Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov

Ascetic Sermons

19th c. · Ascetical work · English translation, 2026

165,946 words · 14 hr read· Moderate

Source edition: Святитель Игнатий (Брянчанинов). Полное собрание творений. — СПб., 1865–1886 (дореволюционное издание, переизд.).

Cover art: Above Eternal Peace — Isaac Levitan (Russian, 1860–1900) (Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)

Preached from the cathedral pulpits of his Caucasian diocese and gathered as the fourth volume of his collected works, St Ignatius Brianchaninov's Ascetic Sermons bring the strict wisdom of the monastic Fathers to Christians living in the world. Following the Church's year from Theophany through Great Lent to Pascha and Pentecost, they press home a single call — repentance — while warning against hypocrisy and self-conceit and holding before the hearer the remembrance of death, the judgments of a God who chastens to save, and, at the last, the veneration of the Mother of God.