Books in the Cistercian Studies series

The Lives of the Monks of Paulestine

The Maronite Church is one of twenty-two Eastern Catholic Churches in communion with the Pope of Rome. Her patriarch is in Lebanon. Forty-three bishops and approximately five million faithful make up her presence throughout the world.The story of Maron, a fifth-century hermit-priest, and the community gathered around him, later called the Maronites, tells another fascinating story of the monastic and missionary movements of the Church. Marons story takes place in the context of Syrian monasticism, which was a combination of both solitary and communal life, and is a narrative of Christians of the Middle East as they navigated the rough seas of political divisions and ecclesiastical controversies from the fourth to the ninth centuries.Abbot Paul Naaman, a Maronite scholar and former Superior General of the Order of Lebanese Maronite Monks, wisely places the study of the origins of the Maronite Church squarely in the midst of the history of the Church. His book, The Maronites: The Origins of an Antiochene Church, published during the sixteenth centenary of Marons death, offers plausible insights into her formation and early development, grounding the Maronite Church in her Catholic, Antiochian, Syriac, and monastic roots.Abbot Paul Naaman is a Maronite scholar and former Superior General of the Order of Lebanese Maronite Monks.

An Introduction to Lectio Divina

"One of the more comprehensive and balanced books on Merton to appear lately..."-The Louisville Courier-Journal."...It is not to be rushed, but read piece by piece, essay by essay, image by image"-Highway

Traces themes and draws on other scriptural books to remind readers that every human person is endowed with an innate love for God, which in his words, 'cannot be sapped.'

The Doctrine of Compunction in the Christian East

A History of the Monastic Movement in the Latin Church

Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles

Spiritual Meadow by John Moschos

Abbot Vitalis of Savigny, Abbot Godfrey of Savigny, Peter of Avranches, and Blessed Hamo

Volume 2

The Theological and Practical Treatises and the Three Theological Discourses

Preached to monks and edited for publication by a pastor, these sermons are applicable generally to any congregation of Christians, for human problems are the same in both church and cloister. The preacher's vivid imagery, his spontaneity and sense of excitement, and his honesty in facing sometimes harsh, unflattering realities make what he says both piercing and unforgettable.

Volume 3

Sergius (Serge) Bolshakoff, both the author and the translator of Russian Mystics, was born in Saint Petersburg in 1901 and died in retirement at the Cistercian abbey of Hauterive, Switzerland, in 1990. His life spanned not only the Russian Revolution and the fall of Communism, but also the Christian Ecumenical Movement, in which he took an active role. Dedicated to the cause of Christian unity throughout his life and intimately familiar with the Orthodox, the Roman Catholic, and the Anglican traditions and their monastic expressions, he was personally acquainted with the great leaders of the ecumenical movement: Pope John XXIII, the Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras, Archbishop William Temple of Canterbury, and the abbe Paul Couturier. Exiled from his homeland for most of his life, he lived in England--where he received a doctorate in philosophy from Christ Church, Oxford--or France and traveled and wrote extensively.

In the early part of the fourth century, a few Christians, mostly men and some women, began to withdraw from "the world" to retreat into the desert, there to practice their new religion more seriously. The person who aspired to "renounce the world" first had to find an "elder," a person who would accept him as a disciple and apprentice. To his elder (whom he would address as abba-father) the neophyte owed complete obedience; from his abba, he would receive provisions (as it were) for the road to virtue. In addition to the abba's own example of living, there was the verbal teaching of the elders in sayings and tales, setting out the theory and practice of the eremitic life.In due course, these sayings (or apophthegmata) were written down and, later, collected and codified. The earliest attempts to codify tales and sayings are now lost. As the collection grew, they were first organized alphabetically, according to the name of the abba who spoke them, in a major collection known as the Apophthegmata Patrum Alphabetica. A supplementary collection, the Anonymous Apophthegmata, followed. Later, both collections were combined and arranged systematically rather than alphabetically. This collection was created sometime between 500 and 575 and later went through a couple of major revisions, the second of which appeared sometime before 970.This second revision was published in an excellent new critical edition, with a French translation, in 1993. Now, in The Book of the Elders, John Wortley offers an English translation of this collection, based entirely on the Greek of that text.

An insight into the unique bernardine blending of the theology of the monastic tradition and the new learning of the early 12th-century. This new edition is all the more apt because 1990 is the 900th anniversary of the birth of Saint Bernard.

Commentary on the Seven Catholic Epistles

A Systematic Handbook Volume 1

Reflections on the Rule

Shenoute of Atripe, ranked second only to Pachomius for his contribution to the development of egyptian monasticism, is all but unknown outside the coptic tradition. This first english translation of his Life, by his disciple and successor, casts new light on the austere monasticism of the fifth century.

Volume 1 Anselm's Letters as Prior and Abbot of Bec (1070-1092)

The Spirituality of the Christian East Volume 2

The Life of Antony, The Coptic Life and The Greek Life

Upper Egypt

"Prayer is a journey, sometimes a combat. There are trials, purifications, passages. It is at once the most simple and the most profound of human activities. May these pages help someone to discover its hidden joy."For members of the Carthusian order, prayer is not just something that is done at certain times of day: It is in fact the vital respiration of their faith. This third volume of novice conferences gives us access once again to the Carthusians' profound wisdom, as we share the initiation of a group of young monks into the practice of prayer.Interior Prayer contains the Carthusians' traditional doctrine on prayer - from its very beginnings to the simplicity of its highest forms. Far from being abstract and theoretical, we learn about the prayer process by sharing in the novices' concrete spiritual journey. Their problems and difficulties, and the many pitfalls they encounter on the way, are expressed in an ongoing dialogue with their guide who relates to each one individually. Many will find help here in their own quest for God and the ultimate purpose of life.

The Egypt of Mena, bishop of Nikiou, was a country under relatively tolerant Muslim administration, with a long history of conquest and reconquest, and a deep antipathy to the Byzantine Empire and Melkite ('imperial') ecclesiastics. Staunchly monophysite, deeply devoted to the patriarchs of Alexandria, and determinedly opposed to the Council of Chalcedon (451) and all that it represented, the Christians of Egypt continued their witness and their worship all but hidden from outside view.These two works by Mena introduce modern readers to the Church of Egypt in the eighth century: its internal and external relations, its customs, and its spirituality.

Spirituality of the Desert by a Monk