Way of the Ascetics: The Ancient Tradition of Discipline and Inner Growth

Publication Data: Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1985
Format: softcover
Number of Pages: xiv + 110
Dimensions (l × w × h): 18.4 cm × 12.8 cm × 1.0 cm
ISBN: 0‒88141‒049‒7
ISBN: 978‒0‒88141‒049‒5

   
Tito Colliander
Translation by Katherine Ferré
Introduction by Kenneth Leech

“It is with the spiritual tradition of Eastern Orthodoxy that Tito Colliander is concerned in this volume, originally published some thirty years ago in Swedish. Drawing on collected sayings of the holy men of the East, he presents, for the Western reader, something of the atmosphere of Orthodox spirituality. For Orthodoxy is not primarily a system of correctness of doctrinal formulations. Doxa means glory. Orthodoxy is therefore concerned with ‘right glory,’ and it is therefore rooted in the sense of theology as inseparable from human transformation. The purpose of theology is nothing less than the transfiguring of human life ‘from glory to glory.’”
—“INTRODUCTION”

CONTENTS

   Introduction
1 On a Resolute and Sustained Purpose
2 On the Insufficiency of Human Strength
3 On the Garden of the Heart
4 On the Silent and Invisible Warfare
5 On the Denial of Self and the Cleansing of the Heart
6 On Eradicating the Desire for Enjoyment
7 On the Transfer of Love from the Self to Christ
8 On Guarding Against the Re-entry of Vanquished Evil
9 On the Conquest of the World
10 On the Sins of Others and One’s Own
11 On the Inner Warfare as a Means to an End
12 On Obedience
13 On Progress in Depth
14 On Humility and Watchfulness
15 On Prayer
16 On Prayer
17 On Prayer
18 On Prayer
19 On the Bodily and Mental Accompaniments of Prayer
20 On Fasting
21 On the Avoidance of Extravagance
22 On the Use of Material Things
23 On Times of Darkness
24 On an Interpretation of Zacchaeus
25 On the Jesus Prayer
26 On the Pearl of Great Price
   List of Fathers and Authors
   A Note on the Philokalia
   Index