The Writings of Fr. Seraphim Rose - 6 different Books - God's Revelation to the Human Heart, Nihilism, Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future, The Northern Thebaid, The Place of Blessed Augustine in the Orthodox Church - Multiple Book Discounts 20% off
Book 1: God's Revelation to the Human Heart
by Fr. Seraphim Rose
"When conversion takes place, the process of revelation occurs in a very simple way—a person is in need, he suffers, and then somehow the other world opens up. The more you are in suffering and difficulties and are ‘desperate’ for God, the more He is going to come to your aid, reveal Who He is and show you the way out.…”
—Fr. Seraphim Rose
What does man seek in religion, and what should he seek in it? How does God reveal Himself in order to bring man to a knowledge of the Truth? How does suffering help this revelation to occur? Fr. Seraphim Rose addressed these and other issues during a lecture at the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 1981. GOD’S REVELATION TO THE HUMAN HEART is a transcription of that lecture, together with the question-and-answer session that followed between Fr. Seraphim and the university students.
“Why is the truth, it would seem, revealed to some and not to others? Is there a special organ for receiving revelation from God? Yes, though usually we close it and do not let it open up: God’s revelation is given to something called a loving heart.”
—excerpt from GOD’S REVELATION TO THE HUMAN HEART
Drawing upon a wealth of sources—the Holy Scriptures, patristic writings, the Lives of ancient and modern saints, and accounts of persecuted Christians in today’s world—Fr. Seraphim leads the audience to the core of all Christian life: the conversion of the heart of man, which begins to burn with love for Christ and transforms one into a new being.
48 pages, illustrated, full-color cover, paperback, $5.00
Book 2: Nihilism: The Root of the Revolution of the Modern Age
Fr. Seraphim Rose
What does Nihilism mean?” wrote Friedrich Nietszche. “—That the highest values are losing their value. There is no goal.…There is no Truth, no ‘thing in itself.’ There is no answer to the question: why?”
“Nihilism has become, in our time, so widespread and pervasive, has entered so deeply into the minds and hearts of all men living today, that there is no longer any ‘front’ on which it may be fought.”
—Eugene (Fr. Seraphim) Rose
In 1962, the young Eugene Rose (the future Fr. Seraphim) undertook to write a monumental chronicle of the abandonment of Truth in the modern age. Of the hundreds of pages of material he compiled for this work, only the present essay has come down to us in completed form. Here Fr. Seraphim reveals the core of all modern thought and life—the belief that all truth is relative—and shows how this belief has been translated into action in our century. Today, four decades after he wrote it, this essay is more timely than ever. It clearly explains why contemporary ideas, values, and attitudes—the “spirit of the age”—are shifting so rapidly in the direction of moral anarchy, as the philosophy of Nihilism enters more deeply into the fiber of society. Nietszche was right when he predicted that the 20th century would usher in “the triumph of Nihilism.”
“Atheism, true ‘existential’ atheism burning with hatred of a seemingly unjust or unmerciful God, is a spiritual state; it is a real attempt to grapple with the true God.… Nietzsche, in calling himself Antichrist, proved thereby his intense hunger for Christ.”
—excerpt from NIHILISM
This new second edition contains a superb essay entitled “The Philosophy of the Absurd,” written by Fr. Seraphim at the same time that he was working on “Nihilism.”
128 pages, full-color cover, paperback $9.00
Book 3: Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future
by Fr. Seraphim Rose
The psychic phenomena of today are symptoms of the emergence of a new spirituality that is molding the world religion of the future—phenomena such as Yoga, Zen, Tantra, Transcendental Meditation, Guru Maharaj-ji, Hare Krishna, UFO’s, the Charismatic Movement, and Jonestown.
“None of these by itself … has a crucial significance in the spiritual makeup of contemporary man; but each one in its own way typifies the striving of men today to find a new spiritual path, distinct from the Christianity of yesterday, and the sum of them together reveals a frightening unity of purpose whose final end seems just now to be looming above the horizon.”
–Fr. Seraphim Rose
This work is a concise and unequivocal Orthodox statement on contemporary trends; its urgent message rings loud and clear. Viewed from the foundation of patristic teaching, many of the spiritual movements of today are seen to be spiritual deceptions which have existed since the beginning of the Church—and not achievements of a “new religious consciousness.” Addressing soberly and directly the trends of pseudo-spirituality which appear enticing today, ORTHODOXY AND THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE provides a beacon of discernment in these times of widespread deception.
ORTHODOXY AND THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE examines a broad spectrum of issues facing modern Christians—each from the perspective of the early Church Fathers. As the “New Age” is becoming a household concept and is moving into wider acceptance by mainstream society, the “new religious consciousness” can be seen progressing precisely along the lines described by the late Fr. Seraphim. Included in this edition is an epilogue that chronicles the signs of the religion of the future that have made their appearance since this book was first published.
252 pages, full-color cover, paperback $9.95
Book 4: The Northern Thebaid: Monastic Saints of the Russian North
From the fourth century A.D., the desert Thebaid of Egypt was the home of thousands of monks and nuns who made the desert a city peopled with Christians striving toward heaven in the angelic way of life. A thousand years later, no fewer thousands of monks and nuns, likewise seeking union with God, went to live in the forests of northern Russia, creating what has become known as the “Northern Thebaid.”
Just as the sultry African nature with its clear blue sky, lush colors, its burning sun, and its incomparable moonlit nights, is distinct from the aquarelle soft tones of Russia’s northern nature with the blue surface of its lakes and the soft shades of its leafy forests—in the same way the sanctity of the Saints of the Egyptian desert, elemental and mighty, is distinct from the sanctity of Russia, which is quiet, lofty, and as crystal-clear as the radiant and quiet evening of the Russian spring. But both in Russia and in Egypt there is the same noetic prayer, the same interior silence.
Illustrated with rare pictures from old Russian books and magazines, The Northern Thebaid chronicles the lives of a number of holy men and women of the Russian forests, presenting the Orthodox monastic tradition which inspired them and which is still alive today for those who would follow in their footsteps.
This latest edition is a facsimile of the original edition, which was hand-printed by Fr. Seraphim Rose and his monastic brothers in the mountain forests of northern California. It includes a new preface and a new appendix on the recently rediscovered, incorrupt relics of St. Alexander of Svir, a sixteenth-century luminary of the Russian North.
302 pages, 193 illustrations, paperback $17.00
Book 5: The Place of Blessed Augustine in the Orthodox Church
by Fr. Seraphim Rose
When Fr. Seraphim learned that the early Western Father, Blessed Augustine of Hippo, was being attacked in contemporary Eastern Orthodox circles, then he—himself a Western convert to Orthodoxy—rose in his defense. This book is the outcome. Fr. Seraphim said he wrote it in the hope that it would help remove Augustine as a scapegoat for today’s academic theologians, and thus “help free us all to see his and our own weaknesses in a little closer light—for his weaknesses, to a surprising degree, are indeed close to our own.”
“Narrow is the mansion of my soul; enlarge Thou it, that Thou mayest enter in … for without Thee what am I to myself except a guide to my own downfall?”
—Blessed Augustine of Hippo
After discussing Blessed Augustine’s strengths and weaknesses, Fr. Seraphim examines the views of other Holy Fathers concerning him. “His main benefit to us today,” he writes, “is probably precisely as a Father of Orthodox piety—something with which he was filled to overflowing.… Here he is one with the simple Orthodox faithful, as well as with all the Holy Fathers of East and West who, whatever their various failings and differences in theoretical points of doctrine, had a single deeply Christian heart and soul. It is this that makes him unquestionably an Orthodox Father.”
This new edition of THE PLACE OF BLESSED AUGUSTINE IN THE ORTHODOX CHURCH contains letters written by Fr. Seraphim concerning Augustine, passages from Augustine’s Confessions which Fr. Seraphim found especially moving, and an Orthodox service to Blessed Augustine, commissioned by St. John Maximovitch.
144 pages, illustrated, full-color cover, paperback, $10.00
Book 6: The Soul After Death
by Fr. Seraphim Rose
The spiritual realm after death defies observation, yet mankind persists in its desire to peer beyond this threshold—a threshold through which we all must pass.
“You will not die. Your body will die, but you will go over into a different world, being alive, remembering yourself and recognizing the whole world that surrounds you.” —St. Theophan the Recluse, 19th Century
THE SOUL AFTER DEATH is a comprehensive presentation of the 2,000-year-old experience of Orthodox Christianity regarding the existence of the other world, addressing contemporary “after-death” and “out-of-body” experiences, the teachings of traditional Oriental religions and those of more recent occult societies.
Although the mystery of what lies beyond the veil of death is not fully visible to us in this life, nonetheless, writings and teachings of ancient Christianity dating from the first century have proven timeless and straightforward, yielding sound insights into the spiritual world beyond death. From the firm foundation of Orthodox patristic teaching, Fr. Seraphim Rose offers an interpretation of the meaning of the contemporary experiences which have been publicized by Drs. Kubler-Ross, Moody, Osis and Haraldsson, and other researchers.
“He who has the memory of death as his constant companion, painfully seeks to learn what awaits him after departure from this life.” —St. Symeon the New Theologian, 11th Century
Principal teachings of Orthodox Christianity concerning the properties of the soul after death are presented in a clear concise manner, as taught by Church fathers and teachers of the early centuries. THE SOUL AFTER DEATH offers an undiluted draught of pristine, mystical Christianity as it has existed since the time of Christ.
296 pages, full-color cover, paperback, $9.95