Bible commentaries by Theophan the Recluse

MJ. Smith · 2025-02-26T08:32:08+00:00

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This is an essential Russian Orthodox author of the 19th century. Many of his works belong in Logos but for a start:

https://www.amazon.com/Psalm-Commentary-Saint-Theophan-Recluse/dp/192892087X/ref%3Dsr_1_10?

Amazon blurb:

trans. Archpriest Gleb Wleskov; edited by Seraphim Englehardt After nearly 30 years of engagement with this text, we are delighted at long last to make it available to the faithful in permanent library form. Each reading (and there have been many) has deepened our appreciation of the profundity of the commentary, which never succumbs to the temptation of mere academicism. It is a book which can be read from beginning to end -- or from any random point -- with equal benefit. Brief notes on the many Church fathers and authorities cited by St. Theophan, not part of the Russian text, are appended. Deluxe edition: silver binding, gold-stamped, gilded edges, marker ribbon. Meant to be treasured for a lifetime -- or the lifetime of a friend or loved one. Hardbound “Psalm 118 is second only to Psalm 50 (‘Have mercy on me, O God...’) in its frequency of use in Orthodox liturgical practice. In a full cycle of services, despite (or perhaps because of) its extraordinary length, it is recited at the Midnight Office every night during the week, and (for most Sundays of the year) at Matins. It forms the backbone of all funeral services and the Lamentations at the Tomb served on the night of Holy Friday, elaborated with intercalated troparia. Its unusual structure, organized as it is into twenty-two stases in which each verse (in Hebrew) begins with the same letter of the alphabet, in sequence, may well have been intended as a mnemonic device. In many ways, this psalm may be seen as a summation of the entire Psalter, a legacy to be especially treasured. St. Theophan’s commentary is meditative, not scholarly in intent, despite his extraordinarily extensive quotations from earlier commentators and spiritual authorities. What he, like King David before him, wants is for us to do the commandments, the law of God, not just think about them. The attentive reader will quickly discern also the saint’s wide-ranging linking of the thoughts of the psalmist to other books of holy Scripture."

Note these may be why his name seems familiar:

The Art of Prayer - An Orthodox Anthology
This was the book that introduced me to St. Theophan the Recluse, and that prompted me to embark on the path of Orthodox Christianity. It is a kind of "prayer manual," compiled by the abbott ("igumen") of a revered Orthodox monastery who collected his favorite writings on the interior life, those he felt would be most helpful for his monks. The very great majority of these writings were from letters of spiritual direction written by St. Theophan the Recluse. I love this book!

The Art of Prayer - An Orthodox Anthology, Igumen Chariton of Valamo, compiler, Faber and Faber, London, 1997.
Unseen Warfare

Bishop Theophan the Recluse, a director of souls and an ascetic theologian of note, who was acquainted with Nicodemus' writings, was moved by his admiration of them to translate the Unseen Warfare from Greek into Russian. Like Nicodemus, and on an even greater scale, he allowed himself in translating it to make various changes and adaptations. The resulting version, supported by the double authority of Nicodemus and Theophan, took an assured place in the spiritual literature of the Russian Church. [From the Introduction to the book.]
The title, in our mostly Protestant culture, is potentially somewhat misleading. It's a wonderful manual on the inner life.
Unseen Warfare - as edited by Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain and revised by Theophan the Recluse, St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, Crestwood, NY 2000.

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Theophan Dort

M.J., I have immense respect for how very knowledgeable you are about all things Logos, and about the very many books you have read and studied, and, as I am one of what I wonder may be rather few Orthodox Christian Logos users, I am grateful for the presence of one here who "leans to the East." So I was delighted to find you suggesting a book to Logos by one of my favorite Orthodox Christian authors, St. Theophan the Recluse! For the benefit of the vastly greater numbers of Evangelical Christians here, I might emphasize this from the blurb you quoted, "St. Theophan’s commentary is meditative, not scholarly in intent, despite his extraordinarily extensive quotations from earlier commentators and spiritual authorities." I think this book may not be what most Logos users would consider a "commentary" on a psalm, but more of a meditation on that wonderful psalm, verse by verse, informed by the author's deeply patristic learning.

But when I started reading the two blurbs you quoted for the other two books that you mentioned for context, also favorites of mine, I was astonished and honored to discover that the erudite and authoritative M.J. Smith was quoting ME, of all people, from an old web page I made many years ago about the books I had in English translation of St. Theophan the Recluse in case it might have been of any use to people who were interested in his writings. I'm delighted to discover that you ran across it in your researches, and found it useful in any way. The Internet does make it a "small world!" :)

MJ. Smith

@Theophan Dort

My apologies for marking the quote but forgetting the reference. I've been working through a list of lesser-known Bible study approaches where I had St. Theophan the Recluse listed for meditative-mysticism. I know, there are many on the forum who are allergic to the term "mysticism"; I also know from a long exchange with a forumite off-line, that this is due to a difference in what is meant by the term. If mysticism meant what he thought/insisted it meant, I'd have reservations as well. Please add additional resource requests from your knowledge of Bible study in the Orthodox tradition - even if I have to pick them up in paper form rather than waiting for Logos.

Theophan Dort

@M.J. Smith

I don’t know whether continuing this topic of mysticism, spirituality, and related topics in this forum is appropriate or not — please guide me in this regard. If you wish to contact me offline, here is an option: logos.closable165@passmail.net

Briefly, I think that mysticism and spirituality both tend to refer to experiential understanding that does not come from or go into words. I think this is relevant to verbal, rational intelligence vs. non-verbal, arational intelligence. So trying to put into words things that don't go into words can lead to misunderstandings, e.g. people who accused the original Christians of cannibalism because they said they ate the flesh and drank the blood of their God. So good things and bad things can wind up being called spirituality or mysticism, so they can become “bad” words, to some. Some people think “religion” is bad and “spirituality” is good ("I'm spiritual but not religious!"), and some people just think exactly the reverse.

Despite being a happy and grateful Logos user, my own focus tends to be not so much on rational analysis as it is on prayer, repentance, self-denial, loving God and neighbor, etc., in line with your tag line from Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev. So I think there are way, way more “Bible Study” resources in the Western Tradition, post-Reformation, than in the Eastern Tradition. I imagine you’re familiar with these very recent (20th Century) commentaries, but just in case:

Johanna Manley:
The Bible and the Holy Fathers
Welcome, Let us Attend: Job, the Fathers and the Old Testament
Grace for Grace: the Psalter and the Holy Fathers.

There are several more by her that I am not familiar with.

These are a bit like the Ancient Christian Commentary series, the Church's Bible series, etc., in offering commentary from some of the Fathers. The first one follows the Orthodox lectionary, not the order in the Bible. I have made much less use of these than I wish due to my sinful slothfulness and how cumbersome it is to juggle multiple hard-copy books at the same time. I would have loved to have had these in Logos!

MJ. Smith

Johanna Manley:
The Bible and the Holy Fathers
Welcome, Let us Attend: Job, the Fathers and the Old Testament
Grace for Grace: the Psalter and the Holy Fathers.

we have strong support, including within Logos, for Manley's books. Unfortunately, the publisher doesn't have them in electronic format so Logos is unlikely to incur the cost for producing these. Outside of her works, the lectionary based commentaries I know are Oriental rather than Eastern Orthodox. Despite having some support within Logos, I've had no luck convincing Logos that some of Budge's translations would sell. Instead, I find myself trying to get Book of the Bee moved from an ebook to a readers' edition minimum.

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