Two books in one, likely by different authors, I only finished The Way of a Pilgrim, but deeply enjoyed this Eastern devotional work, one of my favorites of this year. The pilgrim meditates on what it means to "pray unceasingly" and to live a Christian life. It is memorable and worth it's short length. ( )

We accompany a Pilgrim wandering from place to place in Russia and Siberia as he searches for an answer to the question "How can you learn to pray without ceasing"? [1 Thessalonians 5:17] He shares his growing insight through a series of conversations with holy men who guide him to the answer he seeks. This edition benefits from an insightful introduction by Huston Smith.
RB, CSBS

One of the most important prayers to engage in for the love of God is what is called the Jesus Prayer. In The Way of a Pilgrim we encounter what the prayer is and why it is important. An anonymous pilgrim describes his efforts to understand what St Paul advised us in his epistle to “pray ceaselessly”. This book describes the pilgrims wanderings and how his expereinces bring him to the wisdom of asking God simply and humbly for mercy. I could not put this book down once I started and it brought great joy to my heart. ( )

By the grace of God I am a Christian man, by my actions a great sinner, and by calling a homeless wanderer of the humblest birth who roams from place to place. My worldly goods are a knapsack and some dried bread in it, and a Bible in my breast pocket. And that is all.

So begins this russian pilgrim his tale of spiritual search. He walks from place to place seeking advice on mysticism and the prayer life. He acquires The Philokalia, a collection of writings by eastern orthodox church fathers, and in it he finds a lot of wisdom on prayer.

But the charm of the book is his account of the people he meets who also tell their story. He finds shelter and friends but also some people who exploit him. He's always searching for a place where he can meditate in silence and solitude but the outer world seem always to interrupt and make demands of him.

Some spiritual classics are too heavy on mysticism for my liking - but this was different because it was more a biography. A soul on a spiritual journey - but along the way a lot of wisdom is found. ( )

This was given to us eons ago by my brother-in-law, who was spiritually swept away by the book. It is an English translation from the Russian (19th century). At times it was believed to be a hoax, but I think the hoax theory has been rebuked, and it's now felt to be either the recounting of a pilgrim's journey, or a way of teaching meditation and prayer. The pilgrim travels practicing what is known as ceaseless inner praying of the Jesus prayer:
Κύριε Ἰησοῦ Χριστέ, Υἱὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἐλέησόν με τὸν ἁμαρτωλόν.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.