Recommend a Good Orthodox Catechism

[Maximus]

I like The Law of God, by Fr. Seraphim Slobodskoy, but at $50, it's not cheap.

Perhaps we could establish a list of good catechisms to recommend to inquirers (I wouldn't mind acquiring a couple of them myself).

 

[Kolya]

There's a good online one at Orthodoxeurope. The link is in the Sticky for Links - khaleas posted it.
Kolya

 

[gorion]

Entering The Orthodox Church (The Catechism and Baptism of Adults)

By Metropolitan of Nafpaktos Hierotheos

Published by Birth of the Theotokos Monastery

www. pelagia.org

ISBN 960-7070-52-6

 

[Maximus]

Entering The Orthodox Church (The Catechism and Baptism of Adults)

By Metropolitan of Nafpaktos Hierotheos

Published by Birth of the Theotokos Monastery

www. pelagia.org

ISBN 960-7070-52-6

I like him.

Thanks for that recommendation, gorion.

 

[gorion]

You're welcome

 

[StChristopherofPalestine]

Clark Carlson's "The Faith" is what my priest suggested for me. I'd already been studying Orthodoxy for months and it still had new information and additional perspectives on key things of the faith.

(I don't have enough posts to link to it)

 

[tizziale]

The Law of God is available online, of course - on Bishop Alexander's site.

 

[gzt]

Elder Cleopa's "The Truth of Our Faith" and Hopko's Rainbow Series [The Orthodox Faith] are great. The former is a good accompaniment to the catechism, it isn't a complete catechism in itself.

 

[Orthosdoxa]

Clark Carlson's "The Faith" is what my priest suggested for me. I'd already been studying Orthodoxy for months and it still had new information and additional perspectives on key things of the faith.

(I don't have enough posts to link to it)

And "The Life", by Carlton as well.

 

[Maximus]

I have the Carlton books. They are good, but they don't seem like a catechism to me.

 

[MariaRegina]

I have the Carlton books. They are good, but they don't seem like a catechism to me.

Could it be that ex-protestants, like Carlton, don't want to mimic the Baltimore Catechism with it's question and answer format?

 

[StChristopherofPalestine]

I have the Carlton books. They are good, but they don't seem like a catechism to me.

You may be right. I need to talk to Father about what to do next anyway and I'll post if he suggests another catechism.

 

[Maximus]

Could it be that ex-protestants, like Carlton, don't want to mimic the Baltimore Catechism with it's question and answer format?

Fr. Seraphim Slobodskoy's Law of God doesn't follow the question-and-answer format either, yet it seems like a catechism.

I think a catechism is supposed to be thorough, rather all-encompassing.

Fr. Seraphim even includes basic instructions - with appropriate illustrations - on properly crossing oneself.

Carlton's books - which I highly recommend - seem more like apologetics to me. They seem more about persuading inquirers than about instructing catechumens.

 

[MariaRegina]

Fr. Seraphim Slobodskoy's Law of God doesn't follow the question-and-answer format either, yet it seems like a catechism.

I think a catechism is supposed to be thorough, rather all-encompassing.

Fr. Seraphim even includes basic instructions - with appropriate illustrations - on properly crossing oneself.

Carlton's books - which I highly recommend - seem more like apologetics to me. They seem more about persuading inquirers than about instructing catechumens.

Perhaps they serve both purposes.

I read books when I was an inquirer and was asked by the priest to reread them after I was received as a catechumen and I understood much more.

Then when I read those books after I was chrismated they even made more sense. That is the work of the Holy Spirit.

 

[MORTANIUS]

Is there any catechism about praying to saints through icons?

 

[StChristopherofPalestine]

Is there any catechism about praying to saints through icons?

You're really obsessed with this.

 

[MariaRegina]

Is there any catechism about praying to saints through icons?

The subject of Icons is always discussed in any good catechism.

Basically Christ gave us the first icon, The Icon Not Made By Human Hands.

The Armenian King had leprosy and he sent one of his servants, an artist, to capture Christ's face on canvas, but the artist could not. This happened before Christ was crucified. Christ had mercy on the artist and touched the canvas to His Divine Face and the image was transferred. This first Icon of Christ was then taken to the King of Edessa who was instanteously healed of his leprosy. The King then offered Christ asylum in his country, but Christ refused knowing that He must suffer and die for us.

This Icon was apparently lost when the muslims took over Constantinople where it was stored (unless the Vatican has it stored away in its archives).

 

[StChristopherofPalestine]

The subject of Icons is always discussed in any good catechism.

Basically Christ gave us the first icon, The Icon Not Made By Human Hands.

The Armenian King had leprosy and he sent one of his servants, an artist, to capture Christ's face on canvas, but the artist could not. This happened before Christ was crucified. Christ had mercy on the artist and touched the canvas to His Divine Face and the image was transferred. This first Icon of Christ was then taken to the King of Edessa who was instanteously healed of his leprosy. The King then offered Christ asylum in his country, but Christ refused knowing that He must suffer and die for us.

This Icon was apparently lost when the muslims took over Constantinople where it was stored (unless the Vatican has it stored away in its archives).

I'm not a big fan of smilies, but I must:

 

[Maximus]

Is there any catechism about praying to saints through icons?

Read St. John Damascene's On Holy Images and The Fount of Wisdom.

None of us worships icons.

The icon is an aid to devotion, an image. I'm sure you've been told this before.

The honor paid to an icon passes over to its prototype, the person represented.

Reverence toward the saints is likewise not worship. It is veneration or honor to those to whom honor is due as the friends and faithful servants of God.

We worship only God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

 

[Alexis OCA]

Is there any catechism about praying to saints through icons?

Not a catechism per say but Praying with Icons by Jim Forest is very good. It is actually published by Orbis Books, which some RC's consider a 'left-wing' publishing house. Forest is a convert to Orthodoxy.