Lexicon index Lexicon
Neptic Fathers
The watchful fathers — those who wrote from direct experience of the interior battle; the authors of the Philokalia.
The Neptic Fathers (from nepsis, watchfulness) are the patristic and Byzantine writers who addressed the interior life of prayer and the struggle against the logismoi from direct personal experience — as opposed to theoretical or exegetical theology. They include: Evagrius of Pontus, Mark the Ascetic, Hesychios of Sinai, Diadochus of Photike, John Climacus, Maximus the Confessor, Symeon the New Theologian, Gregory Palamas, and others. The Philokalia is an anthology of their writings.