Lives of Saints and Righteous ones - 5 Different Books - Multiple Book Discounts 20% off - Elder Cleopa, Elder Isidore, Fr. Valentin Biryukov, Fr. George Calciu, Elder Arsenie (Papacioc) of Romania
Book 1: Shepherd of Souls
by Archimandrite Ioannichie Balan
At Sihastria Monastery in the mountains of northern Romania, Fr. Cleopa tended the sheep for many years, spending his days in prayer and spiritual contemplation. Then, at the age of twenty-nine, he was unexpectedly chosen to be the new Superior of the monastery.
Now that he was a shepherd of souls, Elder Cleopa quickly revealed his skill in directing people in the spiritual life. He instructed both monastics and lay people in the practice of the Jesus Prayer, and in the cultivation of hesychia (interior silence).
After being arrested and threatened by the communist secret police, Elder Cleopa departed to the wilderness, where he spent a total of ten years in unceasing prayer. Eventually he returned for good to Sihastria Monastery.
“After he finished Confession, Fr. Cleopa would withdraw to stillness, especially at night, to the edge of the forest or to the cemetery, where he would pray alone. Then he would quietly say the Jesus Prayer, which had become part of his heart after so many years. Stillness would give rest to his soul and fill him with spiritual peace. And when God would visit him with the gift of tears, he would also withdraw to a secret place until God calmed down his soul.”
“After he had tasted of the joy of stillness in the years of his exile, Fr. Cleopa longed to remain continually in the life of solitude, since stillness is the mother of prayer, tears, and spiritual joy. But the commandment of obedience would induce him to again return to his community.”
—excerpts from SHEPHERD OF SOULS
Each day for the next thirty years, hundreds of people flocked to him for guidance. Endowed by God with spiritual insight, he would mystically apprehend the problems and needs of each, leading them into closer communion with their Creator. At the time of his death in 1998, he was the spiritual father of all Romania.
This inspiring and popular book by the Elder’s close disciple contains both his life and counsels.
232 pages, 65 illustrations, full-color cover, paperback
Book 2: Salt of the Earth
by Fr. Paul Florensky
SALT OF THE EARTH is the heartwarming biography of Hieromonk Isidore (1814–1908), the great Elder of Gethsemane Hermitage in Russia.
Radiant with Christ-like love and childlike simplicity, Elder Isidore lived in another world, yet kept both feet firmly planted on the ground. He was one of those whom Christ called the salt of the earth (Matt. 5:13)—a repository of the rare otherworldly savor of ancient Christianity.
“One glance of his could destroy all human conventions, because he was above the world and enjoyed the highest spiritual freedom. It seemed as if he didn’t walk upon the earth, but was rather suspended by invisible threads to some other land. All of this filled him with an inner lightness. All those who came to him heavily burdened would lose their heaviness. With a light smile, as if playing, he could, with impunity, turn any human conditions of common life into joy.”
—excerpt from SALT OF THE EARTH
In SALT OF THE EARTH, both the life and personality of Elder Isidore have been captured with remarkable clarity by the Elder’s spiritual son, New Martyr Paul Florensky (†1937). He takes the reader directly into Fr. Isidore’s world, so that by the time the book is finished, the Elder is already a dear friend.
“…It is impossible to distinguish his simplicity and love from his detachment to all worldly things. He turned everything upside down and in such a way that it was impossible to find one ounce of self-will or anything ostentatious. His simplicity was an irony and his irony was simplicity itself. He could change all existing conditions in order to allow them to be seen through the window of eternity; and—amazingly enough—he would do this without offending anyone. He would uproot everything in his guests; he would push each one off his pedestal of self-complacency and bring him back down to earth….”
—excerpt from SALT OF THE EARTH
This revised second edition contains additional material on the Elder by Metropolitan Benjamin (Fedchenkov).
176 pages, illustrated, full-color cover, paperback, $9.00
Book 3: On Earth We’re Just Learning How to Live
Presented here for the first time in English, this heartfelt and moving memoir has become quite popular in Russia since its publication there in 2004. In it, the Russian archpriest Fr. Valentin Biryukov endeavors to pass on the spiritual wisdom of his extensive life experience. Now ninety-four years of age, he lived through almost the entire history of the Soviet Union, having experienced severe deprivation and struggle while exiled with his parents and siblings in the Siberian wilderness; having been severely wounded while helping to liberate Leningrad from the 872-day blockade by the Nazis during World War II; and finally having fulfilled his life’s calling by serving Christ in the holy priesthood. All three of his sons likewise became priests. In the most difficult of circumstances, throughout his whole life, his faith in God kept him alive, both physically and spiritually.
During his long life, Fr. Valentin has had innumerable experiences of God’s mercy and has met a great many others who have experienced God in profound and at times miraculous ways. He has recorded these experiences in this book for the sake of younger generations, in order to strengthen their faith, and in order to derive teachings on how to live as true Christians: with prayer, love for others, hope in God, humility, repentance, and forgiveness. “All of our life is a school,” he affirms. “All of our life is just a preparation for eternal life. Here on earth, we’re not living, but just learning to how live in the Heavenly Fatherland.”
176 pages, paperback, illustrated. $12.00
Book 4: Fr. George Calciu
Father George Calciu (1925–2006) was one of the great confessors of Christianity in the twentieth century. Having survived the diabolic prison experiments of Communist Romania, Fr. George went on to become an apostle to spiritual seekers in Romania and, eventually, throughout the world. He was able to speak authoritatively of God’s love and forgiveness because of his own experience of God’s mercy. As a priest in America, Fr. George maintained a strict ascetic life of fasting and prayer, while at the same time pastoring his flock as a joyful and loving father.
Here we present a collection of his interviews, homilies, and talks. In them he shares his thoughts on his imprisonment, how to pray, his own experience of God’s Uncreated Light, and the Orthodox Christian’s battle against temptations in America. Included in this volume are the “Seven Homilies to the Youth” that he gave in Bucharest in 1978. These homilies, in which he fearlessly called Romanian youth to turn from atheism and materialism to Christ, led to his second imprisonment by the Communist regime. Here, as in his other writings and talks, the common thread of God’s mercy and forgiveness is woven into the fabric of man’s need for repentance and union with his Creator.
Paperback 392 pages $19.00
Book 5: Eternity in the Moment
by Sorin Alpetri
Elder Arsenie (Papacioc) of Romania (1914–2011) was a witness of the eternal truth of Christ, given by God to contemporary man. A man of deep prayer, he also possessed experiential knowledge of the ways of the world. Before going to the monastery, he had been a gifted athlete, a talented sculptor, a soldier, a mayor, and a prisoner of the Romanian Communist regime. Prison became a spiritual academy for him, and after his release he dedicated his life to God as a monastic. For the next six decades he would labor as a monk—in prison and out of prison. He became a beloved spiritual father, counseling the nuns of the Techirghiol Monastery and the multitude of faithful who flocked to his monastic cell. Drawing on his knowledge of the spiritual life and the workings of the world, he was able to guide people to a life in Christ, marked by activity, not philosophizing and speculation.
Every endeavor of his life was characterized by an intensity of purpose and an uncompromising confession of the truth: a knowledge that within each moment we make our choice for eternity. During his long years in prison, he had profound experiences of grace, which helped him realize the power of suffering and sacrifice for Christ. As he himself said, “We must sacrifice not what we have, but what we are.”
This comprehensive biography, compiled from the elder’s own words, the recollections of his spiritual children, and the 3,500 pages of files kept by the Romanian secret police, includes many of Fr. Arsenie’s counsels and spiritual maxims.
288 pages, paperback, illustrated. $17.00