Ages of the Spiritual Life

How does one discern the truth? Many paths are turned inward, are egoistic, Gnostic and self-serving. Others are contradictory in their demands, confusing to seekers, dishonestly promising ecstatic experience with little effort. Evdokimov draws from the great current of Christian spiritual life in the West and in particular the Eastern tradition, revealing how modern mankind may recover the voices of silence, prayer and contemplation. Ages of the Spiritual Life presents a different view of the spiritual life. Paul Evdokimov's spirituality is open to God, the world and to the neighbor. It is the spirituality of the Great Tradition of the Church, but refreshingly new, rooted in the Bible and liturgy but entwined with the everyday life of home, school and work, a spirituality that is truly "for the life of the world." Models and teachers are the desert fathers and mothers and the monastics. Evdokimov's gift is the idea of an "interiorized monasticism" for all. The true pattern of the spiritual life for us in our time means incorporating into our lives the basics of the monastics' life: prayers, liturgy, scripture, work, love and care for the neighbor.Paul Evdokimov