Bishop Kallistos Ware said “God became man so that man could become God,” but also that “God became man so that man could become man.”
Courtesy of Fr Stephen, at Glory to God in All Things, who attended the recent Colloquium on Orthodox Faith and has promised to put up audio links to the presentations.
Saturday, February 3, 2007
Friday, February 2, 2007
Φιλοκαλειν
Φιλοκαλειν is Greek and it means "to love the beautiful."
From this word is derived φιλοκαλια (Philokalia), the name given to a collection of texts written between the fourth and fifteenth centuries by spiritual masters of the Orthodox Christian tradition.
The Philokalia was compiled in the eighteenth century by two Greek monks, St Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain of Athos and St Makarios of Corinth, and first published at Venice in 1782.
The texts were all written in Greek, except for two in Latin that were translated during the Byzantine period. In the nineteenth century, they were translated into Russian and had a great impact on Russian spirituality and culture. The Philokalia featured prominently in The Way of the Pilgrim, a 19th century work by an anonymous Russian author that has found a wide readership, in translation, in the English-speaking world.
A partial translation of the Philokalia into English, via the Russian, was made in the 1950s. It was not until the 1980s, working from the original Greek, that the full version was made available in English. That version was edited by G.E.H. Palmer, Phillip Sherrard and Kallistos Ware.
In the introduction to that translation, the editors say the following:
The texts were collected with a view to "purification (καθαρσις), illumination (φοτισις) and perfection (θεοσις). 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 effect 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 fulfilment 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 modern 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 tha lies within, to rid himself of illusion and to be receptive to the grace of the Holy Spirit, who teaches all things and brings all things to remembrance."
I have created this blog to serve as a sort of spiritual journal, to which I will occasionally contribute, as I struggle to follow the teachings and guidance of the ancient fathers through the labyrinth and through the desert.
AMDG
From this word is derived φιλοκαλια (Philokalia), the name given to a collection of texts written between the fourth and fifteenth centuries by spiritual masters of the Orthodox Christian tradition.
The Philokalia was compiled in the eighteenth century by two Greek monks, St Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain of Athos and St Makarios of Corinth, and first published at Venice in 1782.
The texts were all written in Greek, except for two in Latin that were translated during the Byzantine period. In the nineteenth century, they were translated into Russian and had a great impact on Russian spirituality and culture. The Philokalia featured prominently in The Way of the Pilgrim, a 19th century work by an anonymous Russian author that has found a wide readership, in translation, in the English-speaking world.
A partial translation of the Philokalia into English, via the Russian, was made in the 1950s. It was not until the 1980s, working from the original Greek, that the full version was made available in English. That version was edited by G.E.H. Palmer, Phillip Sherrard and Kallistos Ware.
In the introduction to that translation, the editors say the following:
The texts were collected with a view to "purification (καθαρσις), illumination (φοτισις) and perfection (θεοσις). 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 effect 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 fulfilment 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 modern 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 tha lies within, to rid himself of illusion and to be receptive to the grace of the Holy Spirit, who teaches all things and brings all things to remembrance."
I have created this blog to serve as a sort of spiritual journal, to which I will occasionally contribute, as I struggle to follow the teachings and guidance of the ancient fathers through the labyrinth and through the desert.
AMDG
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