Focolare, Community of Sant'Egidio, Neocatechumenal Way, Legionaries of Christ, Communion and Liberation, Opus Dei. These are but a few of the most recognizable names in the broader context of the so-called ecclesial movements. Their history goes back to the period following the First Vatican Council, crosses Vatican II, and develops throughout the twentieth century. It is a history that prepares the movements' rise in the last three decades, from John Paul II to Francis. These movements are a complex phenomenon that shapes the Church now more than before, and they play a key role for the future of Catholicism as a global community, in transition from a Europe-centered tradition to a world Church.

""You shall be perfect, even as your Father Who is in the heavens is perfect."" (Mt 5:48) These words of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ represent one of the most daunting of the commandments he has given his followers. But how are we to accomplish such a lofty task, living in a world full of turmoil, distractions, and challenges to our spiritual progress? In simple but powerful language, Discussion at a Monastery addresses questions about the meaning of Orthodox Christian monasticism, and of the spiritual life in general, based on the real-life experiences of a contemporary Greek Orthodox monk and his fellow spiritual laborers. Far from being suited only to monastics, however, this profound little book contains deep spiritual insights that will illumine the souls of all readers. At the same time, it will challenge anyone who is interested in developing a clearer understanding of the nature of the spiritual life-which is fundamentally a life of prayer-to first develop a clearer understanding of his or her own inner nature. "Monk Macarius is a monk of the Holy Cenobitic Monastery of the Dormition of the Theotokos in Penteli, Attica, Greece."

This book consists of articles that were presented at the International Conference dedicated to the 80th birth-anniversary and 35th anniversary since the enthronement of the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II. The conference was held by the International Centre for Christian Studies at the Orthodox Church of Georgia in Tbilisi, Georgia, on 14-15 December, 2012. The conference had three working sections: religion and science; religion and culture; and "God, Motherland and Man". Participants of the conference were scholars from the USA, France, Italy, Rumania, Poland, Czechia, and Lithuania; participants included the most reverend hierarchs, clergymen and representatives of the Georgian government. The work of the conference was summed up by the Round Table which outlined the tasks and methods of further cooperation. The participants of the Second International Conference expressed hope that modern society would fully estimate the dangers caused by the present lack of spirituality and will do all that is possible to restore spirituality in all spheres of public life. All these elements are examined and written about in this book.

Andrew Louth, one of the most respected authorities on Orthodoxy, introduces us to twenty key thinkers from the last two centuries. He begins with the Philokalia, the influential Orthodox collection published in 1782 which marked so many subsequent writers. The colorful characters, poets and thinkers who populate this book range from Romania, Serbia, Greece, England, France and also include exiles from Communist Russia. Louth offers historical and biographical sketches that help us understand the thought and impact of these men and women. Only some of them belong to the ranks of professional theologians. Many were neither priests nor bishops, but influential laymen. The book concludes with an illuminating chapter on Metropolitan Kallistos and the theological vision of the Philokalia.

The Chapters on Theology is one of Maximus' most eclectic writings. In this short piece, Maximus discusses many diverse themes, including God's relation to the cosmos, monastic discipline and life, scriptural difficulties, and his vision of the consummated universe in relation to the incarnate Word of God. The work is arranged into two hundred "chapters," which are often pithy pearls of wisdom that monks could learn from the respected figure of an elder or abbot. Chapters tend to address a range of issues monks would face in the course of their spiritual progress. As such, chapters differ in complexity, although many exhibit intentional ambiguities in order to speak meaningfully with the same sentence to those at different points in their spiritual journey. The wisdom of these ancient words has transcended its time and place, and continues to be an inspirational piece, the insights of which are just as applicable today as they were nearly a millennium and a half ago.

Starting with the influence of the Philokalia in nineteenth-century Russia, the book moves through the Slavophiles, Solovev, Florensky in Russia and then traces the story through the Christian intellectuals exiled from Stalin's Russia-Bulgakov, Berdyaev, Florovsky, Lossky, Lot-Borodine, Skobtsova-and a couple of theologians outside the Russian world: the Romanian Staniloae and the Serbian Popovich, both of whom studied in Paris. Andrew Louth then considers the contributions of the second generation Russians - Evdokimov, Meyendorff, Schmemann - and the theologians of Greece from the sixties onwards-Zizioulas, Yannaras, and others, as well as influential monks and spiritual elders, especially Fr Sophrony of the monastery in Essex and his mentor, St Silouan. The book concludes with an illuminating chapter on Metropolitan Kallistos and the theological vision of the Philokalia.

The Martyrdom, and the later History, of Simeon bar Sabba'e narrate the death of the bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon who was killed around the year 340 C.E. at the beginning of King Shapur II's "Great Persecution" of Christians in Sasanian Persia.

Missionary Stories and the Formation of the Syriac Churches analyzes the hagiographic traditions of seven missionary saints in the Syriac heritage during late antiquity: Thomas, Addai, Mari, John of Ephesus, Simeon of Beth Arsham, Jacob Baradaeus, and Ahudemmeh. Jeanne-Nicole Mellon Saint-Laurent studies a body of legends about the missionaries' voyages in the Syrian Orient to illustrate their shared symbols and motifs. Revealing how these texts encapsulated the concerns of the communities that produced them, she draws attention to the role of hagiography as a malleable genre that was well-suited for the idealized presentation of the beginnings of Christian communities. Hagiographers, through their reworking of missionary themes, asserted autonomy, orthodoxy, and apostolicity for their individual civic and monastic communities, positioning themselves in relationship to the rulers of their empires and to competing forms of Christianity. Saint-Laurent argues that missionary hagiography is an important and neglected source for understanding the development of the East and West Syriac ecclesiastical bodies: the Syrian Orthodox Church and the Church of the East. Given that many of these Syriac-speaking churches remain today in the Middle East and India, with diaspora communities in Europe and North America, this work opens the door for further study of the role of saints and stories as symbolic links between ancient and modern traditions.