Courage to Pray

LEFEBVRE, Georges

Anthony, Metropolitan

Religion & Spirituality

St. Vladimir's Seminary Press

First published in 1983 by the Orthodox Christian Publications Center, this little book is by a modern woman who investigates a modern phenomenon, The Women's Movement, and its effects on religious thought. The author explores how feminist thought gave birth to feminist theology, and then contrasts the religious tenets embraced by feminist theologians with those held by Orthodox Christians. Introduction: The Women's Movement in the United States has had a profound effect on the realm of religion. As The Women's Movement began to be felt in other areas of American life, it soon became apparant that religious structures were not beyond feminist interest. Shortly after the movement began in the early 1960's, feminists decided that sexism had penetrated the Church throughout Christian history, and judged Christian denominations as having been patently unfair to women. Women began to scrutinize the structures of the Christian denominations, with their beliefs and theology, and concluded that all of Christendom had been trained by male chauvinism... This essay has one purpose: to investigate the religious beliefs of feminized-Christians and to contrast them with Orthodox Christian theology. It is not the desire of the author to depreciate The Women's Movement in other areas of life; in many fields its effects have been beneficial. However when feminism left social problems and turned to religion, a revolution began, and this revolution has resulted in religious beliefs blatently disparate with the teachings of the Orthodox Christian Church, with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and with the traditional moving of the Holy Spirit

Feminism in Christianity: An Orthodox Christian Response

Belonick, Deborah Malacky

Focusing on the 'new man'; in Christ, this excellent study sets forth the theological and anthropological basis for the doctrine of deification as expounded by St. Gregory Palamas (1296-1359), the greatest theologian of the later Byzantine period. Professor Mantzaridis states: Man's true life springs from his participation in the life of God and his communion with Him. As the spirit of man infuses life into the body through its life-giving virtue, so the Spirit of God endows man with godlike existence through His grace and glory. He explains that for Palamas and the Fathers, The term 'spiritual' does not denote an abstraction, but characterizes the new man, born through the regenerative grace of the Holy Spirit. As the man is called rational who is endowed with reason, so the man who is enriched by the grace of the Holy Spirit is described as spiritual. This grace constitutes the chief aspect of the existence of the spiritual man and it bestows on him true life. By exploring the sacramental, ecclesiological and moral implications of deification in Palamas' works, Mantzaridis relates this essential theological concept in a concrete way to the life of each person in the Church.

The Deification of Man: St. Gregory Palamas and the Orthodox Tradition (Contemporary Greek Theologians Series, 2) (English and Greek Edition)

Georgios I. Mantzaridis

The sermons of St John Chrysostom are noted as classical commentaries on the Christian life. Knowing well the realities of life in the world, the temptation of rich and poor alike, this great orator - "the golden-mouthed" - addresses the questions of wealth and poverty in the lives of people of his day. And yet, as the modern reader is confronted with his words, it becomes apparent that he too is being addressed; Chrysostom's words are words proclaiming the truth of the Gospel to all people of all times. The message of the story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) is brought home to every person in these six sermons of Chrysostom with clarity, insight into the human dilemma, compassion and judgment. On Wealth and Poverty is part of the POPULAR PATRISTIC SERIES.

On Wealth and Poverty: St. John Chrysostom (Popular Patristics)

St. John Chrysostom

This in-depth study on the realm of death presents a message of hope held by the first generation of Christians and the early church. Using Scripture, patristic tradition, early Christian poetry, and liturgical texts, Archbishop Hilarion explores the mysterious and enigmatic event of Christ s descent into Hades and its consequences for the human race. Insisting that Christ entered Sheol as Conqueror and not as victim, the author depicts the Lord s descent as an event of cosmic significance opening the path to universal salvation. He also reveals Hades as a place of divine presence, a place where the spiritual fate of a person may still change. Reminding readers that self-will remains the only hindrance to life in Christ, he presents the gospel message anew, even in the shadow of death.

Christ the Conqueror of Hell: The Descent into Hades from an Orthodox Perspective

Alfeyev, Hilarion

On Ascetical Life Isaac of Nineveh was a native of Bet Qatraye near present-day Bahrain on the Persian Gulf. A teacher and monk, he was consecrated bishop (ca. 660-680), but preferred to live out his live as an anchorite. A Scriptural scholar, he studies Scripture so much that he became blind and had to dictate his writings. He died at an advance age and was buried in Rabban Shabur, where he spent most of his monastic life. St Isaac's monastic anthropology has a major influence on all of Byzantine spiritual literature. The way toward God, in his writing, was threefold: the way of the body, the way of the soul, and the way of the spirit. In the first stage, the person begins with a total preoccupation with the passions and moves toward God by means of bodily works: fasting, vigils, and psalmody. The next stage involves a struggle against thoughts foreign to the nature of the soul, turning from created objects to the contemplation of God's wisdom and a transformation within. As the person arrives at a total openness of the soul to the future hope, he proceeds to the final stage of unified knowledge, which is an attitude of wonder and praise in continual prayer to God, leading to the freedom of immortal life that is given after the resurrection.This translation, by Mary Hansbury, of St Isaac of Nineveh's work On the Ascetical Life is based on the Syriac text edited by P. Bedjan in Mar Isaacus Ninivita, De Perfectione Religiosa. On Ascetical Life is part of the POPULAR PATRISTIC SERIES.

On Ascetical Life (English and Syriac Edition)

St Isaac of Nineveh

Based on a true story of an early Russian missionary bishop's trip to the far reaches of Eastern Siberia, Nicolai Leskov (1831-1895), the master of the Russian short story, delights the reader with a tale of adventure and substance. Leskov, the Russian equivalent of the American Mark Twain, is a powerful storyteller, utilizing language and acute characterizations to weave an unforgettable tale. This fresh, readable, yet critical translation by Michael Prokurat, with valuable notes and commentary, is an eminently entertaining and engaging story. The snowstorm scene is one of the greatest in Russian literature. Behind the adventure, however, Leskov delivers a profound message about human values, while constructing a model for Christian missiology. The purpose behind the bishop's journey is to teach and baptize. During the process he learns through example and suffering that baptism without preparation is ritual devoid of content, that in indigenous peoples of all cultures there is a striking dignity, as well as established codes of moral behavior that must be recognized and built upon as a foundation for all Christian conversion.

On the Edge of the World

Literature & Fiction

Nikolai S. Leskov

Contemporary

Gathered in this volume are studies on various historical and theological issues which have arisen between East and West over the centuries. These essays, characterized by Fr Meyendorff's typical brilliance and balance, discuss different aspects of the estrangement between the two halves of the Christian world and present an evaluation of several attempts at healing the schism. The problems related to the fall of Byzantium and the reuse of Russia as a major center of Orthodox mission and thought are also discussed. Father John Meyendorff ([actual symbol not reproducible] 1992), former dean of St Vladimir's Seminary, is one of the pioneers of the modern ecumenical movement. As a historian of the church and patristics scholar, and as a longtime participant in numerous ecumenical encounters, he is uniquely qualified to present this evaluation of the search for unity between East and West over the last millennium. Prepared shortly before his untimely death, this collection of previously published and unpublished materials challenges the churches today to continue their search for authentic unity. In a time when relations between East and West have suffered numerous setbacks - in the former Soviet Union, in the former Yugoslavia, and elsewhere - Meyendorff calls upon theologians to remain ecumenical in their theology. What is really at stake, he affirms, "is not the preservation of cultural categories shaped in the distant past, but the true 'catholicity' of the Christian message for the world today."

Rome, Constantinople, Moscow: Historical and Theological Studies

MEYENDORFF, JOHN

Religious Studies

Now Back in Print. St Symeon's theology emphasizes the mystical encounter with God and transfiguration by grace.

On the Mystical Life: The Ethical Discourses, Vol. 1: The Church and the Last Things

Christian Books & Bibles

Saint Symeon the New Theologian

Theology

St Irenaeus, the most important theologian of the second century, lays the foundation for all future Christian thinkers. Here he recounts all the various deeds of God, culminating in the exaltation of His crucified Son, Jesus Christ, and the bestowal of His Holy Spirit and the gift of a new heart of flesh.

On the Apostolic Preaching (Popular Patristics)

St Irenaeus of Lyons

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