Sts. Theophan and Ignatius Study Group

We have a Sts. Theophan the Recluse and Ignatius Brianchaninov Study Group at St. Nicholas.  This is an online discussion on Discord, with a live meeting every 2nd Tuesday.

If you would like to join the group, Click this link to join the Discord: https://discord.gg/TwnVnnwKcB

Handouts and notes will be downloadable in the Discord.

Here you can find materials used by the group.

Past and Upcoming Readings (roughly in order):

• Introduction to the Study Group (please read first)
• Jesus Prayer 101 by St. Theophan
• Jesus Prayer 101 by St. Ignaty
• Some Supplements:
  • Fr. Artemy Vladimirov on the Jesus Prayer
  • Do Not Resent, Do Not React, Keep Inner Stillness by Metropolitan Jonah
• The Path of Prayer: Four Homilies on Prayer by St. Theophan:
  • • Homily 1
    • Homily 2
    • Homily 3
    • Homily 4
• Unseen Warfare
  • Book (Amazon) (Free PDF)
  • Class by Fr. Jacob Myers of blessed memory (we will be listening in class)
• Homily on the Meeting of the Lord by St. Theophan. We will be looking at this when the group meets again.

Some summary texts on important topics:

• The Prayer Rule
  • The Rule for Attending to Oneself by St. Ignaty Brianchaninov
    Written for a Certain Layman As a Result of His Desire To Live A Vigilant Life In The World. This includes the prayer rule given by St. Ignaty
  • A Prayer Rule by St. Theophan the Recluse
• The Essence: Vigilance and Being Within
  • The essential practice
  • A Scattered Life and an Attentive Life by St. Ignaty Brianchaninov
  • Being Within  by St. Theophan
• Misc.
  • Sayings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

Books

Here are a list of books in the order in which we will study them with Amazon links. Before you order these, please do the following first:

• Do you shop on Amazon? Then the next time you do, start by clicking on this Amazon link first.
• Or go to smile.amazon.com instead, and select St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Saratoga, CA as your charity.  Then every time you use the smile site instead of the regular Amazon site, you make a donation to the church with every purchase!

Then click on the links below to order the books:

• The Spiritual Life and How to be Attuned to it by St. Theophan
• The Field: Cultivating Salvation by St. Ignaty
• Kindling the Divine Spark by St. Theophan  (Only available used at the moment)
• The Arena: Guidelines for Spiritual and Monastic Life by St. Ignaty
• The Path to Salvation by St. Theophan: This is his magnum opus!
• The Refuge: Anchoring the Soul to God by St. Ignaty
• On the Prayer of Jesus by St. Ignaty