The Struggle for Virtue: Asceticism in a Modern Secular Society

Author: (Taushev), Archbishop Averky 

Form: Paperback

Pages: 194

Archbishop Averky addresses head on the question, “What is asceticism?”  He counters the many false understandings that exist and shows that the practice of authentic asceticism is integral to the spiritual life and the path to blessed communion with God.

Archbishop Averky (Taushev) (1906–1976) was the fourth abbot of Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, New York. He was born in Imperial Russia and lived in Bulgaria after the Russian Revolution. He taught and served in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and Germany before being assigned in 1951 to teach at the Holy Trinity Seminary.  He was consecrated a bishop and, after the death of Archbishop Vitaly (Maximenko), in 1960 became the abbotof Holy Trinity Monastery. As abbot and rector, he was heavily involved in the formation of the seminary curriculum and the daily life of the seminarians and monks.

Contents

Preface The Essence and Meaning of Asceticism

1. Self-asserting Pride and Christian Humility.

2. The Importance of Spiritual Discernment

3. Gospel Love and Humanistic Altruism

4. Acquiring Gospel Love.

5. Reawakening our Conscience

6. The Christian Understanding of Freedom

7. Guarding the Heart Amidst the Distractions of Life

8.  Resisting Evil

9. Waging Unseen Warfare

10. Christian Struggle

11. The Holy Fathers on Combating the Passions

12. Pastoral Asceticism 

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