Customer Reviews

Mother Gavrilia: The Ascetic of Love

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This is a life-changing book for all those who ever asked themselves what it means to be a true Christian and fulfil Christ's commandment to love other people.
Some of my favourite quotes:
"We must not 'exist' in the presence of the other person, who is God's 'image and likeness'."
"To reach the state of non-existence, love and love and love until you identify yourself completely with the Other One,
whoever this may be at the time. Then, at the end of the day you may ask yourself: Is there anything I want? No. Is there
anything I wish 'No. Is there anything I lack' No... So, that's it!"

My generous and devout cousin gave me this book after giving me several others on Orthodox saints. I was always grateful for her gifts, but never really connected with the folks described in these stories because their lives seemed weirdly mystical on the verge of downright scary. For example, there was the saint who was sometimes seen levitating above his bed. And then there was the one who was known to walk through walls. What had Jesus to do with such stuff? Doubting and disturbed, I usually skipped over those parts, or stopped reading altogether.
But when I opened this book and began to discover Mother Gavrillia's life, I couldn't put the story down. Here was a real saint: not an ascetic superhero, but a joyful, patient, humble follower of Jesus Christ who acknowledged her fallen humanity, accepted Jesus Christ's grace, and offered her whole life to her Savior and Lord.
In the process, she traveled the world, sharing Christ's truth and love in word and deed, and lived about the most fulfilled and purposeful life of anyone whose story I have ever read.
One of the coolest aspects of Gavrillia's life is the freshness and vibrancy that Jesus Christ offers at any age. When I learned that Gavrillia was in her 50s when her "great adventure of faith with Christ" began, I was breathless because I realized that any believer, at any stage of life, could have the same joy and abandonment as Mother Gavrillia, if only they too, pray, "Not my will, Lord, but Thine be done."
I am forever blessed by reading about this dear woman, and I look forward to thanking her personally one day.

I love this book! It's written in two main parts, first telling the story of her life, and then giving her words and responses to life as words of wisdom for us all. When I first received the book as a Christmas gift I was disappointed with the second section after first thumbing through the book, but after reading about her life I soaked up her words of wisdom like a proverbial sponge.

This is by far one of my favorite books.

Mother Gavrilia is the best modern-day example of how to be abandoned to God and how to love others completely. Her voice comes through strongly through her writings at the end of the book. The beginning is about her life of abandon to God, and an example of saying "Yes" to whatever God has for you. This book gave me a great example of how we should love others and how we can preach the Gospel without saying a word.