Lives Of Saints Not Completely Safe?

Update 2023:  Below is what I wrote in 2007.  Since then I've seen that world orthodoxy now honors some false elders as saint, not recognizing they are false elders.  And the Moscow Patriarch has been pushing some supposed "saints" that were loyal to the MP (example: Luke the Surgeon).  At the same time, undoubted is St. Philaret of NY who was discovered incorrupt by ROCOR on 1998 before the union and then ROCOR-MP quickly/quietly swept him under the rug.  

see 

https://blessedphilaret.blogspot.com

If this blog has been deleted, check for an archived pdf in Joanna's shared library.

2007: Generally we should be able to expect that a newcomer could freely read any and all Lives of Orthodox Saints found on the internet or elsewhere. And basically this is true. I would only want to warn that the left wing has been very selective in which lives they offer in their stores and libraries. They tend to overlook saints who were against the liberal innovations they use. An example is that they ignore the saints who were martyred for refusing to accept the new calendar.  Or they will overlook certain things about certain saints, such as St. Seraphim of Sarov's Diveyevo Mystery [19th century].

The right wing is good about including these Confessors who speak out against heresies, and about including Prophets who teach about the antichrist; but they tend to distort a saint to their right wing advantage. An example is St. Philaret [†1985] who held a private opinion that supports their ideas, so they present St. Philaret's opinion as if it were a canonical law. The left wing has done their share of distorting, too - recently with St. John Maximovitch [†1966]. They took something he did totally out of context and used it to justify a false union with Moscow.

A newcomer should be safe reading any and all lives of Orthodox saints, if he is aware of these tendencies of the extremes and aims to keep one foot on the solid ground of the royal path. Also it best to stick to Orthodox sources [not Roman Catholic, even for pre-schism saints], and to aim for a variety of types of saints: ascetics, confessors, martyrs, theologians, prophets, monastics, laymen, from different countries and all centuries including our most recent saints such as St. John Maximovitch 1966†, St. Philaret 1985†.

Avoid any new "elders" (past 150 years).  Too many are pseudo.  Study first the Optina elders, and then once you know the true elders, then you won't be fooled by the false ones.