The Philokalia Volume 1 by Desert Fathers

Introduction to the Philokalia Volume 1 The Philokalia is a collection of texts written between the fourth and the fifteenth centuries by spiritual masters of the Orthodox Christian tradition. It was compiled in the eighteenth century by two Greek monks, St Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain of Athos (1749-1809) and St Makarios of Corinth (1731-1805), and was first published at Venice in 1782. A second edition was published at Athens in 1893, and this included certain additional texts on prayer by Patriarch Kallistos not found in the 1782 edition. A third edition, in five volumes, was also published at Athens during the years 1957-1963 by the Astir Publishing Company. It is on the Astir edition that our English translation is based. Thus our translation, which we likewise hope to publish in five volumes, will reproduce all the texts included in the three Greek editions. We depart notably from these editions in but four respects. First, we have not included the introduction written by St Nikodimos, and we have rewritten the notes which he placed before each text or series of texts written by a single author. Second, we have used a more reliable version of a text if one is now available. Where that has been the case, we signify it in the relevant introductory note. Third, we have attributed to Evagrios the work On Prayer, which in the Greek editions is attributed to St Neilos; the explanation for this change of attribution is in the note preceding Evagrios' texts. Fourth, we have placed in an appendix the text, attributed to St Antony the Great, which opens the Greek editions; the reasons for this decision are likewise stated in the note introducing that text. Where certain passages, or indeed entire sections, of individual texts attributed by St Nikodimos to particular authors are now known or suspected to have been written by other hands, we have [VI] 12 Introduction to the Philokalia Volume 1 indicated this either in the introductory notes to the texts in question or in footnotes. But in no case have we excised any such passage or section on the grounds that it is not by the author to whom St Nikodimos has attributed it. The distinction between genuine and spurious where all these writings are concerned must rest, not on the correctness of the attribution of their authorship, but on whether or not they belong to the spiritual tradition which the collection as a whole represents. All the texts in the original Philokalia are in Greek, and all except two were first written in Greek, and even these two (written originally in Latin) were translated into Greek in Byzantine times. But the influence of the work has by no means been confined to the Greek-speaking world. It was Paisii Velichkovskii (1722-1794), a Russian monk who visited Mount Athos and later settled in Moldavia, who first translated a selection of the texts into Slavonic, published, with the title Dobrotolitblye, at Moscow in 1793 and reprinted at Moscow in 1822. This was the translation carried by the pilgrim in The Way of a Pilgrims and indeed the impact of the Philokalia on Russian spirituality and culture in the nineteenth century was immense, as the writings of Dostoievsky, an assiduous reader of the book, alone sufficiently testify. A translation into Russian was made by Ignatii Brianchaninov (1807-1867) and was published in 18'^7. Yet another Russian translation, still with the title Dobrotolubiye, was made by Bishop Theophan the Recluse (1815-1894), who included in it several texts not in the original Greek edition, and deliberately omitted or paraphrased certain passages in some of the texts of the Greek edition. Bishop Theophan's translation was published at Moscow in five volumes at the expense of the Russian Monastery of St Panteleimon on Mount Athos. The first volume of the series, originally issued in 1877, was reprinted in 1883, 1885, 1905 and 1913. A photographic reprint of the 1883 edition was begun by the Monastery of the Holy Trinity, Jordanville, N.Y., in 1963. A Romanian translation, which also includes additional material, began to appear in 1946 under the editorship of Father Dumitru Staniloae; in 1976 the fifth volume of this edition appeared, and it is planned to complete it in eight volumes. A full French translation is in progress. Both the Romanian and the Flmch translations are based on the original Greek. The only previous translation into English of texts from the [VI] 13 Introduction to the Philokalia Volume 1 Philokalia is that made by E. Kadloubovsky and G. E. H. Palmer in two volumes with the titles Writings from the Philokalia on Prayer of the Heart and Early Fathers from the Philokalia^ published in 1951 and 1954 respectively. This translation was made, not from the Greek original, but from Theophan's Russian translation, and covers slightly less than a third of the material of the Greek edition. It was because of this that the translators wrote in their Introduction to the second of these two English volumes that 'the only final solution to the problem of making the treasures contained in the Philokalia available to the West in a form as rich and as wisely balanced as the original is for someone with the necessary qualities ... to undertake to translate the whole of the original Greek itself. We can only hope that this work will one day be achieved: it might well be one of the greatest single contributions to perpetuating in the West what is highest in the Christian tradition. ' The present translation is a direct consequence of the hope expressed in that Introduction, written over twenty years ago. What first determined the choice of texts made by St Nikodmios and St Makarios, and gives them their cohesion? 'Philokalia" itself means love of the beautiful, the exalted, the excellent, understood as the transcendent source of life and the revelation of Truth. It is through such love that, as the subtitle of the original edition puts it, 'the intellect is purified, illumined and made perfect'. The texts were collected with a view to this purification, illumination and perfection. They 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 fulfillment and union with God. The Philokalia is an itinerary through the labyrinth of time, a silent way of love and gnosis through the deserts and emptinesses of life, especially of modem life, a vivifying and fadeless presence. It is an active force revealing a spiritual path and inducing man to follow it. It is a summons to him to overcome his ignorance, to uncover the knowledge that lies within, to rid himself of illusion, ' Faber and Faber. London. [VI] 14 Introduction to the Philokalia Volume 1 and to be receptive to the grace of the Holy Spirit who teaches all things and brings all things to remembrance. The texts of the Philokalia are, then, guides to the practice of the contemplative life. They constitute, as St Nikodnnos puts it in his introduction, 'a mystical school of inward prayer' where those who study may cultivate the divine seed implanted in their hearts at baptism and so grow in spirit that they become "sons of God' (John 1:12), attaining through such deification 'the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4:13). The emphasis is therefore on inner work, on the cleansing of 'the inside of the cup and plate, so that their outside may also be clean' (Matt. 23:26). This does not mean that what one might call outer work - the keeping of the commandments and the practice of the moral virtues - is of no importance. On the contrary, such work is a pre-condition of that purification without which no real progress in inner work can be made. Indeed, in this respect outer and inner complement one another. Atrophy or defeat follow only when outer work is practiced as an end in itself, and the one thing needful - the inner practice of guarding the intellect and of pure prayer - is neglected. St Nikodimos himself remarks that such neglect is only too common: many there are who wear their whole life away in outer work, with the result that grace diminishes in them and they fail to realize the illumination of consciousness and purity of heart which are the goal of the spiritual path that the Philokaha charts for us. An advanced state which may be acquired through the pursuit of this path is described as hesychia, a word which not only bears the sense of tranquility and silence (hence our translation: stillness) but also is linked through its Greek root with the idea of being seated, fixed, and so of being concentrated. It is therefore fitting that from this word should come the term hesychasm, frequently applied to the whole complex of theory and practice which constitutes the path itself. But here a certain caution is needed. Some modem historians, prone to over-simplification and schematization, have tended to speak of hesychasm as though it were a phenomenon of the later Byzantine world. They speak of the hesychast movement, and by this they mean the spiritual revival which, centered on Mount Athos in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, spread from there into neighboring lands such as Bulgaria, Serbia and Russia. Yet hesychasm itself is far more than a local historical movement dating [VI] 15 Introduction to the Philokalia Volume 1 to the later Byzantine centuries. On the contrary it denotes the whole spiritual tradition going back to the earliest times and delineated in the Philokalia. If evidence for this is needed, it may be found in the fact that one of the central forms of the art and science which constitute hesychasm - namely, the invocation of the name of Jesus, or the Jesus Prayer, to give it its traditional title - is already integral to the spiritual method described in many of the texts included in this first volume, most if not all of which were written prior to the ninth century. Indeed, although the Philokalia is concerned with many other matters, it would not be too much to say that it is the recurrent references to the Jesus Prayer which more than anything else confer on it its inner unity. It must be stressed, however, that this spiritual path known as hesychasm cannot be followed in a vacuum. Although most of the texts in the Philokalia are not specifically doctrinal, they all presuppose doctrine even when they do not state it. Moreover, this doctrine entails an ecclesiology. It entails a particular understanding of the Church and a view of salvation inextricably bound up with its sacramental and liturgical life. This is to say that hesychasm is not something that has developed independently of or alongside the sacramental and liturgical life of the Church. It is part and parcel of it. It too is an ecclesial tradition. To attempt to practice it, therefore, apart from active participation in this sacramental and liturgical life is to cut it off from its living roots. It is also to abuse the intention of its exponents and teachers and so to act with a presumption that may well have consequences of a disastrous kind, mental and physical. There is a further point connected with this. The texts in the Philokalia were written by and for those actively living not only within the sacramental and liturgical framework of the Orthodox Church, but also within that of the Orthodox monastic tradition. They therefore presuppose conditions of life radically different from those in which most readers of this English translation are likely to find themselves. Is this tantamount to saying that the counsels they contam can be applied only within a monastic environment? Many hesychast writers affirm that this is not the case, and St Nikodimos himself, in his introduction to the original Philokalia, goes out of his way to stress that 'unceasing prayer' may or, rather, should be practiced by all. Naturally, the monastic life provides conditions, such as quietness, solitude and regularity, indispensable for that [VI] 16 Introduction to the Philokalia Volume 1 concentration without which one cannot advance far along the spiritual path. But, provided that the basic condition of active participation in the sacramental and liturgical life of the Church is fulfilled, then this path is open to all to follow, each to the best of his or her ability and whatever the circumstances under which he or she lives. Indeed, in this respect the distinction between the monastic life and life 'in the world' is but relative: every human being, by virtue of the fact that he or she is created in the image of God, is summoned to be perfect, is summoned to love God with all his or her heart, soul and mind. In this sense all have the same vocation and all must follow the same spiritual path. Some no doubt will follow it further than others: and again for some the intensity of the desire with which they pursue it may well lead them to embrace a pattern of life more in harmony with its demands, and this pattern may well be provided by the monastic life. But the path with its goal is one and the same whether followed within or outside a monastic environment. What is essential is that one does not follow it in an arbitrary and ignorant manner. Personal guidance from a qualified teacher should always be sought for. If such guidance is not to be found, then active participation in the sacramental and liturgical life of the Church, always necessary, will have an added importance in the overcoming of obstacles and dangers inherent in any quest of a spiritual nature. Certain key words occur and recur in these hesychastic writings. We have listed the most important of them in a glossary, specifying the English words we have used in translating them and the sense we attribute to them; and we have also indicated where they first occur in the translation itself.^ But their real significance will be grasped only as the reader penetrates ever more deeply into the meaning of the passages in which they are to be found - indeed, as he penetrates ever more deeply into the theory and practice of the spiritual path they help to signpost. Something similar applies with respect to the whole psychological understanding which these texts both presuppose and elucidate. In effect, one is confronted with a psychology, or science of the soul, many of whose fundamental features - particularly perhaps in relation to the role of the demons - are completely unrecognized by, ' Words listed in the Glossary are marked in the text with-an asterisk* ; see note on p. 20. [VI] 17

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The Philokalia Volume 1

Desert Fathers

Desert Fathers (251 AD - 500)

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