Synopses & Reviews
Archbishop Averky is considered one of the great scholars of 20th-century Orthodoxy and this book brings to the English-speaking world his answer to the question “What is asceticism?” A bearer of the saving doctrine of the Patristic teaching, he steadfastly defended traditional Orthodoxy and passed on this teaching through his commentaries on Scripture and other works in the Russian language. In showing how evil is rooted out and virtue is implanted in the soul, Archbishop Averky counters the many false understandings that exist showing that the practice of authentic asceticism is integral to the spiritual life and the path to blessed communion with God.
Review
“Archbishop Averky was one of the last giants of 20th-century Orthodoxy . . . . [He] was an Orthodox scholar in the unbroken tradition of patristic thought which has come down to us from the ancient Fathers to our own days.” —Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose), author, The Orthodox Word
Review
"I am not bold enough to pick a section that spoke to me more than the others, because it felt like they were all shouting at me, not in a bad way, but in a you can do better in your spiritual life way." —Stuart Dunn, stuartsstudy.blogspot.com
Synopsis
Archbishop Averky addresses head on the question, “What is asceticism?” He counters the many false understandings that exist and shows that the practice of authentic asceticism is integral to the spiritual life and the path to blessed communion with God.
About the Author
Archbishop Averky (Taushev) taught and served in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and Germany before being assigned in to teach at the Holy Trinity Seminary in New York. In 1960 became the abbot of Holy Trinity Monastery and was heavily involved in the formation of the seminary curriculum and the daily life of the seminarians and monks.