Critiques and Reader Reviews
/Christian theologian-poet M.G. Michael’s fascinating book of truths and spiritual wisdom, drawing on various images stirred by the Gethsemane narrative of the Gospels, inspires and gives tangible hope to all those seeking a deeper meaning to their lives. His intriguing yet oftentimes troubled protagonist, the Greek painter-monk Sebastian Kazan, draws upon the world’s religious traditions, literary treasures, music and art to reveal the mystical belief that a compassionate humanity is capable of knowing God—“Capax Dei”. — Name withheld
In having Monk Sebastian K. acutely aware of the presence of God and evil in his being, M.G. Michael broaches the essential contradiction inherent in an all-powerful God. The conflict of goodness and darkness in Sebastian K's soul—and therefore, by extension, the soul of humankind—could well have sprung from Dostoyevsky’s “The Brothers Karamazov”, where we read that ‘God and the devil are fighting… and the battlefield is the heart of man.’ The resolution of such a conflict, if we can call it that, is evident in Michael's monk being inspired by compassion. Sebastian K. knows what Dostoyevsky knew, which is that “The mystery of human existence lies not just in staying alive, but in finding something to live for”: with Sebastian, that meaning is found in Gethsemane.—Nicholas Kyriacos
It’s not often enough that a reader comes upon a book like “On the Trials and Redemption of Monk Sebastian K.” by M.G. Michael. That’s because it is both an intriguing and mysterious detective story and, at the same time, an all-in-on tour de force master-class covering the best of religious and secular thinking that covers the most important issues facing human beings today. The talented and tortured Greek Monk Sebastian K. struggles to survive in the midst of an electric age that pushes him to make an immediate choice. But is he (or any of us, for that matter) up to the task? While it can be argued that the more things change the more they remain the same, it’s also no secret that Sebastian K. is at a cross-road that is both unique, terrifying and strangely liberating.—J. Mitchell Johnson
Readers familiar with the Questions-and-Answers of early Christian monastic literature will be surprised, and pleasantly so, by this deceptively slim volume composed by M.G. Michael, entitled “On the Trials and Redemption of Monk Sebastian K.” Whereas in early Christian monastic literature it was customary for the Elder Monk to respond to questions posed by his disciples, here the Elder Sebastian K. recounts phases of his life in order to guide and warn his disciple, Constantine. Sebastian began life as a painter, in particular of flowers, but he also became immersed in literature, music, visual arts, theology, and philosophy. His story covers topics such as self and self-identity, temptation, depression, the problem of good and evil, the power of prayer, and suffering. Throughout this magisterial and erudite volume M.G. Michael assembles a scintillating array of sources to support the Monk’s biography, including not only quotations from the Jewish and Christian Scriptures but also from writers, musicians, and artists as diverse as Hildegard of Bingen, J.S. Bach, James Joyce, Carl Jung, Symeon the New Theologian, Nikos Kazantzakis, Marc Chagall, Thomas Merton, Simone Weil, Søren Kirkegaard, Leonard Cohen, Vladimir Lossky, and Georgia O’Keeffe. Monk Sebastian saves his disciple from a bleak future by emphasising that it will be compassion that saves the world. This is a book for our times.—Pauline Allen
M.G. Michael has crafted a deeply inspiring flawless narrative, where prose becomes elegant poetry, where understanding becomes profound wisdom as the protagonist answers a young man’s query about his understanding of God. In this eloquent masterpiece, the storyteller reflects on the human condition drawn from lived experience and faith along life's arc, beginning as a child into old age. Particularly fascinating is how his story takes us from ancient history through the modern technological era. I found that each passage should be read more than once to capture the full panorama of this powerful existential treatise, which superimposes the ontological, epistemological and metaphysical themes that sit at the core of what matters in life. A must read for anyone wanting a fresh approach at considering how God and Faith, are woven into today's milieu.—Joseph Carvalko
“On the Trials and Redemption of Monk Sebastian K.” explores yearning, the quest for meaning, and issues of despair as well as grace and elevation. One may be tempted to call it a work that explores and traverses the big questions and issues of the soul, but the idea of scale trivialises and vulgarises. Sometimes these questions may loom, but sometimes they are small enough to be hidden away, or to emerge, not emblazoned across a billboard, but from those shadowy cabins of the mind, between passing moments.
There is much wisdom in these pages, not only the Monk’s (or M.G. Michael’s) insight but also from some of the wisest of thinkers to have ever lived, as the work includes interlaced quotations. This interwoven erudition reveals that despite the solitary guidance of the monk, all knowledge depends on communication, on imparting, on storytelling, on the need for intimacy and communication. As M.G. Michael and the monk know well, knowing and learning are communal, even if occurring amid meditative solitude. As the Monk counsels, “no one alone, is uniquely qualified to speak on God.” Despite or rather because of the religious and theological cadence, the work is invaluable to secular readers (such as myself). After all, religion and theology focus on the deeply existential mysteries of that fragment, the individual, in relation to totality, of understanding oneself in relation to something other, to the world, the whole or not-yet-whole (or once-whole).
Michael’s writing reveals knowledge exists almost as a Burkean contract between the dead, the living and those still to be born. The deepest and most solitary existential reflections are also the most universal, and the most needing of communication. At times almost aphoristic, the work could be compared to Augustine, Hölderlin, Simone Weil, Kierkegaard and Walter Benjamin. But it is also a work that explores technology and the machine. Yet, throughout there is an emphasis on art, with observations concerning de Chirico, Goya, Chagall, Rothko and others. Ultimately, it is a work dedicated to the art of life (not merely to living life as art in the self-help vein but as life as art), as we learn from Kazan’s journey from nihilistic painter to monk and mentor. This is an important work of great insight that I urge all to read.— Aleksandr Wansbrough
Reading anything written by M.G. Michael is like a massage for the soul and “On the Trials and Redemption of Monk Sebastian K.”, is no exception. From the power of Thomas Merton’s opening quote, you know you are in the hands of a passionate truth seeker. In an exquisitely layered discourse, the monk Sebastian K., reveals to his student, Constantine, the suffering and compassion his artistic life experiences have taught him. Flowers and feathers are motifs for both inner and outer worlds as we navigate this woven wisdom, ably supported by a brilliant range of quotes from artists, poets, philosophers, writers, and verses from the Old and New Testaments. The power and grace of M.G. Michael to deftly turn this metaphysical gathering into a book for the ages, a book for the soul, is never needed more than now. As the monk Sebastian K. says in this earthly world, “There is no delete. Mercy does not run through the microcircuitry, but the Creator has unending mercy for us.” The gently layered humour and warmth and wisdom make this a stirring read. Through his letter, monk Sebastian K. helps us see how we can turn earth bound suffering into divine revelation in the most important part of us; our souls.—Christine Paice
In preparation for his final days on Earth, Monk Sebastian K. bequeaths a storehouse of reminiscences, dreams, quotes and apostolic teachings for his beloved mentee, Constantine, and in turn, for us, to inherit an energy engaged with substance and essence. From a passionate love of feathers and flowers to the creation of worlds on canvas, the Monk provides a confessional of his growth into old age in a nameless desert. He shares his most fulfilling journey to “somewhere in the middle of my chest” [his heart] as he gifts what makes his heart chant almighty. Like the inspired holy texts of disciples, saints and poets, the Monk’s 122 ‘chronicles’ and revelations are the solace and calm for all that is inevitable.—Angela Costi
Commonplace books were once very popular. They are personal anthologies in which a writer records favourite passages from books, sketches, thoughts, lists, newspaper clippings, anecdotes and so on. M.G. Michael’s “On the Trials and Redemption of Monk Sebastian K.” is a commonplace book with a difference. Here we find ourselves reading the journal [long letter] of a fictional character –the monk Sebastian– who is himself a composite of the author’s wide, eclectic and yet deeply catholic reading and experiences, and whose selections from other authors are a kind of cacophony turned into a harmony by the monk’s personal story of his soul. Like Saint Sophrony of Essex, the Monk Sebastian was a painter in the world before finding his monastic vocation, but he is also a kind of Everyman. And, of course, he is also M.G. Michael at work behind this beautiful iconostasis. I will treasure this book.—Stephen McInerney
I am quite overwhelmed by the depth and generosity of spirit that the manuscript reveals. The breadth of reading is impressive, and the variety of the insights, all focusing on mysteries of the human condition, is gratifying and astonishing. You have created a compendium and a vade mecum of profound thought - along with a winning note of humility before such an extraordinary range of reflections by artists, writers, philosophers and religious thinkers of so many origins and eras.
The book is a treasure, not just for the illumination of thorny issues, but for the graceful interweaving of a person story - a spiritual biography that so frequently aptly refers to the Confessions and Sermons of Augustine. I am delighted to have the opportunity to re-encounter the private and public meditations of poets such as Les Murray, Taras Schevchenko, and Dylan Thomas, the author of the Psalms, the Book of Job, and novelists such as Muriel Barbery, Doris Lessing, William Faulkner, Netsuke Soseki, J.M. Coetzee, and James Baldwin. It’s like a meeting with old friends, musicians and artists, Rachmaninov, Pink Floyd, Hildegard of Bingen, painters and —Johannes Itten, Georgia O’Keefe, Cezanne, Frida Kahlo, Mark Rothko, and a galaxy of religious and philosophical figures - ‘icons’ indeed, of so many worth knowing.
I specially love the intimate scenes of the speaker’s life — the embracing sonority of his parents’ musical tastes, his immersion in popular music, his childhood on ‘The Island of the Sun’, his travels and sojourns in Europe, and his observations on his own paintings, his reflections on the nature of love, and his responses to an ardent questioner called Constantine, concerning his manner of life, his flight to the desert, and his comments on the merits of listening and prayer. One of the greatest pleasures of the text is the inclusion and endorsement of so many Orthodox thinkers’ maxims and injunctions—which, I imagine, will come as happy revelations to many readers.
This is a book to expand the vision and understanding of what biography, fictional or otherwise can accomplish in such little space. I’m delighted to add my voice to the endorsements it has already received.—Michael Sharkey