In Father I saw a person who lived for God….In all life’s situations, Fr Ilarion maintained a grace-imbued state of spirit, the fruits of which were love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and the other virtues that made it impossible to be near him and not feel glad just to be alive.

Many lovers of literature are familiar, through Dostoyevsky’s works, with the concept of the Russian “Staretz,” or spiritual elder. This biography offers a vivid portrayal of an authentic Staretz of our own day, Father llarion—a monk of the renowned Glinsk hermitage in modern-day Ukraine, who spent much of his life as a parish priest in a village in the Novgorod region of Russia. His life offers a vision of a simple Christian life in the contemporary world that will captivate the reader and awaken or rekindle a desire to live a life centered on the love of God and neighbour rather than on the pursuit of material wealth.

It also presents unique insights into the Orthodox Church in Russia under communism and in the immediate post-communist period, demonstrating how the Faith was kept alive after the closure of so many churches and monasteries, and the exile or execution of clergy and believers. The account of the life of the Glinsk hermitage is particularly detailed. With many first hand contributions from Father llarion’s spiritual children, this history also provides a glimpse into contemporary Russian culture and religious perspectives.

Child’s Paradise of Saints, by Nun Nektaria McLees
Delightful tales of 15 cherished saints, with iconographic full-color paintings of scenes from their lives. Here you’ll find stories from the lives of Saints Constantine and Helen, Cyprian and Justina, Demetrius of Thessalonica, Herman of Alaska, John the Russian, Mary Magdalene, Mary of Egypt Moses the Black, Nicholas the Wonderworker, Nina of Georgia, Great Martyr Panteleimon, Philothei of Athens, Seraphim of Sarov and Xenia of Petersburg, as well as the Guardian Angel.

Softcover, illustrated, 62 pages $10.95

“Along the narrow path we began to ascend into the thicket of forest to Elder Herman’s place of eternal rest, to his grave. The area is hilly. The spruce forest is a thick forest. Quiet, sunny weather. Tall, hundred-year-old spruce trees, the only witnesses of the Elder’s solitary ascetic labors. The singing of the feathered dwellers of the desert involuntarily bore one away to thoughts of those bygone years when Elder Herman lived here. And so it seemed that at any moment the figure of the Elder might appear from the thicket—his meek face—and he would give us a word of consolation. One is reminded, by the similitude of the surroundings, and of the very faces, of another wondrous Elder, St. Seraphim of Sarov. He was actually Fr. Herman’s contemporary! The latter greatly venerated the Sarov Elder and had his portrait in his cell.”—Archimandrite Gerasim, 1935

Father Gerasim, the desert-dweller chosen by St. Herman of Alaska to revive his monastic “heavenly abode,” left an abundance of letters, which serve as a testament of his solitary life on New Valaam—Spruce Island, Alaska. These letters remain now as a document—almost as a chronicle of the severe ascetic life of a desert-dweller in modern America.…

 “…Yes, I love my quiet hermitage and leave it with bitter tears, rejoicing when I return to it; and solemnly, with tender feeling. I kiss the holiness there. All of these years I have never tired of being there, although I do not see people for weeks, even months. I was never sad even during the winter months, there in the snow-covered hermitage.”—Archimandrite Gerasim, 1964

These letters bear witness to Fr. Gerasim’s uncompromising stand for Truth before an apostate world. For thirty years he kept solitary vigil before the relics of St. Herman, receiving divine strength to endure to the end, and passing on his precious spiritual inheritance from Holy Russia. His words reveal that he knew God through a life of struggle and prayer, of constantly “standing before God.” It is this living Christianity that ignites the hearts of the searching people of our day and sheds the light of Christ into the darkness of this world.

The definitive biography of a Russian priest, murdered with an axe in
a forest on the way to church. In photo album format, with great
narrative detail about the life and works of this amazing man.
Depicts major events in this martyr’s life, with over 100 pictures.
His influence on contemporary Russia is unmistakeable. A friend of
Solshenitsyn and Sakharov, his martyrdom is not to be forgotten. He
drew hundreds to his lectures and sermons from all walks of life.
‘This book is a must for anyone remotely interested in the history of
the Russian Church in the second half of this century’ – Bp. BASIL
(Osborne)

God has glorified His holy ones for their devotion, obedience to and love for Him. They are alive forever in God and eager to help those on earth who struggle for salvation. We ask for their prayers so that we too will be made holy through their heavenly intercessions for us.

All Ye Saints, Pray to God for Us! is a valuable reference guide that every Orthodox church and pious home will find indispensable. It enables one to immediately find the date of a saint’s commemoration or a feast day.

Apostle to Zaire: The Life & Legacy of Blessed Father Cosmas of Grigoriou Author: Aslanidis / Grigoriatis Publisher: Uncut Mountain Press

Presenting the lives of righteous ascetic women from 19th century Russia: Eldress Evdokia, Elena the Sufferer, and Nun Dorothea.

Presenting the lives of righteous ascetic women from 19th century Russia: Eldress Matrona and Fool-for-Christ Domna Karpovna.

Continuing our work, with God’s help, on the translation into English of the books by the blessed Elder Paisios the Athonite (†1994), we now offer our English-speaking Orthodox friends the third book in the series: Athonite Fathers and Athonite Matters.

It is, one might say, a small Gerontikon. It deals with the lives or some particular circumstances in the lives of Athonite fathers who were vessels of divine grace and lived approximately in the period from 1840-1980.

As a conclusion to the book, the author offers a distillation of his own experience and God’s wisdom, with the title: “Return to God from Earth to Heaven.”

Elder Paisios, as a beginner, but also later on in his monastic life, was blessed in being able to associate with many righteous fathers, “athletes” of Christ, in the Garden of the Mother of God, or to hear others tell of them. He was deeply impressed by their holy simplicity, their unshakable  genuine and unadulterated faith; he was moved by the generosity of spirit in which they struggled; he admired their self-denial unto death and their devotion to the ascetic ideal; he tasted and was sweetened by the honey of their virtues; and, being animated by the same combative spirit, he imitated their godly achievements.

He later undertook to record as much as his memory and heart had retained out of reverence and a sense of sacred duty towards the holy fathers, and also out of love for his fellowmen, because every day he was painfully aware that in the spiritual life of people today -lay people and monastics- logic rather than faith prevails.

The lives of the Athonite fathers, as described in these pages, help us all to understand how much we have deviated from the genuine line of thought of the fathers of the Church and how we are to return, so as to find the true meaning of our own lives.

-From the Introduction

This book is published by the the Holy Monastery of the Evangelist John the Theologian, founded by Elder Paisios in Souroti.

Please note that our stock is limited and depending on demand, we may have to back-order your purchase. We will contact you if this is the case.