The Times They Are A-Changin'

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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

Not sure what I think

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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Experience and Logic...

An excellent book showing the only way for someone to find the Truth,which is only found through Christ...Jesus can not be found from any book even the bible but only by experience,through the mysteries of the Orthodox church.I met Father Maximos personaly and I can say that I was amazed by his spirituality.All of his sayings are based on the teachings from all the Saints and Elders Fathers from the first years of Christ until now.He doesn't say anything new but what has been said and written centuries ago...Logic can not hold the idea of a miracle or the existance of God...there is a big contrast...these two things can't exist together...Experience is the only answer...Touch and feel....I wish and pray to God, this book to help all readers to find the Truth and of course to feel It and touch It......" I am the Way and the Truth"(Jesus Christ)

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Thorough, Easy, Authoritative

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!

For Pilgrims on the Way

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.

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The Times They Are A-Changin'

It could be said that if I had even a little bit of humility and a touch of charity I would not have written a review on this book; but I am writing it from my sense of truth and I feel that it can be said!

Having read the reviews and the back cover with Bishop Kallistos Ware saying "I have learned many things from it" - frankly: I was disappointed; I learned hardly anything from the book. This is mainly due to the 'phony' questioning by the writer and this makes the book boring.

I found it odd that a book called "The Mountain of Silence", although it starts and finishes on Mount Athos, takes place on Cyprus!

The book is inspired by a former "elder" of the Holy Mountain. I have come across young "elders" before, like Igumen Panteleimon of the Valamo monastery in Finland, and found little to learn from his books; somehow Father Maximos falls into this category.

The tales of 'real elders' that he tells, like his own stories, seem to be referring to the pure and childlike faith that can often be found in the religious circles. However, that road is and was not open for me, as at the time I 'converted' from Lutheran to Orthodox I was already 'not so pure'; this may also be the case of some other sinners, be they young or old.

Elders like Father Paisius are difficult to find and there are not many of them. This has been and is to-day the biggest problem of the Orthodox Church (or any other religious society, not only Christian). Where are they? In Monasteries?

What are the possibilites for the lay brothers and sisters? First of all it should be noted that within the Orthodox all members of the church are priests; the difference is that some make priesthood a way of earning money and some become monks to be able to concentrate in finding Union with God, Theosis as Markides writes.

The finest single idea for me in the book is that whatever happens in life can be used as 'a wake-up call'. It points to the fact that here in 'the world' there are a wealth of possiblities!

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, page 5, 6, 7, 8

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