Orthodox Books

Illness and the Believer - Spiritual Life Series, vol. 5 

By Hieromonk Gregorios, Elder of the Cell of St. John the Theologian, Koutloumousiou Monastery, Mount Athos. 

Size: 4" x 6" (10.2 x 15.2 cm) 

Pages: 56

Binding: Softcover

From the Prologue: Today, despite the remarkable progress of medical science, the number of people who are ill is increasing and new diseases and illnesses continue to make their appearance. Almost every family has previously experienced or is currently going through the pain and ordeal of an illness and therefore it can be helpful to examine the causes of illness and how they may be faced spiritually so that those who so suffer may reap some benefit for their souls. As we shall see, illness, whether it is due to sin or to some other cause, is a means by which the soul can be healed and purified.

This small book examines the role of illness in the life of the believing Orthodox Christian, specifically: 1) the cause of illness, 2) the purpose and benefits of illness, 3) how to confront illness in a spiritual manner, 4) healing and the practice of medicine, 5) divine consolation. As in his other books, Father Gregorios approaches his study of illness through the writings of the Holy Fathers and Elders of the Church.

AVAILABLE IN GREEK:  "Οι Aσθένειες και ο Πιστός" 

The Vice of Envy - Spiritual Life Series, vol. 7

By Hieromonk Gregorios, Elder of the Cell of St. John the Theologian, Koutloumousiou Monastery, Mount Athos. Translated by Fr. Michael Monos. 

Size: 4" x 6" (10.2 cm x 15.2 cm)

Pages: 68

Binding: Softcover

FROM THE PROLOGUE: All passions devastate the soul, but the most destructive of them is envy. In a sense it is the first passion, because the primary sins such as the fall of Lucifer, the sin of Adam and Eve, and Abel's murder are its offspring. Envy is born in the soul and subsequently devours it. And whereas all the passions produce at any rate some momentary pleasure in the person who experiences them, envy wastes away the soul through continual, sorrow at the happiness of one's fellow-man... This passion is usually well hidden. We must examine our souls closely in order to realize that oftentimes we take no pleasure in another's happiness, and that when things go well for him, or when he receives praise, something inside us becomes irritated.

Published by Newrome Press

AVAILABLE IN GREEK:  "Το Πάθος του Φθόνου"

By Hieromonk Gregorios, Elder of the Cell of St. John the Theologian, Koutloumousiou Monastery, Mount Athos.

Size: 4.15" x 6.6" (10.5 cm x 17 cm)

Pages: 100

Binding: Softcover

From the Prologue: The Lord taught this parable because “Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, ‘This Man receives sinners and eats with them’.” (Luke 15:1) Christ lovingly welcomed sinners and ate with them. The Scribes and the Pharisees were unable to comprehend this love and, because of this, grumbled against the benevolent Lord, accusing Him of keeping company with tax collectors and sinners. In order to help them, Jesus told this wonderful parable which incorporates great truths for all believers.

Author: St. Nektarios of Pentapolis

Pages: 124

Binding: Softcover

St Nektarios of Pentapolis (1846-1920) was both a careful student of the art of teaching and a tireless teacher. The present work aims to present and analyze his labors with the sphere of education as well as furnish translations of his core writings on the topic. By these means he is shown a strong proponent of the view that education is properly understood as formation of the whole person, rather than the simple imparting of information.

FROM THE PROLOGUE: It is often observed that St. Nektarios’ well-earned reputation as a wonderworker has largely overshadowed his other feats and accomplishments, as well as the other gifts he has bestowed upon the Church. Numbered among these oft-forgotten contributions is the bequest he has made to the sphere of education, a bequest under-girded by a rare, insurmountable desire to both learn and teach. From the time the Saint could read the 50th Psalm, he began repeating and emphasizing the line, I shall teach transgressors Thy ways, and the ungodly shall turn back unto Thee. From the time his little hands could manage, be began sewing together little booklets in order to disseminate God’s words. From the time he could clamor, he would ascend the stool in his mother’s kitchen and preach the homily he had heard that morning in church for the benefit of any who might hear. These youthful expressions of that desire to teach are interpreted by the Saint’s modern encomiasts as foreshadowing the significant educational work which would occupy a central, albeit oft-overlooked, place in his life and spiritual legacy.

By Hieromonk Gregorios, Elder of the Cell of St. John the Theologian, Koutloumousiou Monastery, Mount Athos.

Size: 6.7" x 9.4" (17 x 24 cm) 

Pages: 80

Binding: Softcover

In the Church, Christ’s clinic, his co-celebrant practices the science of healing, for he is the one who “will refashion the creature, who will restore the image and create citizens for the world above, and greatest of all, be God and make others God.”

Saint Maximos the Confessor compares the Priesthood to a ray of light from the sun which transmits its brightness to healthy eyes: “Just as a beam of light gently attracts healthy vision, which by nature rejoices in the light, and transmits its own brightness, so also true priesthood, being, through all that it is, an outward imprint of the blessed divinity for those upon the earth, draws to itself every God-loving and divinely disposed soul and transmits its own knowledge, peace and love, so that once it has brought each potentiality of the soul to the limit of its own actuality, it may place beside God those who have been deified in all things and initiated by it in the mysteries. For the end... of true priesthood is both to be deified and to deify.”

AVAILABLE IN GREEK: "Η Θεραπεία των Θεραπευτών"

Size: 3.5" x 4.75" (8.9 cm x 12 cm)

Pages: 48

Binding: Softcover 

This lightweight, pocket-size book contains the entire service of Preparation for Holy Communion and the Prayers of Thanksgiving after Holy Communion, printed in full color. 

Author: Anna Iakovou, Illustrated by Christina Papatheou-Douligeri

Size: 8.7" x 11.2" (22 x 28.5 cm) 

Pages: 48

Binding: Hardcover

The saints of our Church, even the greatest elders and ascetics, were once children!

Authors: Angeliki Mastromichalaki, Pantelis Zouras - Illustrated by Spyros Zacharopoulos 

Size: 8.3" x 11.4" (21 x 29 cm)

Binding: Softcover

Pages: 120

For children, illustrated. 

***

This country of ours, Greece, is a land with a history that goes back to the depths of time. Its culture, ideas, sciences, literature, arts, as well as way of life, system of governance, and its outstanding personalities and heroes had a determining influence on the course of the world, in multiple ways. Since ancient times, the Greeks have passed down their wisdom to the human race, and have been famous for their values, their patriotism, their courage and their heroism.

Over time, Greece experienced many vicissitudes. It lived through golden epochs of great glory and brilliant prosperity. It also endured dark years of hardship, full of fear and despair, violence and death, years of subjugation. One of these grievous periods was under Ottoman rule. For almost 400 years the Greeks patiently endured all the afflictions imposed on them by their occupiers, waiting for the moment when they would resolve to unite in the cause of ‘Freedom or Death’, and once more take the fate of their country and their own life in their hands. For a life lived in slavery is no life at all.

This book is a small tribute to those heroes and heroines who fought to give us the free Greece that we enjoy today. None of them are mythical characters or made-up super-heroes, like in magazines and films. They are true and authentic figures, who must never be allowed to fall into obscurity or be forgotten, for they are our history. Every person in this book will speak to your heart in the hope of becoming your own ideal, each in their different way, through their own particular lives and struggles, their own story. This is certainly not a book of biographies, but the record of an aspiration that they all had in common: liberty.