I love it. It is part of my regular prayers!

Beautiful! Family and friends like this card very much!

Words for our Lives is a translation of the second volume of a compilation of the informal talks of a 20th-century elder, known as Abba Matta of Egypt or Matthew the Poor. These talks have been translated into English by James Helmy, and his introduction gives helpful background information about the Coptic church and an introduction to the legacy of this remarkable hermit, Matthew the Poor. As with many books of this type, it is not necessary to read the book from cover to cover. The chapters organize his sayings into themes, and it is possible to derive great benefit from turning to a chapter and reading one section.

Personally, my favorite passages are ones where Abba Matta does not mince words. In the first chapter, “Faith in the Impossible,” he gets right to the point addressing a priest and says, “Wake up and realize that it is Christ’s ministry, and it is His flock--you are one of the sheep--and He is the only Shepherd… Christian ministry should never be gauged by size or numbers. I will tell you by what Christian ministry should be measured: our willingness to die to the world. If you have truly died to the world and taken Christ into your heart, be certain that your service can never fail, but will rather continue to shine from generation to generation.” (pp. 17-19) Another such passage from another chapter reads, “Once you say, ‘This isn’t fair,’ you’ve stepped outside the realm of the spirit and stepped into the realm of the law. ‘But how about the rules of fair play?’ You want rules of fair play? Then take off your monastic garb, put on regular clothes, and go live in the world… There is no why in spirituality. You have duties but no rights. Welcome to the Christian life!” (pp 83-84)
Some chapters are more autobiographical, such as “How the Bible Changed My Life,” from which one might get the idea that the only way to be holy is to go off to a monastery and do nothing but read the scriptures. However, this is balanced in a later chapter where Abba Matta says, “What is required of you is the reading of just three or four lines in the Bible, with full attention, in order to ‘nurse’ your soul.” (p. 66) I point this out to show that, although the book is full of words from a monastic, often spoken to other monastics, it does not present us with advice that is not applicable to the lay person.
Other chapters are reflections on certain feasts or scripture passages. I would recommend the three chapters on the Psalms to anyone who has a habit of reading or praying the Psalms, as Abba Matta has some wonderful insight into these words of scripture. He says, “We must discover God’s voice speaking in the Psalms, but the discovery cannot be made without Christ as its living and illuminating center. If a psalm’s theme is thanksgiving, then Christ is the source of that thanks in the Eucharist. If the theme is supplication, then Christ is the source of the supplication with His arms outstretched on the Cross.” (p. 110)
I would like to leave you with one last word of Father Matthew’s that I found to be so encouraging as a lay person: “Inasmuch as we persist in our struggle to pray, insomuch does God persist in pouring out HIs grace on us. Whenever we persist in prayer, in the absence of outward consolation and encouragement, GOd can never allow it to become a loss. Consider this a spiritual law: Inasmuch as you make it a consistent rule to struggle during prayer (even when tired), insomuch will you unknowingly cause the Spirit to make it a consistent rule to offer you consolation. His consistency will match your own.”

I first became a fan of Nicole M. Roccas through her book Time and Despondency, for which I am grateful (Talk about being thankful!). One of Roccas’s latest works is a daily journal, designed to span three years, for recording our thanks to God. I received a free copy in return for my honest review by Ancient Faith Publishing.

In a brief introduction, Roccas explains that this journal had its genesis in a spiritually dry period of her life; to combat this malaise, she began jotting down one item to be thankful for every day, which developed into a long-term practice. The hope for this journal is to lead others to a daily practice of giving thanks to God, as we are powerfully enjoined to do in Scripture.

When I received the journal and first held it in my hand, I was surprised by its weight. This book is designed to endure three years of daily use. Although it is not a hardcover book, there is nothing soft about its cover. Beneath a handsome pattern of blues, corals, and tans, the cover is durable and water- (or coffee-) proof. Within, the pages are thick and creamy, inviting you to make an entry with whichever writing instrument comes to hand. I wrote entries with pencils, ballpoint pens of various colors of ink, and PaperMate Flair pens, and only with a medium-point dark purple Flair pen did I detect a hint of shadow on the other side of the page, far too faint to be called bleed-through. The quality of the book is excellent, precisely what you would want for yourself or for a friend or relative.

At the top of each page, under the day’s date, is a quote from Scripture, the Church fathers, or other sources for inspiration and reflection. I found that the quote might inform my writing for that day, guiding its direction, or it might simply encourage me to join my own praises to those of the writer. Below are seven closely-spaced lines for each year’s entry (there is a space for filling in the year), a deliberate choice to foster brevity in those who would otherwise fill an entire page, and a manageable amount of space for those more reticent writers. Although the book’s subtitle is “Record three years of gratitude in a sentence a day,” I found that I could fit in as many as three sentences in the allotted space.

But does it work? I have to admit that the habit of thanksgiving is not one of my strengths. (I once purchased a Happiness Planner, of which Daily Gratefulness was a part, only to abandon the enterprise as being too difficult.) Having to come up with something every day to thank God for has been a necessary practice for me in these unsettled times; it keeps me thinking about thankfulness, and it obliges me to set aside some portion of my day to step aside and ponder its blessings. The blessings aren’t always easy to see, but that’s part of the challenge. And when life gets hectic and you realize you haven’t made an entry in your journal for several days, instead of having to reconstruct your memories of each missing day, you can consult the 33 Thanksgiving Prompts in the back of the journal, which are ideal for those days when you’ve got nothing. From “What is the funniest thing that happened today?” to “Who is a difficult person in your life, and what qualities about them do you appreciate?” you are guaranteed to find some question to inspire you to write.

This journal would make a lovely gift for yourself or someone you care about. As another reviewer astutely pointed out, its design makes it appropriate for both men and women, and although it doesn’t demand that much—only one sentence a day!—it can nourish a valuable spiritual discipline.

I’ve had this book for a little over a month now, and can’t say enough good about it. Principally I’ve used it with my four- and six-year-old daughters, but in the course of having them use it, our whole family had adopted it to some degree.

First off, the book is beautiful. It has a nice mix of pleasant imagery of creation and more liturgical images, which do a good job of evoking a world at prayer. There’s a story on Mt. Athos about the hermit noticing the animals praying the midnight office, and that is the feel one gets from the beautiful illustrations in this book. My girls love it!

Secondly, the content of the book is great. The morning and evening prayer sets are short enough that our girls can easily get through them without getting restless, but there are enough options throughout the book for special prayers and prayers by various saints that they’re actually clamoring to do a few more at the end of the session. My six-year-old has especially enjoyed finding the prayer of St. Ephraim during Great Lent and making sure we add it to whatever other prayers we do (complete with prostrations). It’s been great to see her (she can read all the prayers) take a new level of responsibility for the family prayers, as she asks daily to say the family meal prayers and the prayer before school. The explanations of what prayer is and how to pray at the end are clear, concise, and appropriate to a child’s level. If I have one complaint with the book, it’s only the complaint that I have with every Orthodox prayer book, which is the lack of uniform English translation. It’s tiring to constantly have different wording in every prayer book we use, or Liturgy we visit. As this is a fault common to all English-language prayer books though, I can’t fault this one much for it. God-willing someday we’ll have a common Liturgy and common prayers in our own language. Overall this has been a great offering by Ancient Faith, and we’re likely to get the other “children’s guides” that they offer as well.

Wonderfully Done Audio Psalter

Fr J Oliver’s reading and chanting of the psalms is excellent. I am grateful this was made. Thanks to all involved.

My husband bought me this cross for Christmas and it is beautiful. The etchings in the silver are striking. Overall, very pleased with the piece.

This journal arrived for me at the start of this COVID-19 lockdown. It has been extremely difficult. As I'm writing this review, I just heard about a close family friend who passed away earlier this morning - and my first reaction was to Thank God and write down in my jounral why I am thankful. This is what this journal has trained me to do. It's not only a journal for me to write down why I'm thankful, but it encourages things to be thankful about. Doing this at the beginning of the day kept me positive in a time of darkness and doing it at the end of the day allowed me to go to sleep with a smile on my face, knowing that my Lord is in control. Through this book I felt like I'm giving thanks with the saint, with David the Prophet and with St. Paul. It has taught me to continously give thanks.
Thank you Ancient Faith for changing my thoughts and prespective on my life through this journal.

This is the book I wish I’d had during my conversion to Orthodoxy. Rev. Michael Shanbour does a beautiful job of dissecting the differences in doctrine between the ancient Orthodox church and the more “modern” Roman Catholic and Protestant faiths.

The book outlines the doctrinal differences on these essential issues:

—The Church
—Grace
—Salvation
—Justification by Faith
—Tradition & Scripture
—The Eucharist & Liturgical Worship
—Ordination & the Priesthood
—Confession & Repentance
—Icons, Veneration & Worship
—The Intercession of the Saints
—Veneration of the Virgin Mary

Father Michael explores these issues with such clarity that I have a new understanding of some of these topics—for example, I now not only feel like I completely understand the doctrine of Grace as held by the Orthodox Church, but for the first time in my life I really understand the Protestant doctrine as well. These distinctions are so vital for inquirers and this book is a gift.

As a former Protestant I’ve found it exceedingly difficult to talk about my Orthodox faith to my Protestant friends and family without causing conflict and hurt feelings, but Father Michael goes about this delicate task in such a diplomatic —but forthright—way that I have changed the way I think about such conversations.

I was so curious to find out what an Orthodox gratitude journal would be like! I was pleasantly surprised at the size of this one. It's hefty! I like that there's plenty of room to write notes of thanksgiving. I appreciate that it's simply designed-this makes it easier for frequent use. I also like the paper that it's printed on. And, I like the texture of the book cover.

The quotes from the saints, prayers, and scripture for each day are thoughtful and helpful. I appreciate that some of the major feast days have quotes relevant to those occasions.

For those of us who are overly busy and have difficulty finding time to intentionally reflect on Christ each day, I could see this being a very helpful little tool. It only takes a brief moment to read each day's quote and jot down a note of thanksgiving. From experience, I know the power of giving thanks even (perhaps especially) in the hard times. So even when we're pressed for time, small injections of spiritual sustenance help anchor us and direct our attention to deeper issues in our lives. They can remind us of core truths of our faith and pull us closer to Christ. I'm really looking forward to using this in the years ahead!

I became a fan of Frederica Mathewes-Green's writing early in my exploration of Orthodox Christianity, reading “Facing East,” a beautiful narrative of a liturgical year as celebrated in the small, convert-heavy Eastern Orthodox Church where her husband served as parish priest. “At the Corner of East and Now: A Modern Life in Ancient Christian Orthodox,” is something of a sequel to that earlier work – and yet, it stands well on its own with its poignant, personal, cultural and theological principles, wit, and perspective.
I listened to the audiobook version, narrated by the warm, soothing and unassumingly articulate voice of the author. Thus, this "reading by ear," as it were, opened a new and beautiful layer of experiencing the work of a gifted, brilliant writer and mind . . . and soul.
Though she has her accounts of treasured saints of the Church from centuries passed, perhaps the genius of Mathewes-Green rides on the loving snapshots she shares of her family, parishioners, and strangers she has met on the journey of faith. Those slices of spiritual life -- often spiced with touching, humorous detours -- shows us truly how Orthodoxy, particularly the evolving American expression of the Ancient Faith, is borne on the shoulders of our flawed, earthly saints in the making.
My only complaint? It ended too soon! I was listening to what was the final chapter and smiling as its heart-warming, loving insights into a particularly unique character (read or listen to learn more on that; no spoilers from me!), when I realized it was done.
I even stopped my outdoors hike to check, convinced my audiobook app had crashed. Alas, it had not.
And that is why I look forward eagerly to Mathewes-Green's next work.

Great commentary for Bible study by Orthodox priest

Great commentary for Bible Study by Orthodox priest

I am enjoying the book, as an Orthodox Christian who interacts with friends and family from a host of different Christian backgrounds. It offers helpful explanations of Orthodox, Roman, and Protestant perspectives on a variety of key theological points. In my opinion, inquirers who read it should have an interest in comparative theology and/or interest in the Orthodox Church. I am glad to add it to my library!

The Pascha cards are beautiful.

They are beautiful . We are going to put them on brown eggs and white. Definitely will want to purchase them again!

Lovely prayer book and very useful as I increase my daily prayer life.

This book is very interesting as it gives the pertinent detail of the life of this saint and his family. The book was purchased for myself as I had not heard of this saint. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I am a senior citizen. It caught my eye as I searched through an e-mail I received from your company. Also, as a friend of mine does ordering for our church bookstore. I will recommend it to her. I do believe this book will be a good seller to children. The verbiage and graphics are basic. I will probably search to find an icon for this saint.

Eugenia

I really loved this short little book. It was a perfect introduction to children and parenting for someone who is a little skeptical of modern parenting books but looking for some advice rooted in tradition. I plan on re-reading it several times to really get these truths into me.

Love it. Like the different prayers available to read from.