Windows into Heaven was published by Lion in 1998.

It’s a highly visual book and gives an introduction to the icons of Russian Orthodoxy for westerners such as me. It came about through many years of contact with the Russian Orthodox Church in Kensington, London.

Icons have become very popular among western Christians in the past couple of decades, appearing on book covers and Christmas cards, and one of my reasons for writing the book was to show icons in their natural habitat – in the life and worship of the Orthodox Church.

Researching the book was an exciting journey of discovery, as I found pictures of icons and put them together with the writings and liturgical texts which reflect their meaning. Each double-page spread of the book takes a single feast of the Church, or a single icon subject, and explores it in prayers, spiritual writings and images.

To see PDF extracts from the book, click the three sample pages on the right.