Holy Shocking Saints is a beautifully illustrated book celebrating the extraordinary lives of twelve remarkable people. Whether mystics, healers or holy people, their strong belief was the catalyst that set them on the spiritual path. Some renounced wealth, position and marriage proposals; others had a burning desire to explore the world to teach about their faith. Determined and fearless, most of these men and women had to conduct, endure or witness shocking deeds throughout their lives. Their acts of kindness, incredible achievements and miracles that occurred before and after their deaths eventually made them saints. From Colmcille confronting the Loch Ness Monster, to Brendan setting sail across the Atlantic, to Lí Ban transforming into a mermaid for three hundred years, whether fact or fiction this collection of stories will delight and entertain readers from ages seven and up.

Crises can be defined as any changes in our circumstances that affect us deeply. They can vary from marriage or divorce to birth and death. Some we choose but many - like the Covid-19 pandemic - are chosen for us. How to Be Our Best Self in Times of Crisis helps the reader to understand the body’s reaction to crisis and how the physiological response impacts our ways of thinking, often for long periods of time. By recognising the severe impact a crisis can have on our physical bodies, we learn to appreciate the importance of developing the skills to slow down and rest to allow for necessary repair and regeneration. This book guides us through this process of repair and regeneration in a holistic way, beginning with acceptance. A crisis may be painful but we become our best selves by actively engaging with the new possibilities it offers instead of withdrawing from the world

The World Meeting of Families took place in Ireland for the first time in 2018 and saw thousands of volunteers and visitors from across the globe unite to celebrate their shared faith in God and in family. Humans of the World Meeting of Families is a collection of first-person testimonies from some of those involved – lay and religious, young and old – who reflect upon their own faith journey in a candid and engaging fashion. This uplifting book of words and photographs offers a revealing insight into the personal lives and motivation of volunteers, delegates, attendees, staff members and many others who took part in this event, which included the historic visit of Pope Francis to Ireland.

Peace Smiles traces Thomas Merton’s fascinating and sometimes troubled life from a disrupted childhood and rather turbulent adolescence, to his conversion to Roman Catholicism, his ordination in 1949 and his life in the Trappist Monastery of Gethsemani. It was there that Merton’s prophetic voice began to emerge. Bishop Monahan explores Merton as artist, social critic and ecumenist, his anti-war and anti-racism stances until his untimely death at the age of fifty-three. Bishop Monahan shows us, above all, that a profound hope breathes within Merton’s writing that we too can find our way home by remaining authentic and true to ourselves. This quest for authenticity and truth became a life-long search for Merton.

This beautiful devotional book by Stella Durand consists of a series of fascinating biographical accounts of Irish saints for each day of the year and is interspersed with short reflections designed to prompt the reader to consider how these venerated figures can shape the spiritual lives of the faithful today. The intention has been to be as historically accurate as possible but also to reflect on the inner meaning of some stories and legends that have grown up around particular saints, with a view to exploring their spiritual value for a contemporary audience. In addition to the universally recognised patron saints Patrick, Brigid and Columba, the reader will be inspired by the stories of hundreds of extraordinary Irish men and women across the centuries whose heroism and streadfast faith will inspire, guide and encourage Christians on their pilgrim path today.

With permission from the monks in Glenstal Abbey, Veritas has updated the Glenstal Sunday Missal. This new edition is now available as the Veritas Sunday Missal. The reference to St Joseph has been included in Eucharistic Prayers II, III and IV and the new amendment to the collects has also been included. It contains everything you will need for Mass on Sundays and Holy Days:- The Order of the Mass with Eucharistic Prayers, Prefaces, Concluding Rites and Blessings- Lists of Feast Days and readings for reference- It covers the three-year Liturgical Cycle It also includes introductions and reflections on the Liturgy of the Word from the Sunday Mass written by the Monks at Glenstal, and some impulses for prayer (scripture references), meditations and introductions to the liturgical seasons.

This book approaches the Acts of the Apostles, not just as a history book that gives us information about the life and mission of the early Church, but also as a story to engage us at the level of faith and transform us into missionary disciples of Jesus Christ in our own situation. The Acts of the Apostles has been called the Gospel of the Spirit, who continually guides and empowers the Church in its life and mission.

The Kitāb al-Aghānī (the Book of the Songs) stands as one of the most important extant sources for Arabic literature and Islamic history. Compiled during the first half of the tenth century, the Kitāb al-Aghānī emerges from a pivotal period in the formation of Islamic sectarian identities, a subject of keen and ongoing scholarly debate that is fundamental to our understanding of the later development of Shīʿī Islam. While its compiler, Abū al-Faraj al-Iṣfahānī (died after 356/967), is generally viewed as a 'Zaydī Shīʿī', no in-depth study has investigated what can be gauged from the Kitāb al-Aghānī about his sectarian perspectives. The present study addresses the question of whether or not al-Iṣfahānī's sectarian leanings can be discerned from the Kitāb al-Aghānī through an analysis based primarily on redaction criticism. By examining the compiler's editorial interventions, this book argues that al-Iṣfahānī, to some extent at least, presents past people and events central to the Shīʿī worldview in accordance with his sectarian affiliation. Furthermore, this work questions the label 'Zaydī' that is commonly associated with al-Iṣfahānī. Based on textual analyses of the Kitāb al-Aghānī, as well as on evidence from his Maqātil al-Ṭālibīyīn ('The Ṭālibid Martyrs') and other sources rooted in the tenth-century milieu, this book suggests that al-Iṣfahānī's religious thought can be construed as a 'mild' form of Shīʿism - in the sense that it neither comprises belief in a specific lineage of imams, nor repudiation of most of the Companions including the first three caliphs. However, it cannot necessarily be identified with any sect, as set down in the heresiography.

George was one of the last scholarly Syrian Orthodox bishops to live in the early Islamic period. His metrical homily, probably composed to be sung during the consecration of the Myron, is presented here with the vocalised Syriac text and English translation on facing pages.

One of the distinctive characteristics of the writings of Ambrose of Milan is his frequent and lengthy borrowings from the works of Philo of Alexandria. He treated the 1st-century Jewish philosopher as an authoritative predecessor and made use of his works to a far greater extent than any other Church Father did. This study seeks to fill a lacuna in the current scholarship by investigating Ambrose’s use of Philo in his collection of letters, focusing on a set of three letters concerning the topic of the Genesis creation account (Ep. 29, 31, & 34 [PL#43, 44, & 45]). In all three cases, Ambrose fielded questions on the Six Days of Creation (Hexaemeron) by drawing upon Philo’s treatise De opificio mundi. Each of these letters is undeniably Philonic and yet uniquely Ambrosian. This study seeks to clarify why Ambrose found Philo to be particularly valuable in spite of his Jewishness and also to investigate how Ambrose interpreted, adapted, and ultimately re-created his source.

This monograph traces how ‘Jewish’ elements were introduced into and disseminated throughout the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwaḥədo Church through a series of multi-layered, socio-politico-cultural processes. Drawing on historical and literary evidence, Afework tracks the incorporation of Jewish features into the Ethiopian Orthodox Church from pre-Aksumite Christianity, before the fourth century, through the sixteenth century.

Since its discovery and the initial efforts toward its critical edition, the Paippalādasaṃhitā of the Atharvaveda (PS) has attracted the attention of Vedic scholars and Indologists for several reasons. It constitutes a precious source for the study of the development of the earliest language. The text contains important information about various rites and magical practices, and hints about the oldest Indo-Iranian and Indo-European myths. All of this makes the PS a text of inestimable value for the study of Indian language and culture.

An edition and translation of the four treatises of John of Dara (d. 860) On the Resurrection of Human Bodies.

This work represents the first time that a major part of the masorah of the great Leningrad Codex, that of the Former Prophets, is being published with an English translation and commentary. The translation and commentary is preceded by an Introduction which deals with topics such as description of the importance of the Leningrad Codex, the Masorah and its development, the Masorah of the Leningrad Codex, and the relation of the Leningrad’s Masorah to the accepted text of the Hebrew Bible. Every masoretic note in the Leningrad Codex that accompanies the text of the six books of the Former Prophets (Joshua, Judges, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel,1 Kings, and 2 Kings) is transcribed, translated and annotated Every occurrence of each lemma is provided with its biblical references, and an indication is given as to where else in the ms. a note for any particular lemma may be found. Furthermore, and most originally, an attempt is made to suggest a reason for each note. The presentation employed in this work is user friendly so, for example, catchwords that occur in the Masoretic notes are arranged horizontally to correspond to their biblical references. This arrangement not only enables readers to immediately see the contexts where lemmas occur, but also to see where the lemmas are distributed in various sections of the Bible. Another aid for students is that all Hebrew references, other than in the ms., are given in a fully vocalized form.

Western societies today are coming unmoored in the face of earth-shaking ethical and cultural paradigm shift. At its core is the question of what it means to be human and how we are meant to live. The old answers are no longer accepted; a dizzying array of options are offered in their stead. Underpinning this smorgasbord of lifestyles is a thicket of unquestioned assumptions, such as the separation of gender from biological sex, which not so long ago would have been universally rejected as radical notions.In the spring of 2019, a group of Orthodox Christian scholars drawn from a wide variety of academic disciplines met together to offer responses to the moral crisis our generation faces, elaborating upon its various forms and facilitating a fuller understanding of some of its theological and philosophical foundations. In doing so they offer support to all those who question the claims that are so forcefully insisted upon today – a clarity that will aid them in standing up and resisting trends that have already shown to be the cause of great suffering and unhappiness. Among the contributors to this volume are NY Times bestselling author Rod Dreher, Frederica Matthewes-Green, Dr David Bradshaw, Fr Chad Hatfield, and Fr Peter Heers. Collectively, these scholars remind us that it is only through our participation in the life of Christ, God who became man, that we can find the healing of our humanity through the restoration in us of His image, in which we were formed at the beginning of time.

"Thou hast redeemed us from the curse of the Law by Thy precious Blood. By being nailed to the Cross and pierced with the Spear, Thou hast poured immortality on mankind. O our Saviour, glory to Thee. " - Troparion for Holy Friday Atonement is a contested but inescapable term in contemporary English-language theological discussion. The doctrine of atonement has received little attention in Orthodox Christian circles since the work of Fr Georges Florovsky, who labored to clarify and promulgate the Orthodox teaching on atonement on the basis of his theological leitmotifs of neo-patristic synthesis and encounter with the West. Florovsky saw the doctrine of the person of Christ as the key to apprehending the pattern and the unity of God’s redemptive work. Hence he always sought to follow the Church Fathers in weaving together the themes of creation and fall, incarnation and atonement, deification and redemption, liturgy and asceticism, in the variegated yet seamless robe of true theology. The present volume is inspired by Florovsky’s legacy. It is composed of two parts. The first is a collection of papers on atonement by contemporary scholars from a patristic symposium in honor of Florovsky held at Princeton Theological Seminary and Princeton University in 2011. The second part is a collection of writings on atonement by Florovsky himself, including previously unpublished manuscripts and other works otherwise hard to access. This book offers incisive and informed neo-patristic voices to any contemporary discussion of atonement, thus responding to the perennial legacy and task to which Fr Georges Florovsky exhorted Orthodox theological reflection.