This one...

https://www.logos.com/product/54497/philokalia-the-eastern-christian-spiritual-texts-selections-annotated-and-explained

has selections taken from the Philokalia which will give you a pretty good idea of Eastern Orthodox Spirituality.

The Fathers of the Desert (2 vols.) is primarily short biographies with quotations here and there.

Early Egyptian Monasticism Collection (5 vols.) is mostly history/biographical as well, other than 

Fifty Spiritual Homilies of St. Macarius the Egyptian

and

The Rules of Pachomius 

which give some actual writings of Macarius and Pachomius but neither of these are probably going to get you what you're looking for.

Milkman said:

Would purchasing these two books/resources be congruent to Eastern Orthodox mysticism, spirituality or the contemplative life style?

Yes, substantially, although I would recommend reading The Wisdom of the Desert first or instead.

Oxford Studies in St. Symeon the New Theologian(2 vols.)

This unfortunately has not been released but is one of the more important Mystical writers of the Orthodox faith. I have of course read him in the Philokalia and some of his works elsewhere... I wish there were more available by him in Logos.

-Dan

You may also find this set helpful:

https://www.logos.com/product/49432/orthodox-spiritual-heritage-collection

Here is another edition, on Logos, of the Philokalia.  Not sure the content is identical to the other on-line sellers edition or the other Logos resource mentioned above.

https://www.logos.com/product/45046/the-philokalia-a-classic-text-of-orthodox-spirituality

Maybe Gabe will chime in and provide some recommendation.

Years ago I read some of the mystics, and read a lot about the mystics. But in visiting a contemplative community, I found the vast difference between "book study" of it and witnessing it. It is almost like reading a book about breathing and breathing itself...

That said, some very interesting resources have been suggested in this thread.

I cannot say that I have been blessed with the Beatific Vision like you describe. I would strongly suggest you find some sort of Spiritual Director to help direct you in your journey, so that such experiences may continue to enpower your journey through life. My understanding of these experiences is that what they are, and what exactly they mean needs to be prayerfully discerned - and doing this is much easier with a guide.

Ronald all blessing to you, the Ecstasy of God is a most wonderful thing. It is something some never get to experience. This grace is wonderful but should not be sought simply for it's sake. A spiritual director would be a wise course, my times of ecstasy have most often come during my Bible studies during my prayer times, but they have happened during meditation, during a walk, encounters with animals and even most profoundly for me during a migraine (I say most profoundly because one would imagine that during a painful time one would not have joy and peace but the Spirit moved and held me for a few hours of that migraine). I do not want to discourage you because it is a wonderful experience, I just don't want you to experience a dark night of the soul, on the cloudiest of days you may see no evidence of the sun but it remains in the sky giving light even when we see it not for the conditions. The paths to ecstasy are many and varied, numerous mystics have written volumes to help, I feel the Cloud of Unknowing may be a valuable book on your journey with God. The Spirit of God is not forced, but I do understand you desire, I have no doubt it will come and God will lead you on paths you never dreamt of.

-dan

They are one and the same... just differing translation, but as much as I enjoy the work of Underhill her translation feels very dated to me:

HERE BEGINNETH THE FIRST CHAPTER

Of four degrees of Christian men’s living; and of the course of his calling that this book was made unto.

GHOSTLY friend in God, thou shalt well understand that I find, in my boisterous beholding, four degrees and forms of Christian men’s living: and they be these, Common, Special, Singular, and Perfect. Three of these may be begun and ended in this life; and the fourth may by grace be begun here, but it shall ever last without end in the bliss of Heaven. And right as thou seest how they be set here in order each one after other; first Common, then Special, after Singular, and last Perfect, right so me thinketh that in the same order and in the same course our Lord hath of His great mercy called thee and led thee unto Him by the desire of thine heart. For first thou wottest well that when thou wert living in the common degree of Christian men’s living in company of thy worldly friends, it seemeth to me that the everlasting love of His Godhead, through the which He made thee and wrought thee when thou wert nought, and sithen bought thee with the price of His precious blood when thou wert lost in Adam, might not suffer thee to be so far from Him in form and degree of living. And therefore He kindled thy desire full graciously, and fastened by it a leash of longing, and led thee by it into a more special state and form of living, to be a servant among the special servants of His; where thou mightest learn to live more specially and more ghostly in His service than thou didst, or mightest do, in the common degree of living before. And what more?

Yet it seemeth that He would not leave thee thus lightly, for love of His heart, the which He hath evermore had unto thee since thou wert aught: but what did He? Seest thou nought how listily and how graciously He hath privily pulled thee to the third degree and manner of living, the which is called Singular? In the which solitary form and manner of living, thou mayest learn to lift up the foot of thy love; and step towards that state and degree of living that is perfect, and the last state of all.

 Evelyn Underhill, ed., A Book of Contemplation the Which Is Called the Cloud of Unknowing, in the Which a Soul Is Oned with God, Second Edition (London: John M. Watkins, 1922), 65–67.

Chapter I

The four degrees of the Christian life; and how he for whom this book was written advanced in his vocation¹⁰

Proemium

My spiritual friend in God:¹¹ I pray and beseech you to pay very close attention to the progress of your vocation and the way in which you have been called; thank God from your heart, so that through the help of his grace you may stand steadfast in the state, degree and manner of life that you have undertaken with full deliberation in spite of all the subtle attacks of your bodily and ghostly enemies,¹² and so win through to the crown of life¹³ that lasts forever, Amen.

My spiritual friend in God, you are to understand that according to our rather crude reckoning, there are four degrees and forms of the Christian life. They are: ordinary, special, singular and perfect. Three of these can be begun and ended in this life; and one may begin the fourth by grace here below, which is to last without end in the happiness of heaven. These degrees are set out here in order, successively, first ordinary then special, after that singular and finally perfect.¹⁴ It is in this same way, I think, according to this very order and progress, that our Lord has, in his great mercy, called you and led you to him by the desire of your heart.

First, then, you are well aware that once you lived in the ordinary degree of the Christian life in the world with your friends. And I believe that the everlasting love of the Godhead through which he made you and fashioned you when you were nothing, and then bought you at the price of his precious blood when, in Adam, you were lost, would not allow you to be so far away from him in the manner and state of your living.¹⁵ And so with his great grace he kindled your desire, and fastened to it a leash of longing,¹⁶ and with this led you into a more special state and degree of life, to be a servant of the special servants of his;¹⁷ where you could learn to live in his service more particularly and more spiritually than you did before or could do in the ordinary way of life. What is more, it appeared that he was not going to leave you alone so easily, because of the love in his heart which he has always had for you since you first existed. What is it that he did? Do you not see with what love and with what grace he has called you up to the third degree and manner of life, which is called singular? And in this state and manner of life of the solitary you are to learn to lift up the foot of your love,¹⁸ and step outwards towards that state and degree of life that is perfect, the last state of all.

¹⁰ In repeating the chapter headings, we are following R. M., who says: “Though the author of the book does not set out the various titles at the head of each chapter throughout the book, but only at the beginning, it seems better to me, all things considered, not only to put them all together at the beginning, but one by one at the head of each chapter.”

¹¹ Like three other works which can be attributed with certainty to our author, the Cloud itself is couched in the form of a letter to a young beginner from an older monk or spiritual father. (We have referred to the Carthusian practice in this regard in the Introduction, p. 40). However, it must also be noticed that many writers in this genre, with varying degrees of awareness, were simply perpetuating the tradition and adopting the style of the first apostolic writers, beginning with SS. Luke and Paul, on the understanding that their writings would be passed from hand to hand, and read aloud in quasi-ecclesiastical gatherings: in this case, monastic refectories or chapter halls. An outstanding example is the letter on the contemplative life by the Carthusian Guigo the Angelic, whose epistolary introduction is omitted in literally scores of extant MSS. Cf. The Ladder of Monks, p. 81; Introduction, supra, p. 78.

¹² Cf. Ephesians 6:10ff.

¹³ The reference to James 1:12 is taken up at length by the author in his letter on Discernment of Spiritual Impulses.

¹⁴ “The ordinary degree is of laypeople, the special of clerics or religious, and the singular of solitaries: that is, hermits, anchorites and especially Carthusians. Hence we may conclude that this book was written for a Carthusian, since in our day it is not customary, as it was in days gone by, to leave an approved religious order for a hermitage, but only for the Carthusians” (R.M.). Cf. Introduction, p. 15. The commentator on MS. Harleian 674 gives the example of Christ himself, who “whilst he was subject to his parents, was in the ordinary degree; whilst he was about his business, in the special; whilst fasting in the desert and praying on the mountain, in the singular; and in the transfiguration, resurrection and ascension, in the perfect”.

¹⁵ Cf. The Ladder: “When you were nothing I created you, and after you had sinned and made yourself a slave who once were free, then I redeemed you out of slavery with the price of myself. Then afterwards you hunted with the sinners of this world, and I caught you back from them, and I gave more of my grace to you than to others, because I wanted you to be my own” (ME version).

¹⁶ “A leash of longing.” This is one of the more outstanding examples of the author’s ability to drive home an essential theological point: the reconciliation of “you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,” and human freedom, with a vivid and self-clarifying metaphor.

¹⁷ Hugo de Balma, in speaking of the steps to union, stresses the importance of reflecting on the benefits the disciple has received: first, of creation and of redemption by the Incarnation and the Passion; and secondly of the grace of the Carthusian vocation, which is not merely a call out of the world, “because he has called him (the disciple) not to the rule of the holy Benedict or Augustine … but has chosen him for that most blessed life which he himself chose when he was led into the desert. He was our forerunner, showing what it means to be a servant, by serving us”.

¹⁸ The source of this image is Augustine’s commentary on Psalm 9: “Rightly understood, the foot of the soul is love; for it moves by means of love to the place it is going” (PL 36, 124). De Balma speaks of the “plateau of unitive love towards which the mind hastens, supported by the feet of the affections”.

 James Walsh and Richard J. Payne, eds., The Cloud of Unknowing, The Classics of Western Spirituality (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1981), 115–117.

So The Cloud of Unknowing is the one i recommend even though slightly more expensive you can see the annotations alone make  it a better choice.

-Dan

I have a link to the one I've read. https://www.catholicspiritualdirection.org/cloudunknowing.pdf 

My favorite is the sixth chapter, it seems to be a good summary of the entire book:

"BUT now thou askest me and sayest, “How shall I think on Himself, and what is He?” and to this I cannot answer thee but thus: “I wot not.” For thou hast brought me with thy question into that same darkness, and into that same cloud of unknowing, that I would thou wert in thyself. For of all other creatures and their works, yea, and of the works of God’s self, may a man through grace have fullhead of knowing, and well he can think of them: but of God Himself can no man think. And therefore I would leave all that thing that I can think, and choose to my love that thing that I cannot think. For why; He may well be loved, but not thought. By love may He be gotten and holden; but by thought never. And therefore, although it be good sometime to think of the kindness and the worthiness of God in special, and although it be a light and a part of contemplation: nevertheless yet in this work it shall be cast down and covered with a cloud of forgetting. And thou shalt step above it stalwartly, but Mistily, with a devout and a pleasing stirring of love, and try for to pierce that darkness above thee. And smite upon that thick cloud of unknowing with a sharp dart of longing love; and go not thence for thing that befalleth."

This is what I feel the book is saying:

We want to know God in a far deeper way because we know instinctively that such a way exists, like a new born child knows to breathe at birth. We have this gnawing void deep inside of us and know it has something to do with God. So we rush to church, bible study, and worship because we feel a glimmer of what is possible when God fills us. We see miracles and long to hold on to the other-worldness of the experience because the God that we love is in it. Like Song of Solomon we search for our love and sometimes we catch a brief glimpse of the things He's done and the lives He's touched. But inside we mourn that it has to go away and we have to return to our mundane life and hope for more in eternity. We stumble in our Christian walk and we pray that He still loves us, we are in pain and pray that He still carries us, we are dying on our sickbed and pray that He waits for us.   

The empty feeling we have in our spirit is similar to guilt is to the soul or pain is to the body. It is a mechanism built into us by God to move us to action. He wouldn't give it to us that feeling if there was no solution for it in this life. The empty feeling is an invitation sent by God to find the thing that fills it. The "Cloud of Unknowing" and "Centering Prayer" by M. Basil Pennington go into depth of how to prepare yourself for this experience. But once prepare you must wait at the door and not move, like Jacob you must say, "I will not let you go until you bless me".

Hey guys. In second Kings chapter 7 there is an account of 4 lepers who wandered into the camp of the Arameans during a siege. Not only was it deserted but they had access to food, gold and anything they wanted. After enjoying it by themselves they were pricked with guilt. They had to tell others what they found, of course no one will believe them but it was their obligation to tell about it. 

A while ago I posted the story of what happened to me 35 years ago, my encounter with Uncreated Light. Since then I've spent nearly every waking moment in that presence, and it has been intensifying. I'm far too boring to make things up like this and at the risk of losing credibility let me report what's happened. If the end result is one other person getting to experience this, any amount ridicule is ok, lol. There are two things I want to tell everybody, more has happened but these two are provable, they are things that happen every time and if any of you are ever in the Dallas area I would be incredibly happy to show you. 

I had my hand on my fiance's back lightly rubbing her. The Uncreated Light experience happened to her. I removed my hand and it stopped, I put it back and it continued. All the pain in her body disappeared, and the depression she's been fighting was gone. I've noticed that this happens every time now. Whoever I put my hand on enters the presence, I remove it and it goes away. When I put my own hand on my chest I can feel the presence burning inside my chest with intensity, more than normal. The best part is that you don't have to take my word for it, it happens every time. Its not like I have to pray or psych myself up, its just always on.

The other thing I noticed is very strange. I lift weight every morning for the last 30 years. I usually curl two 40 pound weights (hammer curl) like 3 sets of 10 times each. The most repetitions I can do is about 15. So I get to the 10 repetition, then I was wondering what happens when I have the Uncreated Light experience while doing that. So I did. The burning feeling that I've experienced my whole life when lifting weights was completely gone. My son was watching me in shock. I did 50, 60 ,70 reps very fast. I only stopped because I thought I might be hurting myself and couldn't feel it. I put down the weights and I wasn't out of breath. So I can do that every time, when I lift weights while in His presence it seems there is no limit. 

All I can say is that I really am an insignificant person and I take no pride in any of this. If any of my ego got into the post I'm sincerely sorry. I don't want to do the slightest thing to impede what God wants to do.