What does man seek in religion and what should he seek in it? How does God reveal Himself in order to bring man to a knowledge of the Truth? How does suffering help this revelation to occur? Fr. Seraphim Rose addressed these and other issues during a lecture at the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 1981. God's Revelation to the Human Heart is a transcription of that lecture, and the question-and-answer session between Fr. Seraphim and the university students. 
Drawing upon a wealth of resources--the Holy Scriptures, patristic writings, the Lives of ancient and modern saints, and accounts of persecuted Christians in today's world--Fr. Seraphim leads the audience to the core of all Christian life: the conversion of the heart of man, which begins to burn with love for Christ and transforms him into a new man.

God's Revelation to the Human Heart

Religion & Spirituality

Fr. Seraphim Rose

Christian Books & Bibles

St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood

The Soul After Death is a comprehensive presentation of the 2,000-year-old experience of Orthodox Christianity regarding the existence of the other world, addressing contemporary after-death and out-of-body experiences, the teachings of traditional Oriental religions and those of more recent occult societies.Although the mystery of what lies beyond the veil of death is not fully visible to us in this life, nonetheless, writings and teachings of ancient Christianity dating from the first century have proven timeless and straightforward, yielding sound insights into the spiritual world beyond death. From the firm foundation of Orthodox patristic teaching, Fr. Seraphim Rose offers an interpretation of the meaning of the contemporary experiences which have been publicized by Drs. Kubler-Ross, Moody, Osis and Haraldsson, and other researchers.
Principal teachings of Orthodox Christianity concerning the properties of the soul after death are presented in a clear concise manner, as taught by Church fathers and teachers of the early centuries. The Soul After Death offers an undiluted draught of pristine, mystical Christianity as it has existed since the time of Christ.

The Soul After Death

Every Sigh Can Be a Prayer

Elder Arsenie Papacioc

Book by Stakhovich, Nun Maria, Bolshakoff, Sergius

Interior Silence : Elder Michael : The Last Great Mystic of Valaam (The Acquisition of the Holy Spirit in Russia Series ; Vol. 7)

Bolshakoff, Sergius

Stakhovich, Nun Maria

Biographies & Memoirs

One of this century's greatest students of Orthodox sanctity, Professor Kontzevitch combined careful honest scholarship with a first-hand knowledge of saints with whom he had been in contact while in Russia including the holy Elders of Optina Monastery. His magnum opus, this book is a priceless sourcebook of all that he felt important to say about spiritual prayer, communion with God, asceticism, and eldership

The Acquisition of the Holy Spirit in Ancient Russia

I. M. Kontzevich

In the 1800's, on Alaska's remote and forested Spruce Island, there lived a holy Russian monk and missionary named Herman, who was to become America's first canonized Orthodox Saint. St. Herman prophesied that "a monk like me, fleeing the glory of men, will come and live on Spruce Island." This prophecy was fulfilled 100 years later in the person of Archimandrite Gerasim (+1969), who lived a hermitic way of life on the island for 30 years, guarding the Saint's relics and praying alone for the world. His solid spiritual formation in monasteries in Russia enabled him to withstand incredible obstacles, including concerted attempts to drive him off the island. His heroic witness is a beacon of ascetic Christianity in the 20th century. 
Father Gerasim of New Valaamincludes a preliminary Life of this righteous confessor, together with selections from his letters and three of his articles, all of which are largely autobiographical. From his words there emerges a warm, loving and endearing man, close to God's creation. At the same time, we see him as a mystic of the holy Optina tradition; a knower of God to who contact with the other world was a common reality. We can only marvel at how he was able to preserve the simplicity of his blessed childhood, with its fresh, guileless reactions to the joys and sorrows of life, and how he managed to preserve, on a wild island so far from his native land, a microcosm of Holy Russia.

Father Gerasim of New Valaam

Hieromonk Gerasim

Leaders & Notable People

Philokalia means, "love of the good--love of the beautiful." It was the name given to the celebrated 18th century Greek collection of Patristic texts on Christian spiritual life, teaching the path to inner sobriety and the fullness of union with God. 
Christian spirituality is not a retreat or escape from life. On the contrary, it is a withdrawal from the spirit of a fallen world lying in evil in order to cling to the source of life itself--Christ the true God. 
Because of the multitude of outstanding spiritual leaders which have existed in Russia, there have been several attempts to compile a collection from the Russian Fathers similar to that of the Greek Philokalia. The teachings of these spiritual Fathers rest in the eternal truths and guiding principles of suffering Christianity, and their counsels are of particular value since--from that fount of eternal wisdom--they offer direction suited to the peculiarities of today's "modern age." 
Therefore! it is of no small importance to present the Russian Fathers of recent centuries in an anthology of ascetic texts drawn from the original sources. The LITTLE RUSSIAN PHILOKALIA series serves as an intermediary with the great Fathers of the Greek Philokalia. 
In this respect, the humble advice offered by the holy men of the LITTLE RUSSIAN PHILOKALIA series may render an inestimable service to a true seeker of salvation--a follower of Christ's narrow path of unceasing toil and humility. This, after all, was the primary purpose of the original Philokalia. 
One of the most beloved Orthodox saints of recent times--St. Seraphim of Sarov (1759-1833)--was a priest, hermit and spiritual guide who, in early 19th century Russia, led many souls along the path of Apostolic Christianity. 
The first volume of the LITTLE RUSSIAN PHILOKALIA series contains the Life of St. Seraphim, his "Spiritual Instructions to Laymen and Monks," his soul-saving conversation with Nicholas Motovilov "On the Acquisition of the Holy Spirit" (St. Seraphim's patristic teaching--equal to the ancient Church Fathers)--and his "Diveyevo Mystery"--which, until now, has never been revealed in the English language since its disclosure in 1902.

Little Russian Philokalia: St. Seraphim of Sarov

Little Russian Philokalia: St. Theodore of Sanaxar (Vol V) [paperback] Miloskovsky, S.,St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood [Jul 01, 2000] ... 0938635344

Little Russian Philokalia: St. Theodore of Sanaxar

Optina Monastery

From the fourth century A.D., the desert Thebaid of Egypt was the home of thousands of monks and nuns who made the desert a city peopled with Christians striving toward heaven in the angelic way of life. A thousand years later, no fewer thousands of monks and nuns, likewise seeking union with God, went to live in the forests of northern Russia, creating what has become known as the Northern Thebaid. 
Just as the sultry African nature with its clear blue sky, lush colors, its burning sun, and its incomparable moonlit nights, is distinct from the aquarelle soft tones of Russia s northern nature with the blue surface of its lakes and the soft shades of its leafy forests in the same way the sanctity of the Saints of the Egyptian desert, elemental and mighty, is distinct from the sanctity of Russia, which is quiet, lofty, and as crystal-clear as the radiant and quiet evening of the Russian spring. But both in Russia and in Egypt there is the same noetic prayer, the same interior silence.
Illustrated with rare pictures from old Russian books and magazines, The Northern Thebaid chronicles the lives of a number of holy men and women of the Russian forests, presenting the Orthodox monastic tradition which inspired them and which is still alive today for those who would follow in their footsteps.
This latest edition is a facsimile of the original edition, which was hand-printed by Fr. Seraphim Rose and his monastic brothers in the mountain forests of northern California. It includes a new preface and a new appendix on the recently rediscovered, incorrupt relics of St. Alexander of Svir, a sixteenth-century luminary of the Russian North.

The Northern Thebaid: Monastic Saints of the Russian North

Elder Anthony, born Alexander Ivanovich Putilov in 1795, came from a pious family of the Yaroslav Province, raised in the fear of God. Of Alexander and his four brothers, three became righteous abbots of renowned monasteries. From early youth Alexander dedicated himself with great zeal to the labors of desert dwelling. 
The difficulties of the narrow and sorrowful path of the monastic life became joyful to Alexander through the rewards of spiritual consolations full of grace. To the 20-year-old Alexander, who had striven so long and so zealously toward monastic life, the short, dyed robe, covered with stains and patches, seemed, as he himself later expressed it, "more precious than royal purple." 
ELDER ANTHONY OF OPTINA, the prima vita of 1869, is compiled not only from the information of his own personal notes, journals, and letters, but also from memoirs of his spiritual children, particularly the disciple of St. Herman of Alaska--the saintly Sergius Yanovsky--who became a disciple of Elder Anthony after returning from America.

Elder Anthony of Optina

Fr. Clement Sederholm

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Books by St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood