I second Orthodox prayer life. The "Way of the Pilgrim" is also a very nice book along with "The Path to Salvation" by St. Theophan the recluse. "The Spiritual Psalter" which is a compilation of writings by St. Ephraim the Syrian and "My life In Christ" by St. John Kronstadt are both very good for meditation.
What does everyone think about reading Catholic books, like the Imitation of Christ? It has been criticised by some Orthodox priests, eg Fr Seraphim Rose:
"But there is another more common, less spectacular form of spiritual deception, which offers to its victims not great visions but just exalted “religious feelings.” This occurs, as Bishop Ignatius has written, “when the heart desires and strives for the enjoyment of holy and divine feelings while it is still completely unfit for them. Everyone who does not have a contrite spirit, who recognizes any kind of merit or worth in himself, who does not hold unwaveringly the teaching of the Orthodox Church but on some tradition or other has thought out his own arbitrary judgment or has followed a non-Orthodox teaching – is in this state of deception.” The Roman Catholic Church has whole spiritual manuals written by people in this state; such is Thomas a Kempis’ Imitation of Christ. Bishop Ignatius says of it: “There reigns in this book and breathes from its pages the unction of the evil spirit, flattering the reader, intoxicating him… The book conducts the reader directly to communion with God, without previous purification by repentance… From it carnal people enter into rapture from a delight and intoxication attained without difficulty, without self-renunciation, without repentance, without crucifixion of the flesh with its passions and desires (Gal. 5:24), with flattery of their fallen state.” And the result, as I.M. Kontzevitch, the great transmitter of patristic teaching, has written,11 is that “the ascetic, striving to kindle in his heart love for God while neglecting repentance, exerts himself to attain a feeling of delight, of ecstasy, and as a result he attains precisely the opposite: ‘he enters into communion with satan and becomes infected with hatred for the Holy Spirit’ (Bishop Ignatius).”"
"The first thing that must be said about acquiring this spirit of service is that it will not happen by simply reading about Christ’s acts of service in the Gospel and trying, with no preparation, to imitate Him. The fact of the matter is that the Lord did not simply perform acts of service; rather, His deeds of love flowed naturally from His gracious character. His deeds reveal His identity. If we try to analyze the activity of Christ in the Gospel with a view to implementing a programme of Christ-like service to others, we will fail. Acts of service that do not have their origin in a gracious character are not credible and are often undertaken for the wrong reasons. Unfortunately, the wounded human heart is capable of sin even in performing good deeds if it is not being purified, enlightened and strengthened by the Holy Spirit. We come face to face with a fundamental problem: we cannot act as Christ acts through observation and implementation alone. We cannot acquire the spirit of service as we would a skill or a discipline. We must instead receive Christ’s life and then struggle to allow His character to emerge in us. This is why the Orthodox Church carefully distinguishes between the imitation of Christ and the life in Christ. The former allows us to learn about Christianity; the latter allows us to become Christians." Fr Maxym Lysack, Serving Through Outreach
I think sometimes in our Church we tend to read any 'spiritual' book in a pietistic way (we appeal to emotionalism, pietism and the idea of "how can I apply this in my life for my PERSONAL salvation").
That being said there are lots of Roman Catholic writers who write some amazing things. For example:
Hans von Balthazar Dorothy Day Jean Vanier David Fagerberg Robert Taft Robert Barron St Thomas Aquinas Tolkien Chesterton
I do own the book "Imitation of Christ", ever since I was in the beginning of undergrad, and it was recommended to me by a former confession father. I was quite non-compliant, so I only ready probably about 20 pages and then got bored in my immature youth (I should dig it out and take a stab at it again). But my impression from the book was precisely what Bishop Ingatius's quote accused the book of lacking. It taught contrition of heart, a life of repentance, charity, faithfulness to the church and sacramental life, etc.
But if you must, read with a skeptic's mind, open, but skeptical. And anything that contradicts Orthodoxy, ignore. But my impressions is that other Orthodox Christians (EO or OO) who read it said to expect to read from it in a few passages as you would any post-schism Roman Catholic, but other than that, it's fine.
- Orthodox Prayer Life by Fr. Matta El Meskeen (people are often told that it is very advanced, but if they say that, they obviously haven't read the book because his core premise is that the highest levels of prayers are open even to the beginner.)
- Begining to Pray Met. Anthony Bloom
- Fr. Arseny by Vera Boutaneff
- Vita Antonii (Life of Antony) by Abba Athanasius
- Titles of Christ by Fr. Matta El-Meskeen
- Pascha Transformes Wolfman Tom
- Repentance by Fr. Matta El Meskeen
- "On the Incarnation of the Word of God." By Abba Athanasius
More to come I guess. This thread is AWESOME!
Maybe it would also help if we started putting either a brief summary as to what the book touches on or what makes it a book you would recommend so that those of us struggling with certain weakpoints can seek out the books that adress them. Just an idea :)
Thanks for the wonderful suggestions guys. Strongly recommend Orthodox Prayer Life by Fr. Matta as has been mentioned before. Would also suggest Have You Seen the One I Love?" the commentary on the Song of Songs by H.H. Pope Shenouda of Thrice-Blessed Memory. Wonderful book.
Comments
Beginning to Pray by Metropolitan Anthony Bloom, for sure.
http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Pray-Anthony-Bloom/dp/0809115093/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412958159&sr=8-1&keywords=beginning+to+pray+bloom
Taught By God by Harry Boosalis is also awesome. It's easy and short too, so laymen can definitely benefit from it.
http://www.amazon.com/Taught-By-God-Harry-Boosalis/dp/1878997874/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1412958086&sr=8-5&keywords=taught+by+god
The Communion of Love by Fr. Matthew the Poor is also a good one.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Communion-Love-Matthew-Poor/dp/0881410365/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1412958200&sr=8-3&keywords=matthew+the+poor
"Orthodox Prayer Life" by Abouna Matta Al Maskeen
"Heaven" by the late HG Bishop Youannis of Gharbia
"But there is another more common, less spectacular form of spiritual deception, which offers to its victims not great visions but just exalted “religious feelings.” This occurs, as Bishop Ignatius has written, “when the heart desires and strives for the enjoyment of holy and divine feelings while it is still completely unfit for them. Everyone who does not have a contrite spirit, who recognizes any kind of merit or worth in himself, who does not hold unwaveringly the teaching of the Orthodox Church but on some tradition or other has thought out his own arbitrary judgment or has followed a non-Orthodox teaching – is in this state of deception.” The Roman Catholic Church has whole spiritual manuals written by people in this state; such is Thomas a Kempis’ Imitation of Christ. Bishop Ignatius says of it: “There reigns in this book and breathes from its pages the unction of the evil spirit, flattering the reader, intoxicating him… The book conducts the reader directly to communion with God, without previous purification by repentance… From it carnal people enter into rapture from a delight and intoxication attained without difficulty, without self-renunciation, without repentance, without crucifixion of the flesh with its passions and desires (Gal. 5:24), with flattery of their fallen state.” And the result, as I.M. Kontzevitch, the great transmitter of patristic teaching, has written,11 is that “the ascetic, striving to kindle in his heart love for God while neglecting repentance, exerts himself to attain a feeling of delight, of ecstasy, and as a result he attains precisely the opposite: ‘he enters into communion with satan and becomes infected with hatred for the Holy Spirit’ (Bishop Ignatius).”"
Fr Maxym Lysack, Serving Through Outreach
I think sometimes in our Church we tend to read any 'spiritual' book in a pietistic way (we appeal to emotionalism, pietism and the idea of "how can I apply this in my life for my PERSONAL salvation").
That being said there are lots of Roman Catholic writers who write some amazing things. For example:
Hans von Balthazar
Dorothy Day
Jean Vanier
David Fagerberg
Robert Taft
Robert Barron
St Thomas Aquinas
Tolkien
Chesterton
But if you must, read with a skeptic's mind, open, but skeptical. And anything that contradicts Orthodoxy, ignore. But my impressions is that other Orthodox Christians (EO or OO) who read it said to expect to read from it in a few passages as you would any post-schism Roman Catholic, but other than that, it's fine.
By Jim Forest
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/162698090X
Being Bread
By Stephen Muse
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1933275650