Dear fellow Christian,
In today's perilous times, (2 Tim.3: 1) the enemies of Orthodox
Christianity are not only numerous but within the very walls of the church; the
weeds of neo-idolatry, syncretism, secularism, and pan-heresy are blooming and
de-Christianizing the confused members of the Orthodox church of Christ. Today
more than ever we need to abide by Saint Paul's deception-proof recipe
found in the second letter to the Thessalonians, Stand fast and hold on to the
traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle. (2:15) The
Lord gives the same instruction to the bishop of Thyateira and accordingly to
all the sincere members of his body, Hold on what you have until I come back
(Rev. 2:25). The true gospel of Christ, the fullness of Christianity and its
ability to heal today's heavily burdened man remain in the bosom of
Traditional Orthodoxy, the ark of salvation.
Orthodoxy came to this hemisphere
over one hundred years ago and the leadership of the church in its vast
majority instructed the priests to alter their traditional attire, in order to
facilitate the establishment of the Church. It was thought that these
"progressive" measures would help make us more acceptable to the
financially powerful Catholic and Protestant denominations. Unfortunately, we
have been overly influenced by the superficial theology of these secular forms
of Christianity and now we find ourselves in the position of the bishops of
Sardis and Laodicea; we have a name that we live but we are dead or at best,
lukewarm. Christ is calling us to WAKE UP!!!
My dear family in Christ, it would
seem that this century long American Orthodox experiment has missed its mark.
We have no saintly fathers or elders to speak of with the exception of several
Russian Orthodox Saints who practiced the very traditional form of Orthodoxy.
In the same period in the small country of Greece, alone we can name and boast
about many dozens of sanctified, miraculous, truly charismatic, and saintly
fathers. Today more than ever we need to bring to the surface the bright
example of these saintly contemporary fathers and their God-Inspired
Traditional Orthodox teachings to help us understand that holiness is
attainable; purification, illumination and theosis are attainable even in these
dark ages of materialism, atheism and secularism.
It has been the desire of the
sister societies of Saint Nikodemos Publications (Bethlehem, PA) and Saint
Nikodemos the Hagiorite Publications Society (Northampton, PA) to make
available to the English speaking Orthodox brothers and sisters the lives,
struggles, and teachings of these contemporary spiritual
"supersonics" (Tape A-15). By the grace of the Holy Triune God and
the intercessions of our patron Saint Nikodemos of Holy Mountain, the support
of a great number of our brothers and sisters in the US and Canada, our
societies have been able to publish and circulate over 20 books and 180
audio/CD/mp3 recordings. They deal mainly with the lives and teachings of these
illumined contemporary fathers. We would like to thank our editors, typists,
proofreaders, cassette/CD/MP3 duplicators and everyone who will make the effort
to share this catalog and its content with another soul for the redemption of
which Christ gave his Blood.
Constantine Zalalas
Saint Nikodemos Publications
Bethlehem PA
Please email any comments or questions you may have to: czalalas@rcn.com
