The Sunflower: Conforming the Will of Man to the Will of God

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1. Essential read for our times

   Posted by Slobodan on 14th Sep 2019

   In times when there are virtually no Startsi (Elders) left, and even true spiritual guides are scarce, it becomes ever so harder to recognize the Will of God in one's life. This book does not only deal with one of the hardest questions from philosophical standpoint, but is also written in a very understandable, down-to-earth language, and is full of practical advices. And so, it becomes an essential read for our times.
   
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   Regarding the negative review written below, I'm posting an excerpt from Fr. Seraphim Rose's Preface to "The Place of Blessed Augustine in the Orthodox Church":
   
   "...not merely a "scapegoat" on which one loads all possible theological errors, justly or unjustly, but something even more dangerous: an excuse for an elitist philosophy of superiority of "Eastern wisdom" over everything "Western". According to this philosophy, not only Augustine himself, but also everyone under any kind of "Western influence", including many of the eminent Orthodox theologians of recent centuries, does not "really understand" Orthodox doctrine and must be taught by the present-day exponents of the "patristic revival". Bishop Theophan the Recluse, the great 19th-century Russian Father, is often especially singled out for abuse in this regard: because he used some expressions borrowed from the West, and even translated some Western books (even while changing them to remove all un-Orthodox ideas) since he saw that the spiritually impoverished Orthodox people could benefit from such books (in this he was only following the earlier example of St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain)—our present-day "elitists" try to discredit him by smearing him with the name of "scholastic". The further implication of these criticisms is clear: if such great Orthodox teachers as Blessed Augustine and Bishop Theophan cannot be trusted, then how much less can the rest of us ordinary Orthodox Christians understand the complexities of Orthodox doctrine? The "true doctrine" of the Church must be so subtle that it can "really" be understood only by the few who have theological degrees from the modernist Orthodox academies where the "patristic revival" is in the full bloom, or are otherwise certified as "genuinely patristic" thinkers.
   
   Yet, a strange self-contradiction besets this "patristic elite": their language, their tone, their whole approach to such questions—are so very Western (sometimes even "jesuitical"!) that one is astonished at their blindness in trying to criticize what is obviously so much a part of themselves."

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2. Scholastic

   Posted by Daniel DeLorenzo on 26th Sep 2018

   It was originally written by a Roman Catholic, and adapted by St. John. example of the Roman Captivity of the Russian Church. Thomistic, scholastic, and direct. I read through a quarter of it and put it down. 50-years of Western scholasticism were enough for me.
   

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3. Spiritual Classic

   Posted by Peter Gendi on 19th Sep 2018

   Just bought it a few days ago and haven't read it all. However, from what I did read, it has been very spiritually beneficial. I spent a good amount of time contemplating on what I read. Bought two more copies for people who I believe would like to read the book. It is a spiritual classic that was translated into English for the first time. Hope this Publisher translates other similar Spiritually benefiting texts in the future.

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