R. M. French (1883–1961)

One of the most important prayers to engage in for the love of God is what is called the Jesus Prayer. In The Way of a Pilgrim we encounter what the prayer is and why it is important. An anonymous pilgrim describes his efforts to understand what St Paul advised us in his epistle to “pray ceaselessly”. This book describes the pilgrims wanderings and how his expereinces bring him to the wisdom of asking God simply and humbly for mercy. I could not put this book down once I started and it brought great joy to my heart.… (more)

By the grace of God I am a Christian man, by my actions a great sinner, and by calling a homeless wanderer of the humblest birth who roams from place to place. My worldly goods are a knapsack and some dried bread in it, and a Bible in my breast pocket. And that is all.

So begins this russian pilgrim his tale of spiritual search. He walks from place to place seeking advice on mysticism and the prayer life. He acquires The Philokalia, a collection of writings by eastern orthodox church fathers, and in it he finds a lot of wisdom on prayer.

But the charm of the book is his account of the people he meets who also tell their story. He finds shelter and friends but also some people who exploit him. He's always searching for a place where he can meditate in silence and solitude but the outer world seem always to interrupt and make demands of him.

Some spiritual classics are too heavy on mysticism for my liking - but this was different because it was more a biography. A soul on a spiritual journey - but along the way a lot of wisdom is found.… (more)