The Heart of Salvation: Life and Teachings of St.Theophan the Recluse

From the back cover: First a schoolteacher then a bishop then a hermit Theophan the Recluse was one of the Russian holy men canonized in 1988 and one of the greatest of the startzi - teachers of spirituality and of Prayer of the Heart - who have played such an important role in keeping the spiritual doctrines of the early Fathers alive in the Russian Orthodox Church. From his hermits cell Theophan aided thousands in their spiritual quest. When he died the great Russian monastery of Saint Panteleimon on Mount Athos published his voluminous works and a book about his life. This book is based on that writing with additional commentary relating his ideas to the contemporary religious situation as his work was of great importance in place in time and in its cogency to the whole question of the relation of early Christian thought to the modern situation. In addition to the contemporary relevance of his spiritual teachings Theophans protest against Russias departure from the old Christian worldview for one based on the physical sciences... is all the more meaningful now that this process is beginning to reverse. From the editors introduction: So that the reader can readily see for himself the great value of Theophans writings we have chosen a collection of Theophans texts which have been arranged with his life story as follows: Part 1 - the background that makes sense of the later parts - describes Theophans life in a way that illustrates how his ideas before he entered seclusion led naturally to his life as a recluse revealing the intellectual clarity and moral and emotional simplicity of his character even in early life. We will support this with extracts from letters to his beloved nephew and others describing his point of view on life in the world marriage education and the sciences. We will learn from these passages his keen sense of objectivity and see that he possessed a deep interest both in history and in modern thought. We may also glimpse the man behind the ideas through many cheerful pages about his meticulous corrections of the proofs of his books or about the way he remained smiling and fearless while suffering from a developing cataract of the left eye. Part 2 - the core of this collection - is formed by Theophans detailed studies of the triple structure of the human being: body soul and Spirit. To Theophan human life has only one real goal beside which all other goals pale and appear as mere illusions. The goal is that man should follow the way to salvation a term to which he assigns a very precise meaning far from all ordinary moral exhortations or from catechismal definitions petrified with time. Part 3 - the denouement - concerns Theophans teachings about prayer and repentance teachings that lead us from the first signs of sanctity with the Fear of God to the highest pitch of ceaseless prayer and the depths of contemplation that he names `Walking with God.