Talk 79: Why Are the Lives of Saints Considered the Encyclopedia of Orthodoxy?

This talk is a continuation of Talk 78: “Why Do the Demons Tremble When We Read the Lives of the Saints?” For many years, few lives of saints were available in the English language, leaving the English-speaking Orthodox faithful without this soul-saving spiritual nourishment. Such is no longer the case, and we now have volumes of the lives of saints available in English. Nevertheless, the majority of Orthodox Christians are spiritually deprived because they read the lives of saints either rarely or not at all.

In this talk, Father Kosmas uses the teachings of various saints and elders to show the spiritual value of reading the lives of saints and to explain why they are considered the encyclopedia of Orthodoxy. He reads from a range of saints’ lives and emphasises that we should study them in order to apply aspects of their lives to our own ...