The songs of the bridal chamber: Monks at prayer

A man who knows where he comes from and where he is going has a clear sense of himself and of God. The Syrian landscape inscribes paradise in a telling geography for anyone inquiring about “who is man” in a Judeo-Christian understanding. If we know where we came from and where we are going, we know a great deal about who we are. This is not a conceptual abstract understanding but a genuine one, as summarised by St. Athanasius of Alexandria in his famous aphorism: “Christ was made man that we might be made God.” Yet that is both an affirmation and an itinerary. How ought we to keep this spiritual map in our mind’s eye? The reader is taken on an illuminating guided journey, across both time and space, exploring insights from the monastic poets and writers of the Eastern Churches and beyond.