This is the second time I am buying it so I am pleased the first and second time of buying it through the Ancient Faith Store. Thank you for the books and God Bless you all.🙂

The card is absolutely beautiful. I often need a special card to offer to someone at Church and this one is perfect for any occasion that I may need it for.

Absolutely Gorgeous.

I love the writings and pod casts of Abbot Tryphon. He's an excellent, down-to-earth guy who writes to the common Orthodox layperson. I find his work to be easily accessible to anyone at any age group. I highly recommend this book.

Excellent great study aids to understand Orthodoxy and the early Christian beliefs all in one place

Always love the icon calendar.

What a beautifully crafted calendar! I love the large photos on each page depicting images from the Holy Land- a treat to look forward to for those of us who have never been there. I also like the information about each season and bigger than usual boxes to write in- perfect for busy people who have a lot things to coordinate. This would make a unique and perfect gift for Orthodox friends and family... or for yourself!

Calendars have irritated me as I've tried to schedule the flowers needed for our nave. Trying to do it quarterly didn't work as Theophany so closely follows Nativity, and Pascha, which needs extra planning, isn't covered by first quarter notices. Now I have a reasonable ecclesiastical calendar...and so does my church secretary. Not only is this functional but very beautiful as well.

The cover looks nice.

A manual for the heart for life. Thank you.

Apostle to the Plains: The Life of Father Nicola Yanney
By the Saint Raphael Clergy Brotherhood

When Ancient Faith Publishing offered me the opportunity to review the new book Apostle to the Plains: The Life of Father Nicola Yanney, I eagerly accepted. My own maternal grandparents were immigrants who settled on the Plains, and their lives, like Father Nicola’s, followed a familiar trajectory: leaving their homeland due to lack of opportunity; coming to the United States, a foreign land with a foreign language; working hard to raise a family and establish a life in what could be a lonely and inhospitable landscape; staying in touch with family through letters, but never returning to their homeland, even for a brief visit. My grandparents immigrated from Norway and settled in North Dakota in 1925, and Father Nicola and his wife immigrated from Lebanon and settled in Nebraska in 1892. We may not picture the Midwest as a culturally diverse region, but Apostle to the Plains does the important task of illuminating its history of Syrian immigrants and the growth of the Syrian Orthodox church in the early decades of the 20th century.

The first part of the book chronicles the life of Nicola Yanney, a devout young man, and his wife. As newlyweds and virtual strangers, they took the momentous step of journeying to the United States and settling in Omaha, Nebraska, home to a sizable Syrian community. After working as a peddler, a common profession for new immigrants, Nicola moved his growing family to a sod house in the country to homestead on a farm. Joined by his brother, George, Nicola devoted his energies towards pursuing the American Dream.

From then on, his story might have followed a conventional path. However, personal tragedies changed the course of his life and his priorities. The second part of the book recounts Nicola Yanney’s existence as Father Nicola, a circuit-riding priest who served a vast swath of territory in the Great Plains. His life’s goal was no longer the American Dream, but God’s Kingdom on earth.

Reading Apostle to the Plains, I was struck by the hardship and sacrifice that characterized Father Nicola’s life. As a peddler and farmer, Nicola, along with his brother, undertook work that was demanding, physical, and unending: traveling for weeks on end with a 60-pound pack; leveling and clearing land on their quarter-section homestead (160 acres); planting, irrigating, and harvesting crops by hand. Even more striking, though, are the sacrifices--personal, physical, financial--that Father Nicola made in the second part of his life for the sake of the priesthood. Before he became ordained, there were only four Syrian Orthodox priests to serve the entire continent of North America, and once a priest, he became responsible for the spiritual lives of the inhabitants of the Great Plains; for each of the next 14 years, he spent months away from his family and home parish to travel to communities in states as far away as Michigan, Arkansas, Minnesota, and North Dakota. The book recounts many of these travels in detail, so the reader can appreciate the enormity of the task that Father Nicola willingly performed (it was not unusual for him to baptize 100 children in one year), as well as the demands of the work and the toll it took on his finances and family.

One of the most touching aspects of this biography is how much Orthodox Christians living on the Plains hungered for the life of the Church. As the book says, “they had been raised in an atmosphere of religious piety and devotion, yet for many years they . . . had been separated from the liturgical and sacramental life of the Church” (89) due to the scarcity of Syrian Orthodox priests to serve them. After coming to this country, Nicola and his wife Martha went for years without seeing a priest; their children were unbaptized, and they were unable to take Holy Communion. When, finally, a priest passed through, their neighbors formed an impromptu parade and escorted him to the Yanney’s homestead, waking the family up at 1:00 in the morning with shouting and gunfire. Nicola and Martha rushed from their sod house and fell on their knees, crying tears of joy and praising God. Such devotion and love for the Church and the faith is a powerful thread running through the book.

Apostle to the Plains is an inspiring, well-written book that tells a story of hard work, hardship, loss, and sacrifice. At the same time, it presents a life of love and dedication and service. Readers with an interest in the immigrant experience, and the growth of the Orthodox Church in the United States, will learn much from this book, as will readers who seek to understand the centrality of the Church in the life of the Orthodox faithful. Most importantly, this book makes known the life of an extraordinary servant of God to a wider audience. Father Nicola did not gain a typical American brand of success (ease, prosperity, longevity), but we can see that his service to others was a gift to present and future Orthodox Christians.

Lovely cards-so happy to have a variety to choose from. Years ago we had little or nothing to choose from. What a wonderful blessing!🙏

As an Anglican priest, currently on the road to Orthodoxy, I found the book very helpful. Fr. Trenham's insight into the protestant reformation reveals a solid understanding of the Reformation. I've been taught all my life that this was a spiritual revival, when in reality it the cause of our current ecclesial chaos. I'm grateful for the irenic spirit in which the book approaches the subject. My only concern is that I found myself wishing he had given his readers a commentary on the Confession of Dositheos or at least referred his readers to one, especially those of use who are neophytes. I imagine the book is getting a lot of use in Orthodox academic circles. I highly recommend it.

It's wonderful! I did a blog post and review here: https://susancushman.com/spyridons-shoes/

It can be a lonely journey. For those of us who’ve ventured away from the warm, familiar arms of Western Christianity into the unknown, mysterious, and foreign embrace of Eastern Orthodoxy, it is a profound comfort to walk alongside fellow pilgrims. We find parts of our story in theirs; we can co-suffer, and ,also, rejoice together as we encounter the ancient faith, it’s healing, depth, and richness.

I never met Fr. Peter Gillquist of blessed memory, but in his memoir Memories of His Mercy, Recollections of the Grace and Providence of God, I came to know this fellow pilgrim and heard his heart for His Savior and for the lost. When he converted to Eastern Orthodoxy he brought not only himself, not only his family, but his whole church with him! What began as his passion for understanding the early church grew into the discovery that it had never ceased to exist; that it continued to this day in uninterrupted succession.

His memoir beautifully chronicles the ways in which God met him in the journey. One poignant example was in how God provided money for a breakfast that he and his wife were hosting for fellow Campus Crusade collegians. The day before they had no money to purchase the needed groceries, but unexpectedly received a ten dollar bill in the mail, anonymously sent. Again and again he recalls the big and little ways that God encouraged him and his wife Marilyn over the years as they stepped out in faith.

I resonate with how much he treasures his upbringing, his years serving as an evangelical, his experiences at Wheaton and in Campus Crusade. Becoming Orthodox wasn’t a cessation of that, but a fulfillment. His ministry has reached so many, and it’s easy to see that it will continue to do so through his books. May we be encouraged by this faithful, holy, and devout man and his heart to share the gospel.

Great history of Christendom. I was already a fan of Fr John's "Paradise and Utopia" podcast and blog, so this adds a lot more details to what he has been talking and writing about previously.

Beautiful collection of cards for Christmas.

This book is amazing!

Fr. Demetri enjoyed his copy and distributed the rest to our alterboys. Comparing with other accounts, nothing left out in the retelling. Hope to see more such graphic novels.

Beautifully written. A man who made daily sacrifices to full fill the great commission even to last. Thank you for bringing Fr Yanneys life to the front and making aware of his story.