Book Review
by Fr. Seraphim Rose
Life and Labors of Schemamonk Zosima
by his disciple
Nikodemos Orthodox Publication Society
Etna, California 96027
1979
Fr. Seraphim composed the preface for the original 1st English edition of this book. Later, Platina published a 2nd edition which omits Fr. Seraphim's preface. The 2nd edition is now out of print, and the 1st edition is barely still known to exist.
The Nikodemos Orthodox Publication Society of Etna has nothing to do with the SIR-GOC monastery in Etna today. In 1979 Fr. Alexey Young lived and worked in Etna, California, and he started the Nikodemos Publication Society. While Fr. Seraphim was still alive, any reference to "Etna" means Fr. Alexey Young's efforts, his publishing, his newspaper, and his backyard chapel. The GOC-SIR monastery in Etna today did not move into town until shorty before Fr. Seraphim died. And very soon after the monastery moved into town, Fr. Alexey moved his family out..
I have scanned the 1st edition and uploaded it to my shared library.
https://app.box.com/s/fidluwvb48ffrhzly22uq2zvvzb56byl/file/1347944265042
AppBox does not do well in Safari, but it works fine in Firefox.
Preface
The life of the great Siberian Elder Zosima, one of the treasures of the Russian Orthodox literature of recent centuries, is offered here to English-speaking Orthodox Christians. In a sense, this offering is premature: English-speaking Orthodoxy has no desert-dwellers, and in it's present state of immaturity it is probably incapable of producing any; this is a kind of life above our measure. In this sense the present book is too "advanved," and might even serve to increase the self-esteem and pride that are sadly fostered by premature thoughts of "hesychasm" and the highest kind of angelic life.
On the other hand, however, this book well describes an essential "missing dimension" of our poor Orthodoxy in the West: the sufferings of true Orthodox Christian spiritual life, without which all attempts at monasticism are only pretentious and empty. At the same time, the book shows the part played in these sufferings by an element that is, alas, already too present in the Orthodox life of Western converts: gossip, rumors, slanders, petty jealousies and other passions which do such incalculable harm to tender young Christian sprouts. The humble suffering of these temptations by Fr. Zosoma and his community of sisters, and their Christian triumph over them, should be a source of great encouragement to all those who find themselves caught in the net of similar temptations.
The simple-hearted Christianity that breathes from every page of this book should be a source of inspiration for every Orthodox Christian reader who sincerely loves Christ and longs for His Heavenly Kingdom, whether he be layman or monastic. Indeed, the examples of "lay" Orthodox life in these pages are just as instructive as the monastic examples. How deeply genuine Christianity penetrated the soil of Holy Russia may be seen, not merely in the monastic heros of the book, but even in the touching story of Fr. Zosima's brother, the monastic "failure" of Elias, whose passionate nature did not erase the longing for God in his heart or prevent him from living a practical Christian life that puts us today, whether monastic or lay, to shame.
And what shall we say of the profound, deeply-committed and long suffering Christian love revealed in the pages of this book? The mutual love of the Elder Basilisk and his disciple Zosimas is so far above our paltry half-heartedness that it should make us ashamed even to speak of "heyschasm" and "elders" and all the outward forms of a way of life which we are incapable even of understanding, let alone touching, because of our own lack of such burning love.
Thus, this book is very "down to earth" and recognizable to us at our low level, filled with the spirit of simple and basic Chrstianity, at the same time that it exalts and inspires us with its realistic accounts of true God-pleasers in the highest form of monastic life: the life of the desert, in the true spirit and tradition of the Orthodox Church.
Let us, then, be inspired by the desert life of Elders Basilisk and Zosima (even while realising how far it is above us), but let us even more be humbled by seeing the sufferings they had to undergo, both those they imposed upon themselves and those sent or providentially allowed by God. Above all, may this book bear fruit in encouraging us even today to live the daily life of simple Christianity in practice, without which we can hardly hope to be saved.
Hieromonk Seraphim Rose
Sunday of All Saints of
Russia and Mount Athos
June 11/24, 1979
note from Joanna:
If anyone finds a copy of the 2nd edition, please share the appendices with me. joannahigginbotham@runbox.com
A few pages from the 2nd edition are posted here:
http://readerdanielsharing.blogspot.com/2023/10/rare-book-elder-zosimas.html
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