A very interesting book is published by the publications of I. M. M. Vatopediou. It is a collection of teachings, speeches and lectures in open audiences and interviews of Father Nikolaos Ludovikos. Fr. Nikolaos is Professor of Dogmatics and Philosophy, as well as Director of Theological and Priestly Studies at the Supreme Ecclesiastical Academy of Thessaloniki, Visiting Professor at the Orthodox Institute of Cambridge and the University of Winchester, with an important written theological work, also known for his public interventions in the field of contemporary theological and social dialogue. His books and articles have been published in nine languages.
This is his first work, as the author himself notes in the preface of the publication, addressed to the general public. Its purpose is, through the immediacy of the spoken word that characterizes all the texts of the book, to approach the demanding today's reader by giving him a precious gift: the story "of divine love, of which a single drop is enough to heal all terrors and all the pains of man."
As noted in the foreword of the edition, the Reverend Professor of IMM Vatopediou Geron Ephraim, God is not a philosophy, an ideology, a higher power or something third for man, it is not something foreign to him. God out of inexpressible love created man in order to one day become a sharer of His eternal bliss and glory, but also with the prospect that he will "clothe" him; God himself will in time be incarnated. The entry and acceptance of God's love into our personal lives changes our thinking, our calculations, our desires, our consciousness, our whole being.
Father Nikolaou's speech is simple, lively, graceful. It answers questions, creates unexpected openings, sets limits and conditions for new searches, encourages research, offers living examples from the life and teachings of contemporary holy figures, but also of ordinary people of the people, who teach by example, word, but also their silence.
Of particular value are Fr. Nikolaos' comments, answers, bold interventions on contemporary issues that constantly return to public debate, such as the theology of the body, spiritual fatherhood, the relationship between philosophy and theology, politics, ethics and psychology , the mystery of choice, love and love etc.
Traversing the happy meadow of this excellent edition is a real delight for anyone who keeps unquenchable within him the blessed anguish and search for the truth that liberates; the truth that is ultimately Christ, as in many ways - but always with paternal love and with spiritual sensitivity - emphasizes the author, harmoniously combining the theological knowledge of the academic teacher with the pastoral responsibility and care of the spiritual father.
