Writings from the Philokalia: On Prayer of the Heart

This book is an English translation of excerpts from the Philokalia, one of the spiritual classics of the Eastern Orthodox Church. It focuses on the Prayer of the Heart, a short Orthodox prayer somewhat akin to the Rosary. It is not dedicated to Mary, but it is intended for daily use by the ordinary believer. The way that this book is written is very odd to those of us in the West. It pays no attention to chronology. It weaves together pieces of writing, written literally a thousand years apart. It has no chronlogical logic. Instead, the whole presentation is of the timeless truths of the tradition. I highly recommend the book for two reasons. First, it is filled with wonderful mediations and prayers. It is a very useful book for a believer. While reading it, I often found myself transported by a sense of wonder and grandeur. The Spirit is very much present in these writings. Second, most of us in the West are entirely ignorant about our fellow Christians in the East, and this is a great pity because the Eastern Church has a wonderfully profound approach to Christian belief. The Eastern Church has a great deal to teach us. This book is a marvelous introduction to that teaching.

This little book of readings gives a taste of the book that informed the Russian Pilgrim's prayer life and shed light on the Scriptures for him. It is a joy to share some of the readings referred to in Way of a Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His Way.

This excellent selection of writings from 'Dobrotolubiuye' (St. Theophan's Russian translation of the Philokalia) was made by the translators and first published in 1951 in English. E. Kadloubovsky and G. E. H. Palmer were both students of P. D. Ouspensky, known for his presentation of G. I. Gurdjieff's early teachings in Russia. The connection is interesting, because Gurdjieff is known to have been a very 'unorthodox' teacher.The Prayer of the Heart was 'unorthodox' when it first came to Mt. Athos. The Hesychast movement, which has the Prayer of the Heart as its basic 'technique', was started there by St. Gregory Palamas in the 14th century. Those who practised the prayer were known as 'naval gazers'. After some time the Church authorities accepted the practice of the prayer and kicked those who opposed it out of the church.A description of the four stages of the Prayer of the Heart:1. bodily prayer - reading, standing and prostrations2. attentive prayer - collecting thoughts saying the words with awareness3. prayer of the feelings - thought with attention becomes feeling of the heart4. spiritual prayer - ceaseless prayer without wordsThe advice in the book is to seek a guide to learn the Prayer of the Heart so that your prayer does not become just 'talking to the wind'. That does not mean that to start practising the prayer should be put off until to-morrow!

If you have any interest in the Philokalia at all, you should start with this book. It is not the entire text, by a long shot - the complete text of the Philokalia in English is still being produced, although I believe that most of it has been published. This book deals with those portions of the Philokalia that discuss the Jesus Prayer.If your interest is in the Prayer, this book belongs on your book shelf. As it is also a representative sample, this book will also help you decide if you want to tackle the entire Philokalia. The book was first published quite a few years ago, and it has been quoted in so many sources that if you're interested in the subject at all you will probably find that you have already read sizable portions of it.

The four volumes (soon to be five) of the Philokalia in English have been justly hailed as a great publishing event, making widely available the greatest and most profound compendium of spiritual writings in the Orthodox Christian Tradition. This volume, Writings from the Philokalia on Prayer of the Heart, was published early in the Fifties, and is undoubtedly the spark that set off the whole Philokalia enterprise. Also a translation from the Philokalia, only from the seven volume Russian tranlation of the renowned starets, Theophan the Recluse, Writings from the Philokalia on Prayer of the Heart is a one-volume compilation from the much larger collection, and this can be said to be its chief virtue: the selections were clearly chosen with an eye to texts that are of the most immediate and practical use by the reader. There is every indication that the selection may have been made by a wise spiritual elder for one of his disciples, creating a "portable" Philokalia, as it were. Readers of the Philokalia are probably all acquainted with the wonderful little book, The Way of the Pilgrim, which tells an outwardly charming but deeply serious story of the search by an unnamed Russian pilgrim for a method of prayer that will fulfill the Scriptural command to pray without ceasing. A volume like this one, possibly even the very same texts as contained herein, is said to be the Philokalia that the Pilgrim himself carried on his travels through 19th Century Russia. As such, for all those with an insatiable spiritual hunger for communion with God, Writings from the Philokalia on Prayer of the Heart, will be a spiritual treasure to return to again and again.