Patrons play a major role in the mission of SVS Press to spread the gospel and educate the world about Orthodox Christianity. Patrons who sponsor SVS Press titles boost SVS Press & Bookstore revenues, which in turn feed the Seminary’s annual operational fund. 100% of the net profit of SVS Press revenue directly supports the training of future priests and lay leaders in the Church.
As a Patron of an SVS Press book, you will receive gratis copies of the book once published, as well as a printed acknowledgement in the book.
If you’d like to become an SVS Press Book Patron, contact our Chief Advancement Officer, Sarah Werner, at swerner@svots.edu.
Forthcoming Books
Platonism and Mystical Theology: The Spiritual Doctrine of St Gregory of Nyssa
Written by: Jean Daniélou
Translated by: Anthony Gythiel and Michael Donley
Estimated cost of initial print run (including translation): $10,000
Estimated release date: Fall 2022
Jean Daniélou's Platonism and Mystical Theology is a seminal study of the spiritual theology of
St Gregory of Nyssa, which acknowledges the Platonic roots and affinities of some of his
vocabulary and concepts, while arguing that his vision is fundamentally Christian and
scripturally grounded, itself serving as the foundation of later articulations of spiritual or mystical
theology.
--
On Death and Eternal Life
Written by: St Gregory of Nyssa
Translated by: Brian Daley
Estimated Cost of initial print run (including translation): $15,000
Includes Greek text, with English facing
Estimated release date: Fall 2022
The seven works presented here—some translated into English for the first time—explore the
great mystery of death and the promise of eternal life. They present a vision that is consistent,
philosophically profound, and characteristic of St Gregory of Nyssa’s wider theology. The first
three works (On the Dead, On Infants Taken Away before Their Time, and On the “Final
Subjection” of Christ) might be termed thematic essays; the fourth is a sermon celebrating
Christ's resurrection (On the Holy Pascha); and the remaining three are funeral homilies given
for prominent people in Constantinople (Archbishop Meletius, Princess Pulcheria, and her
mother, Empress Flacilla).
St Gregory of Nyssa played a crucial role in the theological controversies of the late fourth
century, and his theological synthesis powerfully expresses the Scriptures and the fundamental
proclamation of the gospel while engaging the conceptual world inherited from Greek
philosophy. The Popular Patristics Series also includes St Gregory’s On the Soul and the
Resurrection (PPS 12) and his Catechetical Discourse (PPS 60).
--
Headings on Spiritual Knowledge: The Second Part, Chapters 1-3
Written by: Saint Isaac of Nineveh
Translated by: Sebastian Brock
Estimated cost of initial print run, including translation: $10,000
Estimated release date: Fall 2022
St Isaac of Nineveh (7th c.), or Isaac the Syrian, is renowned for his spiritual writings. After only
five months as bishop of Nineveh, he returned to a life of solitary stillness in the desert of
modern-day Iran. His Spiritual Homilies (homilies 1–6 in PPS 11) quickly became treasured
throughout the Christian world, not only inspiring monastic and spiritual life through the ages,
but influencing culture more broadly, as in the works of Dostoevsky.
Yet many of Isaac’s works were lost for centuries. Scholars recently rediscovered the “Second
Part” of his corpus in 1983. This volume translates the first three chapters of the Second Part,
whose third chapter contains the Kephalaia Gnostika (or Headings on Spiritual Knowledge).
They appear here for the first time in a complete English translation. Inspired by Evagrius’ work
by the same name, Isaac composed the Headings as four centuries—that is, four sets of one
hundred sayings or headings—on the spiritual life. These were “written above the lines in
various places,” seemingly as a commentary or expansion upon the Spiritual Homilies (the “First
Part”). Isaac discloses the realities of prayer and spiritual experience from their beginning to
their most sublime heights and profound depths.