The Diary of a Russian Priest

Publication Data: Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2001
Format: softcover
Number of Pages: 255
Dimensions (l × w × h): 21.6 cm × 13.9 cm × 1.8 cm
Additional Information: black-and-white illustrations
ISBN: 0‒88141‒000‒4

   
Alexander Elchaninov
Translated by Helen Iswolsky
English edition prepared by Kallistos Timothy Ware
With an introduction by Tamara Elchaninov and a Foreword by Dimitri Obolensky

“The author of this work never intended to have it published. It was planned as a book a short time after Father Alexander’s death, so that his life’s unfinished task should be in some way continued and confirmed. Compiled by his wife, the pages that follow contain some of the notes that he made for his own use, together with excerpts from his letters, several outlines for sermons, and a few thoughts jotted at random on scraps of paper found among his writings. This book will prove, perhaps, of particular value to people of the present day who have come from secular life to religion and the Church: for Father Elchaninov himself came to the priesthood through the gates of secular culture, after many years of educational and social work, in which he experienced to the full the tensions and difficulties of Russia’s tragic destiny.”
—“Introduction”

CONTENTS

Foreword by Dimitri Obolensky
Introduction by Tamar Elchaninov
FRAGMENTS OF A DIARY
EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS TO YOUNG PEOPLE
ADVICE TO YOUNG PRIESTS
THE PRACTICAL VALUE OF FAITH (a draft)
A TALK BEFORE CONFESSION
A RETREAT IN A MONASTERY
THE DEVIL’S STRONGHOLD (On Pride)