Kallistos and Ignatios Xanthopoulos

If the Philokalia were a library, the Xanthopouloi's Directions to Hesychasts would be the reference desk. It is the most practically comprehensive work in the entire collection — a handbook that synthesizes the teachings of virtually every earlier author into a single, step-by-step guide to the hesychast life.

Kallistos would later become Patriarch Kallistos II of Constantinople. Before that he was a monk on Athos, a direct disciple of Gregory of Sinai, a practitioner of the prayer he is helping others learn. Ignatios Xanthopoulos was his collaborator. Together they wrote something that most of the Philokalia's other authors did not attempt: specific, sequential, practical instruction.

Where Hesychios maps the theory of watchfulness, the Xanthopouloi tell you what to do when you sit down tomorrow morning. Where Gregory of Sinai describes the stages of prayer, the Xanthopouloi tell you how to move between them. The text covers posture, breathing, the rhythm of the daily practice, the alternation between prayer and reading, the signs of progress, the signs of delusion, the role of tears, the relationship between the formal practice and the rest of the day.

It is not the first text to read. Read Hesychios first. Read the Diadochos. Spend time with the concepts. Then come here when you want to know, concretely, what to actually do.