The Discourses of Abba Isaiah of Scetis, a classical text of fifth-century desert literature, are grounded in Scripture and the teaching of the earliest Christian monks. The authors of this book present Abba Isaiah as one of the first of the Desert Fathers to examine the relationship between abba and disciple, the monastery and the outside world.

Written in the fifth century, during one of the most formative periods of christian monasticism in Egypt and Palestine, The Ascetic Discourses show a strong influence of the Scripture, both Old and New, and of Early monastic writers. They are marked by a faithfulness to tradition, yet equally by a note of originality distinctive to the Gaza region. Abba Isaiah has set forth a practical guide for monks, ever aware of the challenges that interpersonal relationships present within monastic communities. "John Chryssavgis is a Professor of Theology at the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Boston. He completed his undergraduate studies in Athens and earned his doctoral degree at Oxford. Recent publications include "The Way of the Fathers: Exploring the Minds of the Church Fathers"(1988), "Beyond the Shattered Image: Insights into an Orthodox Ecological Worldview"(1999), and "Soul Mending: The Art of Spiritual Direction"(2000)." "Pachomios (Robert) Penkett is an independent scholar currently researching Byzantine and Russian icons in British collections. Having completed his thesis on asceticism in the Spiritual Meadow of John of Moschos, he is directing the National Icon Collection Project. He has lectured widely in America, Canada, Europe, and Africa and has published work on the Desert fathers and Orthodox spirituality."

John Chryssavgis explores the ascetic teaching and theology of St John Climacus, a classical and formative writer of the Christian medieval East, and the author of the seventh-century Ladder of Divine Ascent. This text proved to be the most widely used handbook of the spiritual life in the Christian East, partly because of its unique and striking symbol of the ladder that binds together the whole book. It has caught the attention of numerous readers in East and West alike through the ages and is a veritable classic of medieval spirituality, whose popularity in the East equals that of The Imitation of Christ in the West. Chryssavgis follows the development and influence of earlier desert literature, from Egypt through Palestine into Sinai, and includes a discussion of the theology of tears, the concept of unceasing prayer, as well as the monastic principles of hesychia (silence) and eros (love).

I have conversations with people about how they pray the Jesus Prayer as they walk the city streets, as they travel on buses or on the Tube, as they cycle, or as they sit at home. From these experiences I have come more and more to see the Jesus Prayer as a way of praying well suited to urban life; a form of attentiveness practice that can help us to grow in God-experience amid the changes and chances of metropolitan living. This book explains the prayer, its ethos, and how to begin to practise it in daily life.

St Gregory of Nyssa is known to theologians as one of the three great Cappadocian Fathers who are credited with the final clarification of the doctrine of the Trinity in the late fourth century. Few have ventured to study his role as a bishop who took pains to teach his flock the mysteries of the faith and how to lead a good Christian life. This short study delves into the moral teaching that St Gregory delivered to his audience by analyzing the specific sins about which he is teaching. Given that he preached all over Roman Anatolia, the details found in his homilies give us some insight into which sins were most notorious in the lands of Asia Minor and which, therefore, needed to be addressed.

This book brings together essays by two outstanding Orthodox theologians to examine the paradox of time in relation to the eternity of God: Dumitru Stăniloae’s, ‘Eternity and Time’, a talk given to the Sisters of the Love of God in 1971, was expanded in the first volume of his Teologia dogmatica ortodoxa (3 vols., Bucharest, 1978). The preface to the 1994 English translation of that work, Orthodox Dogmatic Theology, written by Kallistos Ware, was based on his essay, ‘Time: Prison or Path to Freedom?’, which was first published in 1989 by SLG Press. These reflections, brought together for the first time here, remain at the forefront of modern theology. Stăniloae illuminates time as a journey on which we may grow in response to the love that God offers us, a journey towards sharing in the eternity of the perfect, interpersonal communion of the Trinity. God, in His Incarnation, shares the journey with us in Christ, so that time enters into eternity, and eternity is brought into time. At every moment we are free to choose between responding to His love or rejecting it. Ware’s essay explains that it is the vocation of time to be open to eternity; time is fulfilled when God’s eternity breaks into the temporal sequence, as happened supremely at Christ’s birth in Bethlehem, as happens also at every Eucharist. Our faith is the true rationale of time: mutual love after the image of the Trinity.

A concern for healing and wholeness is common among many people today. This book introduces the thinking and practice of Leanne Payne, a leader in the charismatic healing ministry of the last century. Her focus on coming into the Presence of God as we are, engaging our imaginations and embracing different ways of listening, offers wise guidance in the area of healing. We tease out some of the ways her work engages the mystical tradition and how this tradition might be enriched in dialogue with a charismatic approach to healing. Healing is rarely straightforward but we can nourish hope in the active presence of Christ in our midst.