Excellent Read for Deeper Spiritual Knowledge

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	• The Mountain of Silence: A Search for Orthodox Spirituality Kyriacos C. Markides Image, 2002 - 272 pages average customer review:based on 40 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The Treasure Trove of Eastern Christianity

Western Christianity in its quest for a "rational" spirituality has lost the rich tradition of meditation and contemplation which was presevered in communities in the Mid-East since earliest times.

This work introduces spiritual practices now seen as "New Age" or non-Christian oriental religious practice as bone fide early Chrisitan practices of our ancestors in faith.

Reading this book will re-inforce that Christian spirituality must transform the totality of the human person: body, mind (rationality) and spirit.

Mountain of Silence

This book is a gem. You feel yourself present with Kyriacos as he talks with Fr. Maximos and learn from him as well. He is a very descriptive author so you find yourself drawn in to the scenary. I did not want to put this book down and look forward to re reading this book over and over again.

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Excellent Read for Deeper Spiritual Knowledge

While I did not find this book as entertaining as Markides' three books on Daskalos (AKA The Magus of Strovolos)- Mountain of Silence is an excellent read! The book gives inside knowledge as to the workings behind what some call the vatican of Russian and Greek Orthodox religions The author seems to give an unbiased approach to his observations. Markides tapes his conversations before typing them in his books; therefore, his accuracy in recounting the knowledge is perfect.

Throughout the book the reader will learn that there are no "real" short-cuts to enlightenment. This book outlines what is necessary for us to allow God to work through us via the road of Mystical Christianity. It also elaborates on the pitfalls that others have experienced along the way. Most importantly, the book also illustrates how to overcome the obstacles that others have overcome in order to be a receiver of the Providence and Grace of God.

This is an excellent book for all spiritual seekers.

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Okay, but where is Jesus?

I regard this book as very good... as far as it goes. Its main problem is that, overall, it offers an examination of spirituality without Christ. Mind you, I don't know whether the author (and certainly not the main subject of the book, "Fr. Maximos"!) had this intention, but it came across to me as a serious blindspot in the book's presentation of Orthodox spirituality.

Much is made of the Threefold Way and the mystical-ascetical tradition of the Orthodox Church, and that is good. Generally, this is the stuff that many Christians are missing and need. But there is a decided lack of integration of this presentation of Orthodox tradition with the central reality of the Christian life, namely, Jesus Christ the God-man. Certainly, the reader can come away with some mind-blowing revelations regarding the supra-rationality of Orthodox mystical tradition and the application of that tradition to the life of every Christian, but I think the author rather assumes that the reader already knows Jesus in some sense and doesn't bother to bring Him into the picture. Or perhaps he doesn't see Christ's centrality to the Church.

I very much doubt that the relative absence of Christ is something that "Fr. Maximos" (a pseudonym for Fr. Athanasius, now Metropolitan of Limassol in Cyprus) communicated to Markides. Anyone who has had any contact with authentic Athonite monasticism knows that such monks are "all about Jesus," to put it colloquially. There certainly is much discussion of God, the Holy Spirit and grace in the book, but Christ, Who is the Door to Paradise, is hardly mentioned. One would have a hard time getting the impression from The Mountain of Silence that the very object and purpose of all this spirituality is Christ.

I did like the book, but in thinking about the manner in which it was recommended to me, i.e., as a sort of catechism, I would have to disagree with such a recommendation. As a priest, I would not present this book to any catechumen, because I would be concerned that he would become enamored of discussing the Ecclesia, plani, and logismoi, without any sense of where these realities fit into the life in Christ.

A lesser criticism I have of the book is focused on chapter 11, Escape From Hell. In it, Markides all but endorses the apokatastasis theories of certain writers in Church history. That is, he seems to put forward a belief that eventually everyone will be saved, basing it on what is a decidedly minority stream of theological opinion of some Orthodox Christians. I much more prefer Metr. Kallistos Ware's "Dare we hope for the salvation of all?" approach, such as is found in the last chapter of The Inner Kingdom. Markides doesn't quite claim that apokatastasis is Orthodox doctrine, but he also doesn't make it clear enough that this is simply his opinion.

All in all, the book is useful in that it presents a fairly easily digestible picture of some of the more difficult concepts in Orthodox Christian spirituality, but because of its defects as noted above, I would only recommend it to someone already catechized, while giving them the caveats I've elucidated here.

I have a friend who says that she came to Orthodoxy by falling in love with the Church, but now she finds that she hadn't yet fallen in love with Christ. This book could easily enable just that sort of phenomenon. But for someone who is in love with Christ and keeps that in mind, this book might help bring them closer to Him. The first step, the path, and the destination are all Christ.

After writing this, I find through some Googling that Kh. Frederica Mathewes-Green feels similarly: "By the way, a good book that gives an 'inside view' of what this spirituality is like in practice, with all its 'spirit-filled' elements, is 'Mountain of Silence' by Kyriacos Markides. I should warn that the author is coming from a very idiosyncratic place; he is a sociology professor who has come to fervent belief in miracles, evil spirits, theosis, and he is profoundly in awe of the wisdom of the Orthodox Church. What he doesn't get so much is Jesus. In his subsequent book he makes it even more clear that he thinks we need a version of Orthodox spirituality that acknowledges that it is divisive to insist on the necessity of Jesus Christ, and recognizes the universality of the path to enlightenment. Strange, isn't it? Lots of people say, 'I like Jesus but I have no use for the church'--he's the opposite."

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