Remember Thy First Love: The three stages of the spiritual life in the theology of Saint Sophrony the Athonite

The path of every man toward God and his relationship with Him is unique. However, because we all share the same human nature, there are certain stages and characteristics common to our spiritual journey. Although Saint Sophrony was reluctant to make generalisations, he formulated a theory of three distinct periods in spiritual life: the period during which God, abundantly pours out His grace upon man, begetting a desire in his heart for His Person and making a covenant with him; the period...