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The ''Philokalia''—Greek for "love of the beautiful/holy/exalted"—was first assembled at [[Mount Athos]] by Ss. [[Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain]] and [[Macarius Notaras of Corinth|Makarios of Corinth]]. The first edition was published at Venice in 1782; a second was done at Athens in 1893, which included a prayer by Patriarch Kallistos; and a third at Athens between 1957 and 1963 by the Astir Publishing Company. All the original writings in the ''Philokalia'' were written in Greek with the exception of two, which were originally in Latin but then translated in Greek during the time of the Roman ("Byzantine") Empire.

Soon the ''Philokalia'' was translated into multiple languages. In 1793, a [[Church Slavonic|Slavonic]] translation done by St. [[Paisius VelichovskyVelichkovsky|Paisii Velichkovskii]] (1722-1794), was published at Moscow under the title ''Dobrotolubiye'', and later reprinted in 1822. This would be the version carried by the unnamed central character in ''[[The Way of a Pilgrim]]'' and was responsible for a spiritual revival in 19th century Russia, impacting a lot of her people, including [[Fyodor Dostoevsky]]. A second translation was published in 1857 and was done by St. [[Ignatius Brianchaninov|Ignatii Brianchaninov]] (1807-1867). A third one was done by St. [[Theophan the Recluse]] (1815-1894), but he included other texts not in the Greek original as well as paraphrases or omissions of other sections. This translation was published in five volumes under the auspicies of the Russian [[St. Panteleimon's Monastery (Athos)|Monastery of St. Panteleimon]] at [[Mount Athos]] in 1877. A Romanian translation first appeared in 1946 with Fr. [[Dumitru Staniloae]] presiding as editor (the fifth volume appeared in 1976 and it's expected to be eight volumes). A French translation is currently in the works. Both of these use the Greek.{{spirituality}}

This listing of texts is based on the English translation, started by Bishop [[Kallistos Ware]], G.E.H. Palmer and [[Philip Sherrard]] and published by Faber and Faber Ltd. The fifth volume has yet to be published. While there is no definite date set, it is predicted by the publisher to be made available sometime late in 20052006. This translation uses the third edition published by the Astir Publishing Company.

#On the [[Lord's Prayer]]

Like all spiritual readings, the ''Philokalia'' should be read under the guidance of a spiritual father as to avoid misinterpretations or malpractice of spiritual remedies. For those who are not practicing monastics, the idea of divorcing oneself from the normal life may seem extreme. Nevertheless, keep in mind that those who practice the monastic life are called to live a total Christ-centered life or to use Christ's words "becoming eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake" ([[Gospel of Matthew |Matthew]] 19:12). In spite of the audience, there are also sayings and writings that are relevant to those who are called to "remain in the world" such as the practice of virtues or the controlling, even extinguishing, of the passions.

*The English translation of the ''Philokalia'', particularly Volume 1(ISBN 057111377X)*Allyne Smith,''The Philokalia: The Eastern Christian Spiritual Texts -- Selections Annotated and Explained'' (SkyLight Paths, 2006) ISBN 1594731039Greatly indebted to *Fr. Alexander Webster at , parish priest of the Protection of the Holy Mother of God Orthodox Church, Falls Church, VA* [http://www.greekorthodoxchurch.org/union_with_god_kallistos_katafytiotis_angelikoudis.html On Union With God and Life of Theoria] - By Kallistos Katafygiotis (identified with Kallistos Angelikoudis) - a translation in progress of a part of the Philokalia