A History of the Athonite Commonwealth

Graham Speake is founder and Chairman of the Friends of Mount Athos. He is a regular visitor to the Mountain and was received into the Orthodox Church there in 1999. Trained as a classicist, he holds a doctorate in Greek from the University of Oxford and is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. His first book, Mount Athos: Renewal in Paradise (2nd edition, 2014), was awarded the Criticos Prize.

• Part I: 1. Introduction; 2. The monastic life; Part II: 3. St Athanasios the Athonite (c.925–1000/1): founder of cenobitic monasticism on Athos; 4. The enlighteners of Georgia; 5. St Antony (983–1073) and St Theodosius (1035–1074) of Kiev: fathers of Russian monasticism; 6. St Sava (1175–1236): illuminator of Serbia; 7. St Gregory of Sinai (c.1265–1346): initiator of the 'Hesychast International'; 8. St Gregory Palamas (1296–1359): champion of hesychasm on Athos; 9. St Theodosius of Trnovo (c.1300–1363) and the Bulgarian school of hesychasm; 10. St Nikodimos of Tismana (1320–1406): transmitter of hesychasm to Wallachia; 11. St Sergius of Radonezh (1314–1392) and St Nil Sorsky (c.1433–1508): revivers of Russian monasticism; 12. St Maximos the Greek (c.1470–1556): enlightener of Russia; 13. St Kosmas the Aetolian (1714–1779): teacher of the Greek nation, apostle to the Albanians; 14. St Paisy Velichkovsky (1722–1794): reviver of hesychasm; 15. St Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain (1749–1809): editor of the Philokalia; 16. Athos and the West; Epilogue.

'Dr Speake's earlier volume Mount Athos: Renewal in Paradise has quickly come to be recognised as the best book on the subject. Its sequel, A History of the Athonite Commonwealth, has the same good qualities: clear, based closely on the sources, scholarly yet readable. It breaks new ground, and is an important addition to our knowledge of the Holy Mountain.' Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia, Pembroke College, Oxford