Customer Reviews

Little Russian Philokalia: St. Seraphim of Sarov

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Just read it, you have to, no description can give it justice. All I can say is this, it's comparable to Issac of Nineveh's "On Ascetical Life" in its beauty, depth, and penetrating words of love, peace, and prayer. Just read it, this book will change you forever.

Simple, elegant, uplifting, and profound.

I am glad to see that we now have a Russian companion volume to the traditional Philokalia.

I found that the pictures of St. Seraphim spoke to me too.

While preparing a lecture on Surat Shabd Yoga, I came across the Philokalia and thought it might be useful in my talk. "Surat" is a Sanskrit word for "Soul", "Shabd" is the Sanskrit word for "Holy Spirit". "Yoga" simply means "To Yoke". Hence, Surat Shabd Yoga is the process of connecting the soul to the Holy Spirit. In the "Little Russian Philokalia", Saint Seraphim of Sarov taught that the main aim of Christian life is to acquire for oneself the Spirit of God. His amazing and supernatural conversation with N.A. Motovilov on "The Acquisition of the Holy Spirit" is included in this volume.

Great introduction to one of Russia's most beloved spiritual masters. Contains an good introduction by Fr. Seraphim Rose, the famous dialogue with Motovilov about the acquisition of the Holy Spirit, spiritual cousels of St. Seraphim, the Diveyevo mystery and more.

This first volume in the set of 6 (I sincerely hope that there will be more to come) is, in my opinion, essential reading for every Christian.

We in the USA need to unlearn everything that we were told about "the big, bad, Red Russians"... This set is a good start in introducing westerners to the amazing and profound depth of Russian spiritualism!

I've been really enjoying the Russian Philokalia series, more so, even, than the original Philokalia and the sayings of the Desert Fathers.

From an evangelical perspective the Desert Fathers can often come across as legalists whose religion has less to do with a Christ centered faith, than it does with trying to outdo each other in their rules of piety (ie: the argument about whether a true monk would (a) never lay eyes on a woman or (b) be able to look at a woman and not even recognize her as being of the opposite gender).

The original Philokalia, on the other hand, reads more like a text on Hindu meditation: weird mystical concept and breathing techniques mixed with Christian references and other rules for achieving enlightenment (or seeing the uncreated light of God).

The Russian Philokalia series, on the other hand, especially this volume of the writings of St. Seraphim, are far more "down to earth" or at least more familiar. Seraphim's sayings, for example, are generally rooted in a Spirit-centered faith, and hence, more accessible to evangelicals and others looking at Orthodoxy for the first time. I don't know what makes them more accessible. Perhaps its because these men lived closer to our own time; perhaps its because the Orthodox church in their day had been influenced by Western thinking; or perhaps its because they were simple Russian peasants. In any case, I really enjoyed this series of books and would readily reccommend them to interested readers.