The Struggle for Virtue 9780884653745 cover image

The Struggle for Virtue

Asceticism in a Modern Secular Society

By Averky (Taushev),

ISBN: 9780884653738Published: Sep 01 2014
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ISBN: 9780884653745Published: Sep 01 2014
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Description

Either life will be renewed by Gospel love
or we will see the catastrophic ruin of humanity…The basis of everything is pure
and genuine love for God…This love for God naturally generates in us feelings of
love towards our neighbor.

In this heartfelt and insightful text Archbishop Averky goes straight
to the roots of our modern alienation from God and each other. He explains the
central role of asceticism in leading a spiritual life and reveals a fully
Christian understanding of it. We are shown that through the renewal of Gospel
love the conscience is reawakened and that we can begin to experience true
freedom: A freedom founded on the acquisition of virtue and the overcoming of
vice, together with all its associated distractions. All of this is seen to
demand effort: A Struggle for Virtue.

Based on lectures given in Europe after the end of the Second World
War, these texts are shown to be remarkably prophetic, as we see the outworking
in our own day of the abandonment of Christian virtue described by Archbishop
Averky.

Additional information

Imprint

Publisher

Author Name

Averky (Taushev)
Language

English
Book Dimensions

178 × 127 mm × 9 mm
Format Detail

Paperback
Publication Date

20140901
Pages

194
Format

BC

Author Biography

Archbishop Averky (Taushev) (1906–1976)
was the fourth abbot of Holy Trinity Monastery (Jordanville, NY). He was born in
Imperial Russia, but had to leave the country with his family in the wake of the
Russian Revolution. Living in Bulgaria, he was drawn to the monastic life, and
soon became a monk and a priest. He taught and ministered in Bulgaria,
Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and Germany, before being assigned in 1951 to teach
at the Holy Trinity Seminary. He was consecrated a bishop, and after the death
of Archbishop Vitaly (Maximenko) became the abbot of the monastery. As abbot, he
was also the rector of Holy Trinity Seminary and was heavily involved in the
formation of its curriculum and daily life. He was also praised by converts to
the Orthodox faith such as Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose) for being a steadfast
defender of traditional Orthodoxy. He wrote many commentaries on scripture and
other works which are extensively read both in Russia and in the
diaspora.

Contents

Contents

Preface The Essence and Meaning of
Asceticism

1. Self-asserting Pride and Christian
Humility.

2. The Importance of Spiritual
Discernment

3. Gospel Love and Humanistic
Altruism

4. Acquiring Gospel Love.

5. Reawakening our Conscience

6. The Christian Understanding of
Freedom

7. Guarding the Heart Amidst the Distractions of
Life

8.  Resisting Evil

9. Waging Unseen Warfare

10. Christian Struggle

11. The Holy Fathers on Combating the
Passions

12. Pastoral Asceticism 

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