Theoria Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

UPDATE: The full book is now on Amazon - a Kindle edition:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Union-God-Life-Theoria-KATAFYGIOTIS-ebook/dp/B084NX1RC5/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=christos+konstas&qid=1581428268&sr=8-1
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https://www.amazon.com/Union-God-Life-Theoria-KATAFYGIOTIS-ebook/dp/B084NX1RC5/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=christos+konstas+philokalia&qid=1581428487&sr=8-1

The pinnacle of the Philokalia:
On the Union with God, and the Life of Theoria by Kalistos Katafygiotis (possibly Kalistos Angelikoudis?)

This is to present and discuss a text found in the fabled volume 5 of the Philokalia* titled: On the Union with God, and the Life of Theoria [sometimes translated as: contemplative life].
It’s a text that to my knowledge had not been translated into English until now*.
For this present translation I used the Greek text from volume 2 of the 1893 text of the 2nd Greek edition of the Philokalia. I also consulted sometimes the modern Greek text from volume 5 of the 1st edition of the modern Greek edition of the Philokalia (1985-1989.)
The current stage of the translation is still a rough draft form.

It's attributed to an unknown 14th century monk named Kalistos Katafygiotis.
It's not the last text of the Philokalia but it's probably the most "advanced" and as it is placed at the end of the texts making up the collection it seems that the Philokalia's compilers intended it to be the apex of their collection. All texts that follow it can be regarded as recapping the whole work, as the conclusion and the appendices of the collection. The true final text of the Philokalia, I argue, is the "On the Union with God, and the Life of Theoria."
Its Greek title is "Περί της ενώσεως με το Θεό και του θεωρητικου βίου" - On the Union with God, and the theoretical life (meaning the Life of Theoria)
It was written in the 14th century, probably sometime between 1350 and 1397, in the Macedonia (Northern Greece,) in Greek, by an unknown monk referred as: Kalistos Katafygiotis. Some think that he was a little-known monk who lived a life of monastic retreat to a monastery called "Katafyfiotissa" (meaning in Greek, 'shelter', or 'retreat'.)
Others believe that "Katafygiotis" (meaning in Greek "one living in a retreat) it's a nickname or an eponym of Callistus II, briefly Patriarch of Constantinople in 1397.

The text is written in the popular in antiquity form of a collection of short texts. Some of these texts are very short, 2-3 lines only, others longer than a page.
They were meant to be used for instruction and in many ways are more like prompts than fully developed arguments.
Sometimes such texts (called “kephalaia” – chapters or headings) would be the authors own notes, or something equivalent to today’s “bullet-points,” aiming to assist the actual teaching. Sometimes they are notes taken by disciples or observers during the teaching. Sometimes they were something equivalent to today’s “hand-outs.” Texts that the disciples were supposed to take with them and read them and contemplate them and study them during a course of days or weeks and then go back to the teacher for feedback and advice.
In a case like this one the texts are very much experiential advice given to people striving to experience “union with God” and “the life of Theoria.” So they are not formed or structured in an academic way. The author cares little about scholarship, or formal Aristotelian structure. There is a strong autobiographical element there too: Some of the texts are just personal prayers, written down or personal observations during states of Theoria. “The spiritual things are spiritually discerned” for writters like Kalistos Katafygiotis. So intellectual approval or rational arguments were not in their mind unless they served the main purpose: to edify towards union with God and the life of Theoria.”

The text can be approached from a multiple of angles but here the most relevant are:
1. The original author's intent behind the text for the original recipients.
2. The intent of the compilers of the Philokalia both in choosing to include this text int their collection and their choice to place it towards the end of their collection.

1. It seems that the author of the text meant it both as a personal record of perceptions and as an edifying text for disciples or correspondents.
The way such text were approached included the ancient practice of "Melete" ("meditare" in Latin) which was essentialy a form of ancient way of mediation, incorporating both meditation (as we understand today the word) and study.
For "melete" the procedure is to take (or be given as a disciple) a short text like the kephalaia of "On the Union with God, and the Life of Theoria" with the task to read it aloud several times a day, for several days or as long as instructed or needed. At the same time the reader was to apply or put into practice any practical task or advice the text offered. All that, until the purpose of the text "sunk into" the reader's mind and until it was finally internalized. Once this was accomplished or at least approached, the teacher would give to the disciple another text (the next of the treatise, more likely than not) and the procedure of "melete" would be repeated.
2. The compilers of the Philokalia probably had in mind a more modern approach. Like study the texts and use them as reference material. Also, by putting towards the end of the Philokalia this text they showed their intent to "wrap" the whole Philokalia "up" by a text of sublime matters that only a careful reader of the whole Philokalia might fully appreciate.

What follows in the uploaded document is the treatise plus some clarifying notes, a glossary and an example study guide.

Note:
• The first 12 text (out of 92) appeared in English translation at: https://www.greekorthodoxchurch.org/union_with_god_kallistos_katafytiotis_angelikoudis.html?fbclid=IwAR1wbSnEFW6g40N8bYzMDRUH0It59yanUozJUyC5i2-hkV-aAPB5MlQecqw --- A note explains: “This American English version is based on Antonios G. Galitis's (+) modern Greek translation, published by Perivoli Tis Panagias publishers, Thessaloniki, Greece, 4th edition, 1998. It will be incomplete while I am in the process of translation. I post each segment as I finish it, subject to revision. The complete work consists of 92 numbered chapters.”