The card is very beautiful, and printed on high quality stock. A joy to receive and send.. Thank you!

Loved it!

This is a richly colored, delightfully illustrated board book with happy children of all ethnicities celebrating life! Children delight in sunshine and in snowfall, and in the glories of both autumn and springtime. As the title indicates, love comes down from the Lord above and causes the little ones to spread love to little animals, their neighbors, and to one another. The story can be sung to the beautiful tune printed in the back of the book. It is even possible to hear the song sung by the author herself by scanning the QR code provided. This will be a wonderful addition to any child's collection of books.

Thinking Orthodox: Understanding and Acquiring the Orthodox Christian Mind, by Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou, PHD, was recently sent to me by my Orthodox sponsor (godfather). In the previous month I had heard the author speak (for the first time) on a podcast on Ancient Faith Radio, and I was impressed with the way she addressed the topic being discussed. Up to that point, I had never heard of her. In addition to her multiple advanced degrees from highly-respected institutions, she is the wife of a Greek Orthodox priest.

This 380 page book starts with pages of endorsements from highly respected Orthodox leaders, professors and authors, which lends the weight of authority to what is to follow.

This book contains a well laid out exposition of Orthodox phronema, what it is, what it is not, how it is different from Western Christian phronema (both Catholic and Protestant), how to acquire the Orthodox phronema, the hazards of being an armchair theologian and spouting off ignorance in public places (especially in social media).

As of this writing, I have been an Orthodox Christian for 22 years. I have known that, while we use the same terminology as Western Christians, in most cases we mean something different. Not only that, we think differently. Sin, salvation, repentance, why Christ died on the cross, the Eucharist, all have a different, and more ancient, understanding in the Orthodox Church. And we dont acquire this understanding through reading, philosophy or logic. We acquire this understanding by participating in the liturgical life of the church, as well as our personal piety when we are not in church.

This is an important book for me. It helps pull together many of the things, understandings and practices, that I have been acquiring over the past 22 years into one volume. The author writes from her personal experience, from her many years of study, and from her years of teaching and addressing questions at the graduate level. She knows her stuff, because she has studied it and lived it. She quotes extensively from the Church Fathers, from Holy Tradition, to support her thesis.

The final chapter, the epilogue, explains how Jesus Christ himself is our teacher and example of Orthodox phronema, how he passed it along to his disciples by word and by his actions; how they acquired it, and then passed it on to their followers, teaching by example. It is clear that much of what we learn in the Church, we need to learn and acquire by doing, not just by study. If the words and actions dont match, we dont have theology.

I have not yet finished this book (life doesn't give me much time for reading these days, apparently), but I have already recommended it to several friends and have noticed the things that Strickland points out. I haven't (yet) read the first two books in this series, though I fully intend to when I have a little more time on my hands. Strickland points out some very interesting connections between the history covered in the two prior books and this one (I recommend reading those two first, although this one does still make sense as a stand-alone), and he proposes a fresh perspective on how we got to where we are today. Students of both history and philosophy will find his ideas intriguing, as he spends quite a bit of time drawing connections between the subversion of Western Christendom and the rise of secular humanism. His conversation is quite conversational (it's definitely not like some of my dry college textbooks!), and he employs the use of narrative examples to bring the reader in (and give a point to connect back to). I'm excited to finish the book and I look forward to having my children read it as a part of their high school history in our homeschool!

I'm not much of a children's books reader, even though I love children! But I certainly love pictures of children. The artwork in this book is so captivating that we use the paintings as display on our window sill! Love comes down is a timeless profound message especially needed at this time!

Reggie Tsang MD Emeritus Professor of Pediatrics

This book is absolutely lovely, in both content and artwork. The pictures and beautiful and I was really surprised by how much I loved the song! The tune was easy to learn and gorgeous! My kids all had the song learned and were singing it around the house within the first day of having the book! It makes a great addition to our family library!

My wife found this book to be helpful and comforting during her pregnancy and eventual miscarriage. A lot of pregnancy books don't talk about miscarriages, this one did, and we're grateful for that.

The calendar has been great in helping me keep up with my Church rhythm.

Syria Crucified is a book that tells us shocking stories that we should already know but don't. Most people who will read this book understand the ongoing conflict in and around Syria the way mainstream media covers and frames it, which is to say poorly (“Assad bad, liberation good”). Because this book's audience is largely removed from real, violent persecution, the memory of even recent persecution (e.g., new martyrs from the communist yoke) can seem like ancient history to the people of a nation as young as ours—especially as technology and “the metaverse” shift our experience of time, history, and humanity to a disembodied one of increasingly narrow and recent slivers of time. Furthermore, there are some readers who may think the situation of Christians in modern America is “as bad” (or "getting as bad") as the experience of those facing persecution abroad.

Wingerd & Hoff immediately relieve any readers of all of these blind spots. In their introductory matter, they acknowledge the messiness of the geopolitical and military conflict that, partly due to American interests and intervention, has brought about the renewed persecution of Christians in the region. Their explanation is clear and concise, and is fairly consistent with what I've learned over the last decade.

The bulk of the book—indeed, its entire purpose!—consists of five stories, the personal narratives of individual Syrians in exile from their homeland, and their experiences of peace and then war, persecution, confession of faith, and observation of martyrdom, all in the course of trying to do ordinary things like go to school or practice one's profession. Each story makes up a chapter of the book; they're fairly short, at about forty pages each—while the writing isn't dense, the material is very heavy.

Syria Crucified is a necessary counterbalance to the disembodied, disconnected view of politics, conflict, and religion that afflicts most Americans. The authors do an excellent job of editing down interviews for clarity and concision without sacrificing any person's voice or narrative, all while providing context and elaboration. I don't want to spoil the content of the book itself, so I will only highlight that faith, joy, mourning, nostalgia, tragedy, and hope are important themes that run through these narratives. While the most striking of these themes may be the negative ones, perhaps enduring faith and hope should become the most important one for us Christians; indeed, in the afterword, the message of hope in the face of ongoing conflict runs into us headlong. This does not undermine or minimize the deep tragedies shared throughout the book, but punctuates them as with a semi-colon; there is real pain and tragedy, but there is still more to the story, as the Church in Syria opens wide her gates and does what the Church always will do by ministering to the the suffering people around her, witnessing to the gospel in the face of horrendous, senseless violence.

Easy read.

A beautifully illustrated story told in the warm embrace of a simple song. The feelings of joy and kindness are felt in the turning of every page! This book is immediately relatable to even the youngest of children and will captivate the hearts of all who read it. A perfect gift for a baptism, birthday or any occasion!

Dr. Jeanies writing is both thorough and engaging. She does a masterful job of discussing how an Eastern Orthodox Christians approach to Christian spirituality differs from Roman Catholic and Protestant approaches in the west. She draws from the Church Fathers (past and recent), Tradition, History, and the Holy Scriptures. Excellent book for newly (adult) baptized Orthodox Christians or cradle Orthodox Christians.

This book is a must for your home library I'm so happy I made this purchase

“Love Comes Down” is a story based on a foundational truth, that Love is a gift from God that is available to all of us. This thoughtfully written and beautifully illustrated book introduces our children (and ourselves) to those everyday glimpses of God’s presence, beauty, and love. Thank you for packaging this pertinent message of God’s grace!

I recommend this pray book for portability and richness.

What a beautifully written accompaniment to the journey of pregnancy!! I loved reading this during my first pregnancy, loved it even more with my second, and now gift this to every Christian woman I know when they're expecting. The way that Laura Jansson weaves theology and biology together in easy-to-understand prose lifts you up as you prepare to welcome new life both spiritually and physically. Could not recommend this book more!!

Absolutely beautiful prayer book! I am so very happy I have this in my life❤️

This calendar was mostly blank. I expected a calendar that at least identified each Sunday’s feast name and the readings for that Sunday.

I purchased this as a gift for my son. He is so happy with this bible edition! He has had other Orthodox Bibles but he states this is superior in content. Definitely worth the money!