Pilgrimage To Dzhvari: A Woman's Journey of Spiritual Awakening [Hardcover]

Valeria Alfeyeva (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 1993

Pilgrimage to Dzhvari is set in the last days of the Communist regime when people from all levels of Soviet society are searching for ways to reconnect with their memories of goodness and truth. A writer leaves her work in Moscow and with her teenage son sets out to visit the few remaining monasteries in the Georgian Caucasus in order to discover the mystical teachings of the Eastern Orthodox Church. In particular, they seek instruction in the Prayer of the Heart, the constant internal repetition of the words, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." For centuries this practice -- known in the West as the "Jesus Prayer" -- has been one of the principal disciplines of monks, priests, and elders of the Eastern rite.

There is a purity and clarity about this simple tale of devotion that is reminiscent of that earlier spiritual classic The Way of a Pilgrim. But this journey is undertaken by a woman at the end of the twentieth century. The eloquence and power of Valeria Alfeyeva's description of the eternal quest for the divine on earth will not easily be forgotten.

Cover illustration by Tim Bower

Cover design by John Fontana


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this loosely autobiographical novel translated from the Russian, Alfeyeva describes her search for spiritual serenity and a deeper understanding of her Eastern Orthodox faith through visits to two Georgian monasteries. Shortly after the death of her husband, the narrator, a journalist like Alfeyeva, and her teenage son Mitya, arrange an unusual visit to a well-known monastery--unusual because women are traditionally forbidden entry. There, the narrator is urged to abandon her "intellectual" appreciation of Christianity for a more visceral faith while Mitya is encouraged in his desire to become a priest. Six years later, Mitya becomes a monk rather than the priest his mother had hoped and in a visit to another Georgian monastery, the narrator grapples both with her disappointment over his decision and with broader problems of Soviet mores and modern moral laxity. The strength of this impressive work comes not only from the depiction of the monks' human weaknesses and constant spiritual self-testing, but resides also in Alfeyeva's thoughtful explanation of the Orthodox faith and in her lyrical descriptions of the natural beauty of the Georgian countryside.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This is a fictionalized account of a woman journalist and intellectual's spiritual journey into Orthodoxy during the final days of communism in the Republic of Georgia (USSR) when she, accompanied by her teenaged son, is allowed to spend several weeks in a monastery. Although she recounts blatant sexism (even harassment, though she never uses the term), she focuses much more on her own and her son's spiritual transformation, which she sustains as she journeys, six years later and accompanied by a hieromonk (not her son, though he has been ordained too), to another monastery, where she finds that the dream she had given up will be fulfilled. Recommended for academic collections focusing on Russian, Georgian, and women's studies and for most public libraries.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 328 pages
• Publisher: Crown; 1ST edition (June 15, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517591944
• ISBN-13: 978-0517591949
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.8 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,267,634 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #22 in Books > Travel > Asia > Georgia

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Orthodox spiritual reading meets travelogue, December 4, 2008

By 

John Wehling (MI, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pilgrimage To Dzhvari: A Woman's Journey of Spiritual Awakening (Paperback)

Sometimes people have a hard time with spiritual reading, feeling like every Orthodox book they try to read is too removed from their life to really connect with. On that note I have a recommendation.

I am just finishing "Pilgrimage to Dzhvari" by Valeria Alfeyeva. The author is the mother of Bp Hilarion (Alfeyev) of the Russian Orthodox Church. The book is a loosely autobiographical account of a Russian woman's coming to faith in the waning days of the Soviet Union and particularly of her pilgrimage to two Orthodox monasteries in Georgia. It contains a lot of wisdom from the Orthodox tradition but is written more like a memoir or a narrative than most books you might consider spiritual reading.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Naaah, January 9, 2010

By 

Janet Baker (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pilgrimage To Dzhvari: A Woman's Journey of Spiritual Awakening (Paperback)

If you are looking for a book that reveals details about Russian Orthodoxy OR one which is spiritually inspiring, you can skip this particular work. The writer is of that brand of faith in which how she feels is the determining element, and hence the narrative is mostly boring. She doesn't feel much interesting.