Venerable Ascetic Nikephoros the LeperVenerable Nikephoros the Leper experienced sickness and pain firsthand, bearing it deeply within his own body. Yet this illness became his secret path to holiness and everlasting joy in Christ. In this book, readers will discover the moving life story of one of the twentieth centurys great saints. Orphaned at an early age, Venerable Nikephoros was stricken with leprosy while still a child. But God never abandoned the boy, entrusting him into the care

And I knew nothing else earthly

Vol 1: 784 pages

A night in the desert of the Holy Mountain

chanted in during Lent and includes the Life of Mary of Egypt

Athos as it was experienced in a coenobitic monastery

quiet bearer of the vision of the Optina monastic tradition—destined to preserve Optina eldership through decades of communist persecution of the Church

• Added the full Holy Psalter

Monasticism is a paradoxical phenomenon on earth

yet there was nothing antiquarian or academic about his devotion to the teaching of the past: for this ancient tradition was something that he had experienced directly

Readers who love the Mother of God will find abundant inspiration in this book

Has Morning Prayers and Evening Prayers rather than Compline

it has come to be regarded throughout the English-speaking world as one of the best introductory books on Orthodox theology