Written eleven years into Saint Nektarios’s tenure as the Director of the Rizarios Ecclesiastical School in Athens, The Priestly Engolpion is the distillation of over a decade of direct experience in the guidance, formation, and spiritual and ethical cultivation of future priests and lay leaders of the Church. This book is a compilation of three works: The first chapter, “On the Priesthood”, offers an in-depth explanation of the nature of the Christian priesthood, its purpose, the work of a Christian priest, and how he must conduct himself.

The second and third chapters entitled “On the Primacy in the Hierarchy” and “On Equality in the Hierarchy” respectively are set against the historical context of drastic changes undergone by the Roman Catholic Church as a result of Vatican I, and are both a reminder to the Orthodox of their sacred Apostolic inheritance and what it means, as well as a reminder to adhere to Holy Tradition. Saint Nektarios’ masterful articulation of the ages-old unchanging understanding of the Priesthood in the Orthodox Church is beneficial not only for those who are called to become priests, or to those who are already priests, but also to lay people who yearn to deepen their understanding of this integral pillar of the Christian Faith.

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