Deep in a northern Russian forest of jade and brown, far from any hint of civilization, Valaam Monastery sinks into the seasons of the year as it has for a thousand years before...
So begins the story of John Oliver, a young American on a journey of discovery, a journey that leads him to an ancient RUssian monastery, a place of peace and a place of struggle. For on Valaam, he encounters the great depths of Orthodox Christianity and is reminded that the Christian life is not for the faint of heart. And on Valaam, as in our culture, the treasure of stillness requires a fierce guarding.
"Lyrically, eloquently, and with great wisdom, this book speaks to the soul. Part spiritual autobiography, part penetrating description of what Orthodox spirituality can be and should be, John Oliver's words evoke in the reader's mind and heart a longing for God, at once fierce and tender. "Great art, great architecture," he says, "always leads us inward and upward." This marvelous book does no less. It leads us inward and upward, until, for a moment at least, we even touch heaven." -Fr. John Breck, Author, Professor of Biblical Interpretation and Ethics at St. Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute in Paris
