Sexuality, Marriage, and Celibacy in Byzantine Law — Matthew Blastares

Matthew Blastares compiled the most important legal collection of the late Byzantine Empire, a collection that Orthodox ecclesiastical judges continued to use in the Ottoman Empire. The collection ranges from church law that any Christian might recognize to laws that seem bizarre to the modern eye (such as multiple restrictions on menstruating women) to those that retain their relevance for contemporary debates (such as those related to homosexuality). No English translation of significant portions of the work has existed before this publication by Patrick Viscuso. I know of nobody more suited to introduce and translate these texts; Viscuso’s grasp of late Byzantine legal texts is unparalleled. The result, not surprisingly, is a masterful and significant work of legal scholarship and a cogent, clear, annotated translation that belongs on the bookshelf of all who study Byzantium and its church. —Tia Kolbaba (Rutgers University)

Touching Heaven: Discovering Orthodox Christianity on the Island of Valaam — John Oliver and Jonah Paffhausen

“Deep in a northern Russian forest of jade and brown, far from any hint of civilization, Valaam monastery sinks into the seasons of the year as it has for a thousand years before….”

So begins the story of John Oliver, a young American on a journey of discovery— a journey that leads him to an ancient Russian monastery, a place of peace and a place of struggle. For on Valaam, he encounters the great depths of Orthodox Christianity and is reminded that the Christian life is not for the faint of heart. And on Valaam, the treasure of stillness requires a fierce guarding.

“A gripping…account of what drew John Oliver into the deep waters of Christianity and made him an Orthodox Christian.” — Jim Forest

“This marvelous book …leads us inward and upward, until for a moment, at least, we touch heaven.” — Fr. John Breck

Touching Heaven is a lovely book, quiet and contemplative, and full of peaceful revelations.” — Frederica Matthewes-Green

Person and Eros — Christos Yannaras

Person and Eros is probably one of the most important theological works to be published in Greece in the twentieth century. It addresses the question of how we encounter the ultimate reality we call God. Christos Yannaras argues that the intellectual ascent to first principles which is characteristic of the Western philosophical tradition is based on mistaken premises. We cannot encounter reality simply through conceptual knowledge. The knowledge of truth is not exhausted in its linguistic expression; it is acquired through immediate experience. Yannaras thus leads us by way of the problem of knowledge to a theological vision of union with the supreme mode of loving self-transcending and self-offering being. Norman Russell’s lucid translation makes this vision accessible for the first time to English-speaking readers.

A Noble Task: Entry into the Clergy in the First Five Centuries — Lewis J. Patsavos

This book presents a rich collection of key texts from the Fathers and early councils setting out what was expected in moral and educational terms from aspirants to the clergy in the early Christian centuries. Hitherto students of the early church have had to search for this material in a variety of different publications. Here they will find it translated and discussed in a comprehensive manner. While the latest historical scholarship has been taken into account, the book’s main focus is on the spiritual rather than the social role of the clergy. It is the author’s deepest wish that those aspiring to the Christian priesthood might find here an accurate and vivid account of the virtuous life that should always be their goal.

Review
A prolific reference work . . . Using a descriptive method, Professor Patsavos illustrates how key patterns of values, formulated during the first five centuries of Christianity, became formative for the remaining Orthodox Christian history. . . . –Marian Gh. Simion, Assistant Director, Boston Theological Institute