Reading Matter

aidan

Dear Friends

Please log your top ten favourite, personally the most influential, Christian books or articles.

There seems to be a dearth, in English, of books written by OO authors. I need to read more, more!

God bless you

Unknown

1. Unsween Warfare by Lorenzo Scupoli, as edited by St. Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain and St. Theophan the Recluse.

2. The Arena by St. Ignatius Brianchaninov

3. The Path to Salvation by St. Theophan the Recluse

4. The Ladder of Divine Ascent by St. John Klimakos

5. My Life in Christ by St. John of Kronstadt

6. St. Seraphim of Sarov - A Spiritual Biography by Fr. Lazarus Moore

7. St. Silouan the Athonite by Fr. Sophrony Sakharov

8. On Prayer by Fr. Sophrony Sakharov

9. The Mountain of Silence by Kyriakos M. Markides

10. The Orthodox Way by Bishop Kallistos Ware


I haven't had much contact with printed OO material other than a few of the short works by Pope Shenouda, Orthodox Prayer Life by Matta El Maskeen and The Council of Chalcedon Re-Examined by Fr. V.C. Samuel.

I read Fr. Matta's book a long time ago, but from what I remember it's well worth reading. Fr. Samuel's book is excellent, and invaluable for anyone interested in the Christological controversy and EO-OO relations.

mmatt95

Fr Tadros Y. Malaty wrote a lot of good works on many subjects.

There's also some good books by HG anba Mattaos concerning the spirituality of the Liturgy/Midnight praises (this is more for copts, because it deals with coptic rites ;))

You can find some good of these works on:

www.coepa.org

Safaa

Mystery of Godliness by Archdeacon Habib Girguis, who is considered to be the first to usher the spiritual renascence of the Coptic Church in the twentieth century.

Safaa

The Release of the Spirit, by then Abouna Antonious Al Soryany, now HH Pope Shenouda III.

smile4ever

i can't name 10 (for most of my favourites aren't in English) but here's some of them (not in any particular order):

1- The Nature Of Christ- by H.H. Pope Shenouda III
[comment: i recommed this book for anyone interested in the OO's view on Christology. In my opinion it's one of the most great writings  of Pope Shenouda]

2- The Holy Bible And Tradition
     Sola Sriptura:In the Vanity of Their Minds
     articles written by Fr. John Whiteford
[comment:one of the best writings i've read about the Holy Tradition of the Orthodox Church, i recommed this one also]

3- The Story of The Copts - by Iris Habib El Masri
[comment: While it's a very useful , i can't say it's an objective source as it reflects the author's view very srongly in some controversial issues like Origen]

4- Martyrdom In Christianity - by H.G. Bishop Youannes
[comment: in arabic]

5-Orthodox Prayer Life - by Fr.Matta El Maskeen

6- On The Incarnation - by St. Athanasios The Apostolic

7- The Confessions - by St. Augustine

8- La Cite' Antique - by Fustel De Coulanges
[comment: in French, it's not a religious book , but a historic one which gave me an idea about how was the roman society at the time of the early christians and the last chapter is about how Christianity changed the politics' rules and the condition of the society in general]


Dear Orthodox 11,
do u have any idea how can i get The Council of Chalcedon Re-Examined by Fr. V.C. Samuel? i would like to.

aidan

Thanks all, keep them coming.

I am pleased that someone (Orthodox 11) has my perennial lenten reading, Unseen Warfare and the Arena at the top of his list-not books to be taken lightly.

On the subject of St Seraphim of Sarov, I believe there is a biography on him written by a Coptic bishop. Does anyone know of it. I would dearly love to read it if anyone knows.

God bless

Unknown

[quote author=smile4ever link=topic=5866.msg78792#msg78792 date=1193326878]
Dear Orthodox 11,
do u have any idea how can i get The Council of Chalcedon Re-Examined by Fr. V.C. Samuel? i would like to.


I think I got my copy from amazon.co.uk

curious1

Some of C.S. Lewis's books are worth the mention:

1) Mere Christianity

2) The Screwtape Letters