from catholic to orthodox

[OrthodoxDavid]

Hello everyone I am a roman catholic thinking about orthodoxy a lot . I recently read some of the early councils and the filiquoe is not in it. This is what sparked my interest in orthodoxy .

I have read St basil on the holy spirit and st Athanasius on the incarnation and now am reading St. Cyril of jerusalem on the unity of christ. I have also read the apostolic fathers

what are some other good books to read about orthodoxy ?and what is a good book to explain the holy theotokos. ?

thanks for any response to my questions

[Strelets]

The usual recommendation is The Orthodox Church by Kallistos Ware.

Two others I've found useful are The Orthodox Church A to Z by Fr. George Grube and The Roots of Christian Mysticism: Text and Commentary by Olivier Clement.

Then there is an online Orthodox catechism* (adopted from The Mystery of Faith by Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev)
http://orthodoxeurope.org/page/10/1.aspx

*[size=0]This is one among several, as the OC doesn't have an "official" catechism.[/size]

[Fr. David]

As a RC, you might be interested in Michael Whelton's Two Paths: Papal Monarchy - Collegial Tradition: Rome's Claims of Papal Supremacy in the Light of Orthodox Christian Teaching.

Also helpful, at least from my point of view, is Fr. Alexander Schmemman's For the Life of the World, which explains the Orthodox view of the sacraments, as well as his Of Water and the Spirit which deals specifically with baptism.  And as long as you're checking out Bp. KALLISTOS Ware, also read his other book, The Orthodox Way.

As for the Holy Mother, St. John Maximovitch's The Orthodox Veneration of Mary the Birthgiver of God is a good start.  It clearly draws the line between the idea of the "Immaculate Conception" and the (we would say) proper, Orthodox veneration.

God bless you in your reading and prayers.

[prodromos]

I've just started reading "The Year of Grace of the Lord: A Scriptural and Liturgical Commentary on the Calendar of the Orthodox Church" by A Monk of the Eastern Church. The author is actually Father Lev Gillet, a former Benedictine monk who became Orthodox in 1928. He writes beautifully without anything of a polemic nature, quite unlike another convert from Catholicism, Abb+¬ Guett+¬e.

You can read Bishop Kallistos Ware's book, "The Orthodox Church" online here:
http://www.intratext.com/X/ENG0804.HTM

God bless,
John.

[Brendan03]

I agree with the recommendations made here, but would advise caution with Whelton's "Two Paths", because in my opinion this book is rather too slanted.  It's fine to read that side of the story, but there's another side as well, and then it can become about which polemic you find more convincing, and that's not a great place to be in, in my opinion.

Also look for other works by Fr. Lev Gillet if you can find them.

[Fr. David]

Mmm.  A good point, Brendan, re: 2 Paths.  

A question re: Ware's TOC: how is something which is still (I assume) under copyright w/Penguin Books^TM able to be online in its entirety?  Wouldn't this violate some copyright law and cause loss of income to the company?

Sorry...my wife's an aspiring librarian, and I'm an educator; can't be too careful with what we reproduce...

[prodromos]

I guess you would have to contact intratext.com and ask them.

John.

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