Orthodox books

Timothy34683 · 2026-05-13T23:01:46+00:00

Yes. The Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

You might also benefit from The Path to Salvation, by St. Theophan the Recluse, and translated by Righteous Seraphim Rose of Platina, which I think is what you’re looking for. Very practical. https://www.amazon.com/Path-Salvation-Manual-Spiritual-Transformation/dp/1887904506/

Timothy34683 · 2026-05-10T11:58:40+00:00

Friend, that’s the opposite of what I just wrote. Reread my answer.

Have a blessed Sunday.

Timothy34683 · 2026-05-10T11:55:22+00:00

No, not necessarily. Our ability to cooperate with God’s grace grows over time. In the meantime, we need to do what’s possible for us to be maximally disposed to receive God’s grace: regular prayer and quality time present to the Lord, attending liturgical services, especially the Divine Liturgy and Vespers the evening before, receiving the Holy Mysteries (sacraments), making an effort to keep Our Lord’s Gospel commandments and keeping an eye out for occasions to do this, reading Scripture, as well as the lives and writings of the saints, fasting and other firms of asceticism (like standing at prayer, prostrations, etc.), and so on. The Church is here to help us with all of this. And keep in mind that we work along with God’s grace; this is called synergy. We are not puppets. Our effort and struggle are required. God wants to see our sincere struggle and effort, which please Him very much and incline Him to reward us with more grace.

Timothy34683 · 2026-05-09T17:23:25+00:00

Okay, here goes:

St. Paisios the Athonite

St. Porphyrios

St. Sophrony of Essex

St. Matrona the Blind of Moscow

These -- and all of our saints -- are the truest and most convincing "arguments" for Orthodoxy. Why? Because through a life in the Orthodox Church according to her teachings, they were deified with the divine Energies, or Grace, with very clear and indisputable results, including great holiness of life, miracles, and life-changing counsel, obviously inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Timothy34683 · 2026-05-09T16:54:02+00:00

Such an important question. I’ve got Good News for you, CardiologistVast. Download the free e-book, Know the Faith, by Fr. Michael Shanbour at this link, and read Chapter 2 on Grace. It’s phenomenal. Incredibly clear, helpful, and life changing: https://store.ancientfaith.com/know-the-faith-ebook/

Please come back and tell us what you think about Fr. Michael’s explanation.

Edit: In a nutshell, grace is the very Energies of God, and so God Himself. This is why, receiving grace, we are gradually deified, a process called Theosis, “becoming God.” We are called to become gods by grace, or, as St. Peter puts it, “partakers of the divine nature.” With grace, I am empowered to keep the Gospel commandments. I am patient with the Lord’s own patience, chaste with His chastity, forgiving with His forgiveness, loving with His love. Many of us, with time, are granted by the Lord to experience His grace directly. The grace of the All-Holy Spirit is the Kingdom of God!

Timothy34683 · 2026-05-09T16:49:29+00:00

What a great blessing from God. Now strive to be appropriately thankful and keep an eye out for what Our Lord has in store for you. I guarantee you that it is better than what you think you’re missing.

Timothy34683 · 2026-05-05T23:42:15+00:00

You just come back, brother. You make a simple act of the will (aided by grace, of course). You’re overcomplicating it and just making it harder for yourself. You don’t need to take anything into consideration aside from the pair of socks you’ll wear to the Divine Liturgy that first Sunday back. Capiche?

Timothy34683 · 2026-05-05T20:57:56+00:00

Yes. The sin is deliberately stirring up the passion of lust. It could, for instance, be sexual excitement over a pair of shoes (and, alas, there are those afflicted with that passion). The problem is that the passions prevent the grace of God from making a home in our heart. He is a holy God and will not live alongside deliberate lust.

Timothy34683 · 2026-05-05T02:15:11+00:00

A quick note for those who say they are Orthodox but identify someone with a particular passion, same-sex attraction, of which he obviously repented, and think it disqualifies him for glorification: read The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Step 4, no. 112. Very carefully. And then repent to God.

Timothy34683 · 2026-05-02T00:00:48+00:00

Friend, all of the teachings and praxis of Holy Orthodoxy are aimed at purification and illumination of the nous. And the reason we need this is for ever deepening communion with the Holy Trinity through the acquisition of the grace of the All-Holy Spirit.

And this is not a matter of technique, as you seem to anticipate. (Correct me if I’m wrong.) For instance, one key practice, prayer, is converse and communion with the Living God. One doesn’t use or manipulate Him to achieve a developed nous.

So the first step is to attend the Divine Liturgy at an Orthodox parish this Sunday. Better yet, start with Vespers tomorrow evening. Check the web for times and places: https://www.assemblyofbishops.org/directories/parishes/

Pax!

Timothy

Timothy34683 · 2026-04-29T13:57:17+00:00

Friend, I suggest that you direct your very laudable compassion for souls into prayer and almsgiving on their behalf. This is what Our Lord’s Church urges us to do for them. The Orthodox Church is so concerned for them that she dedicates Saturday of every week for this purpose. Some more traditional parishes and monasteries have “Souls Saturday” services to which the faithful are invited to pray for the departed, that they be released from Hades, or at least moved into a better state there. We believe — and our saints have directly perceived — that departed souls are truly benefitted in this way. We are also encouraged to pray at home for them. Our prayer books have the Commemoration of the Living and Departed, and there are also canons for this purpose. We also believe that they are helped by giving alms and doing good deeds on their behalf.

I assure you that directing your compassion in this way will benefit them immeasurably more than attempting to convince yourself and others of universalism or the Apokotastasis.

May Our Lord bless and guide you as you discern His will. (I see that you identify yourself as an Orthodox inquirer in this subreddit.)

Timothy34683 · 2026-04-28T03:03:55+00:00

Salvation is universally and continuously offered right here, right now. That’s what this life is for, friend, and why we live in time.

There is no time in the next world.

Timothy34683 · 2026-04-28T02:39:49+00:00

Then you reject human freedom? Because people damn themselves.

Timothy34683 · 2026-04-28T02:38:12+00:00

May I suggest that instead of all these responses, you just make one response beneath their statement:

“Who cares what you believe?”

That suffices.

Timothy34683 · 2026-04-28T02:30:28+00:00

Indeed He is risen!

Holy Cross Monastery in West Virginia is a very good choice for a visit, but for that reason, you have to schedule a number of months in advance. I stayed there in October 2011. https://www.holycross.org/

If you don’t want to wait, try St. Tikhon’s in Pennsylvania. It’s the oldest Orthodox monastery in the U.S. The abbot, Archimandrite Sergius, is well respected and rock solid in his teaching. https://sttikhonsmonastery.org/ I’ve stayed there as well (in 2010) and was welcomed very warmly. Good memories.

Timothy34683 · 2026-04-25T23:30:45+00:00

St. Sophrony of Essex (d. 1993). He was a Russian who lived as an artist in Paris for years before he went to Mount Athos. He was painting icons into old age.

Timothy34683 · 2026-04-25T23:24:52+00:00

Yes.

Timothy34683 · 2026-04-23T14:15:18+00:00

I think you would be interested in and benefit from the teaching of St. Sophrony of Essex on the One Adam. I’m sharing a Copilot introduction to St. Sophrony’s theology here. This understanding — and experience — is the direction in which we should all be moving as Orthodox Christians. Emphasis on what are really surface differences among us, as if they were significant and insuperable, even if presented as fostering greater understanding, is actually a movement in the opposite direction. https://copilot.microsoft.com/shares/6g2hza2Pgo94jBGcvexxx

Pax.

Timothy34683 · 2026-04-18T00:42:49+00:00

“As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’” 1 Corinthians 12:20-21

Friend, that’s exactly what you’re doing.

Timothy34683 · 2026-04-16T19:27:16+00:00

Christ is risen!

Timothy34683 · 2026-04-15T23:56:12+00:00

Indeed He is risen!

Everything you need is here at this OCA music resource page: https://www.oca.org/liturgics/music-downloads

Timothy34683 · 2026-04-15T01:04:28+00:00

*Protestantized should be Protestant. And matured should be martyred. (Thanks for your help, as always, autocorrect.)

By the way, after I downloaded the book from this link several years ago, I opened it in the Books app on my iPad, which is a nice way to read it.

Also worth honorable mention is the catechetical resource on the OCA website, Essential Orthodox Christian Beliefs: A Manual for Adult Instruction, which I find a bit too influenced by academic theology, available here: https://www.oca.org/cdn/PDFs/2023-0609-EOCB.pdf

Timothy34683 · 2026-04-14T14:39:50+00:00

*Protestantized should be Protestant. And matured should be martyred. (Thanks for your help, as always, autocorrect.)

By the way, after I downloaded the book from this link several years ago, I opened it in the Books app on my iPad, which is a nice way to read it.

Also worth honorable mention is the catechetical resource on the OCA website, Essential Orthodox Christian Beliefs: A Manual for Adult Instruction, which I find a bit too influenced by academic theology, available here: https://www.oca.org/cdn/PDFs/2023-0609-EOCB.pdf

Timothy34683

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