In an age searching for earthly solutions to spiritual problems, the ancient ministry of the God-bearing elder is a divine gift to contemporary man. Termed the “golden chain” by St. Symeon the New Theologian, this life-giving ministry of the Church is a precious inheritance passed down from Christ, through the Apostles, from one generation to the next, to our own day. The lives and counsels contained in this volume attest to the continued vitality of this ancient ministry and to the importance of its preservation for the life of the Church today. This volume includes a foreword by Georgios Mantzaridis, Professor Emeritus of the University of Thessalonica, extensive commentary providing the context for the lives and counsels therein, detailed maps, and a glossary of theological terms, making it an invaluable source of spiritual orientation and enlightenment for every seeker of Christian Orthodoxy.
“Their counsels are rich, deep and varied: slow and prayerful reading of each of them might be a Lenten reading program.”
John Brady
In Communion
“This is one of those books to add to your desert(ed) island (or Greek isle!) short-list. If you find a contemporary book so challenging, so wise, so full of all we dare to call ‘spirit’ without anything smacking of what commonly goes for ‘spiritual’—let us know. Lovingly compiled from writings and from interviews, with biographies as well as counsels, this beautifully printed book can’t be exhausted…. A necessary companion for anyone who travels into desert regions of the heart.”
Eighth Day Books
“[T]he best book ever published in English on the Elders…”
The Ochlophobist
