The Greek word ϕιλοκαλία denotes, first, love of the beautiful (according to Augustine, also of the Good) as “affective striving towards God and everything that leads to union with him as source of all beauty” (Citterio, 243); and secondly, certain collections of texts. The Philocalia from works of Origen (De Principiis and Contra Celsum) were collected by Basil the Great and Gregory of Nazianzus.
The most highly regarded Philocalia was published in Venice in 1782 by Nicodemus the Hagiorite and Bishop Macarius of Corinth (1731–1805) under the title Philocalia of the …