Eastern Orthodox Book Recommendations
The following recommendations are introductory in nature. For readings about specific historical or theological topics, including notable writings from church fathers, please send inquiries using the contact link on the website.
The Orthodox Study Bible (Ancient Faith Edition)
This study Bible contains an English translation of the Septuagint Old Testament, the scriptures used by the Jews during the Second Temple Period, at the time of Christ and by Eastern Church to this day, as well as the NKJV of the New Testament. It also contains excellent Orthodox footnote commentaries and short and informative articles on topics with beautiful icons reproductions interspersed throughout the Bible. It comes in hardbound and leather editions.
The Orthodox Church by Metropolitan Kallistos Ware (the author’s name is listed as Timothy Ware)
Written by one of the great teachers and popularizers of Orthodoxy in the 20th and early 21st centuries, Bishop Kallistos Ware’s The Orthodox Church is an excellent introductory work that describes the history of the church and its theology and practice. Note that Ware's short work, The Orthodox Way is an excellent introduction to spirituality.
The Orthodox Faith, Worship and Life by Hieromonk Gregorios
For Orthodox Christians who wish to learn more about their faith, its key beliefs and practices, The Orthodox Faith, Worship and Life is an excellent primer.
Thinking Orthodox: Understanding and Acquiring the Orthodox Christian Mind by Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou
Thinking Orthodox is about the Orthodox “phronema,” or mind of the Church (i.e. What is it is, how it compares to the Western mindset, and how to acquire it). This book includes rich insights about Orthopraxis, theology, and church history.
Rock and Sand: An Orthodox Appraisal of the Protestant Reformers and Their Teachings by Father Josiah Trenham
Orthodox and Christians of other confessions who wish to learn about the development and teachings of the various Protestant confessions (i.e. denominations) and Roman Catholicism in relation to Orthodoxy, ought to read this work, especially in light of the question of the oneness of the church and its apostolicity.
The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine (multi-volumes) by Jaroslav Pelikan
Pelikan was one of the great church historians of the 20th and early 21st century. I recommend parts 1, 2 and 3 of the series entitled The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100-600), The Spirit of Eastern Christendom (600-1700) and The Growth of Medieval Theology (600-1300). These works are monographs on doctrine and theology, rather than more comprehensive histories of the church.
Byzantine Theology by Father John Meyendorff
For the more serious theological inquirer, Byzantine Theology, in just a couple hundred pages, offers a deeper look at historical and doctrinal themes in the Eastern Orthodox faith and illustrates key differences between Eastern and Western approaches to theology.
Paradise and Utopia: The Rise and Fall of What the West Once Was by Father John Strickland
Paradise and Utopia is a four-volume series that span two thousand years of Christian history. This series provides a unique contribution—an Eastern Christian voice in an otherwise Western Christian historical arena. The first volume is entitled, The Age of Paradise: Christendom from Pentecost to the First Millenium. The Age of Paradise is an engaging cultural history covering the early days of Christianity up to the period just before the so-called Great Schism of AD 1054 that led to the divide between the Eastern and Western patriarchates. One of the key themes of this work is the anthropological and cosmological outlook of the undivided church, its affirmative and positive outlook and emphasis on God's immanence in the world. The second book is The Age of Division: Christendom from the Great Schism to the Protestant Reformation. The author describes the decline of unity, and the Christian fragmentation that resulted in the Protestant Reformation and subsequent secularization of what was once Christendom. Both books are rich and very readable. *Note that Jason Caros has not yet read the other two volumes of this set.
Introductions to Orthodox Spirituality
Regarding books on Orthodox spirituality and Orthopraxis, I hesitate to recommend titles, as my suggestions would be individualized to each person’s knowledge of the faith. Two short and introductory books that will give readers a taste of Orthodox teachings on living the Christian life are:
Indication of the Way into the Kingdom of Heaven by Saint Innocent of Alaska, and The Way of the Ascetics by Tito Colliander. Both are short but beautiful works. They can be purchased online, or found for free in digital form on the web.
A normal book-length introductory work is The Mountain of Silence: A Search for Orthodox Spirituality by Kyriacos Markides. In this work, Markides, a Western trained academic, interviews an Athonite monk on important matters of faith and practice for Christians, monastics and non-monastics alike (note that the author's questions and personal conclusions are not always in line with Orthodoxy; the monk's responses are golden). Eastern Christianity spirituality is often described as mystical and it is marked by the ascetic and sacramental life described in the Holy Scriptures and seen in the lives of the saints over the millennia. Much of this mystical, ascetic and sacramental life, which is rooted in the apostolic faith, has been lost in our modern culture.
***For Eastern Orthodox book recommendations on prayer, refer to the article, A Life of Prayer: Considerations on Prayer for Orthodox Christians, available in the website menu.