Marriage as a Path to Holiness

By David and Mary Ford. Reprinted in June, 2020 with a new cover illustration and thoroughly revised typography.

Marriage as a Path to Holiness includes the lives of over 180 married saints. Also of interest is the extensive Introduction, in which the authors present a summary of the consensus understanding of marriage in the Orthodox Tradition, using many quotations from various saints. This 20th anniversary edition is further enhanced by twenty-four illustrations, sixteen of which were expressly commissioned for this book and which include saints not commonly depicted.

"Drawing on that rich but often neglected source, the Lives of the Saints, this book provides us with a representative selection of models, of icons in words, to encourage us on our own journey to the kingdom, whether we are married or not... What is striking first of all about the examples chosen is their diversity. They are spread in time across nearly four thousand years, from the Old Testament era up to our own day. In space they extend no less widely: from Persia in the east to Alaska in the west, from Egypt in the south to England in the north.... In each case the story has been told in a simple but vivid style, with frequent quotations from the original sources and from the liturgical texts.... And, whether we are married, monastics or single, as we look at the living icons of the Holy Trinity on the pages that follow, may we all of us be brought to a deeper appreciation of this 'great mystery' (Ephesians 5:32)."

—from the Foreword by Metropolitan KALLISTOS of Diokleia, author of The Orthodox Church and The Orthodox Way