Dear Friends,

The Benedictine scholar, Augustine Holmes, has written a beautiful and insightful book on the spirituality of the Rules of St Basil which is of particular interest to all Byzantine Catholics (or should be!).

The study of these Rules is recommended by St Benedict at the end of his Rule and we should note that while the East knows nothing of religious Orders, most of the monks of the Orthodox Church follow the Rules of St Basil (that have sometimes been augmented by, for example, St Paissy Velichkovsky and others with their own charisms of spiritual renewal).

It is a masterful discussion on the monastic rules, how they can and should be applied by every Christian, monastic or not (indeed, St Basil refers to the monastic as "Christian" and not otherwise) and also looks at topics like Original Sin and other matters we have discussed here.

Published by Pluscarden Abbey in Anhelyna's Scottish neck of the woods!

Alex