28 May, 2026
We are deeply honoured to welcome the Very Reverend Professor Andrew Louth, FBA, Professor Emeritus of Patristic and Byzantine Studies, Durham University, and Honorary Fellow of the St Irenaeus Orthodox Theological Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, to present his co-translated work, The Philokalia: A Selection, in conversation with Professor Sebastian Brock, FBA.
About the book: The Philokalia is the most influential book in the recent history of the Orthodox Church, aside from the Bible. It is an anthology of thirty-six spiritual texts written between the fourth and fifteenth centuries by the masters of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, tracing a continuous tradition of the prayer of the heart, or hesychasm, in which the Jesus Prayer plays a growing role, from Evagrios of Pontos to Gregory Palamas. First published in Greek in 1782, and revered for offering a rich tapestry of wisdom on the path to union with God, the texts, largely of monastic origin, serve as a guide to lay people as well as monks in their pursuit of contemplative prayer, ‘inner asceticism’, and the purification of the soul.
Translated by
Jonathan L. Zecher and Andrew Louth
with an Introduction by Andrew Louth
About the Very Reverend Professor Andrew Louth, FBA
An English theologian, Prof Louth is an Emeritus Professor of Patristic and Byzantine Studies in the Department of Theology and Religion of Durham University. Previously, he taught at the University of Oxford (mostly patristics) and at Goldsmiths’ College in Byzantine and Early Medieval History. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and was a member of the British Academy Council from 2011 to 2014. He was President of the Ecclesiastical History Society (2009–10). See the publications’ list below.
About Professor Sebastian Brock, FBA
Professor Sebastian Brock, FBA, is an Emeritus Fellow of Wolfson College and the most prominent scholar in academic studies of Syriac language and Syriac literature. His research covers all aspects of the history of Syriac Christianity.
Date: 28 May, 2026
Time: 18:00-19:00 BST | 13:00-14:00 EDT | 10:00-11:00 PDT
Venue: online
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Some of Prof Louth’s Publications
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