May 1st: A Milestone for the Orthodox Christian Treasury Series

For the English-speaking faithful who have long relied on the Great Collection of the Lives of the Saints by Chrysostom Press, a familiar gap has existed once the calendar turned to May, where Chrysostom Press stopped publishing their volumes. Understanding the spiritual hunger for detailed lives of the saints in the English language, our monastery—the Sacred Monastery of St. John of the Ladder—has spent months labouring to pick up where Chrysostom Press left off.

Today, May 1st, marks a significant milestone. It is the feast day for the very first “completed” day in our Orthodox Christian Treasury series. While these volumes have been released individually over the last several months, today we celebrate the full assembly of these spiritual giants.

The Most Detailed Manuscripts We Could Find

Our mission wasn’t merely to provide brief summaries, but to continue where Chrysostom Press left off by translating the most detailed manuscripts available. We have pulled from Greek, Russian, Georgian, and Latin sources to try to make the best possible collection of entries for this day of the Church year.

Each ebook in this series is more than a biography; it is a liturgical and devotional tool. We have included:

• Complete translations of canons, troparia, kontakia, and akathists.
• Original Akathist hymns composed by our monastery.
• Annotated footnotes to help new readers understand the names, places, and terms used by the original authors.

Our Top Recommendations

While we have published nine lives for today, several stand out as our favourites:

1. The Three Holy New Martyrs: Euthymios, Ignatios, & Akakios

This is a painful reminder of the realities of what Islam really is, and how it interacts with Orthodoxy. The book follows three Athonite monks who, having once denied Christ, returned through “fiery repentance” to wash away their stain with their own blood at the hands of the persecuting Hagarenes. The accounts of these three New Martyrs plainly reveal why “Patriarch” Bartholomew’s repeated efforts to strengthen his false church’s ecumenist “relations” with Islam are totally heretical.

Why buy this? It contains full-length accounts of each of the three holy martyrs composed by Athonites, along with an original True Orthodox Akathist composed by our monastery. It is a thunderous proclamation that no sin is too deep for the mercy of God.

2. St. Nikiphoros of Chios: A Modern Catechism in Orthopraxis

If you are looking for a distillation of our bishop’s pastoral teachings, look no further than the Life and Akathist of St. Nikiphoros.

• The Best of the Kollyvades: This Akathist is a profound distillation of the Kollyvades Fathers’ wisdom as it can be applied in our times.
• A Shield Against Innovation: It serves as a spiritual innoculation against the plague of westernism.

3. The Sun of Iberia: Saint Tamara

Step into the Golden Age of Georgia. We have translated the primary 13th-century chronicle of the “Queen of Queens,” alongside an Akathist translated directly from the original Georgian. She is the perfect model of a ruler who combined wisdom, piety, love, zeal, humility, and Christ-like mercy.

Support the Labours of our Monastery

To celebrate the feast of these saints today, we invite you to explore our Online Synaxarion, where short entries for all these saints are available for free.

However, to truly dive deep into their lives and support our ongoing translation efforts, we invite you to purchase the full-length ebooks.

Where to find them:

• Free Synaxarion Entries: Read the May 1st Lives Here
• The Full Shop: Browse our Audiobook and Ebook Store to purchase the High-Definition PDFs and EPUBs.

Each purchase includes:

• Instant Download: DRM-free files for Kindle, tablet, or print.
• Beautiful Formatting: High quality graphics, and original icons and page decorations.
• Spiritual Profit: Direct access to the lives of St. Jeremiah, St. Paphnutius, and others.