The Word of God. The instruction Manual for life.
I love this Study Bible

My girls love St. Seraphim, “My joy.”

Very quick and easy to do. Impressive results. No folding.

Easy to read and comfortable to hold in your hands.

Due to the question and answer format, it is difficult to read and lacks any kind of flow of thought. However, I appreciate having it as a reference on specific topics as applied to developing a catechism.

Beautiful and just as pictured. My granddaughter loved them!

Very beautiful, well made.

Love the calendar, I get one every year !

It is beautiful !

In full disclosure, for my honest opinion on Blueprints for the Little Church: Creating an Orthodox Home by Elissa Bjeletich and Caleb Shoemaker, I was given a free audio copy of the book.

It's hard to say if I'd appreciate this book as much as I do right now, under these unusual circumstances. It's a very Orthodox Quarantine in our home. And this book finding us, in quarantine, could not have come at a better time.

Everything revolves around the home. We have a stay-at-home order, and we've done our best to abide by this, with, I'll admit, few indiscretions. Nonetheless, for the most part, we spend our time in this home. So listening to this book was a blessing.

As converts, we have been slow to pick up the specifics of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Those are the three essential components, the building blocks, for the Orthodox church. And, as I said, it's been slow for us. We converted 9 years ago. And since then we've moved 4 times, had 3 children, changed jobs 6 times, and changed churches 3 times. It's been a bit of a blur. Between nursing, diapers, meals, dishes, laundry, an internationally traveling husband, and homeschooling, the building blocks of the church haven't always been our focus.

So, to listen to Blueprints for the Little Church during laundry folding sessions in the morning/ afternoon has been like having a dear grandma, loving and true, walk me through the importance of each step. It could be Elissa Bjeletich's voice too. Love and tenderness exude from each word.

Neither my husband or I grew up in homes that centered their lives around the Orthodox Faith's practices, so, it's helped those fragmented pieces of advice over the past 9 years fall into place.

And the blessings have been palpable.

We are fasting together, as a family, today's a fish day, hurray!

We pray together as a family in the morning and evening. I was use a piece of discarded wood and a wooden spoon to create my own Talanton (an ancient call to prayer). The children have a sip of holy water, a piece of antidoron, and put their cross necklaces on after those morning prayers. We have holy oils at the ready for nights when we feel anxious and upset.

We have limited the amount of screen times that the children and the adults indulge in. That has been one of the greatest 'break throughs' I've had concerning screens. For years my intuition said that screens and the enticement of entertainments hurt me. I didn't have a TV for all of my college years and my adult life before children. I just really disliked them. And I couldn't exactly pinpoint why I did until I was listening to this audiobook.

Elissa and Caleb explain, 'The safest road to hell is to be gently lulled into thinking about anything except God. Entertainments need not be spectacularly wicked or even particularly interesting; if they keep us from prayer and from building loving community in our homes, then they've succeeded in damaging our spiritual lives. The Psalmist writes, 'Be still, and know that I am God' (Psalm 45[46]:11); but where will we find stillness we we keep busy with mind-numbing distractions?' (p. 140)

I took facebook and instagram off my phone. And I felt affirmed in this choice because this morning I read in Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: The Life and Teachings for Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica, 'Our life depends on the kind of thoughts we nurture. If our thoughts are peaceful, calm, and meek, and kind, then this is what our life is like. If our attention is turned to the circumstances in which we live, we are drawn into a whirlpool of thoughts and can have neither peace nor tranquility' (p. 63).

That part at the end 'whirlpool of thoughts' hit me in the gut this morning. Oh, how social media is full of those right now. And not just social media, even messages from family and friends can be strange and full of that 'whirlpool'. I refuse to get sucked in. And I believe it's the prayers, fasting, and almsgiving, that is giving me the strength to focus on loving Christ, His Church, myself, my husband, my children, and our home together.

Anyways, I'd highly recommend this book to anyone who recently converted to Orthodoxy or who needs a refresher in the basics. I ended up purchasing a hard copy from my church bookstore so that I could refer to more easily throughout the year.

It's a terrific read. Even if you are a fledgling Tolkien fan like me, the book is easy to read and the concepts accessible.

I love the prayer book. Those within my non-Orthodox church love the prayers I have used with them. Need I say more?

Beautiful, family loved it.

We really like this book. It’s simple and sweet. My own kids and my goddaughter go back to it again and again. It’s great to have around during family prayers to keep little hands busy and a nice bedtime story.

I was pleasantly surprised by this little book. As someone else mentioned, it follows the pattern and rhythm of “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?” I didn’t think I’d like that, but it’s actually pretty sweet. Both my 4-year-old and my 18-month-old are enjoying it.

These booklets are excellent.

Bread and Water, Wine and Oil by Archimandrite Meletios Webber is a wonderful and deep read into the spirituality of the Orthodox Church. The book covers numerous important points including; how to have a relationship with God, fasting, praying, icons, and the church sacraments. It is addressed to both orthodox and non orthodox. It serves as a well rounded and deep introduction into the Orthodox Church. It also benefits the orthodox worshiper to understand more about the church and how to truly benefit while practicing the church sacrament and canons.
I listened to the audio version of the book which was really good, however being more of a visual learner rather than an auditory learner, I will definitely get the hard copy of the book. It is a valuable reference to have available.

This book is for anyone who has looked at the religious (and even secular) culture of the Western world and wondered what on earth what going on. This is for anyone who's stopped at a light and saw three "Christian" churches side by side, all with different names, and wondered why there were so many religious denominations in the Western world. This is for anyone who's asked, "why can't we all just get along???" and especially for anyone who's wondered how the Christian culture of today would look to an ancient follower of the same faith. It stretches way beyond the scope of comparison to give the reader a bird's eye view of the history of Western Christianity from the time of Christ all the way to today while also describing how each era and theological change impacted the mindset and culture around it. This book is vastly more than just a helpful guide for Orthodox Christians engaging other faiths; it is an honest, respectful, and extremely well researched guide for all Westerners (especially Western Christians) on understanding who they are and how they got to this point. I've been a Christian my entire life, went from church to church, tradition to tradition, and NEVER understood the differences or history behind the many branches of Christianity like I do now. You can even use this book to see deeper into Western culture as a whole, especially in the United States, as it gives a backdrop and context for the behaviours and values that have shaped our country from its very conception. I feel like this is the book I've been looking for my entire religious life (and I do not say that lightly). FINALLY all my experiences of different church denominations and practices make sense.

The author is primarily speaking from an Eastern Orthodox view to other Orthodox Christians about the various forms of Christianity (and even other religions) that they will find in the Western world and how these forms came about, what they teach, and how they influenced successive generations or brought about new expressions. It compares each one to what Eastern Orthodoxy believes, but in a very respectful way. The author warns against using his book as a tool to beat down those who don't believe as you do. The goal is mutual understanding, and though it is written to Orthodox Christians, the author warmly invites anyone to sit in on the conversation.

It is not overly technical nor dry. The writing style is engaging and informative as well as humble. You do not need to be Orthodox or even Christian to understand the concepts in this book. It is written to help the confused Westerner understand the religious landscape of his culture and how it came to be that way (as well as how it differs to Orthodoxy). It is truly fascinating.

The author will not argue or try to subdue the reader into Orthodoxy. It is his desire, but not his aim, making for a calm, safe read for anyone of differing opinions. It is truly written simply to help us all understand one another and how to engage each other. I highly recommend this to anyone who's been confused or curious about the very complicated Western Christian culture of today. No matter what you walk away believing, you will learn a lot from reading this book!

Three years ago my family and I moved from my native Oregon to NW Wisconsin. It's not much of a move compared to Fr Nicola Yanney's immigration from Syria to Nebraska, but in a small way I left everything I'd ever known, and when I heard about this book I really needed to read it. It told the story of another soul who not only left home and church and family, but who settled here in the American midwest.

 I'm sure it's a different place than when the Yanneys originally made their homestead, but in some ways we face similar obstacles. Out among the farms, Orthodox parishes are few and far between and usually small. A regular pastor might or might not be attached to a parish. The elements and the climate can be harsh and unforgiving. In rural America, people are still often monetarily poor.

"Apostle to the Plains" is the story of a man who, in the midst of all this rocky soil, not only sprouted, but in Christ bloomed and flourished. In a worldly sense he endured tremendous sorrow. As I listened, I found myself in tears approximately every forty pages, because of all the bereavement that was so common at the turn of the 20th century (which is a compliment I must pay the authors of this book - I don't recall the last time a historical autobiography engaged me on such an emotional level).  Fr Nicola bore every cross. He sacrificed everything most of us consider most valuable: family, honest prosperity, a home. But in the words of the Apostle Paul, "whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ" (Phil 3:8). Fr Nicola Yanney truly exchanged everything he had for the pearl of great price, and he continued to do so until he died.

On a wider historic level the book gives readers a glimpse into the foundations of Orthodoxy in America, and through Fr Nicola's eyes, a very personal experience of the struggles the church suffered in becoming established here.  I am a convert to Orthodoxy, and without people like Fr Nicola to shepherd Orthodox immigrants through those years, I wonder if an American Orthodoxy would've survived for me to be baptized into. On behalf of myself, my husband and my four children  (who were all baptized just after their birth) I feel deep gratitude to Fr Nicola and those like him who sacrificed so much temporal treasure for the sake of eternal gain.

Great selection of cards.