Starting with the influence of the Philokalia in nineteenth-century Russia, the book moves through the Slavophiles, Solov¿ev, Florensky in Russia and then traces the story through the Christian intellectuals exiled from Stalin's Russia-Bulgakov, Berdyaev, Florovsky, Lossky, Lot-Borodine, Skobtsova-and a couple of theologians outside the Russian world: the Romanian Staniloae and the Serbian Popovich, both of whom studied in Paris.

Andrew Louth then considers the contributions of the second generation Russians - Evdokimov, Meyendorff, Schmemann - and the theologians of Greece from the sixties onwards-Zizioulas, Yannaras, and others, as well as influential monks and spiritual elders, especially Fr Sophrony of the monastery in Essex and his mentor, St Silouan. The book concludes with an illuminating chapter on Metropolitan Kallistos and the theological vision of the Philokalia.

Andrew Louth is Professor Emeritus of Patristic and Byzantine Studies at Durham University, and a world authority on Eastern Orthodox thought.