www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Books Book recommendations?

Sorry if this isn't the best forum, but can anyone point me to a good suggested spiritual reading list for a relative newcomer to Eastern Christianity? I have studied it intellectually for several years, particularly the Syriac and early Coptic periods (pray that I can finish my dissertation sooner rather than later!), but I have been worshiping in a Byzantine Catholic parish for several months now. I have read +Kallistos Ware's book several times, but would like some recommendations, particularly with respect to iconography, prayer, and ecclesiology.

Thanks!

On prayer I'd say a good brief introduction would be Met. Anthony Bloom's "Beginning to Pray." On icons, I think "The meaning of Icons" by Ouspensky and Lossky is indispensable; a useful supplement might be Jim Forest, "Praying With Icons." On ecclesiology I will mention a controversial (and highly polemical)book: "The Russian Church and the Papacy" by Vladimir Soloviev.

Your church's liturgy is an endless resource. Instead of reading about prayer, pray. If you can sing a little, join the choir or schola cantorum. You will have exposure to more of the Church's theology in poetry. Read the lives of saints. Some reading and directions are good... you need to know where you are going. But, we live now in a world preoccupied with minutiae and the academic approach feeds into this with its insistence on specialisation.
FWIW, I really enjoyed Archbish. Raya's "The Face of God" and some heavy reading in Lossky's "Mysical Theology of the Eastern Church".
There is a lot of good stuff on the Orthodox Information Center website, just beware of the polemical or rigorist nature of some of the views...an antidote to this is anything Fr. Seraphim Rose addressed on the subject of the Correctness Disease.

Thank you both for your suggestions. The recommendation to pray is well taken.

I would simply refer you to the entire catalog of materials from Eastern Christian Publications, over 300 titles from mostly Eastern Catholic authors on history, theology, spirituality, biographies, liturgy, etc.

The online catalog has some categories, but most of material you would find useful are in the Eastern Christian Pub. section here:

https://secure.webvalence.com/ecommerce/kiosk.lasso?merchant=ecpubs&kiosk=books&class=ecp

Jack Figel, Publisher

I have learned more--in my heart and in my head, but especially in my heart--at the cantor's stand than from any commentary on the liturgy.

I agree with comments here that while books are good they need to be read in conjunction with frequent experience of the liturgy.

Check out this site for hundreds of books on Eastern Christianity: http://easternchristianbooks.blogspot.com/ Off the top, if you're looking for books on iconography, see the many (esp. those of Aidan Hart) noted on there. As for ecclesiology, an area of scholarly expertise for me, I'd heartily recommend Radu Bordeianu's recent monograph "Dumitru Staniloae: An Ecumenical Ecclesiology." It is, in my judgment, the best book in Orthodox ecclesiology to appear so far this century. I interview the author here: http://easternchristianbooks.blogspot.com/2011/12/author-interview-radu-bordeianu.html

and have reviewed the book here: http://easternchristianbooks.blogspot.com/2011/10/on-dumitru-staniloaes-ecclesiology.html

Thank you all!