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The audiobook version of this book on an approach to the world and life within it stems from the liturgical experience of the Orthodox Church. The author understands issues such as secularism and Christian culture from the perspective of the unbroken experience of the Church, as revealed and communicated in her worship, in her liturgy—the sacrament of the world, the sacrament of the Kingdom.

This commentary on the Lord's prayer has been compiled from a series of broadcasts made by Father Alexander Schmemann on Radio Liberty to listeners in the Soviet Union. Because this single short prayer of Christ has everything that needs to be said about God, his kingdom, this life, and all of us, it is not an exaggeration to suggest that in this commentary, Father Schmemann provides us with a map for seeing anew the purpose and measure of our whole life.

This revised edition of Fr. Alexander Schmemann's Lenten classic examines the meaning of the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, the prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian, the canon of St. Andrew of Crete, and other neglected or misunderstood treasures of Lenten worship. Schmemann draws on the Church's sacramental and liturgical tradition to suggest the meaning of "Lent in our life". The Lenten season is meant to kindle a "bright sadness" within our hearts. Its aim is precisely the remembrance of Christ, a longing for a relationship with God that has been lost.

In his broadcasts on Radio Liberty, Fr Alexander Schmemann spoke to men and women behind the iron curtain who had endured the deprivation, persecution, and state-enforced propaganda of the Stalin years. But his words do not belong to that era alone; they are addressed just as urgently to our own time. He exposes the roots of the lies and misperceptions that abound in our age, and brings all to a proper perspective in light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.