On Liturgical Languages - part 2

I have been a fan of Innocent (Dr Clark) Carlton since my early days of life in the Orthodox Church.  He is the author of The Truth: What Every Roman Catholic Should Know About the Orthodox Church.  Having come from an Anglo-Cathlolic background, where much of what I had been taught and many of my assumptions had been moulded by the culture of drawing on flawed Latin understandings in order to combat protestantism within Anglicanism, this seemed to be written for me.  It was a great help to me in understanding some of the core differences of doctrine and culture in more than a superficial way between that and the Orthodox Faith.

Imagine my delight, therefore, when, about eighteen months ago, I discovered his podcast on Ancient Faith Radio.  He does a series called Faith and Philosophy, which provides much food for thought.  I enjoy many of the episodes, (although his and my understanding of how best to apply our faith to the politics of our time may not exactly be in harmony).  The most recent to date deals with the question of the form of English to be used in the Orthodox worship of God.

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Temple Theology and the Christ

As I was travelling about a couple of weeks ago, while looking for something else, I came across a very promising podcast entitled Our Great High Priest: The Church is the New Temple, and began to listen to it.  It was an address delivered by Dr Margaret Barker at St Vladimir's Seminary, about the Temple in Jerusalem and the Messianic fulfilment in the Person of the Saviour and lived in the liturgical and sacramental life of the Church.  Unfortunately, I was on the train and my phone's battery was low, so I stopped only a few minutes into the talk.  I then proceeded to forget all about it until last night, when I listened to it in its entirety.

It can be heard here and a transcript may be read here.

I found this absolutely fascinating, both for some of the facts that had previously been unknown to me and also for the affirmation of the Christ as the fulfilment of th Law and the Prophets, and the actualisation of our faith in this in Orthodox worship.

I strongly recommend listening to or reading it.  So much of what we see and do in church finds its meaning in what Dr Barker has discovered that her work certainly serves as a channel for us to deepen our understanding and appreciation of what we are as the people of God.

Has anybody else encountered Dr Barker's work?  What of her books?

Book Review: A Practical Handbook for Divine Services

Last Spring, Holy Trinity Publications, (the publishing arm of the monastery in Jordanville), made available A Practical Handbook for Divine Services.  This is  really a compilation of detailed instructional notes for the priest and deacon (with a few notes for servers) at Vespers, Matins, and the Divine Liturgy in the Slav-Byzantine tradition, penned by the late Abbot Gregory (Woolfenden), a priest and liturgical scholar from the northwest of England.  A number of the clergy of the Moscow Patriarchate's Diocese of Sourozh, to which Fr Gregory once belonged, remember these and other liturgical notes with gratitude, for Fr Gregory used to hand them out at diocesan clergy meetings, and many a new clergyman would have been lost without them.

I bought a copy of this book last summer and found it immensely helpful in understanding some of the actions of the priest and deacon at our divine services.  It is particularly helpful to me as somebody who, while knowing the general roles, does not have much experience of services at which a deacon is present and serving.  Despite the fact that our services rely heavily on the deacon and can seldom be offered fully without one, the reality is that most Orthodox people - clergy and laity alike - are unaccustomed to having a deacon present, and when one is fulfilling his duty, it shows: priests who are accustomed to doing everything themselves forget where the end of their role lies and where that of the deacon begins (or perhaps, due to having served only a short diaconate, they never learnt in the first place), choirs forget (or are possibly unaware of) the different responses and methods that are employed when the Liturgy is served with a deacon, and so forth.

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New Guide for Altar Servers

Available here is a free download of a guide for altar servers at the Divine Liturgy in the Slav-Byzantine Rite.


It started life as a guide for servers at my parish, particularly now that, for the frst time since we moved into our church and found ourselves with the space and resources to perform the services more fully, we seem to have a modest but slowly growing number of servers. I was encouraged by a friend to produce something for more general guidance, that could be used in any parish. This seemed like a worthy project with potentially useful results, and I was flattered to be thought capable of such a venture, so I began to amend it accordingly.

However, after some efforts in that direction, it began to become apparent that, not only would the inclusion of all the myriad of possible variations be incredibly time-consuming and turn the guide into a study book for use at home rather than the handy, practical guide that it was intended to be, which could be quickly glanced at during the course of a Liturgy, but also such a venture would be beyond my knowledge and capabilities. Also, it meant that some of the directions that would be needful for my parish's servers due to the peculiarities of our building and circumstances would have to be omitted, thus reducing its usefulness to the very people for whom it was intended in the first place.

In the end, a little saddened that I could not go ahead with the bigger project, I decided to revert to the original plan. The result is a guide for the servers at my parish, based on what I understand to be standard Russian Orthodox custom but adapted to our local use. Please feel free to take as much or as little from it as you find helpful, even if that means none at all.

Orthodox iPhone

Q. How do you know if one of your friends has the iPhone?
A. He will tell you.

Unfortunately, the joke above is founded on reality. There is something of a social status attached to possession of the iPhone, a Blackberry, and such like, and the manufacturers of these contraptions play on it. It is, for instance, not possible for me to post to Facebook from my iPhone without the Facebook application leaving a public note in addition to my comment explicitly stating that I have done just that. For the first time ever, I have full access to all of my e-mail accounts on the go, yet if I send an e-mail to somebody, the signature line that automatically appears reads "Sent from my iPhone". At least I have the ability to change this but the default setting is nothing more than a boast. None of this is particularly lenten or indeed Orthodox in spirit.

So why do I have it? Well, this is not the place for discussion of my unseemly and unlenten lusting after material possessions or for extolling the benefits of the iPhone. Let it suffice to say that some of the practicalities of life, including church life, will be made considerably easier and more efficient now that I own one. So how do I go about easing my conscience and possibly helping others at the same time?

Well, there are applications and other software compatible with the iPhone that are designed to aid the spiritual life of Orthodox Christians. I have done much googling and have found the following that I have so far found useful. You can find these by searching for the titles in the iTunes store. iTunes can be downloaded here. I bring them together in one place here for the benefit of my sisters and brothers who may benefit from them and who may find it a difficult or tedious task to find them in various places on the internet.

Orthodox Calendar

This is the well-known calendar from the Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church (which can be viewed in the sidebar of this blog), but as an app optimised for the iPhone. It gives the Saints and other commemorations for each day, along with the main troparia and kontakia, the fasting rule, the full text of the daily appointed readings both from Scripture and the Synaxarion (Martyrology), and a selection of icons for many days of the year. While the default is to give the details for the current day, any other date may be easily viewed instead.

(I understand that the Greek Archdiocese of North America has produced something similar for those who follow the calendar of Meletios Metaksakis. I will not be linking to it from here but think that this knowledge may be useful to some readers).

Ancient Faith Radio

Just what it says on the tin. You can listen to the music or talk versions of AFR on the iPhone by downloading this app. I find the talk on AFR to be really rather good but my preferred option for the music is the next one.

Orthodox Christian Network

I have actually always preferred the music of the Rudder on OCN to that on AFR and I'm delighted that this is also available as an app. I would recommend this for Orthodox music on the go. Of course, the Ark is also available for people who like That Sort Of Thing™.

There is, however, a flaw in this app and the previous one. The iPhone allows for audio apps to continue running in the background while the user does other things, so it is possible to listen to music, news reports, and such like while sending text messages, browsing the internet, or whatever. For some reason, these two apps don't allow for this. If you try to go to another app while listening to either of them, the audio will simply stop, so you will have to choose between either forgoing your music while you do other things on the one hand, and listening to your music but restricting your ability to use the phone for anything else on the other. I hope they fix this in future releases.

Kindle

This is not a specifically Orthodox app, but there are numerous books available for purchase and download through Kindle, including many Orthodox books. Among them is the Orthodox Study Bible, complete with patristic footnotes. I would recommend exploring this app and seeing what other Orthodox treasures are there to be had.

Douay-Rheims Bible

For those for whom the cost of the OSB download would perhaps be a little steep, the Douay-Rheims Bible is available in a number of apps. It seems the nearest thing to a complete Orthodox bible available in English in this format.

PilgrimApp

Be slightly wary of this one. It is from an independent group and contains one or two minor things peculiar to that group. However, if you are willing to ignore the small amount of strangeness, you will find a superb selection of daily prayers, patristic quotations, catechetical materialas, a calculator of the date of Pascha and the moveable dates based thereon, as well as the text of the Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom. Despite my caution, this is the best Orthodox app that I have found so far.

While searching the developer's website for the purposes of this post, I stumbled upon PrayDaily, another app from the same source, which seems to be a collection of prayers for various times of day, various needs, mealtimes, and such like. I have not used it myself so cannot recommend it but it may be downloaded here in case you wish to explore it.

Orthodox Prayer Book

This contains a good selection of prayers for different times of day, before and after meals, and for many needs in life. There is also the provision to compose one's own prayers and thoughts for each day, and to save them for future use. Prayers take a reader service format, making them usable in the absence of a priest without the need for on-the-spot modifications. This is a very good app, attractively laid out, and ideal perhaps for commuters to be able to set aside some time during those busy days to pray without lugging a book around. In future releases, I would like to see a preparation for Confession included (along with evidence that at least some proofreading has taken place) but otherwise, this is an excellent app and I would certainly recommend downloading it.

Early Christian Fathers

This is the book as it appears on the CCEL website, which contains a wealth of patristic and early conciliar material. Anybody already familiar with that site will know what a treasure this is. (Also available are the "Confessions" of Augustine of Hippo, from the same source.)

These are the few that I have found, considered worth downloading, and used. I am sure that there are others and I would be grateful if reader were to share them in the "comments" section. For instance, there is the "Church Slavonic Bible", which I do not have but which I imagine could be useful for practising reading Cyrillic script.

Orthodoxy hasn't really taken off in this area in the way that Catholicism particularly and Christianity more generally have, and these things are difficult for an individual to gather together. The more we share with each other, the better for us all, I think.

Lord, I Have Cried

Lord, I have cried unto Thee, hearken unto me. Hearken unto me, O Lord. Lord, I have cried unto Thee, hearken unto me. Attend to the voice of my supplication when I cry unto Thee. Hearken unto me, O Lord! Let my prayer be set forth as incense before Thee, the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice. Hearken unto me, O Lord!

Above is a portion of the service of Vespers, slightly rearranged from Psalm 140. The Lord, I Have Cried is actually one of the most solemn portions of Vespers for me. Yes, we have the Come, let us worship and I love psalm 103 as the joyful start to the new day and the recalling of our creation but it is only truly at the Lord, I Have Cried, with its repetitious and faithful pleading, 'hearken unto me, O Lord' that my heart is truly called prayer, when I am moved to seek communion with God more fully.

Imagine, then, my pain, bewilderment, and complete sense of loss over the summer of last year, when these words became empty and meaningless in a way that they never had before, when I was going to church and God simply was not there - or so it seemed. It has been known among a small number of friends that I very nearly apostatised last year. I found it immenselly difficult to convince myself that there was even a God left to believe in. It was not something that could be argued logically with any of the arguments from a position of faith that are often presented in debates about the existence of God for this was not an academic rejection of God. It was simply a feeling that God was not there. That God is made perfect sense to my intellect but I could no longer bring myself to believe.

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Is Outrage!

Many will recognise the post title as the catchphrase of Fr Vasiliy Vasileivich Smith, a fictional character created by Reader Alexis Riggle of the Orthodox Church in America. Fr Vasiliy regularly featured as a priestly agony uncle in the Onion Dome, a spoof Orthodox news website that ran for some years until last year. Since then, the phrase seems to have made its way into regular church conversation, used by people with no idea of its provenance.

I am pleased to report that, while the website is now no more, some of the better excerpts from it, including almost all of the contributions from Fr Vasiliy, have been published in a book that is now readily available for purchase from Lulu.com. Having long been a fan of the Onion Dome, I can assure you that it will be well worth it. Here is a site created to give a little more information. Please do buy a copy for yourself or a friend. If you really like it, why not add Fr Vasiliy as a friend on the Book of Faces?

St Barsanuphius the Great

'Silence of lips is better and more wonderful than any edifying conversation. Strive to acquire humility and submissiveness. Never insist that anything should be according to your will, for this gives birth to anger. Do not judge or humiliate anyone, for this gives birth to anger. Do not judge or humiliate anyone, for this exhausts the heart and blinds the mind, and thereon leads to negligence and makes the heart unfeeling.'

- St Barsanuphius the Great

'Never confuse the person, formed in the image of God, with the evil that is in him: because evil is but a chance misfortune, an illness, a devilish attack. But the very essence of the person is the image of God, and this remains in him despite every disfigurement.'

- St John of Kronstadt

'When anyone is disturbed or saddened under the pretext of a good and soul-profiting matter, and is angered against his neighbour, it is evident that this is not according to God: for everything that is of God is peaceful and useful, and leads a man to humility and to judging himself.'

- St Barsanuphius the Great

'Do we forgive our neighbours their trespasses? God also forgives us in his mercy. Do we refuse to forgive? God, too, will refuse to forgive us. As we treat our neighbours, so also does God treat us. The forgiveness, then, of your sins or unforgiveness, and hence also your salvation or destruction, depend on you yourself. For without forgiveness of sins there is no salvation. You can see for yourself how terrible it is.'

- St Tikhon of Zadonsk

Somebody managed to upset me recently. The truth is that this doesn't take much doing at the best of times but I was particularly hard on this person, perhaps partly because of my own recent struggles with faith, which have resulted in a departure from where I ought to be, and from which I am only now slowly recovering. In any case, I was harsh and judgemental. The only saving grace is that I did not express this to the person himself but, knowing my propensity to over-react and then regret my actions later, I kept my mouth shut, which is just as well as I have since come to learn of the personal difficulties that lay behind his actions.

However, it was reading the quotations above that called me to recognise what I was doing, and how far removed this is from what I want my life to be. It was particularly the words of St Barsanuphius, (which have now been added to the selections from the Saints at the side of this blog), that spoke to my heart and I would very much like to read some more of him. Apart from this, which is on my wish list, does anybody know of any books containing his writings or information about him? I should be very grateful for any help you may be able to offer.

Thank you.

Forward in Orthodox Faith

An American-based friend recently sent me a message, asking about efforts on the part of Orthodox churches in Britain to reach out to Forward in Faith. I very rudely failed to reply in a timely fashion so have decided to make a blog post out of it in the hope that this will go some way towards appeasing the wrath of my acquaintance. I just hope that I don't offend too many people by responding publicly.

The answer is that I know of very little that has been organised on any sort of large scale. There is the quiet evangelism among individuals, for which Orthodoxy is known, but there's nothing such as the OCA's outreach to ACNA. While Metropolitan Jonah's address to their conference was outstanding and inspiring, and no doubt ideal for that context, it was tailored for a situation that is so far removed from the reality of church life in Britain as to be largely an irrelevance to us.

The impression I have got over the years, both as an Anglo-Catholic and now as Orthodox who hears the views of Anglo-Catholics about Orthodoxy, is that English (the factors facing those in Scotland and elsewhere may be different) and North American Anglo-Catholics simply do not understand each other.

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The Same, Only Different

I have today begun to read a book by Professor Robert Taft, generally recognised as one of the people who knows more about the Byzantine Rite than almost anybody else. (Skufiya tip to Joseph for introducing me to him). The book is The Great Entrance: A History of the Transfer of Gifts and other Pre-Anaphral Rites. I have so far made my way through very little of the book but have been truly fascinated by what I have found. What strikes me most is just how ancient much of what happens from Sunday to Sunday at my little parish actually is, and where it has its roots, but yet more interesting is just how much of what we do in Orthodox churches today has retained the meaning that is either original to it or was attached to it very early on, and has not simply become an empty action divorced from its purpose.

The most humbling revelation for me, though, was the realisation that, contrary to what I have simply assumed for the past few years - and told other people! - the Great Entrance is not the Byzantine equivalent to the Offertory procession in the western rites.

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Anne of Green Gables

'What's your name?'

The child hesitated for a moment.

'Will you please call me Cordelia?' she said eagerly.

'Call you Cordelia? Is that your name?'

'No-o-o, it's not exactly my name, but I would love to be called Cordelia. It's such a perfectly elegant name.'

'I don't know what on earth you mean. If Cordelia isn't your name, what is?'

'Anne Shirley,' reluctantly faltered forth the owner of that name, 'but, oh, please do call me Cordelia. It can't matter much to you what you call me if I'm only going to be here a little while, can it? And Anne is such an unromantic name.'

'Unromantic fiddlesticks!' said the unsympathetic Marilla. 'Anne is a real good plain sensible name. You've no need to be ashamed of it.'

'Oh, I'm not ashamed of it,' explained Anne, 'only I like Cordelia better. I've always imagined that my name was Cordelia - at least, I always have of late years. When I was young I used to imagine it was Geraldine, but I like Cordelia better now. But if you call me Anne please call me Anne spelled with an E.'

'What difference does it make how it's spelled?' asked Marilla with another rusty smile as she picked up the teapot.

'Oh, it makes such a difference. It looks so much nicer. When you hear a name pronounced can't you always see it in your mind, just as if it was printed out? I can; and A-n-n looks dreadful, but A-n-n-e looks so much more distinguished. If you'll only call me Anne spelled with an E I shall try to reconcile myself to not being called Cordelia.'

In our house, we have been watching the Anne of Green Gables trilogy over the past couple of days. We hope to watch the third instalment tomorrow. I am a little reluctant about tomorrow's film. I grew up with the first two and have thoroughly enjoyed the wonderful romantic humour of them, not to mention the memories that they have brought back to me. I remember falling in love with Anne's character as a child and really enjoying The Road to Avonlea. However, I have never seen the third film and understand that it deviates considerably from Lucy Maud Montgomery's original series of books.

Has anybody any thoughts about it?

In searching for a photograph for this post, I encountered this. As an Anne lover, I am skeptical of this. I would love to see it and enjoy it but I'm also worried that this sort of meddling may spoil the story for me. Is anybody who has seen it able to offer any insights? I would be very grateful.

Thank you so much.

An Extraordinary Peace: St Seraphim, Flame of Sarov

An Extraordinary Peace: St Seraphim, Flame of Sarov
Archimandrite Lazarus (Moore)

In this newly-available reprint of his classic work, Archimandrite Lazarus exposes the reader to a depth of spiritual beauty far beyond anything that most of us know in our day-to-day lives. Yet, with simple clarity, he is able to present this in a way that is accessible to all, irrespective of their own stage of spiritual growth. As I read the book, I came to realise that this is perhaps reflective of the spirit of St Seraphim as much as it is due to the labours of Father Lazarus.

The first chapter tells a little of the early life of St Seraphim and perhaps strays a little into the tedium of historicity and precision of dates. However, it quickly makes the transition into the real substance of the work. Drawing heavily on the sayings of St Seraphim himself, the book draws the reader into a world that overturns everyday reality, and time after time challenges the expectations based on it, as the astounding story is told of the faith, humility, and ascetic struggles of St Seraphim, recounted in the written accounts of many of those who had the great privilege of knowing this extraordinary man of God during his earthly life. Fr Lazarus’ own humble approach to the task of recounting the Saint’s life allows the accounts to speak for themselves, as indeed they in turn allow the astounding wisdom of the clairvoyant Fr Seraphim to shine through, no doubt benefitting the reader today almost as much as those who sat at the feet of this great spiritual father.

This is essential reading for anybody seeking a better appreciation of the ascetic labours of those who give up everything for the love of Christ, and while being caught up in the beauty of St Seraphim’s life, the reader should not expect to remain free from the discomfort of introspection that An Extraordinary Peace ironically evokes.

-A review of mine, from the Winter-Spring edition of Orthodox News, published by the St George Orthodox Information Service, from where copies of this book may be purchased.

Lenten Reading

I haven't very much to say in this post other than to state my intentions for spiritual reading and reflection this Lent. Some months ago, I was given a copy of The Spiritual Life by St Theophan the Recluse and have never picked it up to read it. I was told that he wrote for laypeople and that much of his thought and guidance is more readily accessible and achievable than much of what has been written from an intense monastic perspective, so I shall try to slowly make my way through it over the next few weeks and digest what I can.

I also plan to resume my daily readings of portions of the psalter in conjunction with Christ in the Psalms. When I started, I only did this for a week or so before my focus shifted to other reading, and I never got back into the routine.

Finally, I have The Law of God on order, so that should arrive over the next couple of weeks. It comes highly recommended but is less of a spiritual work than a general catechetical and explanatory work of various elements of Orthodox life and experience. It is, it seems, required reading for those seeking to enter seminary, and was transcribed numerous times by hand and smuggled into Russia during Soviet times so that the people could be educated in the Faith.

What are others' plans for Lenten reading?

Christ in the Psalms

Virtually all know the words of this psalm and they continue to sing it at every age, without knowing, however, the sense of what has been said. This is no small charge, to sing something every day, putting forth words from the mouth, without searching out the meaning of the thoughts residing in the words.

- St John Chrysostom

I recently came across reference made to Priest Patrick Reardon's Christ in the Psalms on another site and decided to buy it. I must say that it is one of the most rewarding purchases that I have made in recent months.

Father Patrick takes us through the 151 psalms with reflections on their poetry, the doctrine of their content, and their liturgical use, inviting us to pause and ponder the depth of some of the words that we often chant casually or unthinkingly. He also shows how many of these psalms have traditionally been seen as references to the Christ and why they are, therefore, an integral part of the hymnody and culture of the community of the New Covenant, the Body of Christ, the Church.

I never really had much exposure to the psalms in my Anglican childhood. At most of my parishes over the years, we were mass people and not really office people. Yet in my teens I started to pray the office and began to be more fully exposed to the beauty and richness of the psalms. However, it was always very much a private affair, always disconnected somehow from the regular worshipping life of my parish. As such, it became difficult to sustain. Now that I am Orthodox, I find myself bombarded on every side with psalmody, at each and every service. We chant a number of psalms in full as a standard part of almost all of our services, portions of psalms are included in our prayers, antiphons, troparia, communion hymns, responsories, and so forth. Eventually, the words permeate the consciousness and become second nature. I find that there are a number of psalms that I simply know without having made any conscious effort to learn them, and because I can say them effortlessly, I am able to pray them internally. Then, when I pray the office at home, it seems so very natural because it is built on a solid foundation.

Father Patrick does not include the text of the psalms in his book, as it is assumed that the reader will either be familiar with the psalms or will have a psalter to hand. For this I would strongly recommend The Psalter According to the Seventy, published by Holy Transfiguration Monastery. This is by far the most beautiful translation of the psalms that I have ever encountered. The language is dignified without being so archaic that it is clumsy, (as I find the King James and Coverdale translations to be, despite having grown up with and readily understanding both). This translation also renders "anointed one" as "Christ" in many of those psalms that are traditionally seen as Messianic in the writings of the fathers and the liturgical use of the Church. This I am sure will prove to be a great help when using the psalter alongside Father Patrick's book.

Very importantly, though, is that, as the name suggests, The Psalter According to the Seventy has the advantage of being a translation from the Septuagint, which has been used as the Old Testament of the Church since the early centuries of Christianity. The translation from the Orthodox Study Bible or the Eastern Orthodox Bible may also be found to be quite acceptable for the same reasons.

Many currently-available English renderings of the psalms are based on the much later, flawed Masoretic Hebrew text of the Old Testament. This omits books and alters words in places, which can cause confusion when being read alongside Orthodox commentaries. Also, its different numbering system for the psalms, while only a minor inconvenience, can prove to be something of an annoyance.

Further to this, a number of recent "translations" have been done without a view to expressing the mind of the Church in understanding the psalms. As a result, expressions in the psalms, which for centuries have been understood as references to the Christ, have been obliterated for the sake of a slavish obedience to the modern idol of gender-neutrality. So Blessed is the man in Psalm 1, which the fathers tell us refers to Christ, and which begins the Church's liturgical celebration of the Resurrection at the start of the week, has been turned into such nonsense as Happy are those in a number of "translations".

So while study of the Scriptures is always to be commended, I would recommend caution in choosing a translation. Personally, I am very grateful indeed to Father Patrick because his book is better helping me to heed the words spoken to me by my bishop on the day that he ordained me a reader:

My child, the first degree of the Priesthood is that of Reader. Therefore, it is fitting for you to read the divine Scriptures every day, that they who hear, beholding thee, may receive edification, that thou, in no way putting to shame thine election, may prepare thyself for a higher degree. For by a chaste, holy, and upright life thou shalt gain the mercy of God, the Lover of Mankind, and be counted worthy of a higher ministry: in Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom be glory unto ages of ages. Amen.

- from the rite for the setting apart of a reader

I am all too aware that I fail on a number of counts, and I have really found a renewed zeal since having got this book. I hope that others receive benefit from it in their own lives and spiritual growth. If you do, why not contact Father Patrick and let him know that his labour has not been in vain?

Incidentally, I notice that he has also written Christ in His Saints. Is anybody familiar with it and able to give an idea of what it is like?

Monasticism

I'd like to share one of my favourite passages from A Night in the Desert of the Holy Mountain. The visiting bishop tells of his feelings when celebrating the Divine Liturgy at the request of the monks.

I confess that that particular Divine Liturgy created a difficult situation for me. Never in my life had I experienced such embarrassment and at the same time such inexhaustible joy. I felt embarrassment because I was among saints. When I came out of the altar to give the blessing, saying, 'Peace be with you all', I was perplexed. 'But they have this peace, whereas I need peace', I was thinking. When I gave the apostolic blessing, 'The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all', I knew very well what I was doing. I was giving the blessing and grace to those who were full of grace. I was saying, 'Let us lift up our hearts' to people whose hearts were always lifted up. I was the only one concerned by that command.

...

It is an embarrassing situation to celebrate the Liturgy and impart Christ to those who are gods by grace. Christ is present there. "God among gods who have been deified by Him Who is truly God by nature."

Is this reflective of others' experience of monasticism, especially those who have been to the holy mountain? I have, in the pastm encountered a sequel to this book. However, I forget the title. Is anybody able to give an indication of whether it is as enlightening and inspiring as A Night in the Desert? If so, I would be very grateful if you were to share your thoughts. Thank you.

The Orthodox Way

This arrived in today's post. I hope to make a start this evening. I also have The Incarnate God and S. Cyril of Jerusalem's Lectures on the Christian Sacraments on order. I've seen part of the Orthodox worship and fellowship, and part of a priest's domestic life. Now I'm delving a little more into the theology, which is a love of mine, even if I don't do it particularly well. (sigh).

I am thinking of also investing in The Orthodox Church. Is there anything else that anybody has found helpful or thinks that I might?

Many thanks.