THE WAY OF THE ASCETICS

What does ‘asceticism’ actually mean in today’s world? a world where daily physical discipline may be the basic condition of health but spiritual discipline is seen as superfluous, old-fashioned and ultimately unnecessary? ‘Ascetics are not just people in deserts and monasteries, but are mainly people who feel alienated by the pitiful scraps offered by the contemporary way of life and which leave them deeply unsatisfied, endlessly thirsting and hungering. Colliander suggests that the basic tool of asceticism is to turn towards ourselves. Through this turning we test ourselves by asking fundamental  questions about our relationship with God and our fellow-humans. The author helps us to locate these issues within ourselves and to search for the appropriate solutions.’ From the prologue by Father Alexander Kariotoglou ‘However weighed down and entangled in earthly fetters you may be, it can never be too late. Not without reason is it written that Abraham was seventy-five when he set forth, and the labourer who comes in the eleventh hour gets the same wages as the one who comes in the first.’ Tito Colliander To order, call us on 213 0291224