Bread From Home by Fr Stephen Siniari is the third in a series of Orthodox fiction books centered around the priest and parishioners of St Alexander the Whirling Dirvish Orthodox Church. It is an inner city parish, a Romanian priest as the rector, and a host of characters based on some true and some fictional stories.

The writing itself is a potent drama. Each chapter is a story to its own, with a different parishioner, or group of parishioners, as the main characters; the constant supporting character is the priest, Fr Naom, who discerns patiently, and sometimes reluctantly, the response and aid he offers to each of his flock. He is tender-hearted, and he sees the beauty in each person as though he truly sees each one as the icon of God. Something I realized after listening to each of his encounters is the immense weight that most parish priests really carry when they take on the role of the shepherd in their parish. Fr Naom holds the broken, feeds the hungry, pleads with the unrepentant, listens to the troubled, reflects on the innocence with children and their dead pet, and recalls all manner of memory as he measures his words and movements with each person, truly trying to make the best decisions he can for the sake of the Kingdom.

Complete honesty: I didn’t know what this book was about until I began to listen to it! It caught me off guard to listen to something so much more dramatic than what I am used to. But personally, I think it’s been good for my brain to tune into something more imaginative and relatable than what I’m used to reading. It is a dramatic work of fiction that is very well written. I listened to the audible version as Fr Stephen himself expressed each story, and his own city accent annunciated the characters and situations with the appropriate attitude and reflection for each he gave life to in his writing.

I would recommend this book for those who are searching for an Orthodox influenced fiction, who typically love dramatic writings but would like for them not to reflect the passions of the world; rather which reflect the hope of repentance from the passions. There are two preceding books, if you wish to read from the very beginning.

Absolutely beautiful! Goes well with another icon someone got me for Christmas from here. Happy to have!

Father Siniari brings us another delightful collection of short stories from Orthodox parish life. This is the third in his series. I loved the humanity that Fr. Siniari brings out in this collection. We see the good, bad, and sometimes ugly in all of us. His wonderful story telling skills bring to life those who strive to be better in their struggle of moving closer to God. We can find something for each of us in his stories. I found myself relating to more than one of his characters, and it made me reflect a little more upon my own journey. Sometimes I laughed, sometimes I was angry and even a little sad. Yet I also found once I started, I could not wait to move on to the next story. The Audible book is a little over eight hours but was easy to listen to thanks to Father's wonderful speaking voice. This would be the perfect vacation read, or to listen to on those long trips. All in All, in highly recommend this series of books and especially this last one in the series.

The Agia Sophia pouch is well crafted and beautiful! I use it for my prayer rope storage, and it makes for a wonderful icon of our Lord to look at while saying prayers or for taking along with you on your travels. I love it! Thank you Ancient Faith!

Caveeat: I am not an audiobook person. When the opportunity arose to listen to this book in exchange for my honest review, I decided to go for it because it sounded like an "easy" listen. My attention span isn't great, and I'm definitely a visual/physical learner. I tend to listen to podcasts (and audiobooks) only when I'm driving or doing chores I don't have to think about much.
The first thing that struck me was that there was a professional narrator. Or at least I thought there was; I didn't read the blurb on Audible. I came to find out it's the author! Fr. Huneycutt is incredibly talented! He also is very funny. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to his book. It is based on his blog and Ancient Faith Radio podcast, Orthodixie, which I had never read or listened to. Despite the humor of the stories, there are some very good lessons to be had. Dare I call it "Chicken Soup for the Orthodox Soul"? (I haven't read many Chicken Soup books and it was many years ago, so please take that with a grain of salt, and don't hold it against the book!)
As a recent convert (chrismated last year), I very much enjoyed listening to the audioook. Like another reviewer, I must admit I was expecting fairly straightforward convert storeies, but what I got was mcuh more fanciful but nonetheless very accurate. As a lot of humor is, it can be very pointed and perhaps uncomfortable for some people. I still recommend it. The narration is perfect, very lively!

Inspiring read!

These books are a bundle of joy. Nicely done. Prayers to any Akathist just opens our hearts and pray for others. Thank you Archpriest Lawerence Farley for all your endless hard works and your teachings about Orthodoxy. May Christ intercede for all of us. Amen.

Very high quality product. Some of the pages have rather simple designs while other are much more elaborate. We like the more elaborate ones, here, and would prefer more of those in future books.

Everything I was hoping for, absolutely beautiful. Its quality is great, and little things like the three different colored ribbon place markers make it easy to use day to day. I would very warmly recommend this to anyone.

A must read!

Appreciate being able to read the history of the apocryphal from this author.

As a priest counseling a person struggling with same-sex attraction this has been a very clear and concise guide to understanding the problems and struggles of same-sex attraction. I hope it will help the person I'm counseling.

Great tool for prayer

Great translation love it

I love this prayer book. It is very beautifully made, and clearly structured. Used daily as a part of my prayer life.

Love this Orthodox pocket prayer book perfect for Divine Liturgy & at home prayers.

A beautifully illustrated set of activity books for children with Orthodox illustrations on perforated, high quality pages. There is definitely a lot of materials for any number of activities from the early grades of church schools to much beyond. Thank you for this fantastic series!

You can tell the author really understands what the evangelical experience is like in America and he comes from a very loving patient but firm when necessary standpoint. I read it once early on in my inquirer stage and now once again as I near the end of my catechumen stage and I got a bunch of value out of it each time.

Father Stephen sets out in this book to give a brief introduction to extra-biblical, or apocrypha, literature as it’s viewed within the Orthodox Church. To do that Father Stephen uses the introduction to discuss the view within orthodox tradition of how books are viewed within the church. Orthodoxy has three categories which it uses to define writings found inside and outside the church. The first two categories are the focus of this book; books that are used and read liturgically, and book that are read at home and are not used liturgically. Father Stephen does briefly address the third category of the tradition, which are books that should not be read as they can be harmful or are heretical, such as some of the books that were found at the Nag Hammadi library in 1945 which are of gnostic origin. The orthodox tradition varies from the Christian west that typically has had two categories, book that are in the bible and books that aren’t.
Father Stephen breaks down extra-biblical literature into two categories in this book, Old Testament and second temple literature, and New Testament and apostolic fathers. Father Stephen uses a list that was written in the 9th century by Saint Nikephoros the Patriarch of Constantinople, who published a work that had a list of books that at that time were used liturgically and accepted in all churches as well as books that only used in some churches but not in others. Father Stephen uses this list as a guide for the works that he addresses in this book. Father Stephen does not talk about books that are found within the orthodox study bible, such as Tobit, Judith, 1st – 3rd Maccabees, and several others, but address books that are used within Coptic, Ethiopian, and Slavic Orthodox traditions. These books include the Book of Enoch, The Book of Jubilees and other Enochic literature, The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, The Ascension of Isaiah, The Books of Baruch, and Joseph and Aseneth. Father Stephen states that the difference in the Old Testament between different Orthodox churches is due to the Jewish Old Testament in those regions. Different regions in the world of Judaism used different books in services, which lead to different Old Testament books within the orthodox churches as Jewish converts brought their traditions to Christianity. All Orthodox churches as well as the western churches use the same New Testament books.
Each chapter Father Stephen breaks down a particular group of literature, by defining the popularity of it within the early church, textual history, the background, brief description of the text, and the significance to the church. Father Stephen uses the writing of the early church fathers to discuss all these topics by stating how they talked about these books when they wrote.
I listened to the audiobook and Father Stephen reads his own book. Father Stephen is an enjoyable audio listen as his pacing in his reading makes it easy to pay attention and doesn’t go too fast or slow. The foot notes are perfectly interjected into the audiobook by clearly stating the beginning and end of the foot note.
This book is a great resource for anyone who is intrigued about extra-biblical literature. Ultimately this book is a must have for all Christians as it deepens the traditions that have been lost over time in the west.

I have enjoyed all of Father Stephen’s short story collections, and this newest volume is no exception! In this book, I found myself particularly struck by the humanity of each of the stories. The real world is often not a place of easy, simple answers, and I am grateful for Father Stephen’s willingness to explore hard questions.

Love for people and for God hums through each of these stories, and they have given me strength, hope, and a desire to rise above the constant battle for “correctness” and really try to experience God’s love and mercy. These stories help me believe that He is patient, and that He is good.