Vasileios Tsakiris's thesis on early modern printed Greek confession books will attract the interest of church historians and historians of ideas alike. The confession books of Nikephoros Paschaleus, Neophytos Rodinos, Methodios Anthrakites, Theodoretos Saloufas, Chrysanthos Notaras, Kallinikos iii and Nikodemos Hagioreites are examined in the seven main chapters of the book, which also includes short introductory and closing chapters, a bibliography and an index. Tsakiris focuses on the function of the confession books in the early modern inner Christian confessional debates. Paschaleus' Methodical manual … on the sacrament of confession, published in 1622 in Venice, could be an abridged version of Luca Pinelli's Del sacramento della penitenza (pp. 38ff). The larger context of its publication is the conflict over the Greek Orthodox metropolitan see of Philadelphia in Venice, of great importance to the patriarch of Constantinople, the Roman Catholic Church and the Serenissima and as such part of the international politics of the patriarch, Kyrillos Loukaris. This same context informs the publication (posthumously) of On confession (1671), written by Neophytos Rodinos, a proponent of union between the Roman Catholic and the Greek Orthodox Churches and thus an opponent of Loukaris, who was strongly influenced by Protestantism. On confession abridges Rodinos's earlier Spiritual suit of armor and Compendium of the holy sacraments, both closely related to the Greek translation of Bellarmino's Dottrina Christiana. The next author, Methodios Anthrakites, was accused of being a follower of Miguel de Molinos (albeit more probably because of his readings of Descartes and Malebranche) and was suspended and unfrocked, but managed to obtain pardon after a confession of faith in 1723. Tsakiris discusses the posthumously printed Spiritual visitation (1780) along with two further pastoral works, Christian observations (1699) and the Pastor of rational sheep (1708). Spiritual visitation relies on Paolo Segneri's (an Antimolinist) Il Cristiano instruito and Il Parocco instruito. The last author of a confession book, who is closely related to Venice and the Venetian territories in the Levant, is Theodoretos Saloufas. Like Anthrakites Saloufas was also connected to the metropolitan of Philadelphia, Meletios Typaldos, who aspired to achieve jurisdiction over the Greek Orthodox of the Venetian territories. Saloufas is the least known of all the authors discussed, his work, according to Tsakiris being a compilation of two of Rodinos's books. What renders him perhaps more interesting is his sporadic use of the Salvation of sinners by Agapios Landos, an author from the Greek Orthodox tradition of the Ottoman territories. He can thus be seen as an in-between figure among the first group and the next author, who introduces a new model into the writing of confession books. Chrysanthos Notaras, patriarch of Jerusalem, studied in Padua and was closely connected to the environment of the Danubian principalities. His compilation Useful instruction on repentance and confession (1724) relies on works by Gabriel Severos, Bessarion Makres, Gennadios Scholarios and on the Confessio fidei orthodoxa of the metropolitan of Kiev, Petrus Mogila, this latter choice constituting both a political and a theological statement, underlining Notaras's proximity to the Danubian principalities and the tendency to redefine Greek Orthodox theological discourse. Useful instruction influenced both Kallinikos iii, patriarch of Constantinople, in his Instruction for spiritual fathers (1787/1837), and Nicodemus Hagioreites in his Most useful book for the soul (1794, known through its many reprints simply as Confession book). With Hagioreites, a leading figure in the Kolivades religious movement (named by their opponents after the ritual food offered during memorial services), we are introduced to a more modern approach to theological writing: he is the first of the authors discussed here explicitly to name his sources (manuscript confession books from Mount Athos, manuscript Greek translations of Segneri's books, the confession books by Anthrakites and Notaras) and to discuss them critically. The three last confession books also address more prominently the question of jurisdiction, as part of a general trend to enforce the position of the bishop (pp. 260ff). They thus document the generally observed strengthening of administrative structures in the Greek Orthodox dioceses of the Ottoman Empire in the eighteenth century. Tsakiris sees a relevant difference in the fact that his authors from the seventeeth century were linguistically qualified to read and use sources written in Latin and modern western languages, while the last three books were based only on Greek sources and Greek translations, as well as the older confession books. Elements of Catholic and Protestant theology, introduced by the earlier authors, appear to have been assimilated and to have been read by the later authors as part and parcel of a unified Greek Orthodox tradition (p. 337). This book is based on a wide array of manuscript and printed sources and a large and well informed bibliography, although depending on one's special interests, one might detect some omissions, for example the modern critical editions of important works of the period, such as Kartanos's Old and New Testament (ed. Kakoulidi, 2000) or the translation of the New Testament into Modern Greek by Maximos Kallioupolites (ed. Kasdagles, 1995–9), which have enhanced accessibility and have provided us with important new insights. With his solid critical and comparative reading of the sources and through providing the larger context Tsakiris touches upon several crucial subjects concerning the Greek Orthodox populations of the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire, from the contact with the west and the changing structures of the Orthodox Church over the history of Greek printing and the Greek diaspora to everyday life as it can be read through the norms of confession books. All those interested in theological practice in its relation to both high politics and social mores should read this book.