#The Colivari Movement

The 18th-century Colivari movement, led by Saint Nicodemos of Mount Athos (1749–1809) and Macarius of Corinth, sought to renew Orthodox theology and spirituality by reviving the Hesychast tradition of Saint Gregory Palamas, as evidenced by the publication of the Philokalia (1782) and the unfinished project of a complete edition of the Palamite works, which was thwarted by the revolutionary events in Vienna in 1797.

This article analyses the work Apologia against the Godless, attributed to St Athanasius of Paros, printed at Neamț Monastery in 1816 and reprinted in Bucharest in 1819, presenting the historical context of its publication in relation to the European Enlightenment and the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s policy towards Voltairean ideas, as well as the relationship between philosophy and theology set out in the text of the work.