. We are able to look away from the Lord's demand that we are to be holy, as God is. By focusing on the manifest holiness of a number of people who did not demonstrate such extraordinary heroism, people whose lives nevertheless give witness to the transforming power of the gospel, he challenges all of us to become what our baptism calls us to be.” —John Garvey, author of Seeds of the Word: Orthodox Thinking on Other Religions "In Hidden Holiness, Michael Plekon writes about the ways holiness and grace are everywhere, not just located inside church buildings. He writes of people living out their faith. I loved this book and recommend it to anyone who wants a relationship with divinity that is creative and on-going, a religion deeply embodied unconfined by doctrine and rules." —Darcey Steinke, author of Easter Everywhere: A Memoir and Jesus Saves “Recent years have seen a great resurgence of interest in the saints—not as legendary heroes or heavenly patrons, but as spiritual companions and models of faithfulness. Michael Plekon writes with compassion and insight about a number of those models. But his great contribution is to highlight a new style of holiness, hidden in the ordinary duties and challenges of everyday life. A profound, ecumenically rich, reflection on the meaning of sainthood in our time.” —Robert Ellsberg, author, All Saints “What impresses me most about Hidden Holiness is its humane Christian vision. Fr. Plekon is a wonderful story-teller, retelling the lives of the saints with exceptional verve and clarity. Vividly, he conveys the diversity and individuality of the saints he considers; far from exhibiting cookie-cutter perfection, Fr. Plekon’s saints seem to embody particular concrete ideas in the mind of God, and to work out their salvation in the most unpromising conditions. This is just what we need to know about holiness, lest the idea come to seem fusty and irrelevant.” —Carol Zaleski, Smith College

Hidden Holiness

Religion & Spirituality

Christian Books & Bibles

Uncommon Prayer: Prayer in Everyday Experience

In Uncommon Prayer: Prayer in Everyday Experience, Michael Plekon wants to change our minds on what constitutes prayer. In doing so, he makes a theological claim that commonplace aspects of the Christian life are best understood as prayer, whereby encouraging us to see that everyday life carries religious import; prayer and the religious life are not restricted to special places and times, but are open to all believers at all times. Plekon examines the works of diverse authors, including many who have challenged the status quo of institutional churches. He asks us to listen to what poets, writers, activists, and others tell us about how they pray at work and at home, with colleagues, family, and friends, in all the experiences of life, from joy to suffering, sadness to hope. Among them are Sarah Coakley, Rowan Williams, Heather Havrilesky, Sara Miles, Thomas Merton, Mary Oliver, Christian Wiman, Mary Karr, Barbara Brown Taylor, Dorothy Day, Maria Skobtsova, Paul Evdokimov, Seraphim of Sarov, and Richard Rohr. Plekon argues that prayer encompasses a much wider variety of activity than formal and liturgical prayers and that, by recognizing such aspects of prayer, the believer is made more receptive to transformative aspects of prayerful attitudes.

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

In Uncommon Prayer: Prayer in Everyday Experience, Michael Plekon wants to change our minds on what constitutes prayer. In doing so, he makes a theological claim that commonplace aspects of the Christian life are best understood as prayer, whereby encouraging us to see that everyday life carries religious import; prayer and the religious life are not restricted to special places and times, but are open to all believers at all times. Plekon examines the works of diverse authors, including many who have challenged the status quo of institutional churches. He asks us to listen to what poets, writers, activists, and others tell us about how they pray at work and at home, with colleagues, family, and friends, in all the experiences of life, from joy to suffering, sadness to hope. Among them are Sarah Coakley, Rowan Williams, Heather Havrilesky, Sara Miles, Thomas Merton, Mary Oliver, Christian Wiman, Mary Karr, Barbara Brown Taylor, Dorothy Day, Maria Skobtsova, Paul Evdokimov, Seraphim of Sarov, and Richard Rohr. Plekon argues that prayer encompasses a much wider variety of activity than formal and liturgical prayers and that, by recognizing such aspects of prayer, the believer is made more receptive to transformative aspects of prayerful attitudes.

In his new book, Saints As They Really Are, priest and scholar Michael Plekon traces the spiritual journeys of several American Christians, using their memoirs and other writings. These "saints-in-the-making" show all their doubts and imperfections as they reflect on their search for God and their efforts to lead holy lives. They are gifted yet ordinary women and men trying to follow Christ within their flawed and broken humanity--"saints as they really are," as Dorothy Day put it. Saints As They Really Are is the third book in Plekon's critically acclaimed series on saints and holiness in our time. He draws on the autobiographical work of Dorothy Day, Peter Berger, Thomas Merton, Kathleen Norris, and Barbara Brown Taylor, among others, as well as from his own experiences as a Carmelite seminarian and brother. Plekon shares the power of these individuals' stories as they unfold. The book offers a strong argument that our failings and weaknesses are not disqualifications to holiness. Plekon further confronts the institutional church and its relationship to individuals seeking God, focusing on some of the challenges to this search--the destructive potential of religion and religious institutions, as well as our personal tendencies to extremism, overwork, pious obsessions, and legalism. But he also underscores the healing qualities of faith and the spiritual life. Plekon's insights will help readers better understand their own spiritual pilgrimages as they learn how others have dealt with the trials and joys of their path to everyday holiness.

How does one discern the truth? Many paths are turned inward, are egoistic, Gnostic and self-serving. Others are contradictory in their demands, confusing to seekers, dishonestly promising ecstatic experience with little effort. Evdokimov draws from the great current of Christian spiritual life in the West and in particular the Eastern tradition, revealing how modern mankind may recover the voices of silence, prayer and contemplation. Ages of the Spiritual Life presents a different view of the spiritual life. Paul Evdokimov's spirituality is open to God, the world and to the neighbor. It is the spirituality of the Great Tradition of the Church, but refreshingly new, rooted in the Bible and liturgy but entwined with the everyday life of home, school and work, a spirituality that is truly "for the life of the world." Models and teachers are the desert fathers and mothers and the monastics. Evdokimov's gift is the idea of an "interiorized monasticism" for all. The true pattern of the spiritual life for us in our time means incorporating into our lives the basics of the monastics' life: prayers, liturgy, scripture, work, love and care for the neighbor.

Ages of the Spiritual Life

Evdokimov, Paul

Vinogradov, Alexis

St Vladimirs Seminary Pr

Ministry Matters: Pastors, Their Life and Work Today

Cascade Books

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Plekon, Michael. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Plekon, Michael

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Plekon, Michael. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Living Icons: Persons of Faith in the Eastern Church

Living Icons: Persons of Faith in the Eastern Church

Saints As They Really Are: Voices of Holiness in Our Time

Hidden Holiness

Uncommon Prayer: Prayer in Everyday Experience

Uncommon Prayer: Prayer in Everyday Experience

Hidden Holiness

Saints As They Really Are: Voices of Holiness in Our Time

Ages of the Spiritual Life

Ministry Matters: Pastors, Their Life and Work Today