Absolutely beautiful and worthwhile, for me, this was a paradigm shifting book. From the Eastern Orthodox tradition, this late 19th century text follows an anonymous holy fool in his wanderings around Russia (a second book, arguably by the same author, follows him on a journey to Jerusalem). In his time, he reflects on the importance of unceasing prayer, as recommended by St. Paul in the Bible. Using a combination of spiritual advice from his Director, or Starets, reading from the Philokalia, and meditation, he attains ever higher sanctification and helps others on their journey to unceasing prayer. ( )

Author unknown, translated from Russian by R. M. French. This 19th Century traveler through Russian and Siberia, who was of the Eastern Orthodox tradition, focuses his journal on learning, practicing, and teaching a method of prayer called HESYCHAST. DEC 2003

"The Way of a Pilgrim" is the English title of a 19th century anonymous Russian work, detailing the narrator's journey across the country while discovering practicing the Jesus Prayer devoutly, with the help of a prayer rope, and studying the . The Russian original, or a copy of it, was present at a Mount Athos monastery in Greece in the 19th century, and was first published in Kazan in 1884. The Russian title of the book is actually much longer than its English translation: "Откровенные рассказы странника духовному своему отцу" - literally, "Candid narratives of a pilgrim to his spiritual father." Whether the narrative is a literal autobiographical narrative, or alternatively is fictitious, metaphorical, or pedagogical, is not known with certainty.

The most widely used English edition was translated by Reginald Michael (R. M.) French (b. 1884), and first published in 1931. In his Translator's Note, French wrote of the pilgrim that "everyone will appreciate the sincerity of his conviction and few probably will doubt the reality of his experience" (p. xi). French wrote that the events described in the book "appear to belong to a Russia prior to the liberation of the serfs [in] 1861" (pp. xi-xii). French also observed that the Pilgrim's narrative mentions the Crimean War, which began in 1853. Therefore, it was "between those two dates," 1853 and 1861, that the Pilgrim arrived at Irkutsk and found a spiritual father, two of the major events in the Pilgrim's narrative (p. xii).

Some have suggested the book as a whole appears to be an allegory to both the life of Jesus, and the struggle of Orthodox Christianity. It details the gradual spiritual development and struggles of the narrator, and the effect the narrator's spirituality has on those around him (to quote the spiritual father Saint Seraphim of Sarov, "Acquire the spirit of peace, and a thousand souls around you will be saved").

The book is first in a series of two documents. The sequel is entitled "The Pilgrim Continues his Way". Translations of both documents were published together in the most widely known English editions.

The Pilgrim in this book is a simple Russian man, who yearns to know how to love God "with all his body, mind and words". He leaves home and travels in search of people who may be able to teach him this.

In particular I like the descriptions of his prayer life; chanting the Jesus prayer on beads, so many times a day. His experiences of this are very similar to mine as I chant the Hare Krishna mantra, also on beads. It helped me to understand how spiritual principles are universal, no matter what tradition we may belong to. ( )

Prayer, mantra, and walking meditation, the Jesus prayer had, quite simply, recommended itself to me.