The Orthodox Ethos Reading List

HOLY SCRIPTURE

Before the reading list, many times we are asked which Scripture should be recommended. We
recommend two Bibles determined by the purpose for which they will be used.

1. Readings during prayer: For readings during prayer, we prefer the Authorized Text or
King James Version (KJV): a) with “Deuterocanonical Books” and b) not a study bible.
a. The Church’s position is that full Scripture includes the “Deuterocanon” or
“Apocrypha.” Historically, these names were invented to distinguish books the
heretics found problematic. With this label, it allowed them to eventually exclude
them. The Orthodox Church did not participate in that history and has decided
these so called books are considered to be fully Scriptural.
b. When at prayer, the importance of reading the Scripture is for them to penetrate
and soften our hearts, to let the grace of God be communicated to us through the
words. Study notes are a distraction from this. We read the Scriptures, at the time
of prayer, not for rational understanding, but for a theoria to be given by God.
2. For Study: For Scriptural study, we recommend the New Testament by Holy Apostles
Convent in Buena Vista, CO. which: a) is their own translation and b) has patristic
commentary. However, c) the most important commentary you can have for Scriptural
study is commentary from the Holy Fathers.
a. The translation is their own and a very rigid literal translation from the Greek,
which helps the non-Greek speaker get a better sense of the literal meanings.
b. Their editions also have a good collection of patristic commentary. Every book
of the Bible has patristic quotations for every few verses, thus providing generous
patristic readings to go with every book of the New Testament.
c. Many Holy Fathers have commented on many books and under “Lives of Saints,
their writings, the spiritual life, other topics” is a list to get started. One will find
the Holy Fathers constantly interpreting Scripture for the faithful throughout
their writings. However, far more often than not Scripture interpretation is in its
liturgical context or in letters to contemporaries.
READING LIST

1. Basic Information, Historical Background, and Testimonies

2. Catechisms
3. Lives of Saints, their writings, the spiritual life, other topics
4. Asceticism
5. Before Seminary

The first “Basic Information, Historical Background, and Testimonies” is for the newcomer or
inquirer who wants broad overviews and honestly just basic information.

The second is “Catechisms” for the catechumen who recognizes the relationship with the
Church is growing deeper and needs more substance to understand what the Church expects of
a catechumen.

The third “Lives of Saints, their writings, the spiritual life, other topics” is also important for
inquirers and catechumens but also valuable immediately after the first category of general
information no longer satisfies one’s hunger for Holy Orthodoxy. It introduces the Saints in
more detail and begins greater level of patristic exposure.

The fourth “Asceticism” comes after great familiarity with the above books (while continuing in
the Scriptures) and with a blessing from a spiritual father to read them (to protect against the
type of asceticism characterized by deadly pride and delusion). St. Joseph the Hesychast (this list
is based on the collection of his letters, Monastic Wisdom) was familiar with these writings. They
have been beloved for centuries by monastics and all Christians serious about the spiritual life.
They are sure guides in our struggle for salvation and should be read with much prayer again and
again.

The fifth “Before Seminary” is for those who are surely prepared for the great struggle at
seminary and have a blessing from one’s spiritual father to enroll. In that case, these books are
essential to read first. Why? Seminary is based on an academic model while true Christian life is
based on prayer. This means seminary may become a distraction or even a temptation for correct
advancement in the spiritual life. Because of this, those who embrace the academic over the
ascetical invent many criteria and interpretive keys which are at odds with the Holy Fathers,
harming students and the Church at large. Not only the mind (phronema) of the Holy Fathers,
but tasting their life (a developed Orthodox ethos) must be the presuppositions for a student to
safely pass through seminary. The most important texts for this list are indicated by asterisks (*).
BASIC INFORMATION, HISTORICAL BACKGROUND, &
TESTIMONIES
• The Apostolic Fathers (Light and Life Publishing Company)
• The Divine Liturgy: A Commentary in the Light of the Fathers (Hieromonk
Gregorios)
• Orthodox Veneration of the Mother of God (St. John of San Francisco)
• Becoming Orthodox (Fr. Peter Gilquist)
• Catholicism in the Light of Orthodoxy (Archimandrite George of Grigoriou)
• The Church and the Pope (Robert Spencer)
• My Exodus from Roman Catholicism (Bishop Paul de Ballester)
• Rock and Sand (Fr. Josiah Trenham)
• Know the Faith (Fr. Michael Shanbour)
• Our Orthodox Christian Faith (Athanasios S. Frangopoulos)
• The History of the Church (Eusebius of Caesarea)
• The Historical Road of Eastern Orthodoxy (Fr. Alexander Schmemann)
• Orthodox Survival Course (Fr. Seraphim Rose)
• Christology (St. Nektarios of Aegina)
• Franks, Romans, Feudalism, and Doctrine (Fr. John Romanides)
• Synodicon of Orthodoxy
• The Papacy (Abbe Guettée)
• From Tibet to Mount Athos to Elder Paisius (Yanni Kotzampasis)
• Practical Guide or Orthodoxy and Orthopraxia (Priest Michael)
• Booklets and Articles:
o A Wonderful Revelation to the World: Conversation of St. Seraphim of Sarov
with Nicholas Motovilov
o Picture of the Modern World (Met. Hierotheos Vlachos)
o The Life in Christ (Fr. John Romanides)
o Theosis: The True Purpose of Human Life (Archimandrite George of
Grigoriou)
o Christianity or the Church (St. Hilarion Troitsky)
o Holy Scripture and the Church (St. Hilarion Troitsky)
o Tradition in the Church (Fr. Lazarus Moore)

CATECHISMS
• Catechetical Lectures (St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Anthony’s Greek Orthodox
Monastery Press, or SAGOM Press)
• Baptismal Instructions (St. John Chrysostom, SAGOM Press)
• The Wisdom of Sirach or Ecclesiasticus (Old Testament)
• An Indication of the Path into the Kingdom of God (St. Innocent of Alaska)
• The Truth of Our Faith, Volumes 1 & 2 (Elder Cleopa of Romania)
 • Entering the Orthodox Church: (Met. Hierotheos Vlachos)
• The Precious Pearl (St. John of Damascus)
• The Way: An Introduction to the Orthodox Faith (Fr. George Metallinos)
• The Orthodox Faith, Worship, and Life (Hieromonk Gregorios)
• The Faith of the Saints (St. Nikolai Velimirovich)
• Orthodox Sacred Catechism (Vernardakis / Cavarnos)
• The Law of God (Fr. Seraphim Slobodskoy)

LIVES OF SAINTS, THEIR WRITINGS, THE SPIRITUAL LIFE,

OTHER TOPICS
• Scripture Aids, Interpretations, and Context:
o Explanation of the Holy Gospels (Blessed Theophylact)
o The New Testament, Volumes 1 and 2 (Holy Apostle’s Convent)
o Homilies on the Epistles of St. Paul (St. John Chrysostom)
o Commentaries by St. Cyril of Alexandria (CUA Press)
o The Epistles and the Apocalypse (Archbishop Averky)
o Homilies on the Book of the Revelation (Archimandrite Athanasios Mitilinaios)
• Lives of Saints:
o Prologue of Ohrid (St. Nikolai Velimirovich)
o The Synaxarion (Hieromonk Makarios of Simonos Petra)
o The Great Synaxaristes (Holy Apostles Convent)
• The Way of the Pilgrim (SAGOM Press)
• On the Incarnation (St. Athanasios of Alexandria)
• These three by Met. Hierotheos Vlachos (in order):
o Orthodox Spirituality
o The Illness and Cure of the Soul in the Orthodox Tradition
o A Night in the Desert of the Holy Mountain
• Counsels from the Holy Mountain (Geronda Ephraim of Philotheou and Arizona)
• Noetic Prayer as the Basis of Mission and the Struggle Against Heresy (Archimandrite
Ephraim Triandaphillopoulos, Uncut Mountain Press)
• Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith (St. John of Damascus)
• Words of the Heart (Gerondissa Makrina Vassopoulou)
• Spiritual Counsels (Series of six books by St. Paisios the Athonite)
• Elder Paisios of Mount Athos (Elder Isaac)
• The Church at Prayer (Archimandrite Aimilianos of Simonopetra)
• The Way of the Spirit (Archimandrite Aimilianos of Simonopetra)
• Hymn of Entry (Archimandrite Vasileios)
• Orthodox Faith and Life in Christ (St. Justin Popovich)
• My Life in Christ (St. John of Kronstadt)
• Saint Nektarios: the Saint of our Century (Sotos Chondropooulos)
• An Extraordinary Peace: St. Seraphim, the Flame of Sarov (Fr. Lazarus Moore)
 • These three by Constantine Cavarnos (in order):
o Paths and Means to Holiness
o Holiness: Man’s Supreme Destiny
o Man’s Spiritual Evolution
• Commentary on the Divine Liturgy (St. Nicholas Cabasilas)
• God’s Revelation to the Human Heart (Fr. Seraphim Rose)
• Nihilism (Fr. Seraphim Rose)
• The Life of Fr. Seraphim Rose (St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood Press)
• The Letters of Fr. Seraphim Rose (Fr. Alexy Young, editor)
• Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future (Fr. Seraphim Rose)
• On the Providence of God (St. John Chrysostom)
• On the Mystical Life, 3 volumes (St. Symeon the New Theologian)
• Handbook of Spiritual Counsel (St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite)
• Concerning Frequent Communion (St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite)
• Three Treatises on the Divine Images (St. John of Damascus)
• Wounded by Love (St. Porphyrios)
• Hymns of Paradise (St. Ephraim the Syrian)
• The Life of St. Makrina and On Virginity (St. Gregory of Nyssa, SAGOM Press)
• Saint Silouan the Athonite (St. Sophrony)
• Our Thoughts Determine our Lives: The Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of
Vitovnica (St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood Press)
• The Way of the Ascetic (Tito Colliander)
• Life of St. Anthony the Great (SAGOM Press)
• The Unity of the Church (St. Hilarion Troitsky)
• Metropolitan Philaret of New York (Subdeacon Nektarios, editor)
• Eschatological Hymns and Homilies (St. Ephraim the Syrian, SAGOM Press)
• For the Life of the World (Fr. Alexander Schmemann)
• On Divine Names and Mystical Theology (St. Dionysios the Areopagite, SAGOM
Press)
• Modern Orthodox Saints Series (Institute for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies)
• Apostle to Zaire: The Life and Legacy of Blessed Father Cosmas of Grigoiou
(Aslanidis/Grigoriatis)
• The Universe as Signs and Symbols (St. Nikolai Velimirovich)

ASCETICISM
• Holy Scripture
• The Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian
• The Spiritual Homilies of St. Makarios the Egyptian
• The Contrite Discourses of Abba Dorotheos
• The Evergetinos
• The Philokalia
 • The Sayings of the Desert Fathers
• The Ladder of St. John Climacos
• Lives of Saints
• Way of the Pilgrim
• Salutations (Akathist Hymn) of the Theotokos
• Counsels from the Holy Mountain (Geronda Ephraim of Philotheou and Arizona)
• Saint Silouan the Athonite (St. Sophrony of Essex)
• Athonite Lives:
• An Athonite Gerontikon (Priestmonk Ioannikios Kotsonis)
• Contemporary Ascetics of Mount Athos, Volumes 1 and 2 (Archimandrite
Cherubim)
• Athonite Fathers of the 20th Century (Uncut Mountain Press)

BEFORE SEMINARY
• The Mind of the Orthodox Church* (Met. Hierotheos (Vlachos))
• Patristic Theology* (Fr. John Romanides)
• The Ancestral Sin* (Fr. John Romanides)
• Orthodox Psychotherapy (Met. Hierotheos (Vlachos))
• The Science of Spiritual Medicine (Met. Hierotheos (Vlachos))
• St. Gregory Palamas as a Hagiorite* (Met. Hierotheos (Vlachos))
• Orthodox Faith and Life in Christ* (St. Justin Popovich)
• The Rudder* (St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite, SAGOM Press), see book’s introduction on why
this is indeed essential reading for the Orthodox Christian
• Empirical Dogmatics*, Volumes 1 and 2 (Met. Hierotheos (Vlachos) and Father John
Romanides)
• Orthodox Dogmatic Theology (Fr. Michael Pomazansky)
• On Common Prayer with the Heterodox According to the Canons of the Church*
(Protopresbyter Anastasios Gotsopoulos)
• Exomologetarion (St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite)
• The Homilies of St. Gregory Palamas (Mt. Tabor Publishing)
• On the Mystical Life, three volumes (St. Symeon the New Theologian)
• From Saint Sophrony of Essex (in this order):
o His Life is Mine
o On Prayer
o We Shall See Him As He Is
• From his disciple Archimandrite Zacharias (in this order):
o Christ, Our Way and Our Life
o The Enlargement of the Heart
o The Hidden Man of the Heart
o Remember Thy First Love
• Therapy of Spiritual Illnesses*, Volumes 1, 2 and 3 (Dr. Jean Claude Larchet)
• The Ecclesiological Renovation of Vatican II* (Fr. Peter Heers)
o The Missionary Origins of Modern Ecumenism (Fr. Peter Heers), a valuable
supplement
• Jesus Fallen?* (Fr. Emmanuel Hatzidakis), this one especially tackles a huge Christological heresy
that is popular among mostly Western converts in academia
• The One and the Three: Nature, Person and Triadic Monarchy in the Greek and Irish
Patristic Tradition* (Fr. Chrysostom Koutloumousianos), this one tackles a huge
anthropological error devastating the Greek Church and beyond