The Morally-Transformative Power of Beauty in the Writings

of the Philokalia

By Daniel VanderKolk

A paper submitted for the Power of Beauty Conference held at

Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio USA

October 25th, 2014

 
 I. Introduction  

"Beauty will save the world,"1 wrote Dostoevsky in The Idiot. These hallowed lines have inspired

both hope for the future and appreciation of beauty in many. No doubt they are the emanation of a

sensitive and profound soul. Fyodor Mikhailovich was greatly influenced by Russian Christianity–

especially its monastic institutions–particularly towards the end of his life. It is well known that Orthodox

Church figures often enkindled his literary imagination. The Russian monks of Optina Monastery, or

Optina Pustyn2 in Russian, frequently counseled Dostoevsky in his own personal religious journey3.

The fathers of this hermitage-cenobium complex, the most famous of its day in the Russian

Orthodox world, were guided by an important movement within their milieu that began a century prior:

the rediscovery of their own spiritual tradition through the publishing of an anthology of penetrating

monastic texts, the Philokalia. These writings infused the spiritual world of Dostoevsky's Russia with an

invigorating perception of spiritual realities. In a subtle way this anthology's insights have spread through

these 19th-century Russian mystics, into Dostoevsky's later works, and through him into the Western

Canon. The deep observations contained within the Philokalia demand a more thorough treatment in the

West, where they have been relegated to the concern of Eastern Orthodox Christians, Early Christianity

scholars, and Byzantinists. This anthology has much to offer the ongoing intellectual debates in America

and Western Europe, especially within the world of education. Most significantly, the Philokalia's

emphasis on the morally-transformative power of beauty is worth our serious consideration.

                                                                                                               
1
Dostoevsky, 370. Specifically, Ippolit attributes this statement to the prince.
2
Pustyn means "desert," in reference to the Egyptian and Palestinian deserts that first inspired Christian
monasticism in the form still practiced in Russia.
3
Panichas, 159.

2  
 
 II. The History and Influence of the Philokalia

The Philokalia is a collection of Christian monastic treatises, akin to the Sayings of the Desert

Fathers. Nicodemos, an 18th-century Greek Orthodox monk, compiled and printed them in 1782. The

five-volume anthology comprised monographs by authors ranging from the fourth century to the fifteenth

century. A desire to systematize and preserve precious ascetical maxims for the practical purpose of

disseminating the wisdom among both his fellow monastics and eastern Christian posterity impelled

Nicodemos to this task.

The writings center on the topics of subduing bodily desires, purifying inner sins through interior

prayer, and contemplating theology. Nicodemos' efforts revived monastic life in Greece and the Balkans.

This anthology was translated into Slavonic shortly after its Greek publication. That parallel act by a

Slavic ascetic named Paisius, precipitated a modern Russian spiritual resuscitation that extended even into

America. Although the collected writings individually and the anthology as a whole are more directly

pertinent to eastern Christians, much of their contents are of interest to Catholics and Protestants alike in

the West. The early authors of the Philokalia, such as St. John Cassian, Evagrius Ponticus, and St.

Maximus the Confessor are well-known in many western circles. Later authors, such as Gregory Palamas,

played a controversial role in East-West Church relations, and find less sympathy in America and

Western Europe.

The title "Philokalia" literally means "love of the beautiful things." However, as you Greek

scholars know, "kalia" could also be given the translation "good," creating a uniquely multi-faceted word,

one that aptly pertains to a discussion on the relation between beauty, the good, and love. St. Basil the

Great and St. Gregory Nazianzus originally compiled a selection of quotes by Origen and titled the work

"The Philokalia." Undoubtedly this Cappadocian endeavor inspired Nicodemos. The title aptly describes

the ascetic anthology because although much practical wisdom lies therein, a considerable amount of

surpassing theological statements are also contained–statements beautiful to behold–statements about the

wonder of creation and about the glory of God.

3  
 
 III. The Content of the Philokalia

The content of the Philokalia concerns itself with three general stages of spiritual life:

purification, illumination, and deification. Roughly speaking, the first stage, purification, refers to the

most outwardly active step in this process. At this point the ascetic labors vigorously in fasting, keeping

vigils, manual labor, attentive prayer, confession, and spiritual reading in order to subdue his bodily

desires and wash away his inward sins. During the second stage, illumination, the mystic begins to enjoy

the increased indwelling of the Holy Spirit in his being, and contemplates4 the theological implications of

God's creation. In the final, third step of the spiritual life, the Christian moves onto contemplation of God

and even further participation in the Divine. Several well-known modern Eastern Orthodox theologians5

have articulated these stages more concretely from their readings of the Philokalia, but the writings

themselves also openly betray this inward journey. Although such thoughts are extremely exalted, and

perhaps pertain to only a very few individuals who have ever lived, in many ways the average believer

experiences tastes of each spiritual stage, even if sparingly, at extreme moments in their life.

                                                                                                               
4
Glossary of Philokalia, Vol. 1, pgs. 358-359: "Contemplation (θεωρία): the perception or vision of the
intellect through which one attains spiritual knowledge. It may be contrasted with the practice of the
virtues which designates the more external aspect of the ascetic life–purification and the keeping of the
commandments–but which is an indispensable prerequisite of contemplation. Depending on the level of
personal spiritual growth, contemplation has two main stages: it may be either of the inner essences
[principles] of created beings or, at a higher stage, of God Himself."
5
Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, Christopher Veniamin, and Anthony Coniaris.

4  
 
 Evagrios the Solitary, in his "Texts on Prayer," from the First Volume of the Philokalia,

expounds upon these three stages: "We practise the virtues in order to achieve contemplation of the inner

essences6 of created things, and from this we pass to contemplation of the Logos who gives them their

being; and He manifests Himself when we are in the state of prayer."7 Here the phrase "practise the

virtues" is a synonym for purification, also known as attaining dispassion or freedom from the passions.

The inner essences are the many logoi of the single Logos, God the Word. Logos is the singular,

masculine, nominative form of an Ancient Greek word that means "word," but also connotes "argument,

reasoning, thought stream, verbal utterance, or even narrative." Logoi is the plural, masculine, nominative

form of "logos," almost implying a sense of the plurality of the Logos in creation–or the Logos in space

and time. Evagrius elaborates on this point further down in the same treatise, where he writes: "If the

intellect has not risen above the contemplation of the created world, it has not yet beheld the realm of God

perfectly. For it may be occupied with the knowledge of intelligible things and so involved in their

multiplicity." Here he separates the contemplation of creation from the reflection upon God Himself. He

even goes so far as to place the meditation upon the inner essences, or logoi of creation before the higher

activity of contemplating God.

                                                                                                               
6
λόγοι
7
Ibid, 61-62.

5  
 
 A similarity may be drawn between this Philokalic activity of contemplating God and Dietrich

von Hildebrand's philosophy of beauty. In his essay "Beauty in the Light of the Redemption," he writes:

"If, for example, we view a lofty mountain range bathed in gleaming sunlight, it is not

that which we see directly before us to which beauty is attached, but the thought of God's

creative power is the real beauty. In a word, the real bearer of beauty is something

incorporeal which we connect intellectually with the visible and audible by means of

analogies; or, it is said, the visible has a function similar to that of the symbol in the

liturgy. This attempt at rescuing the incorporeality of beauty is well-meant, to be sure, but

it is false, for the beauty of the Campagna Romana or that of the Seventh Symphony by

Bruckner is intuitive, linked directly with that which is seen and heard, and intellectual

ascent to something else is not necessary in order to grasp this beauty."8

Von Hildebrand's emphasis on the intuitive manner by which we contemplate beauty is shared by the

authors of the Philokalia. According to Byzantine mystical theology, the nous9 is

"the highest faculty in man, through which – provided it is purified – he knows God or

the inner essences or principles of created things by means of direct apprehension or

spiritual perception. Unlike the dianoia10 or reason, from which it must be carefully

distinguished, the intellect does not function by formulating abstract concepts and then

arguing on this basis to a conclusion reached through deductive reasoning, but it

understands divine truth by means of immediate experience, intuition or 'simple

cognition'. The intellect [nous] dwells in the 'depths of the soul'; it constitutes the

innermost aspect of the heart. The intellect [nous] is the organ of contemplation, the 'eye

of the heart'."11

                                                                                                               
8
Hildebrand, Reconsiderations, 86.
9
νοῦς
10
διάνοια
11
Nikodimos, Philokalia, Vol. 3., 360.

6  
 
This quote is taken from the glossary of the English translation of the Philokalia. Several basic

psychological terms are defined in this appendix, specifically because there is such a great distance

between the modern English-speaking world's conception of ideas such as 'the intellect,' 'reason,' and 'the

heart,' and the Byzantine understanding of the same concepts. Even still, Hildebrand seems to share this

Philokalic notion that beauty–the object of cogitation–is approached with immediacy and instinct, not

pensive calculation or rational assessment.

IV. The Moral Dimension of Beauty in the Philokalia

While Dietrich emphasizes the capacity for everyday beauty of form to ennoble individuals and

communities, the fathers of the Philokalia would more strongly place moral purity as preparation for

contemplation. Hildebrand claims that proper exposure to aesthetically pleasing forms protects against

demoralization while simultaneously raising the standards of human behavior. He then reasons that these

effects cause the beholder of beauty to raise their mind above and attend to God12. In slight contrast, the

Byzantine ascetics stress the need to refine one's thoughts, dispositions, and behavior, first, before gazing

upon Divinity with the eyes of the soul. However, because this contemplation of beauty proceeds moral

improvement, many of the Philokalic fathers promote the desire for beauty as an aid to the amendment of

one's behavior. Reasoning that if the goal is contemplation, and the means is moral improvement, then a

desire for the goal–a yearning for beauty–motivates one to persevere through the means–moral

improvement or purification.

                                                                                                               
12
"Let me affirm unambiguously that beauty does in fact have an ennobling effect. Contact with an
environment permeated by beauty not only offers real protection against impurity, baseness, every kind of
dissipation, brutality, and untruthfulness; it has also the positive effect of raising us up in a moral sense. It
does not draw us into a self-centered pleasure where our only wish is to indulge ourselves; on the
contrary, it opens our hearts, inviting us to transcendence and leading us in conspectum Dei, before the
face of God." Hildebrand, Aesthetics.

7  
 
 Two writers in the Byzantine anthology make noteworthy exhortations to the morally-

transformative power of beauty. First, a certain Theodoros, known as the Great Ascetic by his

contemporaries, situated in Volume Two of the English translation, writes the following in his work titled

"Theoretikon,": "The soul's impulsion towards beauty should surpass its impulsion towards what is base

to the same degree as intelligible beauty surpasses sensible beauty."13 This quote must be located properly

in order to be understood correctly. Theodoros wrote this in a short treatise that consists mainly of hard

ascetical maxims related to subduing one's flesh. Yet, the work as a whole is given the title "Theoretikon,"

which is not inherently practical. The title is related to the Greek verb "theoreo"14 which can variously

mean: "to see, contemplate, behold, consider, or even spectate." So here we have a manual on

contemplation that is primarily concerned with bodily discipline, and nevertheless includes multiple

exhortations15 to yearn for beauty as an aid to this physical austerity.

Another author, a later Byzantine monastic16 named Gregory of Sinai, extends the degree of this

claim for the moral capacity of beauty to renew. Mid-way through his work on interior prayer and

contemplation, he writes: "The principle and source of the virtues is a good disposition of the will, that is

to say, an aspiration for goodness and beauty. God is the source and ground of all supernal goodness.

Thus the principle of goodness and beauty is faith or, rather, it is Christ, the rock of faith, who is principle

and foundation of all the virtues. On this rock we stand and on this foundation we build every good thing.

Christ is the capstone uniting us with Himself."17 Here we see the unification of goodness and beauty as

the object of aspiration. This yearning, in turn, is equated with our voluntary participation in our own

spiritual redemption. Gregory centrally places beauty in relation to goodness, and surrounds this duo with

the most fundamental Christian spiritual principles.

                                                                                                               
13
39.
14
θεωρέω
15
E.g. 41, 42.
16
However, even though the disputed author of the "Theoretikon" is roughly placed in the 8th century, he
or she could in fact have lived as late as the seventeenth century. See Philokalia, Vol. 2, introduction to
Theodoros, 13.
17
Nikodimos, Philokalia, Vol. 4., 228.

8  
 
 V. Conclusion

As others at this conference have stated, we live in a time when it is easier to find common

ground with the average person when discussing the beautiful while we find more difficulty in engaging

each other on the true and the good. I think that the immediacy of dealing with the beautiful, an activity

that often bypasses our will and our reasoning faculty, shows that many people in our culture care little

for arguments and commands. They seek the nourishment of interactions that cut to their heart, that

intuitively move them in the deepest parts of their being. The writers of the Philokalia have much to offer

these 21st century seekers. The introduction to the English translation contains the following quote: "The

Philokalia is an itinerary through the labyrinth of time, a silent way of love and gnosis through the deserts

and emptinesses of life, especially modern life, a vivifying and fadeless presence." In addition to this

ability to answer the unique needs of modern man, the anthology has much to say in the ongoing

discussion of what beauty is, how our senses play a role in our interaction with beauty, and how beauty

relates to truth, goodness and love. Again, I cite an author from the Second Volume, Maximus the

Confessor:

"The beautiful is identical with the good, for all things seek the beautiful and good at

every opportunity, and there is no being which does not participate in them. They extend

to all that is, being what is truly admirable, sought for, desired, pleasing, chosen and

loved. Observe how the divine force of love – the erotic power pre-existing in the good –

has given birth to the same blessed force within us, through which we long for the

beautiful and good in accordance with the words, 'I became a lover of her beauty', and

'Love her and she will sustain you; fortify her and she will exalt you'."18

Maximus echoes a deep concern for the unity of the beautiful, the good, and love within God. He goes on

to discuss the true, which we will have to leave for another day.

                                                                                                               
18
Nikodimios, Philokalia, Vol. 2., 280-282.

9  
 
 Bibliography

Adler, Mortimer. How to Think About the Great Ideas from the Great Books of Western Civilization.
Ed. Max Weismann. Chicago: Carus Publishing Company, 2000.
Adler, Mortimer. The Great Ideas: A Syntopicon of Great Books of the Western World. Vol. 1. Chicago:
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1952.
Dostoevsky, Fyodor. The Idiot. Trans. Constance Garnett. New York: Bantam, 1981.
Hildebrand, Dietrich von. Aesthetics. Trans. Dietrich von Hildebrand Legacy Project. "The Place of
Beauty in Human Existence: An Excerpt from Aesthetics." Dietrich von Hildebrand Legacy
Project. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.
Hildebrand, Dietrich von. "Reconsiderations: Beauty in the Light of the Redemption." Logos 4:2.
Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain. The Philokalia. Trans. G.E.H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard and
Kallistos Ware. Vol. 1. London: Faber and Faber, 1979.
Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain. The Philokalia. Trans. G.E.H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard and
Kallistos Ware. Vol. 2. London: Faber and Faber, 1981.
Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain. The Philokalia. Trans. G.E.H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard and
Kallistos Ware. Vol. 4. London: Faber and Faber, 1995.
Panichas, George Andrew. Dostoevsky's Spiritual Art: The Burden of Vision. New Jersey: Transaction
Publishers, 2005.

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