The Philokalia (, from philia "love" and kallos "beauty") is "a collection of texts written between the 4th and 15th centuries by spiritual masters" of the mystical hesychast tradition of the Eastern Orthodox Church. They were originally written for the guidance and instruction of monks in "the practice of the contemplative life". The collection was compiled in the 18th century by Nicodemus the Hagiorite and Macarius of Corinth based on the codices 472 (12th century), 605 (13th century), 476 (14th century), 628 (14th century) and 629 (15th century) from the library of the monastery of Vatopedi, Mount Athos.

Although these works were individually known in the monastic culture of Greek Orthodox Christianity before their inclusion in the Philokalia, their presence in this collection resulted in a much wider readership due to its translation into several languages. The earliest translations included a Church Slavonic language translation of selected texts by Paisius Velichkovsky (Dobrotolublye, Добротолю́бїе) in 1793, a Russian translation by Ignatius Bryanchaninov in 1857, and a five-volume translation into Russian (Dobrotolyubie) by Theophan the Recluse in 1877. There were subsequent Romanian, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Finnish and Arabic translations.

The book is the "principal spiritual text" for all the Eastern Orthodox churches. The publishers of the current English translation state that "the Philokalia has exercised an influence far greater than that of any book other than the Bible in the recent history of the Orthodox Church."

Philokalia (sometimes Philocalia) is also the name given to an anthology of the writings of Origen compiled by Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nazianzus. Other works on monastic spirituality have also used the same title over the years.

History

Nikodemos and Makarios were monks at Mount Athos, a mountainous peninsula in northern Greece, historically considered the geographical center of Orthodox spirituality and home to 20 monasteries. The first edition, in Greek, was published in Venice in 1782, with a second Greek edition published in Athens in 1893. All the original texts were in Greek—two of them were first written in Latin and translated into Greek in the Byzantine era.

Velichkovsky was initially hesitant to share his translation outside of the Optina Monastery walls. He was concerned that people living in the world would not have the adequate supervision and guidance of the startsy in the monastery, nor would they have the support of the liturgical life of the monks. He was finally persuaded by the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg to publish the book in 1793. Brianchanivov expressed the same concerns in his work, warning his readers that regular practice of the Jesus Prayer, without adequate guidance, could cause spiritual delusion and pride, even among monks. Their concerns were contrary to the original compiler of the Philokalia, Nicodemos, who wrote that the Jesus Prayer could be used to good effect by anyone, whether monastic or layperson. All agreed that the teachings on constant inner prayer should be practiced under the guidance of a spiritual teacher, or starets.

The first partial English and French translations in the 1950s were an indirect result of the Bolshevik revolution, which brought many Russian intellectuals into Western Europe. T. S. Eliot persuaded his fellow directors of the publishing house Faber and Faber to publish a partial translation into English from the Theophan Russian version, which met with surprising success in 1951. A more complete English translation, from the original Greek, began in 1979 with a collaboration between G. E. H. Palmer, Kallistos Ware, and Philip Sherrard. They released four of the five volumes of the Philokalia between 1979 and 1995; the fifth and final volume was published in 2023, shortly after the death of the last surviving editor, Kallistos Ware. In 1946, the first installment of a ten volume Romanian translation by Father Dumitru Stăniloae appeared. In addition to the original Greek text, Stăniloae added "lengthy original footnotes of his own" as well as substantially expanding the coverage of texts by Saint John of the Ladder, Saint Dorotheos of Gaza, Maximus the Confessor, Symeon the New Theologian, and Gregory Palamas. This work is 4,650 pages in length. Writings by the Trappist monk Thomas Merton on hesychasm also helped spread the popularity of the Philokalia, along with the indirect influence of J. D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey, which featured The Way of a Pilgrim as a main plot element.

Teachings

The collection's title is The Philokalia of the Niptic Fathers, or more fully The Philokalia of the Neptic Saints gathered from our Holy Theophoric Father, through which, by means of the philosophy of ascetic practice and contemplation, the intellect is purified, illumined, and made perfect. The Philokalia teachings have also influenced the revival of interior prayer in modern times through the centering prayer practices taught by Thomas Keating and Thomas Merton.

Philokalia is defined as the "love of the beautiful, the exalted, the excellent, understood as the transcendent source of life and the revelation of Truth." In contemplative prayer the mind becomes absorbed in the awareness of God as a living presence as the source of being of all creatures and sensible forms. According to the authors of the English translation, Kallistos Ware, G. E. H. Palmer, and Philip Sherrard, the writings of the Philokalia have been chosen above others because they:

<blockquote>...show the way to awaken and develop attention and consciousness, to attain that state of watchfulness which is the hallmark of sanctity. They describe the conditions most effective for learning what their authors call the art of arts and the science of sciences, a learning which is not a matter of information or agility of mind but of a radical change of will and heart leading man towards the highest possibilities open to him, shaping and nourishing the unseen part of his being, and helping him to spiritual fulfilment and union with God."

Timeline of editions and translations

  • 4th-15th centuries The original texts are written by various spiritual masters. Most are written in Greek, two are written in Latin and translated into Greek during Byzantine times.
  • 1951, 1954 First partial English translations by E. Kadloubovsky and G. E. H. Palmer in two volumes: Writings from the Philokalia on Prayer of the Heart and Early Fathers from the Philokalia. These were translated from Theophane's Russian version, and published by Faber and Faber.
  • 1979-1995 English translation by Kallistos Ware, G. E. H. Palmer, and Philip Sherrard, of the first four of the five Greek volumes, from the Third Greek edition. This was published by Faber and Faber.
  • Kallistos<!--Need clarification on whether this is Callistus I or Callistus II of Constantinople--> and Ignatios Xanthopoulos<!-- Q105601327 -->
  1. Method and precise canon for those who choose the hesychastic and monastic life: 100 chapters
  1. Kefalaia (Chapters): 81 chapters
  • Kallistos Tilikoudis (presumed the same as Kallistos Angelikoudis)
  1. On Hesychastic Practice
  • Kallistos Katafygiotis (presumed the same as Kallistos Angelikoudis)
  1. On union with God, and Life of Theoria
  • Saint Simeon, Archbishop of Thessaloniki
  1. Chapters on the Sacred and Deifying prayer
  • Saint Mark of Ephesus (or Mark the Gentle)
  1. On the Words that are Contained in the Sacred Prayer
  • Anonymous
  1. Interpretation of "Kyrie Eleison" (Lord Have Mercy)
  • Saint Simeon the New Theologian
  1. Discourse on Faith and teaching for those who say that it is not possible for those who find themselves in the worries of the world to reach the perfection of the virtues, and narration that is beneficial at the beginning.
  2. On the Three Ways of Prayer
  • St. Gregory of Sinai
  • Excerpts from the life of St. Maximos Kapsokalivis
  • All Christians Must Pray Uninterruptedly
  • Indices

Translations

See also

  • Lovingkindness ()
  • Nous
  • Poustinia

References

Further reading

  • Paschalis M. Kitromilides, "Philokalia's first journey?" in Idem, An Orthodox Commonwealth: Symbolic Legacies and Cultural Encounters in Southeastern Europe (Aldershot, 2007) (Variorum Collected Studies Series: CS891).
  • Bingaman B & Nassif B (eds) (2012) The Philokalia. A Classic Text of Orthodox Spirituality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Quotes from the Philokalia on Orthodox Church Quotes
  • Philokalia (Philanthropy) Chosen for the laity
  • The Philokalia digitized (PDF)
  • An historical survey of the Philokalia by Rev Prof Andrew Louth
  • Philokalia by St. Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain and St. Makarios of Corinth
  • WRITINGS FROM THE PHILOKALIA on Prayer of the Heart translated by E. K adloubovsky and G. E. H. Palmer