Nicholas Cabasilas' The Life in Christ is a remarkable product of Byzantium's last great flowering of theology. At a time when secular humanism was increasingly asserting the complete autonomy of the individual, Cabasilas proclaimed that true life lies not in the individual, but in Christ. For Cabasilas, the redemption of humanity in Jesus Christ is not just a matter of history, or a matter that can be simply elucidated by human endeavor. Redemption is a saving event in which each person is called to participate here and now — in body as well as intellect — through the sacramental life of the Church.

The present translation makes this devotional classic available for the first time in English, while the extensive introduction by Boris Bobrinskoy assesses its place within the history of Eastern spirituality.