This pocket-size hieratikon contains all the texts necessary for a deacon or priest in serving the daily hours of the Orthodox Church - Vespers, Compline, Midnight Office, Matins and the hours. Church Slavonic and English texts are provided in parallel, on facing pages. Also included are instructions and additional prayers for the All-Night Vigil and the services of Great Lent, the festal and Sunday prokeimena, and festal megolynaria. The cloth binding is sewn for durability and supplemented with a marking ribbon. Please click here to download the Menologion and Daily Dismissal sections of the service book.

Orthodox theology is intimately linked to spiritual experience:it has a very different meaning to the present usage of this word coming from academia. The scientific methods developed in the West since the seventeenth century can of of benefit in many regards, but without strong roots in the Orthodox tradition  theology risks  being "eaten up" by the human sciences. These roots are in the mystical tradition of the Church as passed down from the the beginning and expressed in the lives of saints, iconography etc. Thus this work has both a theoretical and a practical scope, of relevance to  all Christians.  

Death is a great sacrament. It is the birth of a person from this earthly, temporary life, into eternity. In this third volume of St Ignatius’s collected works, published here in English for the first time, the saint examines the mystical boundaries that govern the life of a Christian: the one, between life and death; and the other, between the visible, physical realm and the invisible to most, but no less real, spiritual realm.  Included in this volume is St Ignatius’s “Homily on Death,” one of his most popular works in his native Russia and often published separately. The reader will also encounter St Ignatius’s teachings on the nature of the soul and the essence of the incorporeal beings, the latter theologoumena being a point of contention between the author and his contemporary, St Theophan the Recluse.  The text is complemented by a comprehensive scripture index and a short biography of the author.

Religious heritage has long been within the scope of academia, but very little research has been conducted on the heritagization of Catholic monasteries. This is remarkable considering the longstanding historical presence and social impact of these institutes that, in recent times, have also become well-visited spiritual centers and much-cherished heritage objects. This book addresses this lacuna. It does so through examining the heritagization process of De Heilige Driehoek (The Holy Triangle), a religious site comprised of three living monasteries in the south of the Netherlands. Ever since the turn of the millennium, the monastic communities living there have increasingly experienced the involvement of heritage groups. In this dynamic, the distinctive religious tradition of the monastics has led to a distinctive heritage perception of the area; one in which the spiritual and historical values of this tradition are recognized. However, as these values are translated into a secular heritage discourse, the question arises how this translation relates to the self-understanding and needs of the monastics. The aim of this book is to conceptualize through a historical lens the evolving and differing ways in which the different parties involved envision the meaning, potential, and nature of the monasteries. This study shows the struggle of heritage groups with creating a compelling narrative for their intended audiences and the often problematic impact this has on religious communities. In doing so, it offers a new perspective on the complicated relationship between religion and heritage

This comprehensive work represents a complete but accessible survey of everything related to the Orthodox Church's divine services and is helpfully illustrated throughout. The author begins with a discussion of the nature and origin of Divine worship. He describes the church building, the clergy who perform divine services and their vestments, and the cycles of public worship. The services of Great Vespers, Matins, and the Divine Liturgy are reviewed in detail, as are festal services, and different services of need: Baptism and Chrismation, Confession, Ordination, Matrimony, Unction, Prayer Services, Monastic Tonsure and Burial, and the Consecration of a Church. The reader will also find a rare discussion of the rite of the Coronation and Anointing of the Tsar. This manual was originally translated and printed before the Russian Revolution. It is suitable both as an introduction to Orthodox worship for the inquirer and as a convenient handbook for those already familiar with the intricacies of Orthodox services.

The essays collected in Watering the Garden are intended to honor Deirdre Dempsey, a distinguished biblical educator, translator, and scholar. The contributions to this Festschrift mirror Dempsey’s own scholarly interests, including biblical studies, with particular attention to the Old Testament and intertestamental literature, the theology of visual arts, the history of spiritual traditions, and modern theology. The content of the Festschrift closely follows Dempsey's own spiritual and scholarly journey and reflects the breadth and scope of her influence on the academy.

The Church is commonly spoken of as an institutional reality, but much less frequently recognized as a spiritual and heavenly reality called by God “to make disciples of all nations.” (Mt. 28:19) This modest work furthers the development of a structured and integrated Christian Orthodox political thought, whereby the Church is neither sidelined as having no relevance to this present life, nor dominated by temporal questions or popular movements at the expense of its eternal salvific mission.   The author  seeks to ground the mission of the Church in the present world both on an understanding of God as Trinity and in Her mission to baptize diverse cultures. To do this effectively the Church must recognize and adapt to local and contemporary political and social trends and patterns. It must exemplify the Gospel as a way of communal and social life, not allowing itself to be reduced to an impersonal ideology manifest within the sphere of either imagination, ideology, or a private individualistic existence.   Drawing upon this philosophy he offers proposals for how the Church could view questions of both domestic politics and international relations with a view to bringing the world into the Kingdom of God. He also suggests specific steps that could be taken to heal and strengthen  inter-Orthodox relations, addressing in particular the canonical challenges of the Orthodox diaspora and tensions between the Greek and Slavic components of the Church.Though these specific proposals will by no means enjoy universal acceptance,  they will serve as a springboard for further dialogue as the Orthodox world seeks to apply these principles  in all nations, no matter their current political circumstances.   Extracts from The Bases of the Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church are also included as an appendix to aid in further reflection on the questions raised by this book.  

The Roman world was diverse and complex. And so were religious understandings and practices as mirrored in the enormous variety presented by archaeological, iconographic, and epigraphic evidence. Conventional approaches principally focus on the political role of civic cults as a means of social cohesion, often considered to be instrumentalised by elites. But by doing so, religious diversity is frequently overlooked, marginalising ‘deviating’ cult activities that do not fit the Classical canon, as well as the multitude of funerary practices and other religious activities that were all part of everyday life.   In the Roman Empire, a person’s religious experiences were shaped by many and sometimes seemingly incompatible cult practices, whereby the ‘civic’ and ‘imperial’ cults might have had the least impact of all. The authors rethink these methodologies, arguing for a more dynamic image of religion that takes into account the varied and often contradictory choices and actions of individual, which reflects the discrepant religious experiences in the Roman world. Is it possible to ‘poke into the mind’ of an individual in Roman times, whatever his/her status and ethnicity, and try to understand the individual’s diverse experiences in such a complex, interconnected empire, exploring the choices that were open to an individual? This also raises the question whether the concept of individuality is valid for Roman times. In some periods, the impact of individual actions can be more momentous: the very first adoption of Roman-style sculpture, cult practices or Latin theonyms for indigenous deities can set in motion long-term processes that will significantly influence people’s perceptions of local deities, their characteristics, and functions. Do individual choices and preferences prevail over collective identities in the Roman Empire compared to pre-Roman times? To examine these questions, this volume presents case studies that analyse individual actions in the religious sphere.

The Shbītho d-Dayroye is a thirteenth-century anthology dedicated to the personal prayer of monks and nuns. The collection comprises the writings of great saints in the Syriac Orthodox tradition including Ephrem the Syrian, Abraham Qidun, John Chrysostom, Gregory of Nazianzus, Philoxenos, Basil the Great, and Isaac the Syrian. For each of the seven daily prayer times (morning, third hour, noon, ninth hour, evening, and night), there is a main prayer and a closing prayer. The present edition is the first translation to make the spiritual treasures of the original Syriac text available to readers in English.

The service of Compline is the last liturgical hour of the day and seeks God's forgiveness for our sins during the past day and blessing for the coming night. For most of the year, this service takes the form of Small Compline, an abbreviated and re-arranged form of the Great Compline served during Great Lent. Following the usage of Holy Trinity Monastery (Jordanville, NY), the order incorporates prayers before sleep from the Jordanville Prayer Book and a litany of saints chanted while venerating icons at the completion of the service.   Suitable for use at home or in church.  

This convenient pocket size book contains the necessary texts for the celebration of the liturgy of St John Chrysostom by the priest and deacon, interpolated with comprehensive rubrical directions. Texts sung by the choir are also shown. The parallel format gives the Church Slavonic texts on the left page and the English on the right. The book includes the proskomedia, daily and festal dismissals, thanksgiving prayers,  petitions for the sick,  for travellers, etc.  Printed with red and black ink. Includes two marking ribbons.

The Orthodox Church understands the Holy Scriptures to be the fountainhead of Tradition. The stories read in the Bible are commonly explored and elaborated in greater depth in liturgical hymns, homilies, and patristic writings. Such is the case with the account found in St Luke’s gospel of a sinful woman who anoints Christ with precious oil shortly before his Passion and Crucifixion. The woman’s story is taken up in the liturgical tradition of the Orthodox Church in Holy Week, where she is held up as an example of repentance and unconstrained love. In this in-depth but readable study the biblical accounts are elaborated through both the liturgical and oratorical tradition of the Church, as found primarily in Greek and Syriac manuscripts, with particular attention given to the former texts, too often overshadowed by the latter. Previously inaccessible texts of late antiquity, such as homilies by Amphilochius of Iconium and Ephrem Graecus, are found here in English for the first time, together with fresh English renderings of other sermons.   This sharply honed and well-constructed work will engage all who encounter the story of the sinful woman in the living tradition of worship in the Orthodox Church, as well as those who are introduced to her through Scripture, liturgical poetry, or scholarly consideration. The present work unveils the intricate nature of the tradition of the Church, which gives greater scope and application to the biblical record through its hymnography and oratory.  

This directory is a complete address and telephone guide to all Catholic parishes, convents and religious houses in the thirty-two counties of Ireland. It includes: full details of the Irish Episcopate and its various commissions; details of Catholic societies: addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses and websites; names and addresses of chaplains in universities, hospitals and prisons; information on retreat and pastoral centres; and national church statistics.

The purpose of this book is to raise awareness, to add value, give guidance and offer clarity to a young readership. With the rise of teenage mental health issues and experience this book is a very useful tool for teenagers and pre-teens. It offers balance and clarity to the reader’s lives through awareness, mindfulness, and self-care.

Biblical symbolism has still a powerful appeal even today to change lives, to give reasons for living and dying and a solid hope for a future worthy of human beings. A Little Less than Angels can serve as an introduction and guide through the complexity of the biblical narrative as readers endeavour to re-enact in their own lives