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The House of Our Father
This book presents and shares the journey of the creation of the round chapel: how it came to be, first in thought and dreams, and then in plans and reality. As Saint Sophrony’s mind was always very creative, he had many ideas about how to create a space for the celebration of the Liturgy. In 1992, he made a plan to build a round chapel and supervised the construction of a model which specified all the various dimensions as well as the exact location. Whilst at the time it was not possible to fulfil the project, its realisation came thirty years later. Initially, Saint Sophrony had wanted to dedicate the chapel to the Holy Trinity; but when he himself was numbered amongst the saints, it was decided to change the plan and name the chapel after our founding Father.
Original price was: £45.00.£36.00Current price is: £36.00.
Wavering in Quest of the Kingdom Which Cannot Be Moved
We use the energy of emotion, pain or contrition for our converse with God. We begin to pray according to our need, for example, for forgiveness of our transgressions and the healing of our heart from the pestilence of sin. Keeping this humble attitude, we pour out our heart before God to the end, and we receive His consolation. Then, we even forget how our affliction began; only the consolation of prayer remains. In this way, we derive profit from every event, whether positive or negative.
£22.00
Audiobook: Remember Thy First Love
Audiobook Sample
Total listening time: 17 hours, 3 minutes
£16.00
Popular Books
Often picked by readers
Homilies on Great Church Feasts
This trilogy of books contains homilies for every Sunday, spanning from the beginning of the Triodion period through to the Feast of All Saints following Pentecost.
View all Publications
Homilies on Great Lent
At the Doors of Holy Lent offers talks and sermons on each Sunday preceding the Triodion up to the Sunday of Forgiveness. (139 pages)
Alive From the Dead is an expansive volume which covers all the Sundays of Great Lent up to Pascha with several talks dedicated on each of these important Sundays. (541 pages)Homilies on the Pentecostal Period
Thirst for Life Eternal is a doxological journey through the festal period, beginning with Pascha and culminating in the Feast of All Saints, one week after Pentecost. (332 pages)
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What to expect
Free UK postage
All orders over £30 to the UK are delivered for free to your door. We normally use a 48-hour tracked service, but on Fridays, we use a 24-hour tracked service so you don't miss spending the weekend with one of our books.Clothbound Books
Most of our hardback books are beautifully clothbound and wrapped in a dust jacket, preserving them so they can be enjoyed for many years to come and providing for an enjoyable reading experience.International Delivery
We offer a flat-rate tracked delivery for all destinations worldwide - $12 for the USA, €7 for Europe and similar price for all destinations.Free Returns
If you received the wrong book or if there’s any defect with your order, please let us know. We will be happy to replace it for you at no additional cost.Free Icon Cards
Each order comes with complimentary icon cards from our Monastery. If you love them and would like a few extras, just leave us a note during checkout.Careful Packaging
We understand how much you value your books being in pristine condition. That’s why we take great care in packaging them to ensure they arrive at your doorstep spotless.
Latest Reviews
What the Readers Say
Je commence la lecture, et je dois dire que dès les premières pages je m’imprègne des enseignements de père Zacharias. J’aimerais que tous ses livres soient traduits en Français. Je considère les livres de père Zacharias comme des enseignements vivants et actuels, pratiques et qui touchent au coeur. Indispensables pour tout chrétien, particulièrement Orthodoxes. J’ai une reconnaissance infinie pour les pères Zacharias et Peter et pour tout le monastère, où j’étais présent début septembre. Gloire à Dieu pour ses et ces dons.
I purchased this book as a gift, so I cannot comment on the content since it is already wrapped. However, I am confident in its quality, having seen other books like it. What truly impressed me was the quick and superb delivery. I needed it before a certain date for our trip, as it was a gift we were taking with us, and it arrived within just a day. The packaging was excellent, and the gift wrapping was beautifully done.
A big thank you to all the fathers and sisters who contributed to this. Thank you so much! May we have your prayers and blessings.
There are so many layers to this book, from the excellent and inspirational autobiographical parts to the deep spiritual insights and pure and practical prayers, I cannot recommend it enough.
Binding, typography and paper quality is excellent. A classic for any respectable library.
God bless everyone involved in making this book available.
A lovely book. The first part tells the story of the new Church of Saint Sophrony, and the second part has lots of beautiful photos including the frescoes. Very pleased to receive this book and it was very well packed so arrived in perfect condition.
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Recent Activity
Social Posts
We'll have some new books arriving soon together with our Calendar for 2026. ☺️
#saintsilouan #silouan #sophrony #saintsophrony #essexmonastery #orthodox #christianorthodox #orthodoxchurch #eternity #prayer #peace #inspiration #loveforenemies #newbookrelease #newbook
The book "Staretz Silouan" (later renamed "Saint Silouan the Athonite") was first published in 1948 by Saint Sophrony the Athonite, devoted disciple of the great saint.
The book is structured in two parts: The first part features Saint Sophrony's theological exposition and spiritual commentary based on Saint Silouan's writings, while the second part presents Saint Silouan's original writings.
Now, 77 years later, this profound work continues to touch hearts worldwide—quietly becoming a bestseller year after year.
✨ Some books fade with time while others reveal their eternal relevance with each passing year.
Extract from the first part of the book "Saint Silouan the Athonite," chapter XIV "The Staretz' Demise."
Blessed Feast of Saint Silouan to all ☦️
#saintsilouan #silouan #sophrony...
“Letters to His Family” is a book compiled from the correspondence of Saint Sophrony with his two sisters, Maria and Alexandra, as well as a noteworthy talk by Fr. Sophrony to his family when he visited them in Moscow in March 1975.
The current excerpt is from letter 2 to his sister Maria, where he writes about prayers he composed, writing books, the privileges of desert life, the true meaning of freedom, repentance, and the book ‘Staretz Silouan’ and its translation into English.
#sophrony #saintsophrony #essexmonastery #orthodox #christianorthodox #silouan #orthodoxchurch #quote #quotes #quoteoftheday #wisdom #eternity #prayer #peace #inspiration #loveforenemies #clothbound
"We Shall See Him as He Is", written by Saint Sophrony, is his autobiography in which he profoundly describes his deeply spiritual journey toward the knowledge of God.
Excerpt from Chapter 9: "Inspiration."
#sophrony #saintsophrony #essexmonastery #orthodox #christianorthodox #silouan #orthodoxchurch #quote #quotes #quoteoftheday #wisdom #eternity #prayer #peace #inspiration #loveforenemies #clothbound
A Monastic Walk - a poem by a dear friend, Anu Varkey
#monasticism #monastic #walks #spiritaljourney #essexmonastery
✨📚 Our new icon cards have arrived!
Each beautifully crafted icon card features icons and photographs from our Monastery, serving also as a bookmark to accompany your reading.
We’re offering these for free as a blessing with every online order.
We hope they spread joy to all who find comfort in the words of our Holy Fathers. 🙏
#essexmonastery #sophrony #silouan #iconography #saintsophrony #saintsilouan #orthodoxbooks #orthodoxchristianity #spiritualreading
In his present state, man is characterised by the instability of his life. This instability, however, can become the cause of great spiritual progress. Afflicted by successive oscillations, he recognises that he is unable to accomplish spiritual works that can endure the gaze of the eternal Judge. In this way, he acquires the awareness of his spiritual poverty. With this awareness, man humbles himself before God and becomes receptive to His grace and help.
It is natural to go up and down in our spiritual life. Yet, with humility for our deficiency, we ask God to continually grant a new beginning in our lives so that we may receive from Him new mercies. In this way, we build our spiritual...
"The Cross is not a person, but it is the saving energy of Christ, which is personal." ... "When we venerate the Cross, we venerate the Person of the Lord, because the energy that accompanies the Cross is the saving energy of His Person.”
— Archimandrite Zacharias
📖Flying over the Abyss, p. 169
#essexmonastery #sophrony #silouan #archimandritezacharias #abyss #cross #person #jesus #christ #jesuschrist
"Man of the Deep Heart" - A conference organised by Vatopedi Monastery today, where the books of Archimandrite Zacharias will be presented.
🎦 The conference will be broadcasted live from Pemptousia TV 👉🏼
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TthiHMx0ED0
📌 Friday, November 22, 2024 at the Athens College Theatre, at 17:00 Athens time (GMT +2)
#essexmonastery #sophrony #archimandritezacharias
Post-Humanism and Artificial Intelligence - An International Scientific conference organised by the Holy Great Monastery of Vatopedi @immb.vatopedi in Athens.
🎤 Today is the 4th day of the conference and among the speakers were our Hegumen Father Peter and soon Father Zacharias will give his talk.
🎥 The conference is transmitted live on YouTube and here you can find the talk by Father Peter and Father Zacharias, among other well known eminent speakers 👉🏼 https://youtube.com/live/kIoEpLpBnjE
🗓️ The program of the conference can be found here 👉🏼 https://phaicon.net/en/conferenceprogram/
🎞️ You can view all the talks in Englsih or Greek on Pemptousia Channel Web Tv on Youtube
#essexmonastery #sophrony #archimandritezacharias #posthuman #posthumanism #ai #artificialintelligence
🏔️Where Spiritual Literature meets the Majestic Swiss Alps: Flying over the Absyss
#essexmonastery #sophrony #archimandritezacharias #abyss #silouan
A new book by Father Zacharias - Flying Over the Abyss as well as our Calendar for 2025 are our new releases this November.
‘Generalised despair’ characterises our epoch. Thus, an encounter with it is inevitable. Man must know how to face it profitably. Saint Sophrony distinguishes between morbid and charismatic despair. The former destroys man, while the latter can become the spark for the wondrous leap into the sphere of eternity. Successive trials and visitations of divine grace strengthen the Christian athlete so that he can stand firm not on the edge of a single abyss, but two: the abyss of God’s mercy and the abyss of his own corruption and misery. And then ‘deep calleth unto deep’ (Ps....
Hot off the press! 📚 New titles arriving in June.
As we approach Mid Pentecost, we had a beautiful talk this evening given by our Hegumen Fr Peter on the Gospel of the Paralytic. You can find the full recording in our website's library section (very soon).
Photo from a happy cat in Cyprus☀️
🚚 Yesterday afternoon we received the new stock of the republication of the classic edition of the book ***Saint Silouan the Athonite*** written by Saint Sophrony the Athonite.
🗓️ Also we have limited stock of the Calendar for 2024.
📬✈️🌍 We started shipping all the pre-orders and it will take us a few days until we catch up with the current orders.
Thanks be to God.
#essexmonastery #saintsilouan #sophrony #mountathos
Merry Christmas!
We were a bit late with our 2024 Calendar this year but it will be with us very soon. Together with our calendar is coming the much anticipated book Saint Silouan in English. Undoubtedly it has been the most requested book these past few years. We had some obstacles with the republication but finally with God’s help and the prayers of our Saints Silouan and Sophrony we managed to bring it to life again.
🔗Book: Saint Silouan -> https://essexmonastery.com/bookshop/saint-silouan-the-athonite/
🔗Calendar 2024 -> https://essexmonastery.com/bookshop/calendar-2024/
About the arrival of the books:
If there is no delay at the port of Dover, the books and the calendar will be with us this coming week. Otherwise we’ll have to wait until after...
Our latest book gift wraps from last month plus our Christmas specials!
🌠🎄🌠🎄
Letters to his Family - Saint Sophrony's Letter 2, to his sister Maria. Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois 16th-17th September 1958.
#sophrony #saintsophrony #essexmonastery #letters #orthodox #christianorthodox #quote #quotes #quoteoftheday #wisdom
Our recent gift wraps, wrapped with all our heart and full of joy 🥰
Letters to his Family - Saint Sophrony's Letter 39, to his sister Maria. The Old Rectory, Christmas 1968/1969.
#sophrony #saintsophrony #essexmonastery #letters #orthodox #christianorthodox #orthodoxchurch #quote #quotes #quoteoftheday #wisdom
⭐NEW BOOKS IN ENGLISH
The past month was very productive and we published more than a dozen new titles in English, Greek, Romanian and Serbian.
OUR NEW BOOKS ARE:
"Born from on High" by Saint Sophrony
"Ask, and It Shall Be Given You" by Archimandrite Zacharias
NEW BOOKLETS
"Mariam, the Mother of God and Mother of Our Life" by Archimandrite Zacharias
"Perfect Surrendering to the Spirit of Salvation" by Archimandrite Zacharias
#essexmonastery #sophrony #saintsophrony #archimandritezacharias #orthodox #theology #christian #christianbooks #clothbound #prayer #christianprayer #mariam
His Life is Mine - New Greek Edition
Η Ζωή Του ζωή μου, μετά από πολλά χρόνια έχει επανεκδοθεί, με τη βοήθεια του Θεού και τις ευχές του Αγίου Σωφρονίου, με διορθωμένο/αναθεωρημένο κείμενο σε καινούρια επιμελημένη σκληρόδετη έκδοση.
#sophrony #christianbooks #christianorthodox #orthodoxy
🎉 Today we had a delivery. Our new books translated in Romanian, Greek and Serbian have arrived and are now available to buy on our Bookshop.
Letters to his Family - Saint Sophrony's Letter 4, to his sister Maria. Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois 11th December 1958.
#sophrony #saintsophrony #essexmonastery #letters #orthodox #christianorthodox #orthodoxchurch #quote #quotes #quoteoftheday #wisdom
Letters to his Family - Saint Sophrony's Letter 34 to his sister Maria. The Old Rectory
27th April 1968, Bright Saturday.
#sophrony #saintsophrony #essexmonastery #letters #orthodox #christianorthodox #orthodoxchurch #quote #quotes #quoteoftheday #wisdom
Extract from the book "We Shall See Him as He is" - the personal autobiography by Saint Sophrony the Athonite.
#sophrony #saintsophrony #essexmonastery #orthodox #christianorthodox #orthodoxchurch #quote #quotes #quoteoftheday #wisdom
🕊️ More Books arriving Soon! Our Sisters went to Greece and worked hard to prepare all these beautiful books for all of you. And this is not all. In November they are preparing a big surprise! They definitely need all of our prayers to bring their task to completion.
New Titles in Romanian arriving soon...!
Αιτείται και Δοθήσεται Υμίν - Το καινούριο βιβλίο του Αρχιμανδρίτη Ζαχαρία.
Το βιβλίο είναι το πρώτο από μια μικρή σειρά βιβλίων που έπονται να εκδοθούν τον επόμενο χρόνο. Περιέχει ερωτοαποκρίσεις που έχουν μαζευτεί από την πολύχρονη διακονία του Πατρός Ζαχαρία ως πνευματικού και διάκονου του λόγου του Θεού στους ανθρώπους.
Σήμερα ολοκληρώθηκε η εκτύπωση του βιβλίου και σύντομα θα είναι διαθέσιμο σε βιβλιοπωλεία στην Ελλάδα αλλά και στην ιστοσελίδα μας.
Sneak Peek From the Printing House ⭐
New Title by Archimandrite Zacharias - Available Soon
Ask, and it Shall Be Given You
"When you get up in the morning it is good to wash your face and immediately give thanks to God for all things, read some prayers of the Church, say some prayers from your heart and then practise a little the Jesus Prayer. Then the energy of this prayer will accompany you the whole day, and I am sure that all your works in that day will be blessed by it."
#essexmonastery #sophrony #saintsophrony #archimandritezacharias #orthodox #theology #orthodoxchristianbooks #christianbooks #prayer #christianprayer
Letters to his Family - Saint Sophrony's Letter 2 to his sister Maria. Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois 16th-17th September 1958
#sophrony #saintsophrony #essexmonastery #letters #orthodox #christianorthodox #orthodoxchurch #quote #quotes #quoteoftheday #wisdom
"Men are ignorant of the power of Christ's humility, and that is why they aspire to the things of this earth; but without the Holy Spirit they cannot know the force of these words of Christ. But he who has learned will never relinquish his knowledge, even were he to be offered all the kingdoms of the world.
O Lord, grant me Thy humility that I may be filled with Thy love, and Thy holy fear may dwell in me.
Life is burdensome without love for God. The soul feels sombre and stale; but with the coming of love her joy passes description.
My soul thirsts after the humility of Christ, and yearns for it day and night, and ever...
Letters to his Family - Saint Sophrony's Letter 2 to his sister Maria. Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois 16th-17th September 1958
#sophrony #saintsophrony #essexmonastery #letters #orthodox #christianorthodox #orthodoxchurch #quote #quotes #quoteoftheday #wisdom
Letters to his Family - Saint Sophrony's Letter 4, to his sister Maria. Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois 11th December 1958.
#sophrony #saintsophrony #essexmonastery #letters #orthodox #christianorthodox #orthodoxchurch #quote #quotes #quoteoftheday #wisdom
Letters to his Family - Saint Sophrony's Letter 4, to his sister Maria. Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois 11th December 1958.
#sophrony #saintsophrony #essexmonastery #letters #orthodox #christianorthodox #orthodoxchurch #quote #quotes #quoteoftheday #wisdom
Monasticism: The All-Embracing Gift of the Holy Spirit has been published in hardaback clothbound for the first time.
"Monasticism is indeed a peculiar way of life, a heavenly institution, a gift of the Holy Spirit. The Desert Fathers of the 4th century, who inaugurated monastic life, felt that the heavens had come down to earth, as we sing on the day of Pentecost: 'The nations of the city of David have seen strange things today,' things of the world to come. Saint John Climacus says that 'Angels are a light for monks, and the monastic life is a light for all men.' This light is the knowledge of the way of the Lord and and His commandments, which is preserved...
Letters to his Family - Saint Sophrony's Letter 4, to his sister Maria. Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois 11th December 1958.
#sophrony #saintsophrony #essexmonastery #letters #orthodox #christianorthodox #orthodoxchurch #quote #quotes #quoteoftheday #wisdom
Some of our August giftwraps 🎁🌟Now in Automn we are preparing for even more special giftwrap 😊
Letters to his Family - Saint Sophrony's Letter 2, to his sister Maria. Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois 16th-17th September 1958.
#sophrony #saintsophrony #essexmonastery #letters #orthodox #christianorthodox #quote #quotes #quoteoftheday #wisdom
Τὸ μυστήριο τῆς Ὑπεραγίας Θεοτόκου – The Mystery of the Mother of God
🎧Listen to the podcast - Link in Bio
May we all have a blessed Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God, the Easter of the Summer.
Ευχές για ευλογημένη εορτή της Κοιμήσεως της Υπεραγίας Θεοτόκου. Καλό Πάσχα του καλοκαιριού!
Our July Giftwraps (2 of 2) This month our book giftwrap service is more special than ever with the addition of our new velvet ribbons. Always giftwrapped with love 🎁❤️
Our July Giftwraps! (1 of 2) This month our book giftwrap service is more special than ever with the addition of our new velvet ribbons. Always giftwrapped with love ❤️🎁
Word for Saint Sophrony - A talk by Archimandrite Zacharias. Link in Bio
Your blessing! Happy Feast of Saint Sophrony to All! 🌝❤️
#sophrony #saintsophrony #mountathos #churchfathers #holyfather #christian #christianity #orthodox #orthodoxchurch #orthodoxchristian