Practical Theology in Verse, Volume III

One of the difficulties facing the Orthodox Church - and other branches of Christianity - is the pressure placed on Christians by the business of modern life, dominated as it is by punishing work schedules and day-to-day tasks. The answer, Bishop Paul of Tracheia tells us in his third book of theological poems, is to devote a portion of our day, if we can, to prayer. At the very least, it's a purgative and restoratative: For prayer unites what evil sin disperses; man, through prayer, with God Himself converses. References to the ascetic exercises of St Thalassius the Libyan and the homilies of St Isaac the Syrian, as well as longer poems on Bible themes and a parable of his own making - 'The Chariot' - show that Bishop Paul is more than a spiritual cheerleader. He voices concern over deeper issues such as the problem of God's hidden will, a child's death, the balance between flesh and intellect, and the relationship between ourselves and God ('The Call'). Decrying jealousy, aggression, materialism and the tyranny of science, these poems praise charity, compassion and self-control, extolling the beauty of creation and the balm of stillness and science. And that is something few of us in today's noisy and cluttered world dispute. Bishop Paul was born during the war years in a small Suffolk village. Having studied theology at the world-famous St Sergius Institute of Orthodox Theology in Paris he served as a priest and then bishop in the Diocese of the Ecumenical Patriarchate for the Russian parishes in Western Europe. He resigned from all his responsibilities in 2001, and retired to a small monastic community - a dependence of Simonas Petra Mt. Athos - in the French Vercors. He leads a secluded life, rarely leaving the monastic territory. Bishop Paul has written an extensive quantity of poetry, the first two volumes of Practical Theology in Verse having been published by Athena Press in 2004, as well as the inspirational Fifty Sonnets for Pentecost (2005). He has also written Liturgical texts in French.