On the Divine Images The Octoechos

The Octoechos

As the First action of the Spiritual Life: Prayer

A beautiful newly-written life of this perhaps most popular of the modern saints

together with homilies for major feast days

They come to Optina from a world that no longer moans

On the Divine Images The OctoechosIs all Christian art fundamentally blasphemous? That was the question posed aggressively by the Christian iconoclasts of the eighth century in a bitter controversy. The resounding answer 'no' from John of Damascus helped to secure the future of art in the service of Christ. Without his brilliant defense, both profound and at times earthy, we might well have had no icons, murals, and mosaics in churches to elevate and enrich our spirits and to enhance