Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Letters from Father Seraphim + a few knit blocks



Over the last week,
Mr. Husband and I traveled to upstate New York,
Ottawa and then Montreal.
We fell ill on the trip and while a lot of things were
cancelled due to this illness,
I was able to read a lot from
the book, Letters from Fr. Seraphim,
and finished the book today.
*
It's an enjoyable read....
hard to categorize as the letters are responding
to Fr. Alexy when he was a laymen and then a very
new priest.
So many sections I have read to Mr. Husband over
the last week, it's such a down to earth book...
it stands as a guide in so many ways,
to what converts to Orthodoxy should watch out for
(i.e. common pitfalls), to how to deal with people
who are quite unwell on various levels, to
living quietly and authentically as an Orthodox Christian.
*
Anyone that has an interest in contemporary history of
Christianity and of the English language Orthodox culture,
books and churches, this book is a must.
I would say that the letters at times could be misunderstood
if you don't know the situation and culture at the time plus
the fairly recent changes in American Orthodoxy that concerned
Fr. Seraphim...but it's really quite level headed and showed a
part of Orthodoxy that I was not aware of,
as it happened 20+ years before my entry into the church....
*
It's a book with a challenge to us to
seek to be not of this world and what that means, looks like
and what we are going towards.
*
I've been reading books for years by Fr. Seraphim's
press, St. Herman's Press,
but this is the first book by him directly that
I've read; and I love letters so it was the perfect introduction for me.
*
Knitting ~ I thought I would have a lot more done,
but Mr. Husband and I did not know we
would fall ill Wed-Sat last week and
spend most of this week recovering...
I knit some things that I gave away already,
but a big part of my road trip knitting is seen below...


One large irregular shaped wash cloth/towel, one smaller cloth
and two more squares for my multi-coloured blanket. 
*
What are you reading and creating? Yarn Along with us!

3 comments:

steph said...

do hope you have completely recovered.....illness is awful any time, but on vacation when you are in unfamiliar surroundings is the worst. :(

Elizabeth @ The Garden Window said...

Ooh, another book to add to my Wish List! I hope you are both taking things easily and beginning to recover.

karen said...

you were quite productive during your illness and I hope you are well recovered by now!