www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall What Eastern Christian books should every Roman Catholic seminary have?

Dear fellow Forum members,
What books about Eastern Christianity (Catholic or Orthodox- theology, spirituality, history, lives of saints, etc) should every Roman Catholic seminary library have?
I appreciate your input.

Thanks,
griego catolico

Dear GC,

Could they start with an unbiased reading of the New Testament perhaps?

Then they could move to the Cappadocian Fathers, with John Meyendorff et al. as guides.

Then the Seven Ecumenical Councils (oh, more, more . . .),

Then the Mystagogy of the Holy Spirit before going into the Philokalia and the Prayer of the Heart - then Palamism and Hesychasm (wait before I get a general spasm . . .).

Then the Kyivan Baroque (never mind,Incognitus, just never you mind . . . ).

Then the Hesychast revival of St Paissy Velichkovsky, St Theophane the Recluse, St Ignatius Brianchaninov, St Innocent of Moscow and don't forget about St Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain!

Whew!

I need to sit down now . . . I'm all excited.

Oh, and a book on some good, spicy Middle Eastern/East Slavic foods.

That'll get their blood going!

Alex

Shlomo Griego Catolico,

One of the best book on understanding the Maronite Church is Captivated By Your Teachings: A Resource Book For Adult Maronite Catholics, by Abuna (Fr.) Anthony J. Salim.

Pooosh BaShlomo,
Yuhannon

How big is your budget, Griego... Here's just a few "must haves" in my book:

The four-volume set of the Philokalia, Schmemann's "Of Spirit and Water", "For the Life of the World" and "Great Lent"; "Year of Grace of our Lord" by Lev Gillet; "The Orthodox Way" by Kallistos Ware; "The Origins of Christian Mysticism" by Olivier Clement; "The Struggle with God" or its more recent title "Ages of the Spiritual Life" by Evdokimov; "Eastern Christianity: The Byzantine Tradition" by Lawrence Cross; and "The Face of God" by Archbishop Joseph Raya.

A good prayer book such as Jordanville, the Old Orthodox Prayer Book or Byzantine Daily Worship would also be nice.

The appropriate papal documents of the last century would also be a plus, including Orientalium Dignitas, Orientale Lumen, Orientalium Ecclesiorum, Slavorum Apostoli, etc. as well as Unitatis Redintegratio and Ut Unum Sint.

Conversely, what books on Western Catholicism should every Eastern Christian seminary have?

My suggestions would be anything by Augustine, Anselm, Venerable Bede, Ambrose, Thomas Aquinas' Imitatio Christi (or if they really wanted to work hard, Summa Theologica), Robert Bellarmine, and John of the Cross.

What do y'all think? :p

Logos Teen

LogosTeen,

I think all Catholic Eastern seminaries carry those texts, sadly sometimes to the detriment of Eastern theology.

Dear Teen Logo,

Yes, our EC seminarians have those Western texts "ingrained" into them . . .

Now we're trying to get them to get over it!

Alex

When I was studying in a [Western] Catholic seminary [in the 80s] we read a book, an anology, called " The Holy Fire , a sort of compendium of the Eastern Christian Fathers.... in this, as in many other things, I realize how blessed I have been: it was very good and opened my heart, as it opened the hearts of my brothers, to the Eastern Light..
- Daniel

Daniel, I can't believe you wouldn't suggest a book on icons... Jim Forest's book Praying with Icons is a good introduction.

Some things go without saying.
Even better is a book called Transfiguration . I can't find my copy and I forget the author but it was published by the Daughters of St Paul and has full color copies of all the greatest icons and meditative essays on them. The only drawback is that it is not a larger book; the pages are only about 5 x 7 inches.
-Daniel