Φιλοκαλία

Description

Philokalia (from philokalein) is a collection of texts by the Fathers of the Eastern Orthodox Church, a soothing tradition, written from the fourth to the fifteenth century on Christian prayer and the life dedicated to God. The work was edited by Saints Nicodemus of Mount Athos and Makarios Notaras.

In the introduction to the translation of the collection into English by Palmer, Sherrard and Ware, philanthropy is defined as "love of beauty, exalted, wonderful, perceived as a transcendental source of life and a revelation of truth." The authors of the texts were mainly monks, whose struggle for mental purification and spiritual completion is repeated as a subject in Philokalia.

Although the works were widely known before their original publication in the Greek language in 1782, they have since been republished in many languages, including a seven-volume edition in Russian (Dobrotolyubie) by St. Theophanes the Hermit during the 19th century. In addition to the Bible, and some texts of the early Christian fathers, Philokalia is a work that exerts significant influence and is a wonderful example of the piety of the Eastern Orthodox Church.