from the Philokalia volume 5: On the Union with God, and the Life of Theoria: KALISTOS KATAFYGIOTIS (Philokalic Texts Book 1)

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 fully translated into English until now*.
For this present translation I used the Greek text from volume 2 of the 1893 edition, 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 (1986.) I translated the Greek text, and I present it here in English, the way I translate it to myself when reading and studying it.
Currently the translation is still in a polished draft form. Yet I feel it’s polished enough for a v0.99 initial publishing.
This translation isn’t attempting to be academic and there are no references.
What follows is the translated text plus some clarifying notes, a short definition of terms as a “glossary,” and an, I feel unusual, example study guide.
This project started at the “Philokalia” Facebook group, in July 2017, and the translation and posting of the 92 texts finished October 25, 2018. I used the Greek text from the second volume, pages 461-498 of the two-volume 1893 Greek edition of the Philokalia and the text from the 1986, modern Greek edition. Volume 5, pages 218-279. The text is also found in the single volume first edition (1782 pages 1113-1159.)