Editions of the Philokalia

AMM · Dec 7, 2019

i recently read the way of the pilgrim and in it, the Philokalia is mentioned a fair bit. However the way it is mentioned makes it seem as though it’s a single book, whereas when I looked it up it seems it can only be obtained in 4 volumes. Is there a correspondence between the version mentioned in The Way of the Pilgrim and these four versions?

And what’s the difference between the Greek and the Russian philokalia? Is it just that one of them has more authors, or are they from different authors completely? (E.g., the Greek pulls quotations from the Greek authors, the Russian from Russian authors)

Lukaris · Dec 7, 2019

I believe the Russian Philokalia is distinct from the Greek. The Pilgrim carried the Greek Philokalia as one full volume I believe. When he is accosted by robbers who steal his Philokalia, it is one full edition he loses but later thankfully recovered.

ArmyMatt · Dec 7, 2019

Vol 5 was recently translated into English

AMM · Dec 7, 2019

Lukaris said:
I believe the Russian Philokalia is distinct from the Greek. The Pilgrim carried the Greek Philokalia as one full volume I believe. When he is accosted by robbers who steal his Philokalia, it is one full edition he loses but later thankfully recovered.

Interesting thanks!

ArmyMatt said:
Vol 5 was recently translated into English

How many volumes are there in total?

ArmyMatt · Dec 7, 2019

AMM said:
How many volumes are there in total?

I always heard 5

AMM · Dec 7, 2019

ArmyMatt said:
I always heard 5

Interesting, thanks!

I asked my priest about reading the philokalia this afternoon and he advised that I hold off for now, so I’ll keep this in the back of my mind for a few years down the road. Thanks for the information anyway!

Phronema · Dec 7, 2019

ArmyMatt said:
Vol 5 was recently translated into English

Nice! I knew it was being worked on, but I didn't think it would be done so soon. Thank you for that bit of info.

ArmyMatt · Dec 7, 2019

no problem, all!

JohnTh · Dec 11, 2019

Philokalia „doesn't exist”. It is a „gathering” done by St. Nikodemus the Athonite based on a manuscript from Vatopedi monastery at which he added more authors.
The Greek Philokalia is 5 volumes.
Saint Paisios Velicicovski liked a lot this collection and during the translation in Russian added some more material and thus Russian Philokalia is 7 volumes.
Romanian Philokalia made by father Dumitru Stăniloae is 12 volumes. It is the best not only because it is the biggest one (including for example St. John of the Ladder, St. Dorotheos of Gaza among the others) but also because there are a lot of footnotes written by father Dumitru himself which help greatly the reader.

~Anastasia~ · Dec 14, 2019

ArmyMatt said:
Vol 5 was recently translated into English

Ah that's good to know!

Not that I was holding my breath. I own the first 4 in electronic form but I've got so much more to read there I was hardly sitting back and waiting!

~Anastasia~ · Dec 14, 2019

JohnTh said:
Philokalia „doesn't exist”. It is a „gathering” done by St. Nikodemus the Athonite based on a manuscript from Vatopedi monastery at which he added more authors.
The Greek Philokalia is 5 volumes.
Saint Paisios Velicicovski liked a lot this collection and during the translation in Russian added some more material and thus Russian Philokalia is 7 volumes.
Romanian Philokalia made by father Dumitru Stăniloae is 12 volumes. It is the best not only because it is the biggest one (including for example St. John of the Ladder, St. Dorotheos of Gaza among the others) but also because there are a lot of footnotes written by father Dumitru himself which help greatly the reader.

That's interesting.

Is the one by Fr. Dumitru only in the Romanian language then?

JohnTh · Dec 17, 2019

~Anastasia~ said:
Is the one by Fr. Dumitru only in the Romanian language then?

Sorry but I don't know.

In any case, it is a little bit difficult to translate - especially his notes - because he uses to maximum the power of expression of the Romanian language. However, I would like to see it in English, yes.

~Anastasia~ · Dec 18, 2019

JohnTh said:
Sorry but I don't know.
In any case, it is a little bit difficult to translate - especially his notes - because he uses to maximum the power of expression of the Romanian language. However, I would like to see it in English, yes.

I've searched according to what I can find and ... I can't discover the answer either.

I was interested in his notes particularly.

But like I said, it's not as if I don't have plenty to read in what's available in English.

Editions of the Philokalia

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