πάθος
Pathos
The passions — impulses that dominate when ungoverned
Pathos literally means "that which happens to you" — something you undergo passively rather than choose actively. In the Philokalia, the passions are the impulses (anger, desire, jealousy, greed, etc.) that violently dominate the soul when they operate without the governance of awareness and love.
The tradition holds two views of the passions in tension. Some teachers (like John Klimakos) regard them as intrinsically harmful — diseases of the soul to be eradicated. Others (following a line from Isaiah the Solitary through Maximos) see them as energies originally placed in the human person by God, fundamentally good but currently distorted. On this second view, the passions are not enemies to destroy but forces to redirect — anger becomes righteous indignation, desire becomes longing for God, fear becomes holy awe.
The practical implication is the same either way: the passions in their current, unchecked state cause suffering and disconnection. The work of the practical life (praktiki) is to bring them under the governance of awareness so that they serve you rather than enslave you.