An Amazing Discovery

[Innocent]

Every now and then I search the internet for some Orthodox books which I've heard of, mainly The Ladder of Divine Ascent, The Philokalia, and The Life of Moses. But so far I've had no success in finding any of these. (Which is very surprising, considering that these books are almost certainly in the Public Domain.)

But today, I was surprised to find in the very first page of Google results, a link to a PDF file of the Philokalia!

[url="http://www.saintmichaelorthodoxchurch.org/catechumen/documents/Philokalia.pdf"]St. Michael Orthodox Church: The Philokalia[/url] [b]WARNING: Direct link to 6.5 MB PDf of 1246 pages!

[/b]
Surprisingly, when I visited the front page of this very website on which the PDF of the Philokalia is hosted, I find no way to navigate anywhere: http://www.saintmichaelorthodoxchurch.org

Perhaps there's some problem with my browser.

Edited September 27, 2009 by Innocent

[Brother Adam]

Suwing! Woah! Wow! Dank You!

[mommas_boy]

One of the nice things about being Catholic is that our core beliefs don't change. I believe copyright law has a limit of around 100 years? There's gotta be a whole lot of books older than that are still really good.

[Nihil Obstat]

Downloaded. Someday hopefully I can get to it.

[zunshynn]

[quote name='Nihil Obstat' date='30 September 2009 - 10:27 PM' timestamp='1254371279' post='1975437']
Downloaded. Someday hopefully I can get to it.
[/quote]

Did you ever figure out how many gigs the English documents from the vatican would take up?

[Resurrexi]

Some of the writings in that were written by non-Catholics who were in schism...

[Innocent]

From what I read in one of the Orthodox blogs I subscribe to through RSS, it seems that this edition lacks the editorial notes and introduction of St. Nikodemos:

[quote]We see an interesting thing particularly in the modern editions, whether critical editions or scholarly translations or studies, where the emphasis of the author or editor has precisely moved to a disengagement with the text and a subsequent distancing from the value of the text itself. [b]This is noticeable in the peculiar example of the as yet incomplete Faber & Faber English translation of the Philokalia, which has had the most edifying and lengthy introduction to the work as a whole, written by St Nikodemos the Hagiorite, replaced by a rather lackluster general introduction, and the short introductions to the various Fathers penned by the Saint likewise replaced by new compositions of a less luminous nature. That is, we find that everything written by St Nikodemos in the Philokalia has been removed from this English translation, although his name stands on the cover, inaccurately credited with the compilation.[/b] It is St Makarios of Corinth who compiled the Philokalia, and who asked St Nikodemos to edit it, with the latter, as mentioned, also writing a lengthy general introduction and short introductions to each author. Fortunately, a full English translation of St Nikodemos’ introduction to the Philokalia (and a selection of other texts) is available in Constantine Cavarnos’ The Philokalia: Writings of Holy Mystic Fathers in which is Explained how the Mind is Purified, Illumined, and Perfected through Practical and Contemplative Ethical Philosophy (Institute for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, 2008). [/quote]<emphasis added>
[url="http://www.bombaxo.com/blog/?p=1272"]SOURCE[/url]

Edit: Also, I found during my searching for more information about the Philokalia that there are some persons ([url="http://www.monachos.net/forum/archive/index.php/t-4653.html"] 1[/url], [url="http://www.bombaxo.com/blog/?p=296"]2[/url] ) expressing an opinion that it does not look like the fifth and final volume of this translation will be completed.

Edited October 1, 2009 by Innocent

[Nihil Obstat]

[quote name='zunshynn' date='01 October 2009 - 12:28 AM' timestamp='1254374922' post='1975465']
Did you ever figure out how many gigs the English documents from the vatican would take up?
[/quote]
Not yet, but I'm leaning towards under a gigabyte actually. I downloaded the full Douay Rheims Bible, and it was only a tiny bit of space.
I think I'll try to find the whole Catechism in PDF too.

[Formosus]

[quote name='Resurrexi' date='01 October 2009 - 05:22 AM' timestamp='1254385323' post='1975501']
Some of the writings in that were written by non-Catholics who were in schism...
[/quote]


Such as St. Gregory Palamas, celebrated twice on the Byzantine Catholic calenders and on the Calenders published by Rome for Eastern Catholic use?

[Formosus]

[quote name='Innocent' date='01 October 2009 - 09:39 AM' timestamp='1254400754' post='1975524']
From what I read in one of the Orthodox blogs I subscribe to through RSS, it seems that this edition lacks the editorial notes and introduction of St. Nikodemos:

<emphasis added>
[url="http://www.bombaxo.com/blog/?p=1272"]SOURCE[/url]

Edit: Also, I found during my searching for more information about the Philokalia that there are some persons ([url="http://www.monachos.net/forum/archive/index.php/t-4653.html"] 1[/url], [url="http://www.bombaxo.com/blog/?p=296"]2[/url] ) expressing an opinion that it does not look like the fifth and final volume of this translation will be completed.
[/quote]



Wow thanks for posting that link. That Institute site looks like a great resource. Their translation of the Philokalia is now on my wish list : ). I have volumes 1-4 of the FF translation, but it never hurts to have a different translation for comparison purposes.

[Apotheoun]

[quote name='Innocent' date='26 September 2009 - 08:27 PM' timestamp='1254018421' post='1973204']
Every now and then I search the internet for some Orthodox books which I've heard of, mainly The Ladder of Divine Ascent, The Philokalia, and The Life of Moses. But so far I've had no success in finding any of these. (Which is very surprising, considering that these books are almost certainly in the Public Domain.)

But today, I was surprised to find in the very first page of Google results, a link to a PDF file of the Philokalia!

[url="http://www.saintmichaelorthodoxchurch.org/catechumen/documents/Philokalia.pdf"]St. Michael Orthodox Church: The Philokalia[/url] [b]WARNING: Direct link to 6.5 MB PDf of 1246 pages!

[/b]
Surprisingly, when I visited the front page of this very website on which the PDF of the Philokalia is hosted, I find no way to navigate anywhere: http://www.saintmichaelorthodoxchurch.org

Perhaps there's some problem with my browser.
[/quote]
Thanks for the link. The pdf is great. A wonderful tool for doing word searches.

[Resurrexi]

[quote name='Formosus' date='01 October 2009 - 11:03 AM' timestamp='1254413026' post='1975585']
Such as St. Gregory Palamas, celebrated twice on the Byzantine Catholic calenders and on the Calenders published by Rome for Eastern Catholic use?
[/quote]

Define "published by Rome". Being published by the Libreria Edrice Vaticana does not make something an official document of the Magisterium.

I personally do not consider Palamas as saint and will never venerate him or anyone else who died out of commmunion with the Holy Roman Church.

Edited October 1, 2009 by Resurrexi

[Apotheoun]

[quote name='Resurrexi' date='01 October 2009 - 12:12 PM' timestamp='1254420764' post='1975701']
Define "published by Rome". Being published by the Libreria Edrice Vaticana does not make something an official document of the Magisterium.

I personally do not consider Palamas as saint and will never venerate him or anyone else who died out of commmunion with the Holy Roman Church.
[/quote]
By using the word "published," he means issued with the approbation, and under the direction, of the Holy See. Rome in the 1940s - after years of research work - issued the standard slavic texts of the Ruthenian (and other) recensions of the Byzantine liturgy, and it is from these texts that all vernacular translations are supposed to be made.

[Resurrexi]

[quote name='Apotheoun' date='01 October 2009 - 01:31 PM' timestamp='1254421888' post='1975716']
By using the word "published," he means issued with the approbation, and under the direction, of the Holy See. Rome in the 1940s - after years of research work - issued the standard slavic texts of the Ruthenian (and other) recensions of the Byzantine liturgy, and it is from these texts that all vernacular translations are supposed to be made.
[/quote]

Denzinger was published at the request of the Holy See and is used for citations in Vatican documents, and yet you seem to regard it is having little value, so why should I care what this book of which you speak says?

[Apotheoun]

[quote name='Resurrexi' date='01 October 2009 - 12:50 PM' timestamp='1254423033' post='1975759']
Denzinger was published at the request of the Holy See and is used for citations in Vatican documents, and yet you seem to regard it is having little value, so why should I care what this book of which you speak says?
[/quote]
Denzinger is not divinely inspired. It represents at most the theological theories of the Western, and - in a few cases - the Eastern Churches. Nothing more.