The Eros of Repentance

A call to arms for the spirit, a call to abandon our self-love and embrace the love of God, this small book speaks to our deepest longing. Its focus is the role of our yearning, our desire to be united with the divine, 'for it is the power of desire (eros) in the soul that manifests the imprint of God within us more than anything else'. Archimandrite George Kapsanis relates how the sanctified eros can guide us to change our hearts and minds, describing repentance as 'a dynamic condition, a continuous progression towards the Lord … it is the pursuit of the Living God'. Uplifting and inspiring, these four talks by the late Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Gregoriou on Mt. Athos have the power to lead us to the realisation of the true purpose of human life. Archimandrite George speaks with direct and precise language of our most mysterious and profound desire and the means by which it may be satisfied. 'Therefore we understand this eros of the psyche, at its deepest level, to be the thirst for the depths of our own being. That thirst can only be slaked when we achieve the goal for which we were made: union with our Archetype, with God - what the Orthodox tradition calls theosis'. First published in 2000 and long out of print, this edition has been thoroughly revised by the monks of I.M. Gregoriou on Mt Athos and represents the definitive translation into English of the Abbot's original talks.