Orthodox TraditionOrder FormAbout C.T.O.S.Navigator (Site Map)
Home > Publications > Monasticism
Search:
The Evergetinos
A Complete Text

Translated and edited by Archbishop Chrysostomos, Hieromonk Patapios, Bishop Ambrose, Bishop Auxentios, Monk Chrysostomos, Constantine Kokenes, Nun Lydia, John V. Petropoulos, John V. Rexine, and Father Gregory Telepneff 

$120 four-volume paperbound set
$32.95 individual paperbound volumes


One of the classic collections of Orthodox spiritual writings, the Evergetinos is a source of inspiration, spiritual guidance, and insight into the lives of men and women who, during the first few centuries of Christianity, attained to the highest ideals of the spiritual life. In the spiritual laboratory of the Egyptian deserts, these seekers after salvation, enlightenment, and union with Christ brought into sharp focus the teachings of the Apostles and the message of Holy Writ in their daily lives and activities. The stern, the loving, “fools for Christ”—all of the exemplars of Christian Sainthood, the many inhabitants of the many mansions above, are to be found in the rich and profitable lives portrayed in this collection. Also to be found are perfect models for every modern Christian who wishes sincerely to imitate those who have walked the path towards moral and spiritual perfection. This is the first English translation of this wonderful treasury of spiritual wisdom.

The Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies is pleased to announce that, with the publication, on July 1, 2008, of the fourteenth and last volume—the third volume of Book Four—of the first complete text in the English language of The Evergetinos, we will now issue this classical Orthodox collection of the sayings and aphorisms of the Desert Fathers (as well as other Hesychastic writings) in a four-book library set, corresponding to the original Greek publication. These four volumes will be available in an attractive paperbound and a hardbound edition, in two color printing (red and black), with Byzantine-style line drawings, and replete with the original Prologue of St. Nicodemos the Hagiorite, an historical introduction by Archbishop Chrysostomos of Etna, a Preface by Hieromonk Dr. Gorazd, Director of the Institute of Eastern Christianity at the Charles University in Prague, and footnotes and indices. Each volume will be approximately 400 pages in length.

This monumental Patristic translation, twenty years in preparation, is the most important publication yet undertaken by the Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies. The Evergetinos, compiled by St. Makarios of Corinth and first published by St. Nicodemos in 1783, is a companion volume of The Philokalia—indeed a precursor, of sorts, to that work—, and together with it an essential and classical spiritual guide for Orthodox Christians seeking the inner life of spiritual transformation. The project, a collaborative effort, was initiated by Archbishop Chrysostomos while he was a Visiting Scholar at Oxford University in 1988 and continued to completion under his direction and editorship, and that of Hieromonk Patapios, with the collaboration of Bishop Ambrose of Methone, Bishop Auxentios of Photike, Monk Chrysostomos, Dr. Constantine Kokenes, Nun Lydia, Professor John V. Petropoulos, the late Professor John V. Rexine, and Reverend Gregory Telepneff.



About...Order
About the Translators
The Most Reverend Dr. Chrysostomos is a Senior Scholar at the C.T.O.S. He completed his studies in history (with a concentration in Byzantine historical theology) at the University of California, the Licentiate in Theology at the C.T.O.S., and his graduate study in psychology at Princeton University. He has held professorial posts at the University of California, Ashland Theological Seminary, and Ashland University and visiting professorships at the Theological Institute of Uppsala University (Sweden) and, as a Fulbright Scholar in Romania, at the University of Bucharest, the Alexandru I. Cuza University of Iaşi, and the Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism. His Eminence is also former Executive Director of the United States Fulbright Commission in Romania.

Hieromonk Patapios, Academic Director of the C.T.O.S., holds the honors B.A. from Cambridge University, the Licentiate in Orthodox Theological Studies from the C.T.O.S., graduate degrees from the Pennsylvania State University and the University of Pittsburgh, and the Doctor of Theology degree in Patristics from the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley.

The Right Reverend Ambrose is Titular Bishop of Methoni and assistant to Metropolitan Cyprian of Oropos and Phyle, President of the Holy Synod in Resistance, Orthodox Church of Greece. He completed his graduate study at the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London.

The Right Reverend Auxentios, Director of the C.T.O.S., is a graduate of Princeton University. He received the Licentiate in Theology from the C.T.O.S. and the Doctor of Theology degree in Orthodox Liturgics at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley.

Monk Chrysostomos is a brother of the St. Gregory Palamas Monastery in Etna, CA, where he received his monastic training. He received his Diploma in Theology from the C.T.O.S. in 2009.

Dr. Constantine Kokenes received his M.D. at Duke University and is a member of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese.

Nun Lydia is a sister of the Convent of the Holy Angels, outside Athens, Greece. She received her B.A. degree at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

John V. Petropoulos, who received his doctorate at Lincoln College, Oxford University, is Associate Professor of Ancient Greek Literature at the Democritean University of Thrace at Alexandroupolis.

The Reverend Gregory Telepneff is a Senior Scholar at the Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies. A Yale University graduate, he received his doctorate in Patristics at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley. He is Pastor of the St. John Chrysostomos Church in Saugus (Boston), Massachusetts, and teaches Theology and Religious Studies on an adjunct basis at Anna Maria College. He is at present a Visiting Scholar at the Harvard Divinity School. Father Gregory is the author of a number of scholarly studies and a groundbreaking historical work on early Irish monasticism, The Egyptian Desert in the Irish Bogs: The Byzantine Character of Early Celtic Monasticism (Etna, CA: C.T.O.S., 2001).