Introduction

The volume of The Annals of the University of Bucharest (Philosophy Series), that is presented here is dedicated to the Philosophy of Philokalia. This is a relatively new field of philosophical research with very little work being done internationally on the philosophical aspects of the 5 volumes of Philokalia (in the Greek edition). This collection of writings from the Fathers of the Orthodox Church with a strong hesychastic and monastic orientation is inspiring the faithful (not only Orthodox, but other Christians as well) to live a life of prayer, humility and otherworldly pursuits focused on repentance and cleansing of the heart and the mind. From the 18th c. on, it is used widely in Orthodox monasteries in Holy Mt Athos, Greece, Cyprus, Middle East and Africa, Romania and Russia (being translated into Romanian and Russian from very early), but was kept out of wide public interest till the midâ€20th c., when the English translation of these works became available with the publishing efforts of Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware), Philip Sherrard and G.H. Palmer. In this introduction, I will try to introduce the reader to some of the main themes regarding the spirit and the background of the works contained in Philokalia (a task that is not easy) and I will present briefly some of the main ideas presented in the collection of papers found here.