The Philokalia

by Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain

The Philokalia is a collection of spiritual texts compiled by St. Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain and St. Makarios of Corinth. The writings are by various monks on how to progress in the Christian virtues through such methods as prayer, watchfulness and ascetic struggles.

Genres: Christianity, Religion, Spirituality, Faith, Classics, Theology, Christian

Kindle Edition

Published March 17, 2016

About the author

St. Nicodemus the Hagiorite or St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain (Greek: Ὃσιος Νικόδημος ὁ Ἁγιορείτης) born Nicholas Kallivroutsis (Νικόλαος Καλλιβρούτσης)is a saint of the Eastern Orthodox Church. He was an ascetic monk, mystic, theologian, and philosopher. His life's work was a revival of traditional Christian practices and patristic literature. He wrote ascetic prayer literature and influenced the rediscovery of Hesychasm, a method of contemplative prayer from the Byzantine period. He is most famous for his work with St. Macarius of Corinth on the anthology of monastic spiritual writings known as The Philokalia. He was canonized by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in 1955.

Reviews

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has been a two year reading project and its probably the longest book I’ve read. I mean, its four volumes of classic eastern Christian spirituality! Am I a liar for marking it ‘read’ even though I skipped over a couple of the later authors in volume four?

Actually, according to these writers, I probably am. Though the very idea of the internet or Goodreads would have confounded them, so I’m not worried.

Listen, its four volumes. Its longer than the Bible! Okay, perhaps I feel a little guilty for marking it read when I actually read like 85%. But after two years, I’m done.

Now for the real review. Just kidding. What can I possible say about a book like this? Its brilliant. I mostly read it in the evenings before bed, maybe ten or so paragraphs at a time. The way much of it is set up is numbered paragraph form, so “150 chapter on love” or 167 chapters on theology”. It makes for nice devotional reading.

My favorite was the first volume (two volumes?) of more ancient writings where the chapters were much shorter. Maximus the Confessor and other early saints make up this section. By the time we get closer to the end, the writers are quoting other early church fathers we either just read or ones who are not in here but were giants (John of Damascus, the Cappadocians).

If I ever get around to it, I’d like to read more Symeon the New Theologian and Gregory Palamas as they are two big-time medieval eastern theologians.

Overall, if you’re a Christian and you have an e-reader it would certainly be worth the few bucks to get this and read a bit each day. Some of it is quite foreign since they were writing for monks and most of us are not monks. I mean, I am sure there are monks out there reading the Philokalia but I doubt they’re reading my Goodreads…

[Igor Perisic · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you love psychology then this book is for you. We usually say something is mystical until the moment we understand it. As soon as we begin to understand, we call it knowledge. So that is the case with this book. It is true that it is intended for monks, but only because it contains so many repetitions, which is not surprising if we know that - repetitio est mater studiorum. I do not agree with the opinion of some that the book is dangerous for those who are not Orthodox Christians. The book does indeed refer to demons, but it should be understood that these are not real demons but our desires, passions and urges. If you want to make yourself better person then this is one way to do it. Long story short, buy only the first volume because the other volumes are basically a repetition of the first volume. If you are not a monk, the first one is enough to get insight into the knowledge of the Holy Fathers.

[Connor Longaphie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I keep accidentally deleting this from "my books" but i really liked this book

[Zecchaeus Jensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not for everyone but I appreciated its contribution of commentary on particular scriptures.