The Philokalia:
A classic text of Orthodox spirituality
Brock Bingaman and Bradley Nassif, editors
OUP £22.50 (978-0-19-539027-8)
Church Times Bookshop £20.25 (Use code
CT618 )
THE Philokalia is a
selection of texts on the spiritual life written by 36 writers
dating from the fourth to the 15th centuries, which were collected
by a monk of Mount Athos and a Bishop of Corinth and published in
Venice in 1782. It is long: their version consisted of more than
1200 double-columned pages; did not attract much attention at the
time - with a gap of more than a century until the next printing;
and, for many today, is difficult to grasp, much of the material
being in collections of unconnected short sentences and
aphorisms.
Yet, during the past 50
years, the Philokalia has become widely read throughout
Western Europe and North America, as well as in Orthodox countries,
with translations into several languages.
This book is a collection of
18 essays which sets out to demonstrate why the Philokalia
has had this resurgence of influence. It is divided into three
sections. The first describes the work of the editors and
translators of the Philokalia. It shows that they did not
feel constrained to reproduce the texts exactly, but added further
material, selected alternative versions of the patristic texts, and
rewrote introductory sections.
The Slavonic and Russian
versions, edited by Paissy Velichkovsky, have a slightly different
set of writings from the Greek; and the Romanian edition prepared
by Dumitru Staniloae contains 11 volumes issued over a period of 46
years, with contemporary as well as ancient material. The
Philokalia, which means "love of beauty", is not regarded
only as a book, but is a living tradition.
Its teaching of inner prayer
is described in the second part. This approach to prayer is based
on vigilance, which is that constant attention that leads to a new
openness to God; silence, which is that deep inner stillness where
God's deifying presence is encountered; and the Jesus Prayer, as a
simple but demanding form of prayer. This is defined as deification
or participation in the divine energies. The Philokalic tradition
was shaped in the monasteries of the Orthodox East, but its
simplicity and directness, without too much concern for the
institutional Church, have made it accessible to a wide
audience.
The relevance to the modern
world is discussed in the third part, with essays on psychotherapy,
virtue ethics, feminism, and leadership skills, among other topics.
Here there are both points of identity and countercultural
challenge.
The essays are of a
consistently high standard. The range of subjects is comprehensive,
introducing some of the individual writers, covering the main
theological ideas, and explaining the history. The essays include
important contributions by Kallistos Ware and Rowan Williams.
The teaching of the
Philokalia might seem to be at variance with the
preoccupations of a Church struggling to find an effective witness
in a post-modern, multi-cultural, and secular society.
Nevertheless, its appeal is a salutary reminder to the Church that
its message of the transforming experience of God's love is
discovered by practice and passed on by example. The
Philokalia is discovered to be a contemporary call to a
radical discipleship.
The Revd Dr John Binns
is Vicar of Great St Mary's, Cambridge, and an Hon. Canon of Ely
Cathedral.
IN The Philokalia and the Inner Life: On passions and
prayer, Christopher Cook introduces the
Philokalia and, in particular, its implications for study
on mental health and well-being (James Clarke, £28.25;
978-0-227-17342-8).