Overview

From an extraordinary encounter on Mount Athos to an extended pilgrimage through many of Romania's monasteries, where he met some of the great spiritual figures of the hesychast tradition, the author guides the reader into the living heart of Romanian hesychasm. This journey unfolds through the multifaceted and compelling figure of Father Daniil-in the world, Sandu Tudor-whose life, writings, and spiritual vision stand at the center of this remarkable story. At its core, the book recounts the experience of the ""Burning Bush"" group and explores Father Daniil's mystical-liturgical masterpiece: the Akathist Hymn to the Burning Bush of the Mother of God. What emerges is a luminous synthesis of Romanian philokalic spirituality and the purest essence of twentieth-century Romanian Orthodoxy-shaped by prayer, beauty, suffering, and endurance amid the upheavals of war and totalitarian oppression. Presented in masterful strokes, this work offers not only historical testimony but a living encounter with the Prayer of the Heart as it was embodied, transmitted, and lived.

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Reviews

""Father Daniil Tudor's Akathist Hymn to the Burning Bush of the Mother of God represents an amazing poetic summa of the Jesus Prayer. It is as if Dante's Paradiso and The Way of the [Russian] Pilgrim came together in inspiring unison. Then there are Fr. Citterio's essays illuminating this masterpiece through biographical, cultural, and spiritual contexts. A revelation."" -Philip and Carol Zaleski, co-authors of The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings ""This book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in the life and development of the Eastern Church through historical upheaval. It is not only a loving testament to one man's spiritual journey, but also a deep and erudite exploration of the Prayer of the Heart. Last- but not at all least-it includes pages of exquisite Marian devotional poetry, which I for one will be incorporating into my prayer life."" -Sally Read, author of Dawn of this Hunger and Night's Bright Darkness: A Modern Conversion Story

Author Information

Elia Citterio (b. 1950), a priest of the Diocese of Alessandria, Italy, is a monk in the Community of the Contemplative Brothers of Jesus. He holds a degree in philosophy from the University of Genoa and a doctorate in theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas. He has devoted his scholarly and spiritual life to patristic studies, with particular attention to the Philokalia tradition and its development within the Romanian hesychast context. His research into the Greek, Romanian, and Slavic worlds-where the Philokalia flourished in modern times alongside the living practice of the Prayer of the Heart-has become a significant point of reference. His lectures, conference presentations, and recorded courses on spirituality are available at www.contemplativi.it.

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