Possessing the patristic literature as no other ecclesiastical man of his time, endowed with rich spiritual experiences of ascetic life, knowing all branches of worldly science, discerning the true causes and simultaneously predicting the inevitable consequences of the social problems of his time—an era not far removed from our own but also a time of general confusion like ours—and, alongside all this, being gifted with a rare literary talent, Saint Ignatius serves as one of the main connecting links between modern humanity and patristic wisdom, a God-inspired teacher of Orthodox piety who guides every Christian in the sober adaptation of the teachings of the ancient Holy Fathers to today's spiritual and social conditions.

This volume contains the first part of the work "A Gift to Contemporary Monasticism," internationally known from its English translation by the title "The Arena." This is the first complete Greek translation.