Ascetical Sermons: On Repentance, Prayer, Fasting, and the Spiritual Struggle
A complete Orthodox guide to repentance, prayer, fasting, and the inner spiritual struggle.
St. Ignatius Brianchaninov called this collection Ascetical Sermons because these works do more than explain the appointed Gospel readings. They lead the reader into the practical labor of Christian life: repentance, attentive prayer, humility, forgiveness, mercy, watchfulness, resistance to the passions, and trust in the providence of God.
Following the Orthodox Church year, the volume moves from Theophany and the pre-Lenten Sundays through Great Lent, Holy Week, Pascha, and the Sundays after Pentecost. St. Ignatius examines the Publican and the Pharisee, the Prodigal Son, the Last Judgment, the Cross, confession, fasting, the Eucharist, faith and unbelief, love of God and neighbor, prayer, apostasy, miracles and signs, salvation, Christian perfection, and fruitful repentance.
The book concludes with his substantial exposition of Orthodox teaching concerning the Mother of God, including her place in the Incarnation, her perpetual virginity, the wedding at Cana, the Cross, Pentecost, the Dormition, and her intercession for the faithful.
This complete reader's edition includes:
The author's original preface and Stavropol addressAll fifty-two sermons and discourses in their original sequenceThe complete concluding exposition concerning the Mother of GodAn original editorial introduction and practical reading guideExtensive source notes and explanations of patristic referencesA glossary of Orthodox and ascetical terminologyScripture and topical indexes for study and reference
St. Ignatius writes with unusual precision about the inner life. He exposes self-satisfaction, delayed repentance, prayer without attention, outward religious effort divorced from mercy, and the subtle ways pride can imitate virtue. Yet his teaching continually directs the reader toward Christ, the healing power of repentance, and the grace offered through the life of the Church.
His treatment of fasting is especially practical. Bodily restraint is presented not as an isolated achievement, but as a servant of prayer, mercy, purity, and obedience. His sermons on the Cross teach how to receive suffering without despair. His instructions on love distinguish evangelical love from sentimentality and self-interest. His teaching on faith and miracles warns against demanding spectacle from God while showing how living faith is formed through the Gospel and the commandments.
The arrangement by feast and Sunday makes this volume useful throughout the year. It may be read continuously as a course in Orthodox ascetical theology, consulted by subject through the indexes, or followed alongside the pre-Lenten, Lenten, Paschal, and post-Pentecost Gospel cycle.
Complete, unabridged, carefully organized, and designed for sustained reading, this edition restores one of St. Ignatius Brianchaninov's central works to English under its historical title.
Customer Reviews
ThriftBooks ® and the ThriftBooks ® logo are registered trademarks of Thrift Books Global, LLC
