Fountain of Immortality - Meditation on the Orthodox Divine Liturgy by the Church Fathers

Produced by the Media Office of the Eastern American
Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Outsideof Russia
in collaboration with St. Tikhon's Orthodox Seminary.
Author and Producer: Reader Alexander Koranda
Editor: Reader Peter S. Lukianov
Narrator: John D. Sutko

Orthodox Spirituality: A Practical Guide for the Faithful and a Definitive Manual for the Scholar by Dumitru Staniloae

Recently, I finished reading Empirical Dogmatics (2 vols.)

by Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos, in which His Eminence 

edits and presents the writings of Fr. Dr. John Romanides. 

Empirical Dogmatics is presented in this blog here and 

here.

In it Fr John highly recommends two books which he

considers to be very faithful to Patristic teaching. They

are, "Orthodox Spirituality" by Fr Dumitru Staniloae,

and "Orthodox Dogmatic Theology" by Fr. Michael
Pomazansky. I happen to own both books so I pulled
them off the shelf and discovered I had a hidden
treasure in my library. 

Please read below for all pertinent information concerning

both books;

Orthodox Spirituality by Dumitru Staniloae is available
from St Tikhon Seminary Press
ISBN: 1-878997-66-1

“Orthodox spirituality has as its goal the deification of man and his union with God, without being merged with Him. It has as a basic conviction the existence of a personal God, who is the supreme source of radiating love. He prizes man and doesn’t want to confuse him with Himself, but maintains and raises him to an eternal dialogue of love. Such a spirituality has no place where an evolutionary progress of man, connected to a divinity conceived as an impersonal essence, is affirmed. This progress can have no result other than man’s disappearance in the impersonal divinity. But the personal God, and thus the supreme source of love, can’t be conceived of as a single person, but as a community of persons in a perfect unity. You see then why the Christian teaching of a Trinity of Persons in a unity of essence is the only one which can constitute the basis of a perfect spirituality for man, understood as a full communion with God in love, without his being lost in it.”

Dumitru Staniloae, Orthodox Spirituality (from the back cover)

A quick look at the contents made me shudder
CONTENTS

Foreword
Introduction

1. The Goal of Orthodox Spirituality
2. The Meaning and Possibility of Union with God
3. Orthodox Spirituality and Our Neighbor
4. The Holy Trinity - the Basis of Christian Spirituality
5. The Christological, Pneumatological, and Ecclesiastical
     Character of Orthodox Spirituality
6. The Major Steps of the Spiritual Life

PART ONE: PURIFICATION
A. About the Passions
7. The Essence of the Passions
8. The Natural and Unnatural Passions
9. The Basic Causes of the Passions and their Effects
10. The Passions and the Faculties of the Soul
11. How the Passions are Aroused according to Traditional

      Orthodox Teaching
12. The Passionate State and Care

b. Purification of the Passions by the Virtues
13. The Order of Purification and Patristic Spiritual Methods

14. Faith, the Basic State for Purification
15. The Fear of God and the Thought of Judgment
16. Repentance
17. Self Control

18. The Guarding of the Mind or of Thoughts

19. Longsuffering, the Patient Endurance of Troubles

20. Hope
21. Meekness and Humility
22. Dispassion or Freedom from Passion

PART TWO: ILLUMINATION

23. The Gifts of the Holy Spirit

24. The Contemplation of God in Creation

25. The Spiritual Understanding of Scripture

26. The Negative and Apophatic Knowledge of God in General

27.The Steps of Apophaticism

28. Negative and Positive Theology: a Dynamic Relationship

29. Pure Prayer

30. Methods for the Facilitation of Pure Prayer31. To Jesus by what is Deep within Us                                                                    
32. Mental Rest: the First Step of Stillness

PART THREE: PERFECTION
33. Love and Dispassion: the Steps of Love
34. Love as a Factor of Perfect Union and as Ecstacy
35. Love, Knowledge and the Divine Light:
        1. The Role of the Mind in the Vision of the Divine Light
36.   2. The Vision of the Divine Light: a Knowledge beyond
            Knowledge
37. Deification: Deification in a Broad Sense
38. Deification: Deification in a Strict Sense

Bibliography
Index
Postscript

Orthodox Dogmatic Theology by Fr Michael Pomazansky is

available from St Herman Press
ISBN: 0938635-69-7

“In the writings of Fr. Michael Pomazansky, one may see a characteristic of genuine Orthodox theology that is so often lost sight of in our cold, rationalistic age. Theology is not primarily a matter of arguments, criticisms, proofs and disproofs; it is first of all men’s word about God, in accordance with the Divinely revealed teaching of Orthodoxy. Therefore, its first purpose and intent is always to inspire, to warm the heart, to lift one above the petty preoccupations of earth in order to glimpse the Divine beginning and end of all things and so to give one the energy and encouragement to struggle towards God and our heavenly homeland.…
“Fr. Michael’s theology is in this warm-hearted and inspiring tone. He is not the only one to write Orthodox theology with this intent today, but he is one of the few, in an older generation that is fast vanishing, who can serve as a link between us and the genuine theology of the Holy Fathers.… Orthodox Dogmatic Theology is his masterpiece.”

—Hieromonk Seraphim Rose

Empirical Dogmatics vol.2 by Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos on the Theology of Fr John Romanides

From the Mount Thabor Publishing website.
To purchase this book, please go here.

Empirical Dogmatics
According to the Spoken Teaching of Father John Romanides,

Vol. 2: Holy Trinity-Creation-Fall-Incarnation-Church-
Life After Death

Price: $40.00
Paperback: 456 pages
Publisher: Birth of the Theotokos Monastery (2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 960707081X
ISBN-13: 978-9607070814
Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.00 inches
Shipping Weight: 2.25 pounds
MTP Item Number: SB0067

"Volume 2 completes the Empirical Dogmatics of the Orthodox
Catholic Church by Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos,
based on the spoken teaching of Fr. John Romanides. It
addresses central dogmatic issues in the light of the
experience of the Apostles and saints. Fr. John’s approach is
unique, lively, and unconventional. Because of his American
background, his wide-ranging academic research and his
participation in ecumenical dialogues, he sees Orthodox dogma
in its wider context. But his words are also illuminated by the
mystery of his own experience, which he does not completely
succeed in concealing.


The Church’s teaching on the Holy Trinity distinguishes between
the dogma of the Holy Trinity, which it is possible to understand,
and the mystery of the Holy Trinity, which defies human
comprehension. The revelation of the Holy Trinity begins in the
Old Testament: “It is Christ Who appears to the Prophets...Christ
is the Angel of the Lord, the Lord of Glory, Yahweh, the Lord
Sabaoth, the Angel of Great Counsel …”


Fr. John reviews the scriptural and patristic teaching on the
Creation of the World from non-being. Discussing the Demons of
Darkness, he states uncompromisingly: “Being a theologian means
first and foremost that someone is an expert in the wiles of the
devil.” God’s personal direction of world is a matter of experience:
 “When someone is in the state of illumination he…sees the
uncreated energy of God within creation.”


Commenting on the Creation of Man, Fr. John declares that we all
possess a noetic faculty (nous) “which is supposed to be in man’s
heart, but it is not in the heart when it is not functioning correctly”.
The illuminated nous returns to the heart and prays: “When man
prays with his rational faculty, that is human prayer...When,
however, his nous prays within the heart, then the Spirit is praying.”


The Fall of Man does not mean “inheriting the guilt of Adam and
Eve. The ancestral sin was not an affront to God, but a sickness
of man.” Fr. John argues against St Augustine’s view that death
is “a punishment from God” and sets out the evidence that it is
an illness.
The Incarnation of the Son and Word of God is not just
a historical event but “a spiritual event that is confirmed by
empirical knowledge”. Analyzing the Transfiguration of Christ,
Fr. John comments: “We also know these things from the
experience of glorification, not simply from reading Holy
Scripture.” Christians must personally experience the Mystery
of the Cross and Resurrection of Christ. “God is not reconciled
with man, but man with God through the mystery of the Cross,
and through this reconciliation man is transformed from an
enemy of God into His friend, and participates in the
Resurrection of Christ.”


The Mystery of Pentecost shows that the experience of Pentecost
is repeated through the centuries. Fr. John stresses the empirical
element of St Paul’s teaching: “For someone to be a temple of the
Holy Spirit is an experience. If one reads the Apostle Paul
carefully, he is not using empty words every time he describes
the Holy Spirit...Who prays in man’s heart...This is the reality.”
He also asks: “Without becoming a temple of the Holy Spirit, how
can anyone become a theologian?”
Fr. John says characteristically:
“What is the purpose of Orthodoxy? It is clear from the calendar
of feasts. We have Easter and we have Pentecost. Baptism in
water takes place at Easter. Baptism in the Holy Spirit takes place
at Pentecost... And what is the outcome? The Sunday of All Saints.In other words, that all Orthodox Christians may be numbered 

among the saints.”


The Spiritual Perfecting of Christians analyses the stages of
purification, illumination and glorification-theosis. Purification is
not just a matter of avoiding sin: “Purification of the heart means
that thoughts leave the heart...so that the heart is left...with one
thought, prayer alone. This...is called prayer of the heart or single
-thought prayer.” Those who reach illumination experience this:
“Noetic prayer is a gift from God and is proof that somebody has
become a temple of the Holy Spirit.” And someone who is glorified
“no longer knows God in prophecies and knowledge and prayers,
but knows Him directly.


Fr. John takes a historical and spiritual approach to the Mysteries
(Sacraments) of the Church, stating: “The Mystery of Chrismation
was intended for those who had already become members of the
Body of Christ, because it was assumed that the Holy Spirit had
already come to them and was praying in their heart.” Heresies
and Councils are seen in a therapeutic perspective: “There is no
therapeutic treatment in heresy...it is dangerous for people. The
Fathers saw heresy as a form of charlatanism...”
Considering Life
after Death, Fr. John stresses that Paradise and Hell exist from
the human point of view, not from God’s perspective. “Someone
who is suitably prepared sees God as glory, and someone else,
who is unprepared, who does not have repentance and does not
have divine vision, also sees God, but sees Him as ‘a consuming
fire’. This is the fire of Hell.”


Metropolitan Hierotheos arranges all this material clearly and
systematically, and links it with his own interpretative and critical
comments. The resulting account of Empirical Dogmatics is
comprehensive and compelling, with many surprises. This book
will appeal not only to theologians but to anyone interested in what
Orthodox Christians believe and why.

For more titles by Metropolitan Hierotheos, click here.