Ἄγνωστα καί ἀνέκδοτα ἔργα σχετιζόμενα μέ τήν ἔριδα περί τῆς συνεχοῦς θείας μεταλήψεως

The theological controversy on frequent Communion, a central issue in Orthodox spirituality, was the second one in which the leaders of the Kolly­vadic or Philokalic movement, a spiritual movement which originated on Mount Athos in the second half of the eighteenth century, were involved. The controversy expanded after the publication of two anonymous treatises Concerning Frequent Communion in 1777 and 1783, the latter commonly attributed to Sts. Makarios of Corinth and Nikodemos the Hagiorite. With these printed books their authors intended to face a decline in the frequency of Communion in the Christian East during the period of Ottoman occupation by providing the theological arguments in support of frequent Communion.Though a significant one this controversy has not been totally studied yet since many of its written sources remain still unedited and almost unknown. In this article we present and edit for the first time some of these unknown texts which were written both from the Kollyvades and their theological opponents, such as Sergios Makraios, the famous director of the Patriarchal Academy in Constantinople who refuted the second anonymous treatise on frequent Communion (1783) by writing an extensive treatise against it. Moreover we present the content of three florilegia, i.e. collections of patristic and canonical testimonia on the issue of frequent Communion produced by the Kollyvades and preserved in three manuscripts. The last text belongs to a little known hieromonk of the circle of Kollyvades, Ioasaph Parios, who lived at the same period in the Skete of St. Demetrius near Vatopedi. It is written in the form of an epistοlic treatise and presents in great extent his views on this critical theological issue