The practice of living the life in Christ: fasting, vigil lamps, head-coverings, family life, icon corners, and other forms of Orthopraxy. All Forum Rules apply. No polemics. No heated discussions. No name-calling.
I appreciate this thread as I had never heard of the source of this material. I located the book and discerned from its table of contents that it is exactly what I need. This narrows down my daily responsibility to something achievable, and it goes over precisely what I confront and the corresponding narrow path to follow.
The book is about 150 pages in an english translation by Holy Trinity Monastery of Jordanville, NY which I just ordered through Eastern Christian Supply. These are its title and table of contents:
'A Day of Holy Life, or the Answer to the Question, How Can I Live a Holy Life?'
By Metropolitan Gregory (1784-1860)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Appeal to the Christian
How Should We Conduct Ourselves in the Morning?
How Should We Conduct Ourselves in Relation to the Lord God?
How should we conduct ourselves in relationship to other people?
How Should We Conduct Ourselves in Some of the Most Common Situations of Life?
How to Conduct Ourselves in Happiness
How to Conduct Ourselves in Misfortune
How to Conduct Ourselves in Wealth
How to Conduct Ourselves in Poverty
How to Conduct Ourselves When People Praise Us
How to Conduct Ourselves When People Speak Evil of Us
How to Conduct Ourselves in Illness
How to Protect Ourselves from the Harmful Effect of Bad Example
How Should We Conduct Ourselves in Our Daily Work?
How Should We Conduct Ourselves During Meals?
How Should We Conduct Ourselves During Rest After Lunch?
How Should We Conduct Ourselves in the Evening?
How Should We Conduct Ourselves Before Sleep?
How Should We Conduct Ourselves During Sleeplessness at Night?
The Most Important Thing Concerning Prayer
Conclusion
How Should We Spend Sundays?
Afterword
Biography of Metropolitan Gregory
Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth thee to stray from the words of knowledge.
Appreciate that which was a bit like being greeted into a higher realm.
I have plenty of books on Orthodoxy, but I perceive that I badly need to simply live it more than merely acquire a bigger intellectual arsenal. God willing, I will relocate in a month to a town with a parish from my synod and subsequently become a catechumen. I recall Hierotheos Vlachos writing something to the effect that intellectual learning is only one aspect of the learning in a proper catechism. This book by Metropolitan Gregory appears designed to help put what he was talking about into effect.
Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth thee to stray from the words of knowledge.
Appreciate that which was a bit like being greeted into a higher realm.
I have plenty of books on Orthodoxy, but I perceive that I badly need to simply live it more than merely acquire a bigger intellectual arsenal. God willing, I will relocate in a month to a town with a parish from my synod and subsequently become a catechumen. I recall Hierotheos Vlachos writing something to the effect that intellectual learning is only one aspect of the learning in a proper catechism. This book by Metropolitan Gregory appears designed to help put what he was talking about into effect.
Yet, when we find ourselves isolated, then these books can help keep us focused.
Of course, there is always the risk of intellectual pride, and hence the need for a confessor to bring us back to reality.
I too, hope to move closer to one of our churches in the near future.
Sadly, that will mean moving away from my immediate relatives (my son and his young children), but the trade off is that I can be nearer to my mom, my brother-in-law and my sister-in-law who are all in their late 80s to early 90s.
God willing, I will relocate in a month to a town with a parish from my synod and subsequently become a catechumen. I recall Hierotheos Vlachos writing something to the effect that intellectual learning is only one aspect of the learning in a proper catechism. This book by Metropolitan Gregory appears designed to help put what he was talking about into effect.
Yet, when we find ourselves isolated, then these books can help keep us focused.
Of course, there is always the risk of intellectual pride, and hence the need for a confessor to bring us back to reality.
I too, hope to move closer to one of our churches in the near future.
I did move to an apartment one building over from my priest, and I am therefore going to Church regularly. I am trying to make life more simple, and I believe that was a major step in that direction. The kind of environment one is in makes a world of difference.
I have this book next to my bedside next to edifying books like the Psalter, the Evergetinos, and the Lives of the Saints. My favorite edition of the Synaxarion is the one published by Holy Apostles Convent. When I get lost in one of those stories, it changes everthing from bad to good.
Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth thee to stray from the words of knowledge.