Remember Thy First Love (Revelation 2:4-5): The Three Stages of the Spiritual Life in the Theology of Elder Sophrony

Remember Thy First Love is a graphic description of the three stages in the Christian life according to Elder Sophrony of Essex (1896-1993), disciple of St. Silouan the Athonite (1866-1938) and founder of the Patriarchal and Stavropegic Monastery of St. John the Baptist in Essex, England. In Remember Thy First Love, which complements The Enlargement of the Heart (2006) and The Hidden Man of the Heart (2008), Elder Zacharias details the nature and purpose of the first grace given at the beginning of the Christian spiritual odyssey, the experience of the apparent withdrawal of grace, and then our final adoption as children, by which we become heirs of God and joint-heirs of Christ (cf. Rom. 8:17). Fr Zacharias' Remember Thy First Love also includes an invaluable Index of Names and Subjects.