The Philokalia can be intimidating book—well, set of books, I guess—in no small part because of the foreign and technical terminology contained within. Below I've provided a sort of glossary of terms, breaking down concepts to their foundational level. Hopefully this will be useful to you in your journey! If you would like this in Pdf form, click here.
Basic meaning: Time and eternity
Two important uses:
"Present age" vs. "age to come": Our current experience of time versus God's eternal time (where past, present, and future exist all at once). The spiritual journey helps us experience glimpses of God's eternal time even now.
Three levels of time:
Eternity: How God experiences everything simultaneously
Aeon: How angels and spiritually advanced people experience time (no end, but with a beginning)
Regular time: How we normally experience time as past, present, and future
Basic meaning: The desiring part of the soul
The soul has three parts:
Intelligent part: Thinking and understanding
Appetitive part: Desires and wants
Incensive part: Strong emotions like anger or passion
Each part can be used well (according to God's design) or poorly (leading to sin). For example, desire can drive us toward God or toward harmful things.
Basic meaning: Being "pricked in the heart"
A mixed feeling of sorrow for your sins combined with joy at God's forgiveness. It's deep remorse that leads to change, not just feeling bad.
Basic meaning: Spiritual seeing or understanding
Going beyond regular thinking to perceive spiritual truths directly. Two stages:
Understanding the deeper meaning of created things
Experiencing God Himself
Requires first living virtuously and keeping God's commandments.
Basic meaning: Spiritual discernment
The ability to tell the difference between:
Thoughts from God vs. thoughts from evil sources
Helpful spiritual experiences vs. harmful ones
What's spiritually healthy vs. what's extreme
Like a spiritual compass or flashlight guiding your path.
Basic meaning: Spiritual freedom from negative passions (yup, I define that too. See below)
Not being cold or unfeeling, but having your desires and emotions properly ordered and controlled. Two views:
Completely removing bad passions
Redirecting natural passions toward their proper, God-intended purpose
It means freedom, not indifference—you still care deeply but aren't controlled by destructive emotions.
Basic meaning: Going beyond yourself toward God
Being drawn out of your normal self-awareness into union with God through intense spiritual longing. Not something you achieve by effort, but something God grants. May or may not involve trance-like states.
Basic meaning: Total trust relationship with God
Not just believing certain ideas, but a complete life transformation based on loving trust in God. A gift that draws you into relationship with Christ.
Basic meaning: Mental images from your subconscious
Images that arise in your mind without external cause—from your inner depths, possibly from demons. Spiritual teachers warn beginners to ignore these and stay focused on prayer, as they can be misleading or overwhelming. Most are not genuinely spiritual visions.
Basic meaning: Depends on context
Three meanings:
Human nature (as in "the Word became flesh")
Most common: Fallen human nature separated from God—the whole person (body and soul) in rebellion
The physical body
Important: When the Bible criticizes "the flesh," it usually means fallen nature (#2), not the body itself, which God created good.
Basic meaning: Your spiritual center
Not just the physical organ or emotions, but the deepest core of your being—where you're made in God's image. Your truest self. "Prayer of the heart" means prayer of your whole person, including body, mind, and spirit.
Basic meaning: Spiritual error
Wandering off the right path; accepting false things as true. Mistaking a mirage for reality.
Basic meaning: Your spiritual perception
Different from regular reasoning—this is your highest faculty that can directly perceive spiritual truth. Like a spiritual eye. It grasps things immediately through intuition rather than through logical argument. Lives in the "depths of the soul."
Basic meaning: Direct spiritual understanding
The act of perceiving spiritual realities directly, not through abstract concepts or mental images.
Basic meaning: Invoking Jesus's name
Most commonly: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me." Not just a technique or mantra, but a real prayer to the person of Jesus expressing faith in Him.
Basic meaning: The Word of God; divine principles
Logos: Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity, God's Wisdom through whom everything was created
Logoi: The divine principles or "thoughts of God" that give each created thing its meaning and purpose
Basic meaning: Disruptive emotions or impulses
Intense feelings like anger, jealousy, or lust that can dominate and control you. Two viewpoints:
Some say passions are diseases of the soul to be removed
Others say they're natural energies gone wrong that need to be redirected properly
Basic meaning: Logical thinking
Your ability to think logically, form concepts, and draw conclusions. Works with information from senses or revelation but cannot directly perceive spiritual truth—that requires the intellect.
Basic meaning: Keeping attention on God
More than just thinking about God—a state of focused awareness and concentration centered on God. The opposite of being distracted or self-absorbed.
Basic meaning: Complete turning toward God
More than feeling sorry—a fundamental "change of mind" that reorients your whole life toward God. A conversion of your entire being.
Basic meaning: Missing the mark
Literally means "failure to hit the target"—falling short of the purpose for which you were created. Going astray from your true path. Related to illusion/delusion.
Basic meaning: God-inspired understanding
Knowledge that comes through direct spiritual perception (intellect), not through logical reasoning. Linked with contemplation—seeing spiritual realities directly.
Basic meaning: Inner quiet and focus (major oversimplification, sorry about that)
A state of mental calm and concentration that deepens through prayer and spiritual practice. Not just silence, but an attitude of listening to God and being open to Him. The foundation of the spiritual tradition in these writings.
Basic meaning: The stages of being tempted
Six stages showing how temptation works:
Provocation: Initial evil suggestion (not your fault—everyone experiences this)
Momentary disturbance: Brief unsettling of your mind
Communion/Coupling: Starting to entertain the thought, playing with it (now morally significant)
Assent: Deciding to act on it (definitely sinful, even if you don't follow through)
Prepossession: Habitual pattern making resistance harder
Passion: Full-blown compulsion or bad habit
The key: You're responsible for how you respond, not for the initial suggestion.
Basic meaning: Living knowledge of God
Not academic study, but actual participation in divine realities. True theology requires spiritual purity, prayer, and direct experience of God—rare gifts given to few.
Basic meaning: Often means demonic suggestions
Frequently refers to thoughts planted by demons (sometimes called "evil thoughts" in translation). Can also mean divinely-inspired thoughts. In some contexts, means a "conceptual image"—something between a picture and an abstract idea.
Basic meaning: Spiritual alertness
Being spiritually sober and vigilant—watching over your thoughts and inner life. Guarding your heart and mind. Staying awake and attentive rather than spiritually drowsy or distracted. Central to this spiritual tradition.