I've been reading this book for a couple of days now, and I have to say; it is absolutely amazing! IT really opens your eyes to the meaning of the Psalms and helps you see "Christ in the Psalms"

This is a wonderful book. I forced myself to read slowly because I wanted to savour it. I am not orthodox but am interested in converting. I learned more nuts and bolts about the faith from this book than from any of the other books on orthodoxy I've been reading.

I wish I could give this 7 stars. Other five star reviews have expounded all the details of why this work is so thoroughly good so I won't go into that end of it. I'll just add my personal note as someone in recovery to another vice or two other than alcohol. This book digs deeper into the psychology and spirituality of recovery than anything I have read to date. As I was devouring these pages I came to understand why I wound up converting to Orthodoxy, but I also realized that while the spirituality that is distilled into the 12 steps may have roots in the Ancient Christianity it is universal in its healing power. I wish all my friends who are struggling with any sort of compulsive behavior could read this book. I also wish the loved ones of those friends could read it to better understand and support them in their struggle.

Thank you so much Fr. Mel. This book is truly a gift. May God allow it to bring healing to many!!

Fascinating to read Fr. Farley's explanations of God's plan for our salvation as far back as the book of Genesis!

Very easy to read. I travel with princess Ileana back in time, and I have been impressed by her christian fate her love for her people

This book is a series of vignettes into the lives of a convent of cloistered Greek Orthodox nuns. It is also the religious journey of the author. The nuns lead a life of sacrifice, hard work, and devotion yet God's Grace lifts and sustains them so there is more selfless joy than sanctimoniousness. The author learns that we also serve God "in the world". These lessons in holiness are told in simple stories depicting the day-to-day routines of work and prayer. Each story explains, in a gentle way, how full your life will be if you give yourself to Jesus Christ and God.

A wonderful read with faith love and humour. As a cradle Orthodox I take great strength from the enthusiastic expressions of love and wonder of those that have converted. It renews my faith each Sunday in a wonderful way. Your books are a spiritual inspiration. Thank you for writing them.

Very clear and easy to understand. I am on a journey from Calvary Chapel and this is where I have landed, back to the beginning, with Jesus and His church from 2000 years ago and it is still in existence! I was amazed when I found out what happened with the church in 1054! God bless your journey with God!

This book can be read a chapter here and there and one can still get a lot from it. Wonderful insights into what really goes on in a monastery -- showing the warm humanity of the nuns alongside their incredible work ethic and high standards. Really fed my faith to read this book.

If you want to know the basic theological (Trinitarian, difference), between Eastern (Chalcedonian) Orthodoxy, Chalcedonian Orthodox Christianity, (and non-Chalcedonian Orthodox Christianity) and non-Orthodox Christianity (Chalcedonian non-Orthodox Christianity: Roman Catholicism and the main Protestant confessions: Lutheranism, Anglicanism, Reformed/Presbyterianism/Calvinism, and Methodism), it is in this book by Father Peter E. Gillquist, and regards the relationship of the Holy Spirit within the Trinity to the Father and the Son, and the question (issue) of His eternal procession, whether His procession eternally is from the Father and the Son (single procession), or from the Father and the Son together (dual procession). According to the Bible and the New Testament,the Holy Spirit proceeds eternally from God the Father alone (ek mono tou Patros), John 15:26, and Acts 2:33: See Peter E. Gillquist: "The Addition to the Creed" "A disagreement about the Holy Spirit also began to develop in the Church. Does the Holy Spirit proceed from the Father? Or does He proceed from the Father and the Son? /"In John 15:26, our Lord Jesus Christ asserted, (NKJV): "But when the Helper comes, Whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth Who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me". This is the basic statement about the Holy Spirit "proceeding", and it is clear: He "proceeds" from the Father.". Period. /"Thus when the ancient council at Constantinople in AD 381, during the course of its conclave, reaffirmed the Creed of Nicea (AD 325), it expanded that Creed to proclaim these familiar words, "And in the Holy Spirit, the LORD and Giver of Life, Who proceeds from the Father, Who with the Father and the Son (together) is worshiped and glorified.". /"But some two hundred years later, at a local council in Toledo, Spain, (AD 589), King Reccared (of the Visigoths), declared that the Holy Spirit should be confessed and taught to proceed from the Father AND THE SON. (The phrase "And the Son" in Latin is the word FILIOQUE; thus the reference to the problem is often called the "Filioque debate".). The King may have meant well, but he was contradicting Jesus' teaching about the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately the local Spanish council agreed with his error, and it gradually spread in the West -- though at first it was even rejected by the papacy. /"Because of the teaching of the Holy Scriptures as confessed by the entire Church at Nicea and at Constantinople and for centuries beyond, there was no reason to believe anything other than that the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father. /"But centuries later, in a move that to a large extent was motivated by highly intertwined political factors, the Pope of Rome unilaterally changed the universal creed of the Church without an ecumenical council. Though the change was initially rejected in both East and West, even by some of her closest neighboring bishops, Rome managed eventually to get the West to capitulate. /"The consequence in the Western Church, of cou8rse, has been the tendency to relegate the Holy Spirit to a lesser place than God the Father and God the Son. The change may appear small, but the consequences have proven disastrously immense. This issue, with the Pope [of Rome] departing from the Orthodox doctrine of the Church, became another instrumental cause in perpetuating the separation of the Roman Church from the historic Orthodox Church, the New Testament Church.". (BECOMING ORTHODOX, P.E. Gillquist.).
In my opinion and after many years of extensive reading experience with a variety of different reading materials, a mistaken history where I read and saw questionable material, and did some immorality, I began my journey of coming back to Christ after year of wandering lost in incorrect thought and deed, and found what I now consider the best book of simple truths of Christianity from an Orthodox perspective ...it took many things to lead me to repentance and renewal, especially THE RUDDER book of the Greek Orthodox Church and confessing to a Russian Orthodox priest. I find this book by Fr. Peter E. Gillquist the simplest explanation of true Christian teaching I have found, and it is better in its simplicity than much of what I read, though there are many good things value in historic Protestant Lutheran writings such Luther's catechisms even more than and instead of his teaching on Romans 3:28, and James, ... I like the Book of Common Prayer of the church of England ... I like Gary DeMar's Presbyterian and Reformed bible prophecy book Why the End of the World Is Not in Your Future: Identifying the Gog-Magog Alliance, Powder Springs, GA American Vision Press... Of course I value the KJV Bible and other English Bible translations most of all, especially the OSB Orthodox Study Bible 2008 the ONT Orthodox New nd2000, the ESV Bible with Apocrypha Oxford U. Press, 2011, the NASB 1977, most of the NIV, most of the RSV Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha except for Isaiah 7:14 RSV,, the TMB NAV 1998, the KJ21 1994, especially. i value THE RUDDER of the Greek Orthodox Church for how heeding its moral teaching changed my life into repentance, and above all this little book of Fr. Peter E. Gillquist changed my heart and my Christian life. God bless us, everyone; (Tiny Tim, Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol).

This book is excellent for anyone wanting to know more about Orthodox Christianity. It answered questions I didn't even know I had.

Matthew Gallatin has written a wonderful book explaining how the Lord lead him out of Protestantism and into the Orthodox faith. He is clear, concise, and pleads with those still in Protestantism to at least check-out the truth of what he says. I found myself underlining many, many passages to try to remember so I could 'explain' these things as clearly as he does.

The Acts of the Apostles: Spreading the Word is the twelfth volume in The Orthodox Bible Study Companion Series. The series is not intended to be an in-depth word-by-word study, but instead an approachable study you can use either solo or with a group. Fr. Farley begins by explaining that the Acts of the Apostles was written by St. Luke to explain to Theophilus four apologetic points - 1. The Church was not politically suspect; 2. The Church is a legal religion and the True Israel; 3. The Holy Spirit guides the Church; and 4. Gentiles are welcome in the Church as it is God's will. After this introduction, he then dives into the commentary for Acts of the Apostles.

Like every volume in this series, Fr. Farley gives the reader both Scripture and commentary. The commentary provided is scholarly yet approachable. With some passages, he takes time to highlight key words and give their Greek equivalent and meaning. This helps take the passage to a deeper level than one could obtain by just reading the Scripture alone. As helpful as this is, especially for someone like me who is trying to learn Greek, I found the excursuses (or expositions on topics) even more enlightening. A few of the topics addressed in these expositions were the Resurrection of Jesus, Ascension of Jesus, and Lessons from St. Paul's Aeropagus sermon. Each mini-essay gives the reader an extra level of depth, and, since they are asides, the reader has the option to go deeper or just stick with the commentary.

I have been waiting for this one to come out for a few years since one should read Luke and Acts together, and it did not disappoint. Fr. Farley is very astute when he refers to the Acts of the Apostles as both a door and a bridge. It is a door because it gives us a small glimpse of what the Church was like in the First Century, and it is a bridge because it connects the Gospels to the Epistles. If you want to understand Acts better, then this is the book for you. I wholeheartedly recommend it, but I recommend that you purchase it with The Gospel of Luke, Good News for the Poor . Stay tuned in 2014 for the final volume of the New Testament entitled The Epistle to the Hebrews: High Priest in Heaven.

This book was provided to me for free by Ancient Faith Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great book, especially for laity, to discover just what is going on during the service. It does not cover a line by line teaching, but gives details of each event.

It is very nicely written and easy to follow by newbies and experienced.

Father Freeman makes an excellent case for the singularity of the church, even though he straightforwardly promotes the eastern orthodox tradition. Rom 14:5, ...one considers one day above another day, another person considers every day alike. Let each be fully persudaed in his own mind (my paraphrase recollection of the text) seems to offset his argument for the value of icons as a mandatory view of all christians but strongly supports his view of the evils of iconoclastic perspectives. Though he obviously is advocating a tradition he by no means trivializes or dismisses a reality and knowing of God through the revelation in Jesus in many other traditions and points of view. His very strong points of cultural adoption of a secularized view since the reformation are well taken and also not aimed at taking a swipe at protestant theology. He just states that the common sense adoption of a "neutral" stance of society toward religion results in a society of practical atheists, even while holding a religious position. He rightly does not offer a political solution but maintains that keeping an active awareness of God in everyday practice as the appropriate way to contest the "ways of the world".

Also shown is the similarity in spirit of literalism (both liberal and conservative varieties) to the. secular view of walking by sight and not by faith. This is excellent analysis simply put. He does not offer a method, as it were, to understanding or applying a different interpretive lense which likely would not sit well with a typical western reader. But that is the point. The weight of truth in being is not to be found first in facts, then in allegorical interpretation. Observable external facts do not legitimize greater truth. The first truth is not what we see; not that we dismiss what we see, we admit to our perview a God who simpy IS, and IS beyond the life and death and struggles of our lives. Mentally we integrate that truth into the thoughtwork of our lives. This is the 1 story world, as I understand Freeman. This is also 1 communion, 1 common experience available to all people, 1 common community.

Very useful book for anyone searching for the Church. Clearly presented and accessible. Whether one is reading from a spiritual perspective or more academic, whether you have never heard of Orthodoxy outside of 9th grade world history class or you have spent your whole life in the Church, this book provides a good foundation for understanding the context of ancient Christianity as well as how the Church is manifested today. If you or anyone you know is searching, I recommend this book wholeheartedly.

The author looks at the Orthodox Christian understanding and preparation for Advent in a simple way of understanding it. Written in a great format, looking at various prophecies from the Old Testament concerning the Birth of the Christ/Messiah according to the lectionary of the Orthodox Church. Fr Vassilios please keep writing such wonderful books! I mosty definitely recommend this book to Orthodox Christians and others who want a fuller understanding about the Birth of Christ.

I thought I had finished this short volume a few years ago, but just picked it up and found my bookmark halfway through.It is a significant work, not just because it addresses the issue of same-sex attraction from the perspective of the Orthodox Christian faith, but because one could also infer the traditional Christian view of various other sexual sins (fornication, adultery, masturbation, pornography, etc.). What is refreshing is that Fr. Thomas Hopko clearly articulates the Orthodox view that sin is a disease, one that requires a cure, and that can be cured, within the context of the sacred hospital, the Church, and the medicine, the Holy Mysteries, that the Church prescribes.

He takes the patristic point of view that everything in them is to be understood in terms of Christ and the Church, but many certainly can be our personal prayer as well. He works from the Septuagint but points out things worth knowing about the Hebrew text also. He has two succinct pages on each Psalm and always points out where the Psalm is referenced or interpreted in the NT and in the Orthodox and western liturgical services and a reflection on it regarding Christ, the Church or our personal lives. -- Fr. Paul Yerger, Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church, Clinton, Miss.

This book is absolutely a much have for any Christian parents.
Of course different parents will have different styles of raising their kids, but it is always to check how others did it.