Writings from the Philokalia on Prayer of the Heart

     The Philokalia is an important collection of writings by Fathers of the Eastern Church dating from the fourth to the fourteenth century. It was compiled in the eighteenth century by two Greek monks, St. Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain (1749-1809) and St. Makarios of Corinth (1731-1805), and was first published at Venice in 1782. It exists in three versions: the Greek, compiled in the eighteenth century; the Slavonic; and the Russian. The Russian text, translated by Bishop Theophan the Recluse in the nineteenth century, is the most complete of all three versions. It is the Russian text that has been used in translating into English this selection, which presents a range of Philokalia writings concerning the Jesus Prayer.