Letters, Volume 1

Acknowledgments

vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The first draft of this translation was prepared during a sabbatical at the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, New Jersey. It was a delight to bask in that environment for the spring semester of 2002. I am indebted to the brotherhood of The Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Brookline, Massachusetts. The insightful counsel and gracious support of the elder and monks in that community , deriving from personal experience of the monastic life and skilled reading of the monastic texts, proved invaluable. I am also grateful to the Rt. Rev. Bishop Sava of Troas for entrusting me with his draft translation of the [first 190] Letters, the treasured fruit of his doctoral studies at the University of Oxford . Ms. Melissa Lynch generously offered her time and assistance in the careful compilation of the scriptural index. Finally, the entire publication has benefited enormously from the editorial skills and invaluable suggestions of Dr. Carole Burnett , staff editor at The CUA Press. Any portions of this translation that also appear in my previous volume, Letters from the Desert, are used by permission of St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, Crestwood, New York 10707, www. svspress.com. ...