It is hard to pinpoint one simple aspect of this book which made it so pleasant to read and so accessible. In very simple stories, concepts of the Orthodox Church come across in living examples. On the surface, one can view the journey from atheism toward Christianity for many of the individuals, which alone is quite powerful. But like an onion, we can peel back the layers and observe examples of the life of the Christian person that are often obscured or lost in intellectual pursuits to understand the Faith: podvig (spiritual struggle), pride, redemption, forgiveness, obedience, much of the spiritual life of the Orthodox Christian is on display here with tangible examples.

Lots of wonderful characters and stories in here so far. One from a chapter I just finished relates how the author was under pressure by Soviet authorities to create an "ecumenical" film about how all religions are basically the same, but he refused as he had been properly catechized regarding the profound error of ecumenism. But he eventually devises a plan to make a film about the unity of the Georgian and Russian churches (both Orthodox) which would get past Soviet censors because it being ostensibly "ecumenical". The film was to use footage of the harvesting and making of bread representing one church, and footage showing the harvesting of grapes and creation of wine process representing the other, with them coming together in the Eucharist which is the principle of unity. This is obviously not about being "ecumenical" but just a statement about the reality of unity in the Holy Orthodox Church in the Eucharist -- the body of Christ which constitutes and forms the body of Christ. Brilliant. ( )

Everyday Saints opens with a lovely and surprisingly welcome introduction to both believers and skeptics.

Archimandrite Tikhon then proceeds with a description of his own confused path to entering the monastery as a novice.

What follows are insightful descriptions of many of his fellow monks, often from birth to death.
Here, the time sequence jumps around a lot, from Pskov Caves Monastery to Pechory to Moscow
as he meets and interacts with each monk. It would be good to have separate time line of the author's life.

He delivers a whole new world, that of the old and new Russian Orthodox Church,
a presentation that would astound and horrify Sam Harris [Letter to a Christian Nation] and
Richard Dawkins [The God Delusion].

Beautiful and revelatory photographs enliven the stories. ( )