UDC 271.2BBK 86.372С 37

Recommended for publication by the Publishing Council of the Orthodox Church in Moldova

Monk Simeon of Athos. Birds of the air or through prayer to sacred silence. – Holy Mount Athos: The New Thebaid Hermitage of the Athos Russian Panteleimon Monastery, Chisinau, 2015. – 560 pp. ISBN 978-5-7877-0099-2.

In the third part of the book “Birds of Heaven or the Journeys of the Soul in embrace of God" tells of an in-depth search for monastic dispassion, so necessary in spiritual life, of efforts to understand the essence of this high state of spirit in comparison with the ascetic experience of the monks of Athos, Sinai and Egypt. The fourth part of the book introduces us to the deeply hidden and mysterious life of Athos monasticism, called hesychasm or sacred silence. The chapters of this book tell about the comprehension of the Divine dignity of every person, about the practice of sacred contemplation, which opens up the opportunity for the human spirit to believe in its deification and acquire it in all the fullness of its likeness to God.

IS-15-512-11246

© Hermitage New Thebaid of the Athos Russian Panteleimon Monastery, 2015© Syntagma LLC, layout, layout, 2015© KAMNO Publishing House, 2015© MarketPrint LLC

The author sincerely thanks the Faraday company, Oleg and Svetlana Andrianov for their help in publishing the book. He also expresses deep gratitude to Yulia Golubeva and Margarita Volovikova for their assistance in working on the text. Photos courtesy of Priest Alexander Koblov and Oleg Kozlov.