The Philokalia

A selection of key works from the foundational book of the Orthodox Church, in a landmark new translation

‘Eat the gnostic bread of wisdom found in this book, and drink the wine which gladdens the heart’

The Philokalia is the most influential book in the recent history of the Orthodox Church, aside from the Bible. It is an anthology of thirty-six spiritual texts written between the fourth and fifteenth centuries by the masters of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, tracing a continuous tradition of the prayer of the heart, or hesychasm, from Evagrios of Pontos to Gregory Palamas. First published in Greek in 1782, and revered for offering a rich tapestry of wisdom on the path to union with God, the texts, largely of monastic origin, serve as a guide to the pursuit of contemplative prayer, ‘inner asceticism’ and the purification of the soul.

Translated by Jonathan L. Zecher and Andrew Louth

With an Introduction by Andrew Louth with Jonathan L. Zecher