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The Ineffable Folly of Divine Love
The angels are always mindful of their createdness: they cover their faces and their feet with four wings to preserve their humility before the Lord Who brought them from non-being into being. Although they are immortal and incorporeal beings, they never forget that they are creatures, that they are not without beginning. Therefore, it is with restrained boldness – with only two wings – that they fly around ‘the throne of the Majesty in the heavens’. Humility gives them the strength to abide in everlasting doxology before God.
£23.50
Calendar 2026
Our 2026 wall calendar adorned with photos from our newly built church dedicated to Saint Sophrony the Athonite alongside extracts from the book The House of our Father.
Size A4 landscape.
£7.00
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Audiobook: Remember Thy First Love
Audiobook Sample
Total listening time: 17 hours, 3 minutes
£16.00
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Wonderful audio book, the answers are very helpful in practical situations. Father Zacharias guides us along the spiritual path with great comments on the Scripture and very practical examples that are applicable in many daily situations. As it says in the beginning of chapter 7: “It is possible to meet God in every place of our life, we can glorify Him in our joys and sorrows, in life and in death and even when we are in the deepest hell. Father Sophrony would sometimes tell to me: if I didn’t know the lives of the Saints, I would have fallen into despair many times, but being familiar with them I was able to bear more.” The examples in this audio book encourages us to have more faith. Thank you!
Every year I purchase calendars for members of my family. As always they are beautiful with a different theme each year but which depicts the soul of the monastery. Delivery was prompt and packaging exceptional. Many thanks and may your blessings be with us always. I wish you all a Merry Christmas 🙏
Beautiful calendars I’m pleased to be have in my possession again this year, and also share as gifts. Inspiring images with encouraging words of kindness and wisdom to commence each day, and memories of this serene and wonderful community.
Wonderful book! I bought for my husband for his birthday and he loved it very much. It is beautifully printed and bound, and the content was well written. Will buy more books from here in the future.
Another beautiful book by our beautiful Arch Zacharias- this one is easy to read and covers everything/ from how we are saved to how to make the Theotokos your spiritual Mother- love her Icon Paramithia- the Comforter- how to make the Liturgy your own- a true relationship in Christ- so as to look forward to the next Liturgy! Living and lovong Christ – more blessed to serve than to be served- what a blessing in a beautiful marriage- humility being the golden word! 100 stars!
Once again the words of Father Zacharias aim high and lead us well through the disparities of a world that has forgotten what it means to know and love the Lord.
When we learn to let go of our own machinations of thought, and cling to the hem of His garment, Christ will lead us through the labyrinth of hypocrisy that radiates in the world. And we learn, through this upside-down inside-out view of true and authentic spiritual life, to navigate by following Him, and Him alone, through every storm and difficult passage. It is hard to learn these lessons because we are so self reliant and trust our own thinking. And God may present to us very unexpected circumstances, but if we learn to trust Him with every fiber of our being, most especially when it looks like folly and great foolishness in the eyes of the world, there will be recompense beyond measure.
To Him be the glory. Amen.
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Continuing the Christian teaching legacy of Saints Silouan and Sophrony through our publications. We share posts with our books on Instagram if you are there. But if you're not? There's no need to join, you can see all our posts here.
The Lord of Heaven entered the fallen world where man was lost and ‘stumbling upon the dark mountains’. The path of Christ in the world was a way of suffering.
Our Great and Almighty God became a vulnerable infant laid in a manger of dumb beasts. He became weak to draw near to us, to heal us and save us. An ancient prophecy of Christ is given by the patriarch Jacob: ‘Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; He washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes.’ This prophesies the great self-emptying of the Lord of glory, to condescend from His ineffable and incomprehensible Divine nature, and to unite Himself with human nature, to become flesh and blood.
The Lord Almighty, the King of creation, was born a defenceless child under the threat of death by a worldly king: ‘Herod was overcome with wrath, mothers were bereft of their infants by an untimely death.’ Together with Herod, Jerusalem, the City of God, was ‘breathing threats and murder’. The Lord spoke about it with great pain before His Passion: ‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!’
At the holy Nativity, we see the infinite magnitude of the kenosis and humility of Christ. Yet, why did God choose this way to approach man? He came with great reverence for His creature, whose likeness He would assume. By His almighty power, He could have compelled us all to follow Him. Yet in His unfathomable wisdom, He preferred to become a vulnerable child and draw us to Himself by His humble love.
— Excerpt from: Echoes of the Spirit • Humility: The Extreme Trial, The Time for the Lord to Act (p. 39-41) • Archimandrite Zacharias (Zacharou)
🖼️ Icon by Sister Gabriela found in the book: The House of Our Father
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With the incarnation of the Son of God, a new time of God’s good pleasure dawned in the history of mankind. At the Annunciation, the Body of Christ, the Church, manifested itself in history for the first time. This Holy Body of the Son of God, wherein ‘dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead’ became the inheritance of ‘a chosen generation’? This inheritance and all the gifts that ensued, were made possible through the marvellous instrument of God, the Most Holy Virgin Mary. She is therefore rightly called ‘the fulness of time’ that brought the Kingdom of God down to earth.
— Excerpt from: Mariam: The Mother of the Lord and Mother of Our Life • The Garment of Humility of the Mother of God, The Pattern for Monasticism (p. 25) • Archimandrite Zacharias (Zacharou)
🖼️ Icons by Sister Gabriela found in the book: The House of Our Father.
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The ethos of the Lamb without blemish and without spot which predominates in all the fearful economy of Christ’s presence on earth is not completely new. The prophets had already spoken about this, and the great voice of the prophets, Isaiah, described it in wondrous words, as ‘the Lamb led to the slaughter’. Saint Peter described it in his own way: ‘When He was reviled, He reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously?’ The righteousness of Christ, His justice, is rendered in the words He said on the Cross: ‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do?’
Saint Paul conveys this ethos in yet another way: ‘O Galatians, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you, I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.’ The apostle wanted them to know only the humility of Christ, the ethos of the crucified Lord. The way of God is humble. He walked this way to the end and cleansed it from death. Though it was closed, He opened it; though it was strait and narrow, He filled it with His grace so that with His help we may also follow in His steps.
If we examine well the commandments of Christ, we will find that they all have this humble ethos: if they ask for your cloak, give them your coat also; if they ask you to go with them for a mile, go for two. We see an inverted pyramid in everything we read in the Gospel. We must understand this mindset and the ethos of the Gospel, otherwise we shall remain people without instruction. We must learn the judgment of God’s chastening which was manifested in a perfect way in the Person of His Son. This is the essence of the Gospel. The Gospel is in fact a revolution, but without weapons.
— Excerpt from: Ask, And It Shall Be Given You • Humility: The Ethos of Christ (p. 80-81) • Archimandrite Zacharias (Zacharou)
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But how can we honour and express our gratitude to our Most Holy Lady, we the last of Christians, the poor, the offscouring of all time? How can we fulfil her prophecy? How can we give value to the hymns and prayers that we send up to her either when we are alone or in our common church services?
The only way to honour the Mother of God is by following her path unwaveringly, humbling ourselves and continually giving thanks for all things, ‘more especially’ for the ‘great things which He that is mighty hath done to her’ (Luke 1:49).
Though poor, our thanksgiving will be our entrance ticket into the wondrous choir of ‘the rich among the people’, into the host of virgin souls from all ages who shine with inner purity and who ‘are brought with gladness to follow behind her’ to the King of kings, into the heavenly Holy of Holies.
— Excerpt from: Mariam: The Mother of the Lord and Mother of Our Life • The Mystery of the Most Holy Mother of God (p. 21-22) • Archimandrite Zacharias (Zacharou)
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Throughout the historical development of the term ‘theology’ in the understanding of the Fathers, the true nature of theology is understood as an existential communion and union with God. From the Patristic passages quoted until now it becomes obvious that knowledge of God, which is the communion of man with the most pure Light of Divinity, has a transcendental character. Man is called to overcome himself by practicing the virtues, putting off ‘the old man with his deeds’, so that he may be vouchsafed to put on ‘the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him’. Consequently, from this perspective, man’s salvation itself also has a transcendent character, since the fulfilment of his nature is related to its archetype, that is, to God, the true Being, Whose image it bears. Man was not created by God for him to remain what he is. He was created as man by nature, in order to become god by grace.
In addition, we could say that true theology also bears a transcendent character, since it requires the transcendence of objective phenomenology and man’s access to ontological - spiritual - knowledge. The journey towards experiential theology finally identifies itself with the way of ascetic perfection, where asceticism becomes the method of experiential theological knowledge. It is this ‘ascetic method’ that primarily distinguishes the theological path of Saint Sophrony.
— Excerpt from: Theology As A Spiritual State: In the Life and Teaching of Saint Sophrony the Athonite • 6.2 (p. 247) • Archimandrite Peter
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You must give more attention, both now and in the future, to spiritual life, to the practice of the commandments, to vigilance, to prayer, to reading the patristic ascetic works accepted by the Orthodox Church, and you will see that in the measure that your soul is enriched with these things, your mind too will gradually begin to acquire greater strength and clarity - in its thinking about God, in prayer, and even in theology and understanding of the Scriptures.
The beginning of spiritual life is the beginning of the struggle against the passions. Overcoming the passions is an extremely laborious task. This victory is more glorious than any other. Freedom from passions is higher than the gift of working miracles. Passions are overcome by long, persistent, hard, and unceasing struggle, day and night, together with the co-operation of grace. The right way to struggle against the passions is taught us by the holy Fathers.
— Excerpt from: Striving for Knowledge of God (Correspondence with David Balfour) • Letter 6 (p. 93) • Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov)
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