The Broken Wheel is the very engaging story of Saint Katherine who is celebrated in the Orthodox Church on November 24th. It is beautifully illustrated and brings to life the intense and inspiring story of this female saint. I teach grades 1-3 in my church’s Sunday school and because it is a comic strip format the story was easily shared with my students. I also have daughters that are 12 and 16 years old who also found the storytelling to be appealing even with their varied ages. I highly recommend this book for any reader who is curious about the life of this well-known saint.

It is wonderful

Thinking Orthodox: Understanding and Acquiring the Orthodox Christian Mind by Dr. Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou is an amazing book. Replete with gems of wisdom gleaned from Scripture, prominent theologians and the Fathers; this book will not fail to enlighten the reader and guide him or her on the path to a deeper understanding and appreciation for the joy and truth that is Orthodox Christianity.
From the first few pages where she defines, Being Orthodox in mind requires that one accept ambiguity, uncertainty, mystery and paradox, to the final analysis: Humility, Humility, Humility! Dr. Constantinou encourages the reader to embrace the deeper wisdom found within the Orthodox phronema, or mindset. This mindset crashes through normal boundaries between the merely academic to the personal and the behaviors necessary for salvation. Its a complete package. We need it all: knowledge, understanding, prayer, almsgiving, and participation in the liturgical life. What does it mean to have an Orthodox mind? It means to accept that all Truth was given, once and for all, at Pentecost. That Christ came and His disciples and those directly following in their footsteps are those who possess the greatest possible grace and wisdom and direct experience and only by following humbly in their footsteps will we modern Orthodox Christians hope to remain faithful and true to Christ and His path of salvation.
If you ever wondered, what the main differences between Orthodoxy and Catholicism are and do they really matter? This is the book for you. If you ever wondered, How can I know if I am following Christ truthfully and well? This book is for you. If you ever felt that being an Orthodox Christian meant you were constantly feeling like the odd man out. This book is definitely for you. This book reads like a clarion call to all Orthodox Christians everywhere to not lose hope. There is solidarity in knowing you are not alone in choosing to go against the mainstream. While it can be hard to be Orthodox and know that there is not some higher authority on earth who will tell us exactly what to believe and how, nor is there the apparent freedom to embrace whatever seems good to you as an individual; what we do possess is freedom in the ultimate sense. Freedom that comes from embracing the uncertainty and ambiguity and paradox and realizing that, perhaps it is that uncertainty that encourages us to evaluate ourselves constantly, remain humble, not judge our brothers and sisters, and continually seek the Lord.
This is a truly wonderful book and I would encourage every Orthodox Christian to add it to their library. A must read for all.

Thinking Orthodox
Thinking Orthodox should be on everyones bookshelf. Whether youve been orthodox your entire life or your a recent convert this book is for you!
Have you ever found yourself communicating with strangers online about God? Get this book! Have you ever found yourself passionately discussing the faith? Get this book! Have you ever wondered why its difficult to talk with those from a catholic or Protestant faith? Get this book!
For me, it communicated things that I had never been able to quite put into words before. It also showed the errors I made when I first converted and mistakes I still make as I learn and grow in my faith.
Dr. Jeanie did an excellent job with Its nearly 400 pages of learning about the orthodox mind. She spends a lot of time talking about what is the orthodox mind, how it differs from others, why its unchanging and what to do with it once you have it. She also sites countless church fathers and theologians that just makes this book a well rounded piece of literature for all Orthodox Christians.

As someone who does not come from the Orthodox Church, but loves learning about the ancient faith, these stories are especially moving. Growing up in mostly Baptist churches, there was no sense of the sanctity of objects or matter. There also was very little said about miraculous encounters or healing in the present day world. The resulting effect is that God feels very impersonal and removed. I can testify to God's presence in my life, but the miracles were always minor ones, nothing profound like the stories in this book. Constantina Palmer's personal stories and those that she has encountered in her travels bring enlightenment of the miracles that take place every day around the world in the most moving ways. I also love the emphasis on the inner changes that we should work on as christians. Beautifully written and easy to listen to. I can't wait to listen again and note all the scriptures she sites throughout the book and look them up. Thank you for sharing Constantina!

As someone who listened to and loved The Scent of Holiness, I was beyond excited to start listening to The Sweetness of Grace. The Sweetness of Grace has the familiar, comforting format of short stories that are simultaneously easy to listen to and are full of great spiritual depth. The Beatitudes were used as both the book outline and chapter titles, and this format helped me to focus on how every virtue is a source of a particular grace.

Constantina beautifully shows the simplicity and depth of the Orthodox faith through this book, and the stories she shared have been good reminders and sources of encouragement to keep pursuing the narrow path. I also appreciated Constantina’s openness in the book, sharing her own personal stories and experiences of God’s grace in her life.

Two parts of the book I especially appreciated were (1) the importance of taking your spiritual rule seriously, not doing things outside of that rule without a blessing from your spiritual father and not growing prideful if you have a stricter spiritual rule than someone else and (2) the reality of and to be cautious against spiritual delusion. I appreciated how open Constantina was in talking about these topics and personally learned a lot. As these are just two small pieces out of a book filled with a plethora of nuggets of spiritual wisdom, I believe that anyone who reads this book will be able to learn something.

The Sweetness of Grace is truly a book for everyone. Its short stories make it easy to digest, especially for someone who may not have the time or focus to keep up with one elongated story, Constantina is a wonderful narrator that is both pleasant to listen to and draws you into each of the stories as though you were right alongside her, and most importantly, this book is another tool to aid in spiritual growth by learning through the stories of others and wisdom of many saints.

There are many wonderful books that have been written about Orthodox Christian history, theology, liturgy and spirituality. This book, though it touches on all of those things, sets out with a different goal: to describe the thought process of the Orthodox Church. There is a marked difference in the way that the Orthodox Church thinks and approaches all of the above names subjects and this is the Orthodox phronema. This way of thinking is often felt by those encountering Orthodoxy, though perhaps they haven't been able to quite put their finger on what to call it. In Thinking Orthodox Dr. Constantinou sets out to describe this Orthodox phronema. I think the real strength of the book comes in the chapters dedicated to helping individuals apply the theory and practice it in their own lives, shaping the way they think (or rather allowing their thinking to be shaped by the mind of the Church). As an Orthodox priest I certainly see real value in this book, especially for those who are new to the Orthodox Faith who are desiring to not simply learn a system of beliefs (an important step) but who also want to enter into the mind of the Church and think with Her. I see this book a good foray into the subject matter at a time when we need to be addressing this topic within the Church. There is a markedly different way that we as Orthodox think about our faith and as our Churches prepare to welcome and receive non-Orthodox seekers we need tools like this book to help them more fully engage the faith which we treasure.

"The Scent of Holiness" is one of those books that just can't be long enough: because I couldn't bear for it to end, I've now read and listened to it six times. Yes, it's that good. So when Constantina Palmer released her second book, "The Sweetness of Grace," I couldn't wait to pick it up. Except as a mom of four (soon to be five) I can really only "read" audiobooks, so wait I did, an intolerably long period until the audio version came out.

Some books can probably be read by anyone, but I'm glad Palmer reads her own works. The warmth of her telling brings the personalities she describes to life. More than this, however, her work shines because of the sense of spiritual wonder it reflects, and that is most easily seen through her eyes and in her own voice. It's this sense of spiritual wonder and close observation coupled with keen reflection that makes both her works so unique and valuable. Readers will learn and be challenged spiritually, while also being comforted. I listened to this book during a time of spiritual dryness and fatigue, and while some kinds of spiritual reading can feel like an irritant or burdensome during such a time, this book managed to both uplift and give me some much needed rest and encouragement.
 
"The Sweetness of Grace" stands well on its own, but many characteristics of "The Scent of Holiness" are repeated to good effect as well. As she previously ordered anecdotes around the prayer rope, Palmer now orders the stories around the Beatitudes, giving the collection a purposeful and beautiful structure. I doubt the reader exists who will not take away some strengthening insight from this book.

I finally received the cutest little board book! I was so excited to read it, especially since it’s written and illustrated by two amazing women who I am blessed to know, Melinda Johnson and Kristina Tartara! We love all of Melinda's books, and Kristi's illustrations are sweet, beautiful, and captivating! St. Ia was a missionary from Ireland to England, and there is a town and church named after her in Cornwall! Both my girls loved the book, but my 4 yr old especially loved it and kept looking at the adorable pages over and over again and “reading” it to herself. Their favorite part was when the leaf grew bigger. I also love the fact that an original song has been composed for the book, and the sheet music is available for download on the SVS Press website. I hope this duo teams up for more book collaborations!

I so enjoyed this book and will definitely be revisiting it in the future! The word that comes to mind is “Timeless” as it features peaceful wisdom and spiritual encouragement that can bless the reader during any season of life. Great for women and men alike, this book provides wonderful short stories that will strengthen our faith. Filled with life experiences of the author, as well as profound accounts of the intercessions of Saints, Sweetness of Grace reveals that God is truly “everywhere present and filling all things” and that it is up to us to seek Him. The text is divided into chapters, each of which is full of vignettes and anecdotes that relate to a specific beatitude. The text is light and so easy to pick up and put down, but also reveals a deep well of spiritual encouragement. There are so many quick stories for the reader to meditate on during a moment of calm solitude, or to encourage the reader during the midst of a hectic and worldly day. I highly recommend this work! Thank you Constantina! I will be reading Scent of Holiness very soon.

First of all, I want to share how excited I am to have a board book about a female saint! I have 6 daughters, so it’s nice to have female examples for them. I also appreciate that this book is about a saint I have never heard of. It’s exciting to learn about new Saints and hear more examples of living the Faith. I decided to test this book out on my youngest daughter, she just turned 5. I let her know ahead of time that she was going to have to give her review as well. The pictures are very inviting and beautifully designed. I really enjoyed how the sentence structure was not too complicated. I think this would be a good read for much younger children as well. The pages did not contain too many words, so my 5 year old easily kept her attention to the story. We were able to talk and ask questions throughout the story, building anticipation and enhancing understanding. I also enjoyed how this book covered the topic of being a missionary, we were able to talk after reading the book about what being a missionary is and why they are important. When I asked my daughter what she thought of the book she responded with a solid “Good!” and said she liked the part about the leaf growing. This is definitely a book that I will be recommending to friends and even giving to my goddaughters as gifts. This is a great story that all children will enjoy!
I was provided with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A personal and easy read that serves as a terrific guide and a reminder for the tenants of ones spiritual life.

I want to love this calendar. I want to give it 5 stars. But it needs some help: The font is artistic but too low in contrast, being both both faint and thin. Consequently, it is very hard to read if I stand farther away than 3 feet...and I'm far-sighted. If anything, I should have an easier time than most when reading it from far away!

Also, the boxes are so narrow that I need to write in tiny, tiny letters to fit appointment information in it. I always squish and abbreviate entries, anyway, so normally I can fit something like "8pm podcst: Orth.Vacc." in very easily. On this calendar, I can't. Yes, people usually have a hard time reading my calendar entries because they are squished and abbreviated, but I don't. On this calendar, however, I am having trouble deciphering my entries because I have to write so tiny. Now, to be fair, the squares are 1.5" wide, and that may be big enough for most users. But I have a large family and run my own business, and therefore I have lots of appointments. So, I can't afford to take up two lines with an appointment entry.

The boxes are also 1.5" long which, again, may be big enough for most users. However, many of the squares have 5/8" taken up already by the printed text: the date, the name of a feastday, and a decorative motif. It all looks very beautiful, elegant and artistic; but the same elements could have been arranged more compactly and without centering, to make the calendar more functional.

And that is my frustration with this calendar: I love it. It is beautiful, and it lays out the festal and fasting seasons the way I have always wished a calendar would. Another delightful feature is that the paper is sublime: the perfect weight and thickness, with no bleed-through, and just the right texture for writing on it with pencil or any kind of ink. When I first received the calendar, I was so enamored with it that I ordered more and gave them as Christmas gifts.To open and thumb through this calendar is to appreciate a thing of beauty.

But the fact is, I can't use this for a family appointment calendar. I've been trying to for nearly two weeks. This calendar's first page starts on December 25 (Yay!), and lays out the festal season from Christmas Day until the Triodion in February. (Sidenote: It's fantastic to see this time period on one two-page spread.) But after 12 days of using the calendar, I was so frustrated that I gave up and ordered my usual Amy Knapp calendar from Amazon. I will display the calendars side by side, but I was so intensely hoping to use only this unique calendar showing the Church seasons as unified wholes!

If the publishers are reading this: Please, please make next year's calendar more functional, while still keeping its beauty. You're onto something great. Truly great. To be useful, the numbers and gridlines need to be readable from across a room (at least 10-12 feet), and have larger squares for writing appointments. I'd be willing to pay $30 if the calendar could have squares that were 2" wide and 2 5/8" long, and especially if there were another ½" at the bottom of each square that were shaded and labelled "dinner menu." Having such long squares really helps a busy family.

One last request of the publishers would be to make the divisions between the traditional calendar months clear on the page. While I love seeing the Church seasons laid out this way, we still need to live in the world...which means paying our bills on a certain day each month. This calendar's layout is brilliant, but it does mess with a person's brain! It would be a big help to see a dividing line between months, without breaking up the flow of Church seasons on each 2-page spread.

Lovely. Very neat!

I was pleasantly surprised by this book! After chapter 3, I was hooked and couldn't stop reading. The way Rogers develops the characters and scenery brings you into the book in such an enchanting way. The story line was also developed nicely and was easy to follow. With the book taking place in 1522, I wasn't sure if it would keep a young reader's interest. But, boy was I wrong! I fell in love with all of the characters. Marko and the monks felt so real to me and I could feel their love for each other. The depth and truth of their relationship was so heartfelt, I just wanted to hug them all!
Marko and his adventures drew me in. I found myself rooting for him all along the way. I was pulling for him as he struggled with the war, as he searched for food, as he tried to find his parents. I especially loved the way the author tied in St. Phanourios and his story, as well as the cake. He is a Saint we often pray to in our home!
For the younger reader, there are many great lessons about faith as well as learning how to pray. When the monks continue to set examples for Marko, leaning on their faith, they truly show him a better way. The lesson of "Your storm is great" acknowledges Marko's struggles with his family and his anxiety around what happened in his past. But following that with "But our God is greater", teaches Marko to lean on God, when he feels as if all of his strength is gone.
Overall, this was a beautiful story and I will be recommending it as a must read!

I love this bracelet! I got one for me and one for my friend who lost her mother in December. She loved it as well.
The bracelet is stretchy and just beautiful. A wonderful reminder that I can always turn to Our Mother of God for help and consolation.

My 9 year old son could not put this book down, and when we finished reading it he jumped up to grab his "The Cross and the Stag" book he received for Christmas. Please, please, please more graphic novels from Gabriel Wilson. We enjoyed reading this together and graphic novels provide such a great way to engage children who might not be excited about reading. The illustrations were beautiful and the story flowed very smoothly. I would recommend age 8 and up. I highly recommend graphic novels as a way to teach children hagiography, especially early saints who may feel seemingly far removed.

Nice ornament. It would be even better if it was natural olive wood with no lacquer finish on it. I gave three as gifts.

I've read the book (the Russian translation). Honestly speaking, it touched me in the end of the story, it's written there correctly (as far as I can see). There're no promises and advices for readers... No guarantees for Christians because everyone can become as Dr. Snid or grandfather, there're couple of steps to be like them. We were enslaved by items. On the other hand everyone can stop and realize the wrong way, as grandma, for instance.
I don't know how the book affects teenagers 12+.
I'd recommend the book to parents (35+) and grandparents (60+).
And I hope my kids will read the book. I just leave it in a visual place.

I did not like the quality of the icons. I was very disappointed, that you chose theses from all the beautiful icons that are out there!