Gregory Palamas (1296-1359), Archbishop of
Thessalonica, was a monk of Mount Athos in Greece … and later became Archbishop
of Thessalonica. He was a preeminent theologian and a proponent of hesychastic
theology.[i] [For “hesychastic theology” seen note at
end.]
Sermon on Pentecost[ii]
The Holy Spirit is not just sent, but Himself sends
the Son, who is sent by the Father. He is therefore shown to be the same as the
Father and the Son in nature, power, operation and honour. By the good pleasure
of the Father and the cooperation of the Holy Spirit, the only-begotten Son of
God, on account of the boundless ocean of divine love for mankind, bowed the
heavens and came down (Psalm 18:9). He appeared on earth after our fashion,
lived among us, and did and taught great, wonderful and sublime things truly
worthy of God, which led those who obeyed Him towards deification and
salvation.
After
willingly suffering for our salvation, being buried and rising on the third
day, He ascended into heaven and sat down on the right hand of the Father,
whence He co-operated in the decent of the divine Spirit upon His disciples by
sending down together with the Father the power from on high, as Both had
promised (Luke 24:49). Having sat down in the heavens, He seems to call to us
from there, “If anyone wants to approach this glory, become a partaker of the
kingdom of heaven, be called a son of God, and find eternal life, inexpressible
honour, pure joy and never-ending riches, let him heed My commandments and
imitate as far as he can My own way of life. Let him follow My actions and
teachings when I came to the world in the flesh to establish saving laws and
offer Myself as a pattern.”
Truly the Saviour
confirmed the gospel teaching by his deeds and miracles, and fulfilled it
through His sufferings. He proved how beneficial it was for salvation by His
resurrection from the dead, His ascension into heaven, and now by the descent
of the divine Spirit upon His disciples, the event we celebrate today. After
rising from the dead and appearing to His disciples, He said as He was taken up
into heaven, “Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in
the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high” (Luke
24:49). “For ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon
you: and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea,
and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
The Hesychiast Teaching of Gregory Palamas
Gregory asserted that
the prophets in fact had greater knowledge of God, because they had actually
seen or heard God himself. Addressing the question of how it is possible for
humans to have knowledge of a transcendent and unknowable God, he drew a distinction
between knowing God in his essence (in Greek, ουσία) and knowing God in his
energies (in Greek, ενέργειαι). He maintained the Orthodox doctrine that it
remains impossible to know God in his essence (God in himself), but possible to
know God in his energies (to know what God does, and who he is in relation to
the creation and to man), as God reveals himself to humanity. In doing so, he
made reference to the Cappadocian Fathers and other early Christian writers.
Gregory further asserted
that when the Apostles Peter, James and John witnessed the Transfiguration of
Jesus Christ on Mount Tabor, that they were in fact seeing the uncreated light
of God; and that it is possible for others to be granted to see that same
uncreated light of God with the help of repentance, spiritual discipline and
contemplative prayer, although not in any automatic or mechanistic fashion.
He continually stressed
the Biblical vision of the human person as a united whole, both body and soul.
Thus, he argued that the physical side of hesychastic prayer was an integral
part of the contemplative monastic way, and that the claim by some of the monks
of seeing the uncreated light was indeed legitimate. Like St. Simeon the New
Theologian, he also laid great stress in his spiritual teaching on the vision
of the divine light.[iii]
_________
Biblical Background:
The Hesychiast emphasis on being transformed by the
beholding of the Light is clearly seen in the 2nd Epistle of Peter,
“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and
godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and
excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises,
so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having
escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.”[iv]
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