This order went as well as expected. Will continue to be a customer.

Very helpful layout of liturgical year seasons, makes a great visual tool for fasting/feasting times of the year. Beautiful pictures of ancient and modern Christian sites, pictures of Orthodox sites in Western Europe even more heartening, gives reminder of East and West Christendom common roots. Also thoughtful choice of Saints commemorated in the calendar
Thank you Ancient Faith store!

Greatly enjoyed by both my children and myself. Very informative.

This was a wonderful book. Easy reading. I plan on reading it again.

My package arrived completely unharmed.

Excellent devotional

I have been needing to cultivate my gratitude practice for ages and this beautiful journal was just right for a bit of motivation. The bright, yet calming, colors on the cover make me smile each time I go to use it. The cover is very sturdy and almost velvety to the touch. Inside are mostly weekly pages interspersed with several quotes and various other pages to cultivate gratitude. I especially like the “inspiring gratitude” pages. Ultimately, I think this journal will really help me keep a practice of being grateful every day. The only thing I would add, if possible, is one of those little bookmark ribbons attached to the spine to help keep track of the page I am on.

Fr. Stephen De Young has a way of taking even the most difficult or esoteric of topics and making it accessible to a layperson without a scholarly background in Ancient Near Eastern religions and languages. This volume presents not only a summary of the Baal Cycle and how it inverts reality. Baal did not descend into the underworld as a conqueror but defeated by the One True God. Tracing Baal's appearances throughout the Old Testament made it readily apparent to this reader how oversized a role he had in the ancient world. Moving to the New Testament, Baal didn't disappear but was rather adopted by the Greeks and Romans, nevertheless, the New Testament authors don't pull their punches in declaring that Baal's false gospel has been overthrown by the true gospel of Christ. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to deepen their understanding of not only Baal worship but also how God has overcome the Devil.

I do not know how many of these I have given away, but somewhere between 20-25 books. I just distributed 12 of them to the catacumens in my church. It is a book without peer for people new to Orthodoxy, which I was when I purchased this book some 17 years ago. I still re-read the book every three or so years, because I think it is that good. Many of the cradle Orthodox I have encountered would benefit from this book. When I do not understand some subject in Orthodoxy, I look to see if Father Coniaris has written on the subject, because I know he will explain it in a beautiful, simple way, that points to Christ and shows the wonder of Orthodoxy.

Haven't opened it to know the fragrance but it is beautiful.
I also ordered 20 of the tapestry bookmarks. They are beautiful also but I had expected that they would be sturdy - stiff not limp.

One of my favorite quotations from the Fathers on gratitude comes from St. Basil the Great:

“When you sit down to eat, pray. When you eat bread, do so thanking Him for being so generous to you. If you drink wine, be mindful of Him who has given it to you for your pleasure and as a relief in sickness. When you dress, thank Him for His kindness in providing you with clothes. When you look at the sky and the beauty of the stars, throw yourself at God’s feet and adore Him who in His wisdom has arranged things in this way. Similarly, when the sun goes down and when it rises, when you are asleep or awake, give thanks to God, who created and arranged all things for your benefit, to have you know, love and praise their Creator.”

This sweeping call to thanksgiving captures the heart of the Christian life. Being thankful to God for His infinite gifts is one of our most important spiritual exercises—and yet one we often neglect amid the pressures and noise of daily life. Gratitude is its own form of prayer; it opens our eyes to grace and helps us notice glimmers of beauty and light even in seasons of uncertainty or suffering.

Years ago, my father confessor encouraged me to take a few minutes at the end of each day to write down three things for which I was grateful. That simple practice has stayed with me, and it forms the foundation of this excellent one-year Gratitude Journal from Ancient Faith.

The journal is thoughtfully organized into sections with space for daily and weekly reflections. Between these sections you’ll find encouraging spiritual reminders, quotations from the Saints, space for prayer lists, and guided exercises to help deepen your awareness of God’s presence in your relationships and in the ordinary details of life. The layout invites you not only to record gratitude but to cultivate it.

This journal makes a meaningful gift for anyone—from teens to grandparents—and is a wonderful tool to support your own spiritual life in the coming year. The durable, beautifully designed cover makes it easy to slip into a purse or bag, ready for moments of quiet reflection wherever you happen to be.

Absolutely gorgeous. I am so happy with this purchase

The Kingdom of God and the Common Good: Orthodox Christian Social Thought is a engaging, wide-ranging, and humble approach to the topic.

It is not social theory and free of theorist jargon. Pahman, a professional editor, does use technical language to explain economic terms but attempts to engage the reader throughout. He helpfully points out areas where different ideas converge with and diverge from Orthodox views and experience. He also starts off each chapter with a hook to get your attention. Indeed, I had read some of this material on a series of blog posts he had published years ago on Ancient Faith. This has the effect of making every chapter feel fresh and new and gives him the opportunity to draw links between current examples and the ancient world or dense concepts. That said, he engages a lot of historical and theological material that may be brand new to many readers so you may have to reread some sections.

This book has a very wide scope. It was a great introduction for me on numerous topics where I have only surface knowledge. It starts first with several chapters on modern Christian social thought, then proceeds to the Bible, followed by Church history and Modern Economics. The final section deals with Contemporary Sources and Challenges, going deep on Orthodox concepts and critically reviewing well-known public Orthodox expressions of social thought, such as For the Life of the World. I can hardly do justice to breadth of material here but would note how fascinating it was to learn about the Middle Eastern Melkites among other neglected eras of church history. I also recommend spending time on the Modern Economics section. Pahman explains very simply and clearly why Marx’s approach is methodologically-flawed; it’s not a knee-jerk reaction. This can be very helpful for those of us who reject Marxism – do we really know why?

As I went through this book, I was pondering in the back of my head, where’s the grand synthesis? How will he pull all this together? And to my surprise and delight, Pahman does not attempt a grand, unified theory of Orthodox Social Justice. Quite to the contrary, Pahman states that he has sought to “provide in one book an introduction to all the resources—including impressive ecumenical insights, timeless biblical wisdom, challenging historical episodes, counterintuitive economic science, and overlooked theological principles—that might help us see even in our new and strange economies today the Kingdom of God…” And at another point he mentions his goal to show the reader what talents and treasures the Lord has already entrusted to them to creatively invest before His return. I concluded the book realizing that there a wealth of concepts and new ideas that I need to consider and apply to my own situation and in my parish, workplace and city. I highly recommend it for anyone seeking to understand how to live more faithfully in our modern world.

I think this is the best way to journal. To focus on what I am grateful for seems to multiply my gratitude. This journal is for a year, but you can jump in anytime. I think this journal would be a good gift. I might need to buy a couple more. The quality is awesome.

One of my favorite quotations from the Fathers on gratitude comes from St. Basil the Great:

“When you sit down to eat, pray. When you eat bread, do so thanking Him for being so generous to you. If you drink wine, be mindful of Him who has given it to you for your pleasure and as a relief in sickness. When you dress, thank Him for His kindness in providing you with clothes. When you look at the sky and the beauty of the stars, throw yourself at God’s feet and adore Him who in His wisdom has arranged things in this way. Similarly, when the sun goes down and when it rises, when you are asleep or awake, give thanks to God, who created and arranged all things for your benefit, to have you know, love and praise their Creator.”

This sweeping call to thanksgiving captures the heart of the Christian life. Being thankful to God for His infinite gifts is one of our most important spiritual exercises—and yet one we often neglect amid the pressures and noise of daily life. Gratitude is its own form of prayer; it opens our eyes to grace and helps us notice glimmers of beauty and light even in seasons of uncertainty or suffering.

Years ago, my father confessor encouraged me to take a few minutes at the end of each day to write down three things for which I was grateful. That simple practice has stayed with me, and it forms the foundation of this excellent one-year Gratitude Journal from Ancient Faith.

The journal is thoughtfully organized into sections with space for daily and weekly reflections. Between these sections you’ll find encouraging spiritual reminders, quotations from the Saints, space for prayer lists, and guided exercises to help deepen your awareness of God’s presence in your relationships and in the ordinary details of life. The layout invites you not only to record gratitude but to cultivate it.

This journal makes a meaningful gift for anyone—from teens to grandparents—and is a wonderful tool to support your own spiritual life in the coming year. The durable, beautifully designed cover makes it easy to slip into a purse or bag, ready for moments of quiet reflection wherever you happen to be.

The book is great however it is missing pages (81-96). I contacted the AF Store Team and am waiting for their response.

This is a perfect way to start the way along with your prayers. It is a simple journal. Lots of pages that have lines to put what you are grateful for, for each day of the week. There is one or two pages of a little excerpt every week or so, but all in all it's just a place for you to be able to focus your day on being grateful, and going back and reading what you have put before.

Beautiful cards displaying a beautiful Nativity icon!

I bought this as a stocking stuffer. It is very pretty. My only complaint is the back is not finished. I would have preferred something covering the threads on the back.

This book is unlike any I have ever read. Rather than being directly about what life is like on Spruce Island, it’s more akin to a poetic journal of Anthony Linderman's thoughts/reflections of his time there.

The early chapters are more about Anthony relating himself to the rhythm and life on Spruce Island. Tying things into past experiences of the outside world.


As the book progresses- the depth grows, which I think is a true reflection of what living on Spruce Island is like, it changes your heart.

Subtly, yet steadily, the focus shifts, and the roots grow deeper.

It becomes more and more about God in all there is - but in poetic language. It is beautiful.

It was so different than expected, I thought I wanted to hear about life on Spruce Island - the daily rhythms punctuated by bells and prayer services and changing seasons.

A Year In The Company of Angels is not that, yet it’s all I didn’t know I needed to read.
Anthony knew though - He provided something better, more personal.

One gets an authentic sense of how a long visit to Spruce Island changes and grows your soul for the better.

I long for the kingdom to come, and now, I long to walk the paths, visit the chapels, get to know all the wonderful people that live on Spruce Island - until I get there, I have this book to revisit. Thank you Anthony for sharing about your time there!