International Conference

Philosophy and Theology of Philokalia

Iași, Romania, 13-15 March, 2020

Organized by
Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași
Faculty of Philosophy and Social-Political Sciences
Faculty of Orthodox Theology

Theme of the Conference and topics:

Philokalia is a collection of texts from the Fathers of the Church from early
till late Byzantine times (fourth to fifteenth/sixteenth centuries). The collection,
which is used till today in private and in public readings, during communal
gatherings in Orthodox Christian Monasteries, is of specific interest to St Gregory
Palamas scholars not only because some of the key texts from Palamas' corpus are
included there, but also because Palamas himself used many of the texts contained
in this collection in his writings. There have been translations of this collection in
Russian and Romanian, but also in English.

The Iasi Conference is continuing the Palamas Seminar studies of the

influence of the Philokalia texts on St Gregory Palamas and Orthodox philosophy
and theology in general (meetings in Braga in July 2019, Pskov in November 2019
and forthcoming meeting in Greece in July 2020).

Suggested topics for contributions may include:

-Philosophy and its relation to Theology in Philokalia texts

-Soul, Heart and Body in authors of Philokalia
-Divine Illumination and Philokalia authors
-The path towards salvation in Philokalia authors
-The Philosophy of Mind in Philokalia authors
-Hesychasm in Philokalia
-Romanian Hesychastic spirituality and its Philokalic sources
-Mysticism in Philokalia
-Comparative studies of two or more Philokalia authors
-St Gregory Palamas texts in Philokalia
-Influences on the philosophy and theology of St Gregory Palamas from the

1
Philokalia authors
-St Gregory Palamas and St Gregory of Sinai
-Language and its use in certain authors of Philokalia
-Ancient Greek and Hellenistic Philosophy and its use in certain authors in
Philokalia
-Virtues and Philokalia
-Academic vs Monastic and Hesychastic Theology in Philokalia
-Comparisons between Philokalia authors, other Byzantine authors and Medieval
authors.
-Translation of Romanian Philokalia, issues of interpretation/translation.

Please note that this is an advanced research seminar meeting and so Philosophy
and Theology academics and advanced postgraduate students of any denomination and
religion (or of no religious persuasion) are welcome to take part either as speakers or as
participants. Official language of the Conference will be in English. If you are speaking in
another language, please arrange for translation of abstract and papers.

Costs for Participation: 120 Euros (price includes costs for accommodation, meals and
coffee/tea). Accommodation can be arranged via Dan Chitoiu.
For all communications regarding the Conference, you can contact Professor Dan Chitoiu
at dan811@yahoo.com.
Abstracts in English of no more than 300 words and short CVs, should be sent to Dan
Chitoiu by February 1st.
Papers in English from the Conference will be published in Romania, Greece or the UK.
Details about the Conference, venue and details of visits to Iasi cultural sites of interest to
Orthodox and non-Orthodox will be sent to participants later.