Philokalia - where to start?

[eoe]

I was wondering if you guys had an opinion on which volume of the Philokalia is the best to start out with. Vote!

 

[Oblio]

By asking your spiritual father. Seriously.

 

[Matrona]

NONE OF THEM without permission from your spiritual father.

 

[Xpycoctomos]

spiritual father.

 

[choirfiend]

Spiritual father or never. Thankfully, we're not Gnostics. You can be a completely competent and devout Orthodox Christian without ever reading many things.

 

[moses916]

I've been Orthodox for 19 years, i still haven't read the philokalia because its that deep, ask your Spiritual Father, he may think its best you read other spiritual books first, or he may actually tell you when to begin and what to begin with.

 

[eoe]

Ok Ok....

I just have to bring up a couple things:

1 - the first book that my priest ever recommended to me explicitly referred the reader to 3 books:
Way of a Pilgrim - HEAVILY influenced by the Philokalia
A Beginner's Introduction to the Philokalia - ...
The Art of Prayer - again very heavily influenced buy the Philokalia
Seeing this it is perfectly natural that after finishing those that one would reach for one of the four volumes.

2 - I have a massive excess of free time. I mean massive. I have If I am not actively doing something good then I fall very quickly into the "logismoi" train wreck thought patterns. The way I avoid these (not always very well) is by actively digging into everything I can. I am working on finding volunteer opportunities (think I have finally found one today) but even then I will have alot of free time.

3 - the last time I got this advice was re: prayer ropes. That thread made it seem as if prayer ropes were uber scary. My priest was totally mellow about it and told me it was perfectly fine. I imagine he will have a similar response to this - who knows - I may be wrong.

4 - you guys totally could have at least voted "purple". I mean that was hilarious.

 

[vanshan]

If we disobediently read things beyond our spiritual ability there are real dangers. One is called "prelest" or spiritual pride. I've read stories of formerly devout monks who become proud and dellusional by trying to live ascetically beyond their level or reading above their level--it's a very tricky attack of our emeny, which preys on even very spiritually advanced people. It's always best to be humble about what little you know, always willing to be corrected, so you don't arrive at a place in error and find yourself beyond the corrective help of your spiritual father.

Basil

 

[Oblio]

In your copious amounts of free time, read Scripture. Read what your priest tells you to. The enemy is lurking, ready to prey on the novices. Follow your guide who knows the jungle and its dangers

 

[eoe]

Spoke to my priest. He told me that the Philokalia was absolutely a good thing to read and told me to start with volume 1.

Your milage may vary.....

Read what your priest tells you to.

That was the problem.. I was running out of material...

Thanks for the input guys. I am glad that I called him. The information that I had suggests that volume 3 is the place to start. Fr. told me that with these things it is definately best to start at the beginning.

 

[Oblio]

Spoke to my priest. He told me that the Philokalia was absolutely a good thing to read and told me to start with volume 1.

Your milage may vary.....


That was the problem.. I was running out of material...

Thanks for the input guys. I am glad that I called him. The information that I had suggests that volume 3 is the place to start. Fr. told me that with these things it is definately best to start at the beginning.

I think you learned a little more than if you should read the Philokalia and which volume

Cailly on glasshopper

 

[gzt]

I don't know the volumes of the Philokalia and I haven't read much of it, but large portions are simply theology. Like, I don't think anything by St. Maximos the Confessor in there will be that dangerous for anybody to read. What would require guidance is anything that talks about prayer, how to pray, anything practical like that that you would do [not that the theology St. Maximos talks about isn't practical, but I think you can catch my drift]. But us shallow people who simply read a pile of stuff and don't digest well and only look at the theology probably wouldn't be hurt.

 

[eoe]

But us shallow people who simply read a pile of stuff and don't digest well and only look at the theology probably wouldn't be hurt.

This statement is a bit easy to misunderstand. Giving you the benefit of the doubt =)

There is also a big difference between reading about a given practice and putting it into place. I am not going to run off and start saying the Jesus prayer 12,000 times per day because I read about it in "Way of a Pilgrim".

I suppose there are some that would do that tho.

 

[Xpycoctomos]

2 - I have a massive excess of free time. I mean massive. I have If I am not actively doing something good then I fall very quickly into the "logismoi" train wreck thought patterns. The way I avoid these (not always very well) is by actively digging into everything I can. I am working on finding volunteer opportunities (think I have finally found one today) but even then I will have alot of free time.

Sweet! There are other books you can read (Mountain of Silence, Common Ground, Fr Arseny, Way of the Pilgrim, minutes from the Councils [if you have some no-doze with ya lol], lives of the Saints [that's edifying for anyone... more than any book on theology]...)

3 - the last time I got this advice was re: prayer ropes. That thread made it seem as if prayer ropes were uber scary. My priest was totally mellow about it and told me it was perfectly fine. I imagine he will have a similar response to this - who knows - I may be wrong.

I think the point of such responses was taking into account that you were pretty new to this and just to demonstrate that starting any rule of prayer should be done under the guidance of your Spiritual Father. So, you checked with him, and he was real chill about it... what's bad about that? Does that mean you shouldn't have asked? No. it's good to run new ideas by your Spiritual Father.

Now, using the prayer rope here and there is one thing. I don't think my spiritual father would care too much.. I don't think a lot of priests would really care (not to say they wouldn't want to know... just that they aren't going to worry about it). But the Philokalia is something else. it is very deep and is about specific practicesand disciplines that simply shoudl never be taken on alone. It was meant for monks... and none of us are that. My honest opinion is that no one here in this forum is ready for the Philokalia by the mere fact that we have enough time to get on the net and post, period. It's serious stuff.

If your priest was like "no biggy" about hte prayer rope and you think he might be the same way with the Philokalia, then why NOT ask? Honestly, you need to ask, and I would ask him for specific istructions if he says you can read it. Obviously you can do waht you want... we are only looking out for what we have been told is best. There are no Philokalia police in the US... they couldn't get their visas approved

My guess is that your priest will laugh and say "why not just worry about praying" or something liek that. I have heard that's a common response from a lot of priests.

4 - you guys totally could have at least voted "purple". I mean that was hilarious.

I'm wearing a purple tie today... does that count?

 

[Xpycoctomos]

In your copious amounts of free time, read Scripture.

Oh yeah.. that's probably a better one than any of the ones I mentioned. That or the newest one from Danielle Steele

 

[Xpycoctomos]

Spoke to my priest. He told me that the Philokalia was absolutely a good thing to read and told me to start with volume 1.

doh! I need to learn not to post before reading the entire thread! Well, there you go. Volume 1. The Purple one, right?

 

[Photini]

Try reading On the Prayer of Jesus by St Ignatius Brianchaninov.

 

[eoe]

The Purple one, right?

LOL! YOU ROCK!

 

[RobNJ]

I'm reading the one my priest loaned me!

I figure, I can't go wrong there!!