This book review ran in the Los Angeles Times this past Saturday. The first volume, which came out in 1997, is one of my very favorite books; I tell people, if you're only buying one book, don't get one of mine--get "Father Arseny." There is more wisdom in that book than I can even process, much less produce. Now a second volume has been translated, this one mostly reminiscences from the last decade of Fr. Arseny's life, by people who knew him after his release from prison.
Last Thurs I recorded my first commentary for the National Public Radio show, "Morning Edition". Yay! I hope it will run soon, but it's on cloning and stem cell research, and they may wait for a news hook. I'll send it out once its broadcast. They said they will try to let me know ahead of time when its going to run, but as a news show ME under production 24 hours a day, and sometimes they change the lineup in the middle of the night. Hope it works out that I can tune in to catch it--always a strange experience. Free book a-comin: I mentioned last time that I've been working on a chapter for a new book series on Christian history; the plan is to do something like the Time-Life book series on World War II, with long chapters, lots of illustrations, sidebars, etc, very approachable. THe first volume is at the printer's now, and the plan is to give it away free and hope people will subscribe to subsequent volumes. In a couple of weeks they should have things set up to take orders, and I'll be able to pass on to you an 800 number or a website. Have a very blessed Christmas and a joyous new year! ******** Father Arseny: Priest, Prisoner, Spiritual Father (St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1997) Father Arseny: A Cloud of Witnesses (St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2001) translated by Vera Bouteneff Orthodox Christians like to tell each other that their church is the "best kept secret" in America. That's one way to make sense of the puzzling fact that, though membership estimates range from three to six million (record-keeping is not the faith's strong suit), the church is mostly invisible. Other Americans might recall going to a Greek wedding once, or seeing Russians troop around their church with candles at midnight, but otherwise have little awareness of this non-Protestant, non-Catholic, Christian body. Thus, when something big happens in the world of Orthodox publishing, it's mostly unknown outside church circles. Something big happened four years ago, with the publication of "Father Arseny: Priest, Prisoner, Spiritual Father." This was a translation of a book that had already sold 400,000 copies in Russia, the first open publication of a battered manuscript which had previously circulated only in carbon copy, underground. American Orthodox immediately recognized "Father Arseny" as a spiritual treasure. The book is a collection of memoirs assembled by someone who calls himself "the servant of God Alexander." The essays describe a Russian priest through the eyes of many who knew him, both during his years in a communist concentration camp, and in the town where he lived till his death in 1975. Father Arseny's radical compassion and humility embody the distinctive flavor of Orthodox spirituality, and as such his story struck an immediate chord. For example, the book opens with dawn in the sub-freezing gulag, as the feeble, aging priest struggles to light a fire for the barracks. Clergy were despised by everyone, even other prisoners; Christians were believed to be stupid. Yet in the course of this typical day Fr. Arseny endures beatings and abuse with patience, while caring for two sick prisoners and sharing with them his rations. One invalid is a criminal, and the other a deposed official who had signed Fr. Arseny's own sentence. Through the course of succeeding chapters both become converts, and take the priest as their spiritual father. The character of this kindly, long-suffering priest contrasts with the American expectation of what a successful Christian leader would be like: glib, brisk, upbeat, forceful. Fr. Arseny represents a different kind of Christian spirituality, one associated more with the Desert Fathers and early Christian spirituality. Fr. Arseny differs in another way: he has contact with the supernatural. American Christian spokesmen live in an orderly, corporate sort of world, but Fr. Arseny is frequently shown at crux of miraculous events. In one incident, he and a young man are thrown into a punishment cell, a small metal cubicle exposed to -22 degree temperatures. The guards expected to find both dead when they unlocked the door 48 hours later. Instead, they found the prisoners rested and radiant, with a thick coat of frost on their clothing. As the young man described it later, when he collapsed in despair he saw the dark cell flooded with light, and Fr. Arseny praying in priestly garments. The young man, like most others who knew Fr. Arseny, was transformed by his encounter. These distinctively Orthodox elements, of humble compassion and spiritual power, are what made the first "Father Arseny" volume so beloved, and why the new volume has been eagerly awaited. "Father Arseny: A Cloud of Witnesses" continues the story with essays by people who knew him in the years after prison, and like the first includes many tales of personal transformation and miracles. When asked if other, similar samizdat works are waiting to be published, translator Vera Bouteneff says, "I wish, I wish. Everything I've found so far was much too sweet." Her own parents fled Russia soon after the Revolution; her father had been sentenced to be shot, but the order was commuted to exile. Her practical turn of mind is evident in the straightforwardness of the translation. Many other holy women and men lived during the communist era, but Bouteneff has found those accounts to be overstated and saccharine. "Fr. Arseny," which was written by many different people of different educational levels, preserves a winning directness. Those who would like to know more about Orthodox Christian spirituality can see it enacted in these books, worked out in human lives rather than in theory. Soon after the publication of the first volume a story went around the internet: an Orthodox nun who had been reading the book one night turned out her light to go to sleep, looked back toward the book–and it was glowing. Though she hadn't heard the story, "I won't deny it," says Bouteneff. "I believe in miracles." ******** Frederica Mathewes-Green www.frederica.com --> missing mail advisory <-- Occasionally, mail sent to [EMAIL PROTECTED] never arrives. If you don't get a reply in a few days, shake your fist helplessly at AOL and write again. Sorry.
