Rating: 
Summary: Excellent introduction to Orthodox Spirituality
Review: Although the author seems to be somewhat confused about his own orientation (vis a vis religion), the main character of the book, Father Maximos, is not. Maximos, an Orthodox elder,left the sanctuary of Mt. Athos to re-open a monestary in Cyprus. He clearly presents the major ascetic and spiritual teachings of Orthodoxy in such a compelling way, that I almost booked the next flight there. The book motivated me to pursue more earnestly than ever, my quest to "see" God.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: Having read Markides' account of his contact with the monks of Mount Athos, and being quite familiar with the literature on the subject of Eastern Christian mysticism/theology, I have to say that this book was a real means of grace for me. To further make my point, one needs only to read who recommends the book on the back cover- Bishop Kallistos Ware, the preeminent spokesman for Eastern Orthodoxy in the West and the retired professor of Eastern Orthodox studies at Oxford University! I can positively remark that this book accurately depicts the practical outcome of anyone who follows the guidance of the Christian East. Holiness and wisdom are not reserved only for the monks, but for all those who seek Christ with a pure heart. The wisdom of Father Maximos, a main figure in the book, is simply a distillation of the wisdom of 2000 years of prayer and worship as found in the East. If it happens to reflect in some ways current New Age mentalities, it is not, believe me, a sign that the Eastern Church has somehow taken their advice! I have the suspicion that those who understand Christianity through Western Protestant eyes would find this work a bit odd to say the least. Monks who are clairvoyant, can change someone else's perception of time, etc are not common in Protestant Christianity. But then again, they have not had the benefit of a 2000-year-old tradition of spirituality and prayer. This is not to put the Protestants down, it is only the observation that there is no need to reinvent the wheel when the East already has a very succinct and proven method of spiritual development that goes much beyond the non-accountable, individualistic spirit of much of the Christian West. IF you have an interest in the underpinnings of the Eastern approach to Jesus Christ and the Trinity and the Church etc, then you would do well to read "The Orthodox Way" by Kallistos Ware, or, if you want to dig into some deeper theology, "The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church" by Vladimir Lossky is a classic, as is the difficult but rewarding masterpiece "Being As Communion" by Zizioulas. ENJOY!
Rating:
Summary: For Pilgrims on the Way
Review: I have never, to the best of my knowledge, ever declared a book to be an "instant classic"; this book is no exception. However, I do think that the contents of this book are utterly classic: pristine, vintage and eternal. Although The Mountain of Silence may not be The Way of the Pilgrim for the 21st century, for those that are seeking to further their knowledge and experience - those seeking to continue the marriage of their heart with their mind - I think that this book is not merely accessible: it is also authoritative.
In short, Markides is a sociologist at the University of Maine. He was raised Greek Orthodox but wandered away during his secular training and, like many, sought greater spiritual wisdom in the Far East. It does not seem that Markides ever quite found all that he was looking for, but the "supernatural" things that he witnessed in his travels opened him up to thinking that there was something more than the reduction to socio-cultural being that his sociological training gave to him.
Enter Fr. Maximos, a now-exiled monk from Mt. Athos who is in Cyprus to bring about spiritual renewal. He was forced to leave Mt. Athos by his spiritual guide, the Elder Paisios and ordered to return to Cyprus; such is the wisdom of God, it seems. Markides, then, spends time with Fr. Maximos and records his wisdom and spiritual insights, and not always without a little doubt. Markides has not exactly returned to the Orthodox church, but remains something of a prodigal, with and without a home. Yet, Markides is open. His doubts are honest, but they are not solely doubts about Orthodox faith - they are also doubts about the shortcomings of Western science, something that he seems to share with many, particularly of the baby boomer generation. One of the most enjoyable elements of the book is reading Markides as he bares his soul and openly wrestles with his questions. It takes a good bit of humility to do so, and humility, according to Fr. Maximos is the first step on the spiritual path.
Get ready for something that is going to come completely out of left field, though. Fr. Maximos is a part of a living tradition that is open to the workings of God in sometimes strange ways: prophecy and words of knowledge, visionary experiences and embodied appearances of saints and even Christ! Although for some of the more charismatic/Pentecostal churches much of this may seem typical, what is different from those movements/s/s/s/s/... is that all of this happens within the liturgical and theological framework of the Orthodox tradition. In Orthodoxy there is no anti-authoritative "spirituality" devoid of meaningful content so as to be incommunicable (other than through supposed "feeling"): the linguistic (tradition) and the spiritual (God) dance, quite literally, an *incarnate* dance.
So, in order to understand the Orthodox spiritual/ascetic/mystical-theological tradition, one must be a part of the tradition - or at least willing to accept its legitimacy and the *reality* of its expression. There is here a sense of authority: spiritual masters (elders) have expertise in spiritual things and these have also been passed down. Hence, the elder-disciple relationship is fundamental to the Orthodox monastic vocation. This is no individualistic spirituality and those who think that spirituality is for the individual - and therefore purely subjective and therefore without any real content - are likely to be turned off by this book. Fr. Maximos claims that there are real spiritual truths that one must orient one's self to and that there are real stages in spiritual development and real ways in dealing with demonic attack, etc. - hardly the run-of-the-mill liberal discourse that one is too used to hearing. Yet, for those that are humble enough to recieve from the tradition of the Elders, there will be much benefit here.
So, for those on the way, this is a book that I highly recommend. Although I fault Markides' caricatures of the West and Western spirituality towards the end of the book, he is right to point out that the West and the East really need each other: the rational without the mystical (and vice versa) is dead. Markides' doubts open up questions and these questions open up Fr. Maximos to share what he has both learned and experienced. Get ready, though, for a ride through the spiritual traditions of Eastern Orthodoxy that might be as foreign as they are fascinating. Yet, this exotica might be more than some mere eros: it might be the very life of God.
Rating:
Summary: Read this book with your HIGHLIGHTER!!!
Review: Rarely have I underlined the text of a book as much as I recently did with "The Mountain of Silence," by Kyriacos C. Markides. Markides, a sociology professor at the University of Maine, was born on Cyprus into an Eastern Orthodox family, but became secularized while coming of age during the Sixties in the United States. The sociological research for his earliest books brought him into contact with the mystical traditions, shamanism and Occultism of the Orient. A serendipitous experience in 1991 caused him to begin investigating the mystical traditions of the Orthodox Christian faith of his youth, which is covered in his previous book, "Riding with the Lion." For this book, Markides had intended to spend a sabbatical on Mount Athos, the "Holy Mountain" on a remote peninsula in Greece set aside for over a thousand years as the home to a number of Eastern Orthodox monasteries. Upon learning that his main contact had returned to Cyprus to become the abbot of Panagia Monastery, he changed his plans to spend several months there with Father Maximos and the other monastics under his supervision. While this book is an amazing travelogue, which also contains some engrossing history lessons about Cyprus, monasticism and the Christian faith, it is primarily a series of personal conversations between Professor Markides and Father Maximos. It was the many enlightening comments by the abbot that I found myself voraciously underlining in my copy of the book. While "The Mountain of Silence" has appendices for chapter endnotes and a helpful glossary of Greek terms used throughout the book, it unfortunately does not contain an index. Among the many topics covered in these insightful conversations are: asceticism, addictions, animals, angels, apathia [liberation from egotistical passions], Athonite tradition, the Beatitudes, the Bible, Byzantium, ceaseless prayer, Christ, the Cross, demons, Divine Liturgy, the Ecclesia, equality, faith, fasting, fear of God, freedom, God, grace, the heart, heaven, the Holy Spirit, Hesychast tradition (silence), humility, icons, idolatry, illness (of the soul), illusion, the Jesus Prayer, justice, komboschini (prayer ropes), love, magicians, miracles, monasteries, monks, nationalism, the nous, obedience, passions, Pentecost, perfection, prayer, Providence, radio and television, repentance, repression, saints (living and dead), salvation, sanctification, Satan, sin, spiritual guides/confessors, spiritual struggle, temptations, thoughts (positive and negative), the Threefold way (catharsis or purification of the soul, fotisis or enlightenment of the soul, and theosis or union with God), the Theotokos (Mother of God/Virgin Mary), transfiguration, trials, Turks, Uncreated Light, Western philosophy and theology, and worship. While some readers may be disturbed by some of Professor Markides' sociological and secular questions and comments, it made me feel like I was right there, observing genuine conversations with a modern holy man. Most readers will never have the opportunity to spend hours, much less months, with the renowned abbot of an Orthodox monastery. And many of the questions and comments would be those of anyone raised in the secular (and skeptical) West. This book is highly recommended to anyone desiring to learn more about Orthodox spirituality, monasticism, or even about life on Cyprus and on Mount Athos. Although it's written by a professor, it's not too technical and should be accessible to anyone with a high school education or above.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Introduction to Orthodox Spirituality
Review: This book effectively covers Orthodox Spirituality and is truly inspirational in the spirit of "The Way of a Pilgrim & The Pilgrim Continues His Way." One reviewer commented that the book was biased against RCC/Protestant(s) and cited Padre Pio and Francis of Assisi. However, simply because these people had "A" relationship with a God doesn't mean they had "THE" relationship with the God. see "The Non-Orthodox: The Orthodox Teaching on Christians Outside of the Church by Patrick Barnes" and "The Truth: What Every Roman Catholic Should Know About the Orthodox Church by Clark Carlton".
Rating:
Summary: This book finalized my decision to become Orthodox!
Review: This book was sent to me by a friend in December 2002. We had been corresponding for several months about her journey into Orthodoxy. I was dissatisfied with the current state of affairs in the Episcopal Church and was looking for something else. My friend said this book had really helped to correct her misconceptions about what it meant to be Orthodox, and she had bought tons of copies to give out. Two weeks after receiving this book, I visited the Orthodox parish she recommended and become Orthodox just before Christmas 2003. What is wonderful about this book is that the teaching of Fr. Maximos and his dead elder are interspered with Markides' stories. There is some "deep" stuff here, but it's totally unlike reading dry theology. I heard the author speak on a visit to Chicago last year, and found him as engaging as a speaker as he is in print. I have bought an extra copy of this book and it is being passed around to inquirers and catechumens at my Antiochian Orthodox parish in Chicago. This is a great introduction to Orthodoxy for Western readers, especially those who have no knowledge of Orthodoxy, aside from possibly seeing "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"!
Rating:
Summary: Thorough, Easy, Authoritative
Review: This is one of the all-time great books on the Orthodox Spiritual life. Frankly, I cannot recommend a better book for any layperson to read on the subject.
If you're interested in Orthodoxy, this is also an excellent book.
What makes this book great is that the author himself was a seeker and did not understand these issues. He documents his own exploration beautifully!
Rating:
Summary: Inspiring Read
Review: To me this is the new definitive book on ancient Eastern Orthodox Christian spirituality written for a lay audience. It has a lot of the same content as Kallistos Ware's "The Orthodox Church" but it's a much easier and more interesting read. The author diverts frequently to what the LA Times calls "travelogue" which keeps the theological content from becoming too heavy at any given point. Additionally it offers a lot of helpful remedies for spiritual challenges encountered by people of all walks. I liked how the book addressed the significance of thoughts (logismoi) and their effects on our emotional and mental well being. Markides gives the reader the benefit of many invaluable spiritual discussions minus the difficulty he went through to harvest and disseminate such truths. This book was a spiritual "pick-me-up" and I am grateful for the inspiration it provided me for my own spiritual journey.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: To me this is the new definitive book on ancient Eastern Orthodox Christian spirituality written for a lay audience. It has a lot of the same content as Kallistos Ware's "The Orthodox Church" but it's a much easier and more interesting read. The author diverts frequently to what the LA Times calls "travelogue" which keeps the theological content from becoming too heavy at any given point. Additionally it offers a lot of helpful remedies for spiritual challenges encountered by people of all walks. I liked how the book addressed the significance of thoughts (logismoi) and their effects on our emotional and mental well being. Markides gives the reader the benefit of many invaluable spiritual discussions minus the difficulty he went through to harvest and disseminate such truths. This book was a spiritual "pick-me-up" and I am grateful for the inspiration it provided me for my own spiritual journey.
Rating: 
Summary: Not sure what I think
Review: University of Maine sociologist Kyriacos Markides spent some time on Mount Athos in Cyprus interviewing a monk named Father Maximos, and compiled the results along with own observations on his journey back to faith.
Markides was raised in the Greek Orthodox Church but cast his faith aside in his youth. After a period of agnosticism he regained his faith. His spiritual journey has taken him back to the Orthodox church of his youth, an Eastern branch of Christianity that has followed its own path, largely untouched by developments in Roman Catholicism and the churches of the Reformation.
Father Maximos follows ancient practices of prayer and meditation and criticizes the churches of the West for trying to rationalize the Faith. I believe that he is right that we can never prove the reality of Christ through rational argument; faith and assurance come from following Christ, from obeying Him and through seeking Him in devotional practices.
I also like the way that the Orthodox Church has managed to keep a respect for mystery and for the otherness of God that seems lacking in the Christianity of the West. At the same time, I have to admit that there are parts of this book that I have trouble believing. Markides describes visits from angels and demons, teleportations, mindreading, and miraculous healings as an everyday part of life on Mount Athos. The exotic locale helps to mute skepticism: if these occurrences sound Medieval it is fitting, as Father Maximos and the other monks are for all intents and purposes living in the Middle Ages. It also helps that Markides comes off as a fairly rational guy, who is dealing with his own incredulity. Still, if I heard of some of the same events happening at a church around the corner I wouldn't take it seriously for a moment. Maybe I am just too rational. I'll meditate on it awhile and get back to you.
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