Saints Lives of the Saints / Synaxarion / Prologue

Y

Yallbeparticular

Sparrow
Orthodox
I try to keep up with reading St Nikolai of Zicha’s Prologue of Ohrid, which has a reading for each day. I think it’s very helpful in helping us acquire the mind (φρονημα) of the saints. Often in catechisms we get a very cerebral approach and learn just the doctrines as well as learning how the Church is different compared to other religions. In my experience we don’t really learn so much about how to BE a Christian, which is why I think we need this book, in addition to seeking out those who are living the faith. The Prologue has stories from the lives of the saints on each day of the Church (Old) Calendar, as well as a reflection and sermon by St Nikolai of Zicha.
The English translation is published by Sebastian press of the Serbian Orthodox church.

Does anyone else read the Prologue, or another Synaxarion like the one from Simonapetra or the one by St Dimitri?
 
Lawrence87

Lawrence87

Kingfisher
Orthodox
I haven't been able to get a hold of the Prologue. I do have a set of books of Orthodox Saints of Great Britian, which is great. A very similar premise, but focused on Saints from pre-schism Britian. It is not only edifying spiritually, but really helps to connect me to my country and our Orthodox past.

I also read a small passage from the Sayings of the Desert Fathers each day, and from My Life in Christ by St John of Kronstadt
 
C

ChiefSinnerJohn

Pigeon
Orthodox
Yallbeparticular said:
I try to keep up with reading St Nikolai of Zicha’s Prologue of Ohrid, which has a reading for each day. I think it’s very helpful in helping us acquire the mind (φρονημα) of the saints. Often in catechisms we get a very cerebral approach and learn just the doctrines as well as learning how the Church is different compared to other religions. In my experience we don’t really learn so much about how to BE a Christian, which is why I think we need this book, in addition to seeking out those who are living the faith. The Prologue has stories from the lives of the saints on each day of the Church (Old) Calendar, as well as a reflection and sermon by St Nikolai of Zicha.
The English translation is published by Sebastian press of the Serbian Orthodox church.

Does anyone else read the Prologue, or another Synaxarion like the one from Simonapetra or the one by St Dimitri?
Click to expand...

The Prologue is great. St Nikolai’s reflections and homilies are wonderful.

I also have a big Synaxarion set which is published by Holy Apostles Convent in Buena Vista, CO. (Schismatic group unfortunately; however, they publish some great books such as lives of Saints and scripture. All patristically based - no material of them trying to justify their schismatic position.)

There is one volume for each month which has Saints lives for each day and reading for the fixed feast days, and then there is a Triodion and Pentecostarion volume for the moveable feasts and those seasons. It is far far too much material for a daily reading, but it’s a wonderful resource to delve deeper into specific saints and to read the full life. They range from just a couple of pages to nearly 100 pages for certain Saints. The Triodion and Pentecostarion volume contain homilies for the feast days, commentaries on the scripture readings, and much more. It’s really an incredible set. Its quite pricey but worth every penny. I bought it with the first round of stimulus check money at the beginning of the COVID madness haha.

I was not married at the time so it was easier to drop a chunk of money on it, but I saw it as a great investment for mine and my future family’s soul. I am married now and starting a family; it will provide years of spiritual nourishment and edification. I think it will be an excellent resource in homeschooling our children as well. In addition to just the lives of the Saints there is so much historical context within them that would provide as great jumping off points to learn and study all kinds different periods of history that I never learned about in public school.


MichaelWitcoff said:
Yep, my wife and I are trying to read from either the Prologue or the Married Saints book by David and Mary Ford daily. The Prologue is what I will read to our (God willing) future children as well.
Click to expand...

I have never heard of this Married Saints book. I will have to look into this for my wife and I to read.
 
Y

Yallbeparticular

Sparrow
Orthodox
nagareboshi said:
Recently started reading the Prologue, really glad to have it recommended. The information contained within it is pretty much impossible to find on the internet, in my opinion.
Click to expand...
I think so too. If everyone were reading and applying these lives of the saints we wouldn’t have had the covidian innovations in the church. What i noticed about the saints is that they do NOT fear death. They welcome death when it comes. It’s foreign to our modern sensibilities.
 
DanielH

DanielH

Ostrich
Moderator
Orthodox
I was considering pulling the lives of the saints off oca.org and putting them into a .pdf that could be printed out or put into an ereader format. The Prologue is simply too expensive, and I just don't like looking at a screen using the internet in order to access the lives of the saints. The only real problem with this is that there is so much content with the OCA's lives of the saints. Just for today there is 26 paragraphs written for 5 saints and one icon, not counting their troparia and kontakia. I don't have the Prologue but I assume this is more content than the Prologue.

Would anyone be interested in this if I compiled the lives of the saints and their troparia/hontakia from oca.org in .pdf format? It would be a large file size, especially if I included all of the icons.
 
O

orthoaussie2121

Sparrow
Orthodox
Lawrence87 said:
I haven't been able to get a hold of the Prologue. I do have a set of books of Orthodox Saints of Great Britian, which is great. A very similar premise, but focused on Saints from pre-schism Britian. It is not only edifying spiritually, but really helps to connect me to my country and our Orthodox past.

I also read a small passage from the Sayings of the Desert Fathers each day, and from My Life in Christ by St John of Kronstadt
Click to expand...
"I do have a set of books of Orthodox Saints of Great Britain." May I ask where you purchased this set from?
 
A

Aboulia

Woodpecker
Orthodox
"The Great Collection of Lives of the Saints" is a translation from St Dmitry of Rostov's Russian editions. It's what I use and highly recommend it. (it's getting harder to find, and can be quite expensive now)The only downside is that only 8/12 months are translated, and I don't know if they're going to be worked on. I've reached out to St Herman Press to ask, and at the same time offered to donate to support translation work, but my email was ignored. I've also got the "Orthodox Calendar" app by the Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox church (which is free), between the two I find it sufficient for daily readings.

I was considering the Prologue at one point but decided against it after I found this site which claims to have the daily prologue readings, The lives of the saints in the aforementioned version I'm reading are longer and more detailed, so I largely ignore the Prologue.
 
H

Hallouminati

Chicken
Orthodox
Aboulia said:
"The Great Collection of Lives of the Saints" is a translation from St Dmitry of Rostov's Russian editions. It's what I use and highly recommend it. (it's getting harder to find, and can be quite expensive now)The only downside is that only 8/12 months are translated, and I don't know if they're going to be worked on. I've reached out to St Herman Press to ask, and at the same time offered to donate to support translation work, but my email was ignored. I've also got the "Orthodox Calendar" app by the Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox church (which is free), between the two I find it sufficient for daily readings.

I was considering the Prologue at one point but decided against it after I found this site which claims to have the daily prologue readings, The lives of the saints in the aforementioned version I'm reading are longer and more detailed, so I largely ignore the Prologue.
Click to expand...
This collection and translation is one of the best I've found as well, and I'm blessed to have it on my shelf. Unfortunately they never got around to finishing the May through August translations. I've written to the translator, Fr. Thomas Marretta in the past and received the below reply:

Dear Redacted, God bless you. Thank you so much for your words of encouragement. The Lives of the saints from St. Dimitri project is progressing steadily. Unfortunately, I have to work full time in addition to taking care of the parish so, at this stage of my life, I need about 3 or 4 years to produce each volume. For literary reasons, I take my time with editing, in the hope that someone will want to read the volumes after I have passed on! Work on vol. 8 is almost complete, and I have done the rough, initial translation of about half of vol.9. So if you find the books profitable, I would recommend purchasing what's currently available, and getting on Chrysostom Press' mailing list. Also- please pray that the gracious Lord bear with the sinful translator long enough for him to complete the project! In Christ, Thomas, protopresbyter
 
A

Aboulia

Woodpecker
Orthodox
Hallouminati said:
This collection and translation is one of the best I've found as well, and I'm blessed to have it on my shelf. Unfortunately they never got around to finishing the May through August translations. I've written to the translator, Fr. Thomas Marretta in the past and received the below reply:

Dear Redacted, God bless you. Thank you so much for your words of encouragement. The Lives of the saints from St. Dimitri project is progressing steadily. Unfortunately, I have to work full time in addition to taking care of the parish so, at this stage of my life, I need about 3 or 4 years to produce each volume. For literary reasons, I take my time with editing, in the hope that someone will want to read the volumes after I have passed on! Work on vol. 8 is almost complete, and I have done the rough, initial translation of about half of vol.9. So if you find the books profitable, I would recommend purchasing what's currently available, and getting on Chrysostom Press' mailing list. Also- please pray that the gracious Lord bear with the sinful translator long enough for him to complete the project! In Christ, Thomas, protopresbyter
Click to expand...

That must be quite the old email, as Vol 8 was published in 2012, it's been 9 years. I was able to dig up his email, and will reach out to the Fr Thomas directly, I hope he is well. I don't know why I never did this before.
 
A

Aboulia

Woodpecker
Orthodox
I received a reply from Fr Thomas, an update for those interested.

Thank you for your letter and for your encouraging words. I am always happy to hear from people who like the series and are profiting from it.

Vol. 9 has been completed and St. Herman's is preparing it for publication. I haven't heard a release date. The translation of Vol. 10 has been completed, but I'm still working on the editing. I've started work on Vol.11, but it is still in the early stages. I have a helper now, and I hope, once she's broken in, that this will allow things to move faster. Also, I have relatively recently retired from my secular employment, so I have somewhat more time than before, although of course other things tend to crowd in. In any case since, as might be said, the project is my life's work, I'm committed to bringing it to a successful conclusion, if the Lord allows it.
Click to expand...
 
Top