Lessons From a Greek Island

Known in Greece as the “Saint of Greek Letters,” Alexandros Papadiamandis (1851-1911) was the most important literary figure of nineteenth-century Greece and arguably of modern Greek literature more generally. Through his lively, tender, and profound short stories of the simple lives of the Orthodox faithful of his native island of Skiathos, Papadiamandis reveals a world of organically lived Orthodoxy, a world largely lost in the disintegrating order of modern life. Papadiamantis enjoyed close friendships with holy men of his age, such as St. Nicholas Planas (alongside whom he served as chanter). Papadiamandis does not portray a romantic, ideal world but rather a profoundly human world of struggle that always has the possibility of transfiguration through life in Christ and His Church. — Backcover