Many priests agree that book recommendations are personal and pastoral. Even so, there are authors and titles that are repeatedly chosen for study groups, and suggested to inquirers, catechumens, and lifelong Orthodox Christians for spiritual reading.

With the help of clergy throughout the Metropolis of San Francisco, C.O.M.E. compiled this list of 15 titles as a “middle of the road” booklist to offer new bookstore managers a core to consider as they establish or review the inventory of their bookstore or parish library, and to provide ideas for group study.

Title	Author	Publisher/Supplier
The Year of the Grace of the Lord	a monk of the Eastern Church	St Vladimir Seminary Press
The Forgotten Medicine	Fr. Seraphim Aleksiev	St Xenia Skete/St Herman Press
Beginning to Pray	Met. Anthony Bloom	Paulist Press/Amazon.com
Saint Nectarios: Saint of Our Century	Sotos Chondropoulos	Kainourgia GE Publications/St Nectarios Press
The Truth of Our Faith	Elder Cleopa	Uncut Mountain Press/Uncut Mountain Supply
Way of the Ascetics	Tito Colliander	St Vladimir Seminary Press
Introducing the Orthodox Church	Fr. Anthony Coniaris	Light & Life Publishing
The Way of a Pilgrim	translated by R. M. French	Hope Publishing/Amazon.com
Mountain of Silence	Kyriacos Markides	Image Doubleday/Amazon.com
The Faith We Hold	Archbishop Paul of Finland	St Vladimir Seminary Press
For the Life of the World	Fr. Alexander Schmemann	St Vladimir Seminary Press
Great Lent	Fr. Alexander Schmemann	St Vladimir Seminary Press
The Spiritual Life	St Theophan the Recluse	St Paisius Monastery
The Orthodox Church	Timothy Ware	Penguin Books/Amazon.com
The Power of the Name	Met. Kallistos Ware	SLG Press, United Kingdom