Reformatted for Easier Reading

The pages of the first edition of the Ascetical Homilies were massive, and the lines were so long that extended reading caused eye fatigue for many.

Our first goal in preparing the second edition was to correct the format so that line length would not tire the eye and that the unwieldy physical bulk would not be too heavy to hold for more than a few moments. The shorter line length of the second edition is shown at left.

We also broke up some of the longer paragraphs to give the reader relief and to make important points more prominent by appearing at the head of a new paragraph.

Appendices Eliminated

Appendices B and D of the first edition (which contained texts not by Saint Isaac) and the Epilogue on the History of the Church of Persia were eliminated from the second edition. Cutting them allowed us to produce a lighter book; pp. 105–6 of the Introduction explain more about why they were cut.

These omitted texts are available for download here.

Page Numbers of First Edition and Scriptural References
in the Margins

Over the years the homilies of the first edition were quoted here and there. To help locate such references in this second edition, the corresponding page number of the first edition has been placed in the margin in brackets.

To reduce the overall distraction of footnotes, all scriptural references have also been moved to the margins.

Examples of both can be seen in both the images at left.