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Join Frederica Mathewes-Green on a guided retreat—ideal for the Lenten season—through the classic Great Canon, a wise, ancient, Orthodox text that will enrich your experience of spirituality and prayer.

First Fruits of Prayer will bring readers of all denominational backgrounds into the prayer experience of first millennium Christianity through immersion in this fascinating text, a poetic hymn written in the eighth century. This extraordinarily beautiful work, still chanted by Eastern Christians every Lent, weaves together Old and New Testament scriptures with prayers of hope and repentance. It offers ancient ways of seeing Christ that will nevertheless feel new to most readers today.

This insightful book offers all readers an opportunity to walk through a classic text from the Christian East in a series of 40 prayerful readings, with accompanying commentary and questions for further reflection.

From Publishers Weekly
The homespun mingles with the majestic in this affectionate account of a family’s romance with an ancient form of Christianity. The author, a columnist for the Religion News Service, was a lapsed Roman Catholic who tried Hinduism before becoming a charismatic Episcopalian; her husband, Fr. Gregory, pastor of the Holy Cross Mission in Baltimore, is a former Episcopal priest. Homeschoolers who believed the Episcopal Church was “repealing the creed and condoning immorality,” the couple has joined a contingent of evangelical Christians who have, in recent years, been converting to Eastern Orthodoxy. Mathewes-Green offers an intimate glimpse of this piece of the contemporary American religious landscape. Writing with charm and humor and a convert’s zeal, she weaves reflections on family life, friendship and personal spirituality with descriptions of Orthodox worship and fellowship.

From Publishers Weekly
Frederica Mathewes-Green, whose books on Eastern Orthodoxy have popularized ancient Christian practice for a modern audience, beautifully underscores the importance of following the precedent of the earliest Christians in The Illumined Heart: The Ancient Christian Path of Transformation. Too often, she argues, contemporary Christians bend to the “confusing winds” of change, subordinating Christian tradition to popular ideas. (So stubborn is she in her claim for the superiority of ancient wisdom that she offers an unusual disclaimer at the outset: “I hope not to say anything original. If I do, ignore it.”) Mathewes-Green thoughtfully reflects upon how 21st-century Christians can incorporate early spiritual practices, such as continuous prayer, spiritual direction, fasting and communal worship.

From Booklist
Perhaps most think of icons as examples of Christian art, powerful and often mysterious—indeed, intimidating somehow. Yet, whether painted or in mosaic, they are more than beautiful works of art, more than representations of persons and events in the Bible and in the history of the church. Mathewes-Green’s contribution to Paraclete’s Pocket Faith series invites readers to look at icons as companions to faith and prayer. She chooses 12 of the most significant icons, reproduced and distributed throughout Orthodox Christendom, to examine at length: the Resurrection, the Virgin of Vladimir, the Christ of Sinai, St. John the Baptist, the Angel with the Golden Hair, the Annunciation, the Nativity, Theophany, the Transfiguration, the Crucifixion, the Epitaphios, and the Old Testament Trinity. She discusses the special days associated with each and their corresponding seasons of the church year. Anyone wishing an enhanced understanding of the meaning and significance of icons and their place in daily worship will find here much counsel in little space. June Sawyers
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

A remarkable contemporary tour through the oldest of all Christian faiths by one of America’s most distinctive religious voices.

A popular commentator for National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” and a columnist for Christianity Today, Frederica Mathewes-Green is a unique figure in contemporary literature. In a book eagerly awaited by her growing retinue of fans, she brings readers inside the world’s oldest Christian faith, illuminating Eastern Orthodoxy in a manner similar to Kathleen Norris’s exploration of Benedictine spirituality.

An ex-hippie and former social radical, the author often writes humorously about her unusual road from Woodstock to the altar of an Orthodox church where she is the pastor’s wife. At the Corner of East and Now juxtaposes the shifting immediacy of everyday life with the changeless grandeur of Orthodox faith. Weaving her narrative with stories, essays, and reflections on the Church’s sixteen-hundred-year-old liturgy, Frederica Mathewes-Green critiques contemporary culture through the lens of one who seeks to live by the tenets of an ancient spiritual practice.

The author offers an engaging and artistic voice—at turns humorous and hands-on, serious and intellectually stimulating. Her supple and highly original style makes for an unforgettable read.

“Is hell a male-only club?” Frederica asks this provocative question as she takes us on a journey through her early years as a feminist, a conversion experience to Christianity, and the realization that men and women are unique yet equal. She gives us glimpses into her meetings with prominent feminists, takes us through Crisis Pregnancy Centers and explores the idea of early marriage as a way to mature and healthy adulthood. Sure to make you think and react, this is a great book to give to friends, for lively discussions on some of the most important issues facing us today.

Frederica Mathewes-Green is a commentator on NPR’s “Morning Edition” and a columnist for Beliefnet. She contributes to many magazines, including Christianity Today, where she was formerly a columnist. She is also a contributor to the Christian Millennial History Project and a book reviewer for the Los Angeles Times. A popular speaker and writer, she lives in Linthicum, Maryland, where her husband, Fr. Gregory Mathewes-Green, is pastor of Holy Cross Church.

This excellent book is first in a four part series, which provides a selection of Frederica’s best writings on contemporary issues relating to Gender, Culture, Ethics, and Faith. Her original and thoughtful insights are expressed in a style that is fresh, personal, and frequently humorous. She examines modern-day challenges from a perspective of ancient wisdom, as one who seeks to be deeply grounded in the faith of the early Christian Church.

Description
Frederica Mathewes-Green attempts to break the logjam on the abortion debate by focusing on ways to help both mothers and babies by providing them with realistic options that are compassionate, life-affirming, and hopeful.

Reviews
“Frederica Mathewes-Green has worked to establish communication and understanding between pro-choice and pro-life advocates. As a pro-choice activist concerned with getting at the root of why so many women choose abortion, I could only wish that her approach would be the one adopted by the pro-life movement in general.” — Naomi Wolf

“Moving beyond the political battles, Frederica Mathewes-Green leads her readers to understand the meaning of abortion in the lives of women. This book contributes to the emerging dialogue among women on different sides of the abortion wars and encourages a renewed search for a common ground that will place women themselves at the center of the discussion.” — Elizabeth Fox- Genovese