Philokalic Library Volume 2: An Apology for Christianity

In the 1790s, the brightest promises of the Enlightenment turned violent with the eruption of the French Revolution. Europe watched in shock as the French, intoxicated with promises of freedom, equality, and reason, sent their king — along with thousands of nobles, clergy, and commoners — to the guillotine. Legitimate fears that the revolution might destabilize the entire continent provoked a whirlwind of responses. Amid this upheaval, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, first confronted by undercover agents of republican ideology and later by Napoleon’s advancing armies, turned to one of its most renowned teachers, Saint Athanasios Parios, for a response.

In 1798, Saint Athanasios offered his answer in An Apology for Christianity. He denounced the French for their bloody rebellion, their rejection of Christ, and their deification of reason. True liberty and equality, he insisted, are not the product of human efforts, but are gifts experienced by faithful Christians who struggle against their passions in pursuit of heavenly virtue. 

Even now, more than two centuries into the Enlightenment experiment, when slogans of achieving human unity through the application of reason, education, and dialogue abound, Saint Athanasios’ defense of the true unity found in the message of the Gospel continues to resonate with unsettling relevance. The second volume of the Philokalic Library presents the first fully annotated English edition of this timely work for scholars, pastors, and every Christian looking for an early Orthodox response to the fundamental principles that birthed the modern age.