Brief life of Gregory Palamas. Hegumen Dionysius (Shlenov)

Saint Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica, was born in 1296 in Asia Minor. During the Turkish invasion, the family fled to Constantinople and found shelter at the court of Andronicus II Palaiologos (1282-1328). Saint Gregory's father became a major dignitary under the emperor, but soon died, and Andronicus himself took part in the upbringing and education of the orphaned boy. Possessing excellent abilities and great diligence, Gregory easily mastered all the subjects that made up the full course of the medieval higher education. The emperor wanted the young man to devote himself to state activity, but Gregory, having barely reached the age of 20, retired to Mount Athos in 1316 (according to other sources, in 1318) and entered the Vatopedi monastery as a novice, where, under the guidance of the elder, the Monk Nikodim of Vatopedi ( Comm. 11 July), took tonsure and began the path of asceticism. A year later, the holy Evangelist John the Theologian appeared to him in a vision and promised his spiritual protection. Gregory's mother, along with his sisters, also became monks.

After the repose of Elder Nikodim, Monk Gregory went through his feat of prayer for 8 years under the guidance of Elder Nicephorus, and after the death of the latter, he moved to the Lavra of St. Athanasius. Here he served at the meal, and then became a church singer. But three years later (1321), striving for higher levels of spiritual perfection, he settled in a small hermitage Glossia. The abbot of this monastery began to teach the young man concentrated spiritual prayer - smart doing, which was gradually developed and assimilated by monks, starting with the great hermits of the 4th century, Evagrius of Pontus and St. Macarius of Egypt (Comm. 19 January). After in the XI century, in the writings of Simeon the New Theologian (Comm. 12 March), external prayer methods of mental work received detailed coverage, it was assimilated by the ascetics of Athos. The experimental application of smart doing, requiring solitude and silence, was called hesychasm (from the Greek. peace, silence), and the practitioners themselves began to be called hesychasts. During your stay in Glossia future saint completely imbued with the spirit of hesychasm and accepted it for himself as the basis of life. In 1326, due to the threat of an attack by the Turks, together with the brethren, he moved to Thessalonica (Thessalonica), where he was then ordained a priest.

Saint Gregory combined his duties as a presbyter with the life of a hermit: he spent five days of the week in silence and prayer, and only on Saturday and Sunday did the shepherd go out to the people - perform divine services and deliver sermons. His teachings often evoked tenderness and tears in those present in the temple. However, complete detachment from public life was not characteristic of the saint. Sometimes he attended theological meetings of urban educated youth, led by the future Patriarch Isidore. Returning somehow from Constantinople, he discovered a place near Thessalonica Berea, convenient for a solitary life. Soon he gathered here a small community of hermit monks and led it for 5 years. In 1331 the saint withdrew to Athos and retired to the skete of Saint Sava, near the Lavra of Saint Athanasius. In 1333 he was appointed Abbot of the Esfigmen Monastery in the northern part of the Holy Mountain. In 1336 the saint returned to the skete of Saint Sava, where he engaged in theological works, which he did not leave until the end of his life.

Meanwhile, in the 30s of the XIV century, events were brewing in the life of the Eastern Church that placed Saint Gregory among the most significant ecumenical apologists for Orthodoxy and brought him fame as a teacher of hesychasm.

Around 1330 came to Constantinople from Calabria learned monk Varlaam. Author of treatises on logic and astronomy. a skillful and witty orator, he received a chair at the metropolitan university and began to interpret the writings of Dionysius the Areopagite (Comm. 3 October), whose apophatic theology was equally recognized by both the Eastern and Western Churches. Soon Varlaam went to Athos, got acquainted there with the way of spiritual life of the Hesychasts and, on the basis of the dogma of the incomprehensibility of the being of God, declared smart doing a heretical delusion. Traveling from Athos to Thessalonica, from there to Constantinople and then back to Thessalonica, Varlaam entered into disputes with the monks and tried to prove the creation of the Light of Tabor; At the same time, he did not hesitate to ridicule the monks' stories about prayer methods and spiritual insights.

Saint Gregory, at the request of the Athonite monks, first addressed with verbal exhortations. But, seeing the failure of such attempts, he set out his theological arguments in writing. Thus appeared the "Triads in Defense of the Holy Hesychasts" (1338). By 1340, the Athos ascetics, with the participation of the saint, compiled a common response to the attacks of Varlaam - the so-called "Svyatogorsk Tomos". At the Council of Constantinople in 1341 in the church of Hagia Sophia, a dispute took place between St. Gregory Palamas and Barlaam, which focused on the nature of the Light of Tabor. On May 27, 1341, the Council adopted the provisions of St. Gregory Palamas that God, inaccessible in His Essence, manifests Himself in energies that are turned to the world and are accessible to perception, like the Light of Tabor, but are not sensual and not created. The teachings of Barlaam were condemned as heresy, and he himself, anathematized, withdrew to Calabria.

But the disputes between the Palamites and the Barlaamites were far from over. Among the latter were Varlaam's disciple, the Bulgarian monk Akindin and Patriarch John XIV Kaleka (1341-1347); Andronicus III Palaiologos (1328-1341) also leaned towards them. Akindin came out with a number of treatises, in which he declared St. Gregory and the monks of Athos to be the perpetrators of church troubles. The saint wrote a detailed refutation of Akindin's conjectures. Then the Patriarch excommunicated the saint from the Church (1344) and subjected him to imprisonment, which lasted three years. In 1347, when Isidore (1347-1349) replaced John XIV on the patriarchal throne, Saint Gregory Palamas was released and elevated to the rank of Archbishop of Thessalonica. In 1351 Blachernae Cathedral solemnly testified to the Orthodoxy of his teachings. But the Thessalonians did not immediately accept Saint Gregory, he was forced to live in different places. On one of his trips to Constantinople, a Byzantine galley fell into the hands of the Turks. Saint Gregory was sold as a prisoner in various cities for a year, but even then he tirelessly continued the preaching of the Christian faith.

Only three years before his death he returned to Thessalonica. On the eve of his repose, St. John Chrysostom appeared to him in a vision. With the words "To the mountain! To the mountain!" Saint Gregory Palamas peacefully reposed in God on November 14, 1359. In 1368 he was canonized at the Council of Constantinople under Patriarch Philotheos (1354-1355, 1362-1376), who wrote the life and service of the saint.

On the second Sunday of Great Lent, the Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of St. Gregory Palamas. We present to you an article by the head of the Greek-Latin cabinet and teacher of the Moscow Theological Academy, hegumen Dionysius (Shlenov), dedicated to the saint.

life

Life 1

The future saint was born in 1296, and received his education in Constantinople. After the early death of his father, Senator Constantine, in 1301, Gregory fell under the patronage of Emperor Andronicus II. Thus, for the first 20 years of his life, the young man lived at the royal court, and later on, having various talents, he had a fast and successful career.

He studied secular disciplines and philosophy from the best teacher era - Theodore Metochites, who was a philologist and theologian, rector of the university and, as it is customary to call this position now, the prime minister. Gregory Palamas was the best of his students; he showed particular interest in the philosophy of Aristotle.

At the age of 17, Gregory even gave a lecture in the palace on Aristotle's syllogistic method to the emperor and nobles. The lecture was so successful that at the end of it Metochites exclaimed: "And Aristotle himself, if he were here, would not fail to honor her with praise."

Despite all this, Gregory remained strikingly indifferent to politics and the world. Around 1316, at the age of 20, he left the palace and philosophical studies and retired to the Holy Mountain, where he devoted himself to an ascetic life and studies of esoteric theology. He began to get used to great feats while still in the palace.

On Athos, Gregory labored in a cell not far from Vatopedi under the guidance of the Monk Nikodim, from whom he received monastic vows. After the death of his mentor (c. 1319), he moved to the Lavra of St. Athanasius, where he spent three years. Then, beginning in 1323, he asceticised in the skete of Glossia, where he spent all his time in vigils and prayers.

In 1325, due to Turkish attacks on the Holy Mountain, he, along with other monks, was forced to leave it. In Thessalonica, Gregory, at the request of his fellow monks, took the priesthood. From there he went to the region of Berea, the city where the apostle Paul once preached, where he continued his asceticism.

Five days a week, shut up in a narrow cell-cave, located on the slope of a rock overgrown with dense thickets above a mountain stream, he indulged in mental prayer. On Saturday and Sunday, he left his seclusion to participate in the general divine service, which took place in the monastery katholikon.

However, the Slavic invasion, which also affected this area, prompted Gregory to return to the Holy Mountain again in 1331, where he continued his hermit life in the desert of St. Sava on the Athos foothills above the Lavra. This desert has survived to this day. “Washed”, as in the time of St. Gregory, by the winds of Athos, it amazes pilgrims with its absolute solitude and silence.

Then, for a short time, Gregory was elected abbot of the Esfigmen monastery. But, in spite of the cares he took upon himself, he constantly sought to return to the silence of the desert. And he would have achieved this if a learned monk from Calabria (Southern Italy) named Varlaam (1290-1350) had not prompted him to embark on a polemical path. The dispute with Varlaam lasted for 6 years from 1335 to 1341.

Varlaam came from an Orthodox Greek family, he knew well Greek language. He visited Byzantium and eventually ended up in Thessaloniki. In the middle of the thirties of the XIV century. theological discussions between Greeks and Latins revived. In a number of his anti-Latin writings, directed, in particular, against the Latin doctrine of the procession of the Holy Spirit and from the Son, Varlaam emphasized that God is incomprehensible and that judgments about God are not provable.

Then Palamas wrote apodictic words against the Latin innovation, criticizing Barlaam's theological "agnosticism" and his excessive trust in the authority of pagan philosophy.

This was the first theological clash between the two husbands. The second happened in 1337, when Varlaam was informed by some simple and illiterate monks about a certain technical method that the hesychasts used when creating noetic prayer. Having also studied some of the writings of the Hesychast Fathers devoted to prayerful work, he furiously attacked the Hesychasts, calling them Messalians 2 and "pupils" (ὀμφαλόψυχοι).

Then it was entrusted to Palamas to refute Varlaam's attacks. A personal meeting of both husbands did not at all lead to a positive result, but it aggravated the contradiction even more. At the Council of Constantinople in 1341 (the meeting took place on June 10), Barlaam, who accused the Hesychasts of the wrong way of praying and refuted the doctrine of the uncreated Light of Tabor, was condemned. Barlaam, although he asked for forgiveness, left for Italy in June of the same year, where he then accepted Roman Catholicism and became Bishop of Ierak.

After the Council of 1341 and the removal of Varlaam, the first stage of the Palamite disputes ended.

At the second and third stages of the debate, Palamas was opposed by Gregory Akindin and Nicephorus Gregory, who, unlike Barlaam, did not criticize the psychosomatic method of prayer of the hesychasts. The dispute took on a theological character and concerned the question of Divine energies, grace, uncreated light.

The second stage of the dispute coincides with the civil war between John Cantacuzenus and John Palaiologos and took place between 1341 and 1347. On June 15, 1341, Emperor Andronicus III died. His successor, John V Palaiologos, was a minor, so great upheavals took place in the state as a result of a fierce struggle for power between the great domestic John Kantakuzen and the great duke Alexei Apokavk. Patriarch John Kalek supported Apokaukos, while Palamas believed that the state could only be saved thanks to Cantacuzenus. Palamas' intervention in the political clash, although he was not particularly politically inclined, led to the fact that most of his later life was spent in captivity and dungeons.

Meanwhile, in July 1341, another council was convened, at which Akindin was condemned. At the end of 1341-1342, Palamas closed first in the monastery of St. Michael of Sosthenia, and then (after May 12, 1342) in one of its deserts. In May-June 1342, two councils were held to condemn Palamas, which, however, did not produce any results. Soon Gregory withdrew to Heraclius, from where, after 4 months, he was taken under escort to Constantinople and imprisoned there in a monastery.

After a two-month stay in the church of Hagia Sophia, where Saint Gregory, along with his disciples, enjoyed immunity by right of asylum, he was imprisoned in the palace prison. In November 1344, at the council of St. Gregory, Palamas was excommunicated from the Church, and Akindin, his main opponent, was ordained deacon and priest at the end of the same year. However, due to changes in the political situation at the council on February 2, 1347, Gregory Palamas was acquitted, and his opponents were convicted.

After the victory of John Cantacuzenus and his proclamation as emperor, the patriarchal throne was occupied (May 17, 1347) by Isidore Vukhir, a friend of the hesychasts, and Gregory Palamas was soon elected archbishop of Thessaloniki. Then the third stage of the Palamite controversy began. The main opponent of Palamas was Nikephoros Gregoras. Political unrest in Thessalonica prevented Gregory from entering the city to carry out his duties. The zealots, friends of the Palaiologos and opponents of Cantacuzenus, turned out to be the masters of the situation here. They prevented the arrival of Palamas, until the capture of Thessalonica by Kantakouzin in 1350. Until that time, Palamas had visited Athos and Lemnos. Once in Thessaloniki, he was able to pacify the city.

However, his opponents did not stop arguing furiously. Because of this, in May-June and in July 1351, two councils were convened, which condemned his opponent Nicephorus Gregory and proclaimed Palamas "defender of piety." At the first of these councils, the doctrine of the unity of the Divine and the difference between essence and uncreated energies was approved. At the second council, six dogmatic definitions were adopted with the corresponding six anathemas, which immediately after the council were included in the Synod of Orthodoxy. In addition to the affirmation of the above distinction between essence and energy, the non-participation of the Divine essence and the possibility of communion with the Divine energies, which are uncreated, were proclaimed here.

Traveling to Constantinople in 1354 to mediate between Cantacuzenus and John Palaiologos, Palamas was captured by the Turks, who held him captive for about a year until they received the ransom they sought from the Serbs for his release. He considered his captivity an appropriate occasion for preaching the truth to the Turks, which he tried to do, as can be seen from the Epistle of the Thessalonian Church, as well as from two texts of Interviews with representatives from among the Turks. Seeing that the destruction of the empire by the Turks was almost inevitable, he believed that the Greeks should immediately begin to convert the Turks to Christianity.

After being freed from the Turks and returning to Thessaloniki, St. Gregory continued his pastoral activity in his diocese until 1359 or, according to the new dating, until 1357. Struck by one of his long-standing illnesses, which troubled him from time to time, Saint Gregory died on November 14 at the age of 63 (or 61). At first, he was glorified as a locally revered saint in Thessaloniki, but soon, in 1368, by a conciliar decision, he was officially entered into the calendar of Hagia Sophia by Patriarch Philotheus Kokkin, who compiled his meritorious life and service. First, the relics of St. Gregory were laid in the cathedral church of Hagia Sophia in Thessaloniki, now a particle of his relics is kept in the Metropolitan Cathedral in honor of Gregory Palamas near the city embankment.

Compositions

The painting of the porch of the church of St. Besrebrenikov monastery Vatopedi. 1371

Gregory Palamas compiled numerous works of theological, polemical, ascetic and moral content, as well as numerous homily and epistles.

"The Life of Peter the Athos" - the very first work of St. Gregory Palamas, painted c. 1334

In the "new inscriptions" against those of John Beccus and in two apodictic words "Against the Latins" (written in 1334-1335 or according to the latest dates in 1355), the issue of the procession of the Holy Spirit is considered. The Holy Spirit as a hypostasis proceeds "only from the Father". “The hypostasis of the Holy Spirit is not from the Son either; It is not given or accepted by anyone, but Divine grace and energy” 3 . Similar to the teaching of Nicholas of Methon, the procession is a hypostatic property, while grace, which is energy, is common to the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity. Only in view of this commonality can we say that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, and from the Son, and from Himself. This view of the procession is shared with the teachings of Nicephorus Vlemmids and Gregory of Cyprus, who, faithful to patristic tradition, placed their hopes on a theological dialogue between East and West.

The composition of the "Triad in Defense of the Holyly Silent" was written in order to repel Barlaam's attacks on the hesychasts, it also resolves all the theological issues that have become the subject of a dispute. The work is divided into three triads, each of which is subdivided into three treatises. The first triad, written in the spring of 1338 in Thessaloniki, is devoted to the question of the knowledge of God. Opposing the then just formulated position of Varlaam, Palamas insists that the way of knowing God is not an external philosophy, but a revelation in Christ. Christ has renewed the whole person, therefore the whole person, soul and body, can and must participate in prayer. A person, starting from the present life, partakes of the grace of God and tastes as a pledge the gift of deification, which he will taste in fullness in the future age.

In the second triad (composed in the spring-summer of 1339), he sharply criticizes Varlaam's assertion that knowledge of philosophy can bring salvation to a person. Man does not enter into communion with God by means of creaturely means, but only by Divine grace and through participation in the life of Christ.

In the third triad (written in the spring-summer of 1340), he deals with the issue of deification and the Light of Tabor as an uncreated Divine energy. Man does not partake of the essence of God, otherwise we would come to pantheism, but partake of the natural energy and grace of God. Here St. Gregory systematically explores the fundamental distinction between essence and energy that is fundamental to his teaching. The same questions are considered in five epistles: three to Akindin and two to Varlaam, written at the beginning of the dispute.

In doctrinal writings (“Svyatogorsk Tomos”, spring-summer 1340; “Confession of Faith”, etc.) and in works directly related to the dispute (“On Divine Unity and Distinction”, summer 1341; “On Divine and deifying participation”, winter 1341-1342; “Dialogue of the Orthodox Theophanes with Theotimos”, autumn 1342, etc.) - as well as in 14 messages addressed to monastics, persons in holy orders and laity (the last letter was sent to Empress Anna Paleologina ), disputed issues continue to be discussed between Palamas, on the one hand, and Varlaam and Akindin, on the other.

The seven "Antirritiks against Akindins" (1342 - not earlier than the spring of 1345) were written in order to refute the corresponding antirritiks against Palamas, compiled by Gregory Akindin. They talk about the consequences of not distinguishing between essence and energy in God. Akindin, not accepting that grace is the natural energy of the essence of God, but a creature, as a result falls into a heresy greater than that of Arius. The grace of God, says Palamas, is holy as an uncreated light, similar to that seen by the apostles during the Transfiguration of Christ. This uncreated light and in general all the energies of God are a common expression of the single essence of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

“Against Grigora” Palamas wrote 4 refuting words (1 and 2 - in 1355, 1356; 3 and 4 - in 1356-1357). Gregory accepted the theological theses of Varlaam, arguing that the grace of God, and especially the light of the Transfiguration, was created. Palamas refutes Grigora's arguments and argues that the light of the Transfiguration was neither a creature nor a symbol, but a reflection of the divine essence and confirmation of the actual communion between God and man.

All of the above-mentioned writings of Palamas are distinguished by a distinct polemical character, aimed at refuting the views of opponents. Palamas expresses his theological assertions with complete clarity in his less polemical theological and ascetic writings. In "150 theological, moral and practical chapters" (1349/1350), he sets out, using the method common to all ascetic writers of the East, the main topics of his teaching in short chapters. In some cases, he quotes entire passages from his previous writings. Having systematized his theological teaching, he expounds it with clarity and completeness, along with his philosophical views.

The essay “To Xenia on the Passions and Virtues” (1345-1346) is addressed to a nun who was involved in raising the daughters of Emperor Andronicus III. This is an extensive ascetic treatise dedicated to the fight against passions and the acquisition of Christian virtues.

During his archpastorship in Thessaloniki, from the pulpit of the cathedral church of St. Gregory Palamas recited most of his 63 homily, confirming his deep spirituality, theological gifts and devotion to the Church. Although the homily is devoted primarily to ascetic-moral and socio-patriotic themes, there is also a place in them for speculation about the uncreated Light of Tabor (in homily 34, 35 "On the Transfiguration of the Lord"). Some of the listeners could not follow the thoughts of the homilies of St. Gregory because of a lack of education. However, he prefers to speak in a high style so that "it is better to raise up those who are prostrated on the ground than to bring down those who are on high because of them." However, any attentive listener can quite clearly understand what has been said.

Of the texts relating to the time of his captivity among the Turks, the most valuable is the “Letter to his [Thessalonian] Church”, which, in addition to various historical information, describes some of his interviews and which describes a number of episodes in which the Turks appear.

In addition to the above, many smaller works of a refuting, polemical, ascetic and theological content and four prayers have been preserved.

Doctrine

Saint Gregory Palamas, using creatively revised theological terminology, reported new directions in theological thought. His teaching was not due only philosophical concepts, but was formed on completely different principles. He theologizes on the basis of personal spiritual experience, which he lived through ascetic as a monk and fought as a skilled fighter against those who distorted the faith, and which he substantiated from the theological side. Therefore, he began to write his compositions at a fairly mature age, and not at a young age.

1. Philosophy and theology

Varlaam likens knowledge to health, which is indivisible into health given by God and health acquired through a doctor. Also, knowledge, divine and human, theology and philosophy, according to the Calabrian thinker, are one 4: "philosophy and theology, as gifts of God, are equal in value before God." Answering the first comparison, St. Gregory wrote that doctors cannot heal incurable diseases, they cannot raise the dead 5 .

Further, Palamas draws a very clear distinction between theology and philosophy, firmly relying on the previous patristic tradition. External knowledge is quite different from true and spiritual knowledge, it is impossible "from [external knowledge] to learn anything true about God" 6 . At the same time, there is not only a difference between external and spiritual knowledge, but also a contradiction: “it is hostile to true and spiritual knowledge” 7 .

According to Palamas, there are two wisdoms: the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God. When the wisdom of the world serves the Divine wisdom 8 , they form a single tree, the first wisdom brings leaves, the second fruits 9 . Likewise, "the kind of truth is double" 10: one truth pertains to inspired writing, the other to external education or philosophy. These truths have not only different goals, but also different initial principles.

Philosophy, beginning with sensory perception, ends with knowledge. The wisdom of God begins with the good at the expense of the purity of life, as well as with the true knowledge of beings, which comes not from learning, but from purity. “If you are without purity, even if you studied all natural philosophy from Adam to the end of the world, you will be a fool, or even worse, and not a wise man” 12. The end of wisdom is “a pledge of the future age, ignorance exceeding knowledge, secret communion with secret and inexpressible vision, mysterious and inexpressible contemplation and knowledge of eternal light” 13.

Representatives of external wisdom underestimate the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit, that is, they fight against the mysterious energies of the Spirit 14 . The wisdom of the prophets and apostles is not acquired by teaching, but is taught by the Holy Spirit 15 . The Apostle Paul, raptured up to the third heaven, was enlightened not by his thoughts and mind, but received the illumination of “the power of the good Spirit according to the hypostasis in the soul” 16 . Illumination that occurs in a pure soul is not cognition, because it transcends meaning and cognition 17 . The “principal goodness” is sent from above, is a gift of grace, and not a gift of nature 18 .

2. Knowledge of God and vision of God

Varlaam ruled out any possibility of knowing God and presenting apodictic syllogisms about the Divine, because he considered God to be incomprehensible. He allowed only the symbolic knowledge of God, and then not in earthly life, but only after the separation of body and soul.

Palamas agrees that God is incomprehensible, but he attributes this incomprehensibility to the basic property of the Divine essence. In turn, he considers some knowledge possible when a person has certain prerequisites for the knowledge of God, Who becomes available through His energies. God is both comprehensible and incomprehensible, known and unknowable, recommended and ineffable.

Knowledge of God is acquired by "theology," which is twofold: cataphatic and apophatic. Cataphatic theology, in turn, has two means: reason, which through the contemplation of beings comes to a certain knowledge, 19 and Scripture with the Fathers.

In the Areopagite corpus, preference is given to apophatic theology, when the ascetic, having gone beyond the limits of everything sensual, plunges into the depths of Divine darkness 20 . According to St. Gregory Palamas, what brings a person out of cataphatics is faith, which constitutes proof or super-proof of the Divine: “... of any proof, the best and, as it were, some kind of proof-free beginning of sacred proof is faith” 21 . P. Christou wrote that, according to the teachings of Palamas, "apophatic theology is the supernatural acts of faith" 22 .

Spiritually-experienced confirmation of faith is contemplation, which crowns theology. Unlike Varlaam, for St. Gregory's contemplation is above everything, including apophatic theology. It is one thing to speak or remain silent about God, another thing is to live, see and possess God. Apophatic theology does not cease to be "logos", but "contemplation is higher than logos" 23 . Varlaam spoke of cataphatic and apophatic vision, and Palamas spoke of vision above vision 24, connected with the supernatural, with the power of the mind as an action of the Holy Spirit.

In the vision above the vision, smart eyes participate, and not a thought, between which there is an insurmountable abyss. Palamas compares the possession of genuine contemplation with the possession of gold, it is one thing to think about it, another to have it in your hands. “Theologizing is as inferior to this vision of God in light, and as far from communion with God, as knowledge is from possession. Talking about God and meeting God are not the same thing.

He emphasizes the special significance of "suffering" the Divine in comparison with "theologizing" cataphatic or apophatic 26 . Those who are rewarded with the inexpressible vision will know that which is higher than vision, not apophatically, "but from the vision in the Spirit of this deifying energy" 27 . "Unity and vision in darkness" is superior to "such a theology" 28 .

On the whole, it can be said that Palamas defends Orthodox theology from the "agnosticism" that Barlaam tried to impose. Christian theology, proceeding from the unity and difference of the Divine essence and energies, can also set forth apodictic syllogisms about God.

3. Essence and energies in God

God is incomprehensible in essence, but the objective value of the revelation of God in the history of man is known by His energies. The Being of God consists of His "self-existent" essence 29 , which remains incomprehensible, and His actions or energies, uncreated and eternal. Through the difference in essence and energies, it became possible to achieve the cognition of God, unknowable in essence, but cognizable in energies by those who have reached a certain degree of spiritual perfection. The incomprehensibility and incomprehensibility of the divine essence excludes for man any direct participation in it.

The doctrine of the difference between essence and energies is most clearly represented in the works of the Cappadocian Fathers (4th century), in St. John Chrysostom (late 4th century - early 5th century), in the Areopagite Corpus (early 6th century), and in St. Maximus the Confessor (VII century). For the Cappadocian Fathers, the doctrine of the comprehensibility of the Divine essence was unacceptable as one of the theses of Eunomius, who, affirming equal opportunities for the knowledge of God for people and our Lord Jesus Christ, thereby tried to belittle the Son of God. For the author of the Areopagitics, this doctrine was an organic consequence of the apophatic theology that developed in the corpus. The Monk Maximus the Confessor, by his lofty teaching on logoi, refuting from within the unexpired remnants of Origenism, also in many respects anticipated the teaching of the Thessalonian hierarch.

During the early Middle Ages there was a dispute between nominalists and realists about the existence of ideas, and consequently about the properties of God. Echoes of this dispute can also be seen in the Palamite dispute: the anti-Palamites denied the actual existence of properties, and Palamas during the early period of the controversy emphasized their existence even excessively, saying that one is the Deity, and the other is the kingdom, holiness, etc. 30 They are essential in God, as they say in the Transfiguration saddle used by Palamas: “Your secret brilliance under the flesh of your essential, Christ, and divine splendor on the Holy Mountain appeared” - and in his own triads, where he spoke of “the light of divine and essential splendor » 31 .

Gregory Palamas himself repeatedly emphasized the unity of essence and energies. “Although the divine energy differs from the divine essence, but in essence and energy the one Deity of God” 32 . The contemporary Greek specialist in church history and law, Vlasios Fidas, formulated the teaching of St. Gregory as follows: “... [the difference] between the unparticipated divine essence and the participating energies does not separate the uncreated energies from the divine essence, since the whole of God is in each energy, due to the indivisibility of the divine essence” 33 .

4. Deification and salvation

The distinction between essence and energy in God gave Palamas the basis for the correct description of the renewal of man that took place in Christ. While God remains inherently unapproachable, He enables man to enter into actual communion with Him through His energies. A person, partaking of divine energies or divine grace, receives by grace what God has in essence. By grace and through communion with God, man becomes immortal, uncreated, eternal, infinite, in a word, becomes God. "Totally we become gods without identity in essence" 34 . All this is received by man from God as a gift of communion with Him, as grace emanating from the very essence of God, which always remains indifferent to man. “The deification of deified angels and people is not the superessential essence of God, but the energy of the superessential essence of God, coexisting in the deified” 35 .

If a person does not actively participate in the uncreated deifying grace, he remains the created result of the creative energy of God, and the only connection that connects with God remains the connection of creation with its Creator. While the natural life of man is the result of Divine energy, life in God is the communion of Divine energy, which leads to deification. The achievement of this deification is determined by two most important factors - the concentration and turning of the mind to the inner man and unceasing prayer in a kind of spiritual wakefulness, the culmination of which is communion with God. In this state, human forces retain their energy, despite the fact that they turn out to be above their usual measures.

Just as God condescends to a person, so a person begins to ascend to God, so that this meeting of them will truly come true. In it, the whole person is embraced by the uncreated light of Divine glory, which is eternally sent from the Trinity, and the mind admires the Divine light and becomes light itself. And then in this way the mind, like the light, sees the light. “The deifying gift of the Spirit is an inexpressible light, and it creates with divine light those who are enriched by it” 36 .

We are now in touch with one of the most important elements of Palamas' teaching. The experience of deification and the salvation of man are a possible reality, starting from present life, with a glorious combination of the historical with the supra-historical. The soul of man, through the acquisition of the Divine spirit again, anticipates from now on the experience of Divine light and Divine glory. The light that the disciples saw on Tabor, the light that pure hesychasts see now, and the existence of the blessings of the future age constitute three stages of one and the same event, merging into a single supratemporal reality 37 . However, for the future reality, when death is abolished, the present reality is a simple pledge 38 .

The identification of essence and energy in God, taught by the opponents of Palamas, destroys the very possibility of realizing salvation. If there is no uncreated grace and energy of God, then a person either partakes in the Divine essence, or cannot have any communion with God. In the first case, we come to pantheism; in the second, the very foundations of the Christian faith are destroyed, according to which a person is offered the possibility of real communion with God, which was realized in the God-human person of Jesus Christ. The uncreated grace of God does not free the soul of man from the shackles of the body, but renews the whole man and transfers him to where Christ raised human nature during His Ascension.

5. The doctrine of the uncreated light

Palamas's doctrine of the uncreated light of the divine Transfiguration is one of the most fundamental, dominating trends in his writings. He speaks on the basis of his own experience, which was the starting point for his theology. The light that shone on Christ during the Transfiguration was not a creature, but an expression of Divine majesty, the vision of which the disciples were granted, having received the opportunity to see after appropriate preparation by Divine grace. This light was not a created "symbol of the Divine", as Varlaam believed 39

He was a native of Constantinople and descended from noble and pious parents who tried to teach him from a young age both human and especially Divine wisdom and every virtue. In early youth he lost his father; Gregory's mother took care to give him, as well as all his brothers and sisters, a reasonable and good education, in the spirit of the law of the Lord and Divine Scripture. She arranged their life among wise teachers, so that her son would learn wisdom from them; he, distinguished by natural mental gifts and diligence, in a short time excelled in the study of philosophy and other then known sciences. But, not trusting his own memory, he made it a rule - before each lesson, put three earthly prayer bows in front of the icon Holy Mother of God. And the Most Pure One assisted the pious youth, whose quick successes attracted everyone's attention. The tsar himself took an active part in Saint Gregory and took fatherly care of his upbringing.

Meanwhile, from an early age, Gregory already hated everything earthly, like a seductive dream, and, filled with fiery love for God, despised all temporary blessings, striving with all his soul to cling to the One God, the Source of all wisdom and the Giver of all grace, and to leave the world and vain glory his. Prompted by these feelings, he sought rapprochement and meetings with the monks of the holy Mount Athos, asked them for advice and guidance, and learned from them the form and rules of monastic and ascetic life, testing his strength - whether he could be a real monk. Gregory replaced his expensive clothes with thin rags and gradually began to change his former habits and external behavior, leaving all the conditions of secular decency, which drew the general attention of the courtiers to him, and many even recognized him as crazy. So several years passed, and neither the persuasion of the king, nor the persuasion of his friends, nor the ridicule of those around him could stop Gregory on the path he had chosen.

Having successfully passed such a test, Gregory, in the twentieth year of his birth, finally decided to accept the monastic dignity and retire to the desert, about which he announced to his God-loving mother. At first, she was somewhat saddened by this, but then she agreed with his intention, rejoicing in the Lord, and even, with the help of God, persuaded her other children to accept monasticism, so that she could say with the prophet: “Here I am and the children the Lord has given me”(). Following the Gospel commandment, Saint Gregory distributed all his possessions to the poor and, despising with all his heart the beauty, sweetness and glory of this world, he followed Christ, leading his mother, brothers and sisters along the same path. He left his mother and sisters in a convent; he brought his brothers with him to the holy Mount Athos and together with them settled in the desert monastery of Vatopedi, subordinating himself in complete obedience to the holy, blessed elder, from whom he subsequently received monastic vows.

In the second year of his stay with Nicodemus, Gregory was awarded a Divine visitation. One day, during a divine feat, a luminous and magnificent man appeared before him, in whom he recognized the holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian. Looking affectionately at Gregory, the apostle asked him: “Why, when you call on God, do you only repeat every time: enlighten my darkness, enlighten my darkness?”

Gregory answered: “What else should I ask, besides this, so that I may be enlightened and know how to do His holy will?”

Then the holy evangelist said: “By the will of the Lady of all, the Theotokos, from now on I will be with you relentlessly.”

Upon the death of his teacher, the holy elder Nikodim, Saint Gregory withdrew to the great Lavra of Saint Athanasius, where he served the brethren at a common meal, and also served as a church singer. Having lived there for several years in the fear of God, in obedience to everyone, Gregory tamed carnal passions forever, being a comforting example of evangelical dispassion and divine purity. For his humility, meekness and exploits, he acquired for himself the universal love and respect of the brethren; but, avoiding fame and striving for an even more severe life, he retired from the monastery to the deep desert, to the monastery of Glossia, and there he entrusted himself to the guidance of the reverent elder Gregory, leading a severe contemplative life, burning with immeasurable love for God, to whom he devoted both soul and body . By unceasing prayer, having overcome all the slanders of demons, he was made worthy of grace-filled gifts. Plunging into the depths of the prayerful spirit and illumined by it, he reached such a degree of tenderness and weeping of the heart that tears streamed from his eyes like a constant and inexhaustible source.

But the silence of Gregory and his companions was soon broken by the attacks which the Agarians made on the monks who were silent outside the monasteries. In view of this, Gregory, along with other monks, was forced to leave his wilderness and retire to Thessalonica. From here, the saint planned to go to Jerusalem, to worship the holy places, and, if it was God's will, to end his days somewhere in the desert silence. Wanting to know whether their intention was pleasing to God, he prayed to God about it. And in a dream the holy Great Martyr Demetrius appeared to him, whose relics rested in Thessalonica. The Great Martyr persuaded him not to leave Thessalonica. Then Saint Gregory, after intense fasting and prayer, received the priesthood in Thessalonica and, accompanied by a few brethren, withdrew to a nearby skete, where they began to labor again. His way of life was as follows: five days a week he himself did not go anywhere at all and did not receive anyone; only on Saturday and Sunday, after performing the sacred service and receiving the Divine Mysteries, did he enter into spiritual communion with the brothers, edifying and comforting them with his touching and instructive conversation. In these hours, following the recluse of the monk, and especially after the Liturgy, a wondrous Divine light was visible on his face. During the sacred service, he brought everyone to tears and tenderness. Many great holy men marveled at his virtuous life, for which he was rewarded from God with the gift of miracles and prophesying, and called him a God-bearer and a prophet.

At this time, the virtuous mother of Saint Gregory departed to the Lord. Her daughters and associates, sisters of Gregory, asked him to come to them, to console their orphanhood and for spiritual guidance. In obedience to the call of kindred love, Gregory arrived in Constantinople to his sisters and then again hurried back to his beloved desert, but soon after, after five years of silent life in the Skete of Verra, he was forced, due to frequent raids by Albanians, to retire again to the holy mountain, to the monastery of St. Athanasius, where he was received by the fathers who labored there with great love. And here, too, secluded outside the monastery, in the silent cell of St. Sava, except for Saturday and Sunday, he did not go out anywhere, did not see anyone, and no one saw him, except for the needs of the priesthood. All his other days and nights passed in prayer and contemplation.

Once, in a cell prayer before the Most Pure Mother of God, the monk prayed to Her that, in removing from him and his fellows any obstacles to perfect silence, She would deign to take care and providence for all their worldly needs. The Lady of Grace, in response to his fervent prayer, honored him with Her appearance, accompanied by many luminous men. Presenting herself to him, she said, addressing the light-bearing men who accompanied Her: “From now on, be guardians of the needs of Gregory and his brethren.”

From that time on, as Saint Gregory himself later related, he really, wherever he was, always felt a special divine providence for himself. At another time, in a state of prayerful contemplation, Gregory fell into a light slumber. And then it seemed to him that in his hands was a vessel of pure milk, so overflowing that it overflowed; then this milk took the form of grape wine, which, overflowing over the rim of the vessel, wetted his hands and clothes, spreading around him a wondrous fragrance. Feeling it, Gregory was filled with holy joy. And a bright young man appeared to him and said:

“Why don’t you pass on this wonderful drink, which you leave without proper attention? After all, this is a never-ending gift of God.

“But to whom is this drink to be given when there are none who need it?” Saint Gregory asked.

“Although at the present time there really are no people thirsty for this drink,” the young man objected, “but you, nevertheless, fulfilling your duty, must not neglect the gift of God, in the proper use of which the Lord will require an account from you.

With these words, the wondrous vision ended. St. Gregory interpreted it in the sense that milk meant an ordinary gift of the word, understandable to simple hearts seeking spiritual guidance, and the transformation of milk into wine meant that in time the Higher Will would demand from him a deeper instruction in the higher truths of the faith of Christ. Soon after this, Gregory was elected abbot of the Esphigmenian monastery, but after a short time, the desire for desert silence drew him back to the Lavra of St. Athanasius. Here he achieved such spiritual perfection that many holy men marveled at his virtuous life and called him a God-bearer at the sight of his amazing miracles, the gift of which he was honored from God. He cast out demons; He returned fertility to barren trees with his prayer, predicted the future as the present. But the monk did not escape various and frequent temptations, according to the word of God: "All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted"(). He endured everything with joy, “that your faith which has been tested may be more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, to praise and honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ”(), as the holy Apostle Peter says.

The saint endured many sorrows in the fight against heresies, which at that time began to agitate God. He rendered a particularly great service to the Church by denouncing false teachers who rejected the Orthodox teaching about the spiritual grace-filled light that illuminates the inner man and sometimes opens visibly, as on Tabor and on the face of Moses after His conversation with God at Sinai (). At this time, a learned monk named Varlaam arrived on the holy Mount Athos from Calabria, who, together with his followers, stirred up the peace in the Church of Christ and the tranquility of the Athos monks with blasphemous teachings. For twenty-three whole years, the valiant shepherd courageously fought with Barlaam, and all the many sorrows that the saint endured during this time are difficult to even depict in detail. Varlaam taught about the Light of Tabor that it was something material, created, appearing in space and coloring the air, since it was visible with the bodily eyes of people who were not yet illuminated by grace. The same, i.e. created, he recognized all the actions of the Divine and even the gifts of the Holy Spirit: the Spirit of wisdom and reason, etc., not being afraid to bring God down into the ranks of creatures, overthrowing the light and bliss of the righteous in the Kingdom of the Heavenly Father, the power and action of the Trinitarian Divinity. Thus, Varlaam and his followers impiously divided the same Deity into created and uncreated, and those who reverently recognized this Divine light and any power, any action with reverence not as created, but as eternal, were called ditheists and polytheists. Considering, on the contrary, the faith of the Athos hermits in contemplating the light of God with bodily eyes and preparing for it in a sensual way as a delusion, Varlaam clearly rebelled against them, and against prayer, and against their mysterious contemplation. But before Barlaam's slanders against the Athonite monks became public, this heretic, for his reprehensible and reproachful behavior, was expelled with dishonor by the patriarch. With anger and sorrow, Barlaam withdrew to Thessaloniki, spreading his slander against the Athos monks there as well. Not having their own strength to resist the eloquent and skillful in the sciences Varlaam, the Thessalonica monks were forced to call the divine Gregory from Athos. Upon his arrival in Thessalonica, Saint Gregory at first acted in a spirit of meekness, but seeing that these measures did not work on the stubborn false teacher, who brought such strong shocks to the Church and its laws, he began to destroy the objections and slanders of Barlaam not only orally, but also with strong writings filled with lofty truths and divine arguments. Varlaam himself, recognizing them and sensing their strength, was forced to leave the Athos monks alone, but for that he rebelled with all his might against the saint of God. When this did not help, the ashamed Barlaam withdrew to Constantinople, complaining verbally and in writing to Patriarch John XIV of Constantinople about Saint Gregory and the monks of Athos.

Meanwhile, Saint Gregory at this time, remaining in Thessalonica for three years, was diligently engaged in expounding the principles of Orthodoxy, vigorously defending its purity. And here, as before, hearty weeping, complete solitude and silence were his favorite pastimes. Lacking the conveniences of desert silence, and at the same time avoiding connections and relationships with the world as much as possible, he lived in a remote part of the house, where, having arranged a small cell for himself, he was silent as much as he could. And then one day, on the feast day of the founder of monastic life, when other monks, the disciples of blessed Isidore, were performing an all-night vigil, and Gregory remained in his seclusion, suddenly Saint Anthony appeared to him in a vision and said: “It is good and perfect silence, but also communion with brotherhood is sometimes necessary, especially on days of prayer and psalmody. Therefore, you must now be with the brothers on the vigil.

In obedience to this, the divine Gregory immediately went to the brethren, who received him with joy, and the all-night vigil passed for them with special solemnity.

Having finished his written theological studies in defense of the Athonite monks and refutation of heretical sophistication, Saint Gregory returned to the holy mountain and showed the monks what he had written about piety.

Soon after this, Saint Gregory had to fight against heretical sophistication in view of the whole world, and for his feat receive immortal glory in the earthly Church and the crown of truth in the Heavenly Church. At this time, Varlaam managed to win over the Patriarch of Constantinople John XIV to his side and brought the matter to the point that the patriarch summoned Gregory and his other associates to the court of the Church by letter. Not enduring the Arian false teaching, which threatened to shake the very foundations of Christian dogma and morality, St. Gregory, filled with the Holy Spirit, came out in zealous defense of Orthodoxy and the elders of Athos. To resolve the strife that had arisen and establish Orthodoxy in Constantinople, a cathedral was convened by the pious king Andronicus Palaiologos, to which Varlaam arrived with his students and followers. At this council, which took place in the Sophia Church of Constantinople under the chairmanship of the patriarch, the heretical error of Barlaam, his follower Akindin and other false teachers like them, was exposed. Then the great Gregory, having opened his God-wise lips, with his words and Divine Scripture imbued with the fire of inspiration, dispelled the heresy like dust from the face of the earth, burnt like thorns, and finally confounded the heretics.

Confounded by the inspired denunciations of the holy hierarch of God, Barlaam, impatient of disgrace, withdrew again to Italy, where he converted to Catholicism. But in Byzantium, he had open and secret friends and followers, whom he aroused with his letters, preaching at the same time the opposite Orthodox teachings. western church. The tares of his false teachings after him were sown and nurtured by the monk Akindin. A new council was assembled against him in Constantinople, at which Saint Gregory further exposed the delusions of Barlaam and Akindins about the Divine Light. The Patriarch, however, supported Akindin and recognized St. Gregory as the culprit of all the church moods and troubles of that time. Moreover, Akindin was elevated to the rank of deacon, and Gregory was imprisoned in a gloomy dungeon, where he languished for four years.

But such injustice of the patriarch did not go unpunished. The pious Empress Anna, having learned about the actions of the patriarch and about his attachment to Akindin, already recognized at two councils as a heretic and enemy of the Church, found him unworthy of church communion and holy dignity, and the patriarch himself, who had fallen into heretical philosophies, was deprived of the pulpit and church communion. The peace of the Church was thus restored, and Saint Gregory was freed from his lawless imprisonment. For his holy zeal for the establishment of Orthodoxy and the extermination of heretical false teachings and church unrest, he, according to Patriarch Isidore and Emperor John Kantakouzenos, had to agree to be ordained Archbishop of the Thessalonian Church. But, on the occasion of the troubles that arose then in Thessalonica, the new archbishop was not received by his flock, as a result of which he retired to the holy Mount Athos, his favorite. Meanwhile, the feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos arrived. At this time, a reverent Thessalonica priest, preparing to serve the divine liturgy, humbly prayed to the Lord that He would deign to reveal whether Gregory, as the people think, was really mistaken in his beliefs regarding monastic life and spiritual contemplation, and whether he had boldness from the Lord. The priest asked this revelation to be revealed to his paralyzed daughter, who had been lying motionless for three years. “If, Lord,” he said, “Gregory is truly Your servant, heal my unfortunate daughter with his prayers.” And the Lord heard the prayer of the priest: his daughter suddenly got out of bed by herself and from that time received a perfect recovery, as if she had not been sick at all.

This miracle glorified St. Gregory, but church troubles still continued in Thessalonica. Then the Bulgarian Tsar Stefan, knowing his virtues and merits for the Church of God, turned to him with a persuasive plea to take the chair of the Metropolitan of Bulgaria, but could not persuade and convince the divine Gregory to do so.

On Athos, however, the saint did not find peace. Soon the needs of the Church again called him to Constantinople. From here he retired to the island of Lemnos. Here he performed many signs and wonders and silently preached the word of God, remaining until the Thessalonians, feeling the need for his presence for the orphaned flock, called him to themselves, sending representatives of the clergy and the highest dignitaries of Thessalonica to him to Lemnos. With inexpressible joy the people met their archpastor. Thessalonskaya, as if inspired from above, presented an extremely triumphant appearance: instead of the usual laudatory hymns, the clergy and people sang Paschal hymns and the canon, not giving themselves or others an account of their feelings and extraordinary triumph. Three days after this, the saint of God performed, with an innumerable concourse of people, a solemn procession and liturgy. At the same time, God glorified His saint with a new miracle. The aforementioned reverent priest's son suffered from epilepsy. When the time came for communion, the priest, falling at the feet of the archpastor, humbly begged him to give communion himself, with his holy hands, to his sick child. Touched by the humility of the priest and the suffering of his son, Gregory fulfilled his request, and the child was healed. Once, on the feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, Saint Gregory celebrated the Liturgy in a convent. During the divine service, a nun named Iliodor, who was blind in one eye, learning that the saint was celebrating the Liturgy, imperceptibly approached him and secretly placed the hierarch's robe on her blind eye, and the eye immediately began to see.

The divine Gregory performed many other miracles. Thessalonica, under his wise rule, enjoyed peace and quiet. But Gregory was waiting for new exploits and heavy sorrows. At this time, the like-minded people of Varlaam and Akindin did not cease to embarrass the Orthodox in Constantinople with their heretical sophistication. Then Gregory again with boldness came out to fight the evil heretics, in defense of Orthodoxy. He continued to fight them both in writing with his God-wise creations and in person. As a result of the strong agitation aroused by heretics in the Church of Christ, the tsar and the patriarch recognized it necessary to convene, in order to pacify the Church, a new council in Constantinople, to which, first of all, Saint Gregory was summoned. The enemies of truth, as before, were confounded and humiliated: both the personal conversations of the saint and his dogmatic works read at the council closed the mouths of heretics. Instructed by the respect of the king and the blessing of the patriarch and the Church, Saint Gregory went with honor to his flock, but John Palaiologos, who was at that time in Thessaloniki, did not allow him to do so, and Gregory was forced to go to the holy mountain. However, three months later he was honorably summoned to Thessalonica by the same Palaiologos.

Here Saint Gregory soon fell into a serious and prolonged illness, so that everyone feared even for his very life. But God extended it for new exploits. Before the saint had fully recovered from his illness, he received a letter from John Palaiologos, by which the king asked him to come to Constantinople in order to stop quarrels and disagreements in the royal family between him and his father-in-law, John Kantakouzenos. Gregory went, but on the way to Constantinople he was captured by the Hagarites and taken to Asia as a slave and captive. For a whole year the saint was in captivity. It was sold from one hand to another, from city to city. Such was the will of God, that he, as an apostle, moving from city to city, preach the Gospel of Christ, confirming the Orthodox in the faith, teaching them to hold fast to it, strengthening the doubters, and revealing the mysteries of God's wisdom about salvation that are difficult to understand. And he was indeed a true apostle of Christ. With holy boldness, Saint Gregory entered into contests about faith with the Hagarites and heretics who had broken away from the Church of Christ, who wrongly taught about the earthly ministry of Christ our God, about the honest and life-giving Cross of the Lord, about holy icons and about worshiping them. He enlightened the infidels with the light of the Gospel, and consoled and strengthened the enslaved, captive and Christians, urging them to meekly endure their suffering cross, in the expectation of rewards and crowns of heaven. The opponents of Saint Gregory marveled at his wisdom and grace that proceeded from his mouth. Some of them, in impotent rage, subjected him to severe beatings, and he would have had to suffer even to the crown of martyrdom if the same Agarites themselves had not protected him, expecting to receive a large ransom for him. Indeed, after a year, the Bulgarians redeemed him from the hands of the Agarians and returned him to the Thessalonica church.

The arrival of the saint from captivity, first to Constantinople, was marked by an extraordinary triumph of invisible faces hovering over the divine Gregory and sweet hymns in praise of him, setting in motion the wharf where he was to come ashore. And Saint Gregory was the chosen vessel of God.

Distinguished by meekness, gentleness and humility, at the same time he continued to boldly speak out against the enemies of God and the Orthodox faith, with force denouncing and defeating heretics with the sword of the word of God. Overcoming evil with good, he never listened to those who informed him of the slander against him of his enemies: he was generous and patient in all sorrows and misadventures; persecution and every reproach he always imputed to himself for honor and glory; and it was to him, as a true disciple of Christ, that the yoke of Christ was easy and His burden light.

Saint Gregory was marveled not only by believers, but also by unbelievers. His eyes were always sore from incessantly flowing prayerful tears. Having mortified all passions and enslaved the flesh to the spirit, Saint Gregory pursued a good feat and, having pacified God and the Orthodox faith from heretical disturbances and turmoil, ended the course of his ascetic and suffering, God-pleasing life.

During the last three years, Saint Gregory, by the power of the grace of God, performed many miracles on the sick. Thus, he raised his friend, Hieromonk Porfiry, twice with prayer from his painful bed. Shortly before his blessed death, he healed with a sign honest cross and by prayer, the five-year-old child of the gold-embroiderer, who suffered from extreme bleeding and was already doomed to death, restored him to perfect health.

Soon afterwards Saint Gregory fell ill and went to bed. Feeling the imminent death, he predicted to those around him the day of his departure into eternal life: “My friends! - he said to them, after the feast of the saint, - now I will depart from you to the Lord. I know this because the divine Chrysostom appeared to me in a vision and, as his friend, he called to me with love.

Indeed, on the same day, November 14, Saint Gregory departed to the Lord in His eternal heavenly abode. When he was dying, those around him saw that his lips were still whispering something, but, no matter how hard they tried to listen to his words, they could only make out: “To the mountain, to the mountain!” With these words, his holy soul quietly and peacefully separated from the body into the heavenly. When his blessed soul was separated from his body, his face brightened, and the whole room where he had rested was illuminated with light, which was witnessed by the whole city, which flocked to the holy relics for the last kiss. So God deigned to glorify His faithful saint with this miracle, who, even during his lifetime, was a bright dwelling place of grace and a son of divine light.

Leaving his body, gloriously enlightened with angelic purity, after his death to his flock, as a rich inheritance and treasure, Saint Gregory generously gives healing to all the sick and infirm, who from everywhere come with faith to his holy relics, to the glory of Christ our God, to Him with His Beginningless Father and with the Most Holy, Good and Life-Giving Spirit, all glory, honor and worship is due now and forever and forever and ever. Amen.

Troparion, tone 8:

Light of Orthodoxy, church affirmation and teacher, kindness of monks, invincible champion of theologians, Gregory the wonderworker, Thessalonite praise, preacher of grace, praying for our souls to be saved.

Kontakion, tone 2:

Wisdom, sacred and divine organ, theology bright according to the trumpet, we sing thee to Gregory the bogoglyph: but as the mind is the first mind, direct our mind to it, Father, let us call: rejoice, preacher of grace.

(~1296–1357)

Biography

Path to monasticism

Moral and ascetic: to the Archbishop of Thessalonite, tone 8

O luminary of Orthodoxy, / affirmation of the Church and teacher, kindness of the monks, / unstoppable champion of theologians, Gregory the wonderworker, / Thessalonite praise, preacher of grace, // pray that our souls will be saved.

John Troparion to St. Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonites, Tone 8

Orthodox mentor, adornment of the saint, / Invincible champion theologian, Gregory the wonderworker, / Great praise to Thessaloniki, preacher of grace, / pray to Christ God that our souls be saved.

Kontakion, tone 8:

Sacred and Divine organ of wisdom, / bright theology according to the trumpet, / we sing to you Gregory the theologian: / but as the mind of Mind is the first, / direct our mind to Him, Father, let us call: // rejoice in the preaching of grace ty.

Prayer

O blessed and honest truly and exalted head, silence of power, monastic glory, common theologians and fathers and teachers adornment, associates of the apostles, confessors and martyrs, bloodless zealot and crowner of words and deeds and piety champion and voivode taken, divine dogmas high explainer and teacher, charms of various heresies to the consumer, the whole Church of Christ, the intercessor, and the guard, and the deliverer! You repented to Christ, and now you are watching your flock and all from above, healing various diseases and ruling all your words, and expelling heresies, and delivering diverse passions. Accept our prayer and deliver us from passions and temptations, and worries, and troubles, and I will weaken and give peace and prosperity to us, O Christ Jesus our Lord, to Him glory and power are due with His unoriginal Father and Life-giving Spirit, now and forever and ever. Amen.

Prayer to the saint, Archbishop of Thessalonica

Oh, all-praise to the holy hierarch of Christ and the wonderworker Gregory! Accept this small prayer from us sinners who come running to you and with your warm intercession, pray to the Lord our God Jesus Christ, as if, having looked upon us mercifully, he will grant us forgiveness of our sins, voluntary and involuntary, and by His great mercy will save us from troubles, sorrows, sorrows and illnesses of the soul and body that hold us; may it give fruitfulness to the earth, and all that is necessary for the benefit of our present life; may he grant us the end of this temporary life in repentance, and may he vouchsafe us sinners and unworthy of His Kingdom of Heaven, with all the saints to glorify His infinite mercy, with His Beginningless Father and His Holy and Life-giving Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.

Prayer (other) to the hierarch, Archbishop of Thessalonica

Radiance of all the Orthodox mentor and the Church, Father Gregory, deliver us from all circumstances, your divine icon is falling by faith, freeing us from inciting enmity on us, you are our helper and you are fulfilling and fulfilling the prayers of those who lightly please you, at all times praying to the Trisiya Trinity, She deserves great glory, honor and worship to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and forever and ever. Amen.

Archbishop of Thessalonite (Thessalonica), defender of the Orthodox doctrine of Divine light. Palamas stands at the very center of Orthodox philosophy. Holiness is always possible: The Presence of God here and now, and not somewhere in the past or future or in philosophical abstractions, is the main theme of the saint.

Saint Gregory Palamas is one of the last Byzantine theologians and Fathers of the Church, he lived shortly before the fall of Constantinople under the blows of the Turks - at the end of the 13th - beginning of the 14th century.

Born in 1296 in Asia Minor, he was the first child in the family of Senator Constantine Palamas. During the Turkish invasion, the family fled to Constantinople and found shelter at the court of Andronicus II Palaiologos (1282–1328). His father was a very pious man. Information has been preserved that he practiced “smart” prayer and sometimes even during meetings of the Senate he plunged into it. It is said that on one such occasion Emperor Andronicus II said: "Don't bother him, let him pray." After the early death of his father, Andronicus himself took part in the upbringing and education of the orphaned boy, who had excellent abilities and great diligence. Gregory easily mastered all the subjects that made up the full course of medieval higher education under the guidance of Theodore Metochites, and gained a reputation as a brilliant connoisseur of Aristotle. At the age of 17, he even gave a lecture in the palace on Aristotle's syllogistic method to the emperor and nobles. The lecture was so successful that at the end of his teacher Metochites exclaimed: "And Aristotle himself, if he were here, would not fail to honor her with praise."

The emperor wanted the young man to devote himself to state activity, but in 1316, having barely reached the age of 20, Gregory retired to Athos, which by that time was already a major monastic center. On Athos, Gregory labored in a cell not far from Vatopedi under the guidance of the Monk Nikodim, from whom he received monastic vows. After the death of his mentor (c. 1319), he moved to the Lavra of St. Athanasius, where he spent three years. Then, beginning in 1323, he asceticised in the skete of Glossia, where he spent all his time in vigils and prayers. A year later, the holy Evangelist John the Theologian appeared to him in a vision and promised his spiritual protection. Gregory's mother, along with his sisters, also became monks.

In 1325, Gregory, along with other monks, left Athos due to Turkish attacks. In Thessalonica, he took the priesthood and founded, not far from Berea (a town west of Thessaloniki, where, according to legend, the Apostle Paul preached), a monastic community in which, along with common services, unceasing prayer was practiced. Five days a week, shut up in a cramped cell-cave, located in the thickets on the slope of a rock above a mountain stream, he indulged in mental prayer. On Saturday and Sunday, he left his seclusion to participate in the general divine service, which took place in the monastery katholikon. During these hours, following the recluse of the monk, and especially after the Liturgy, a marvelous Divine light was visible on his face. During the sacred service, he brought everyone to tears and tenderness. Many great holy men marveled at his virtuous life, for which he was rewarded from God with the gift of miracles and prophesying, and called him a God-bearer and a prophet.

In 1331, Gregory Palamas again returned to the Holy Mountain, where he continued his hermit life in the desert of St. Sava on the Athos foothills above the Lavra. This desert has survived to this day. He was even elected abbot of the monastery of Esfigmen. But, in spite of the cares he took upon himself, he constantly sought to return to the silence of the desert.

Meanwhile, in the 30s of the XIV century, events were brewing in the life of the Eastern Church that placed Saint Gregory among the most significant ecumenical apologists for Orthodoxy and brought him fame as a teacher of hesychasm. This word comes from the Greek word "hesychia", meaning "silence", "silence". Initially, monks leading a solitary contemplative lifestyle, in contrast to cenobitic monasticism, were called hesychasts (i.e., silencers). The whole life of the hesychasts was devoted exclusively to prayer. This prayer is called "intelligent" because in order to succeed in it, it was necessary to focus entirely on the spoken words, renouncing everything around. In connection with the growing influence of monasticism, the tradition of “intelligent” prayer was familiar not only to hermits, but was considered the main “doing” even among the laity. However, there was no theoretical basis for hesychasm. Saint Gregory Palamas was the first to be able to substantiate this movement theologically.

When Gregory Palamas lived on Mount Athos, people appeared in the Church who accused the Athos monks of doing nothing and of false teaching about prayer. The leader of these detractors, who spouted streams of abuse against the inhabitants of Athos, was Barlaam of Calabria, an Italian Greek, a graduate of the West. Upon arrival in Constantinople, Varlaam made a lightning career, becoming a professor of theology and an adviser to the emperor. At this time, attempts were again renewed to unite Eastern and Western Christianity, and Barlaam was the best suited for dialogue with the Latins. He was well acquainted with the cultural characteristics of the two parts of the once united Roman Empire. This author of treatises on logic and astronomy, a skillful and witty orator, in every possible way mocked the teachings of the Athos monks about "intelligent prayer" and about hesychia. With mockery, Varlaam and his like-minded people called Gregory Palamas and the brethren Athos monasteries"Hesychasts". It was this name, but no longer mocking, but reverent and respectful, that subsequently stuck with the supporters of the Athonite teaching on prayer and the spiritual life of a Christian.

Barlaam of Calabria

On the basis of the dogma about the incomprehensibility of the being of God, Varlaam declared smart doing a heretical delusion and tried to prove the creatureliness of the Light of Tabor. Varlaam taught about the Light of Tabor that it was something material, created, appearing in space and coloring the air, since it was visible with the bodily eyes of people who were not yet illuminated by grace (the apostles on Tabor). The same, i.e. created, he recognized all the actions of the Divine and even the gifts of the Holy Spirit: the Spirit of wisdom and reason, etc., not being afraid to bring God down into the ranks of creatures, overthrowing the light and bliss of the righteous in the Kingdom of the Heavenly Father, the power and action of the Trinitarian Deity. Thus, Varlaam and his followers impiously divided the same Deity into created and uncreated, and those who reverently recognized this Divine light and all power, all action as not created, but eternal, were called ditheists and polytheists. Saint Gregory himself without tired of denouncing the wrongness of Barlaam and the complete agreement of the Athos teaching with the Holy Scripture and the Tradition of the Church. At the request of the Athonite monks, he turned to Varlaam first with oral admonitions. But, seeing the failure of such attempts, he set out his theological arguments in writing. This is how the "Triads in Defense of the Holy Hesychasts" (1338) appeared. By 1340, the Athos ascetics, with the participation of the saint, compiled a common response to the attacks of Varlaam - the so-called "Svyatogorsk Tomos".

The saint wrote: “Those who are pompous with worldly and vain wisdom… think to see in it something sensual and created… although He Himself Shining Light on Tabor clearly showed that this Light was not created, calling it the Kingdom of God (Matt. 16:28)…”

“That Inscrutable Light shone and mysteriously appeared to the Apostles ... at the time when (the Lord) was praying; this shows that the parent of this beatific vision was prayer, that brilliance occurred and appeared from the union of the mind with God, and that it is given to all those who, with constant exercise in deeds of virtue and prayer, direct their minds to God. True beauty can be contemplated only with a purified mind.

“We believe that He revealed in the Transfiguration not any other light, but only that which was hidden from Him under the veil of flesh; this same Light was the Light of the Divine nature, and therefore the Uncreated, the Divine…”

For 6 years, the dispute between Gregory and Varlaam continued. A personal meeting of both husbands did not at all lead to a positive result, but it aggravated the contradiction even more. At the Council of Constantinople in 1341 in the church of Hagia Sophia, a dispute took place between St. Gregory Palamas and Barlaam, which focused on the nature of the Light of Tabor. On May 27, 1341, the Council adopted the provisions of St. Gregory Palamas that God, inaccessible in His Essence, manifests Himself in energies, like Tabor Light, which are turned to the world and are accessible to perception, but are not created. Varlaam and his disciples are anathematized. Barlaam, although he asked for forgiveness, left for Italy in June of the same year, where he then accepted Roman Catholicism and became Bishop of Ierak.

At the second and third stages of the disputes, Palamas was opposed by Gregory Akindin and Nikifor Gregory, who, unlike Barlaam, did not criticize the way of prayer of the Hesychasts. The dispute took on a theological character and concerned the question of Divine energies, grace, uncreated light.

The second stage of the dispute coincides with the civil war between John Cantacuzenus and John Palaiologos and took place between 1341 and 1347. Palamas's intervention in the political clash, although he was not particularly politically inclined, led to the fact that most of his later life was spent in prison and dungeons.

In 1344, Patriarch John XIV Kalek, an adherent of the teachings of Barlaam, excommunicated St. Gregory from the Church and imprisoned. In 1347, after the death of John XIV, St. Gregory was released and elevated to the rank of Archbishop of Thessalonica.

On one of his trips to Constantinople, the Byzantine galley fell into the hands of the Turks, and the saint was sold in various cities throughout the year. In Turkish captivity, he had conversations and disputes about faith with Muslims. Unlike many representatives of late Byzantine culture, Gregory Palamas was relatively calm about the prospect of a Turkish conquest, but hoped for the conversion of the Turks to Orthodoxy; therefore, his attitude towards Islam is not militant, but missionary. In particular, Palamas considered Islam an example of natural knowledge of God, that is, he recognized the One whom Muslims worship as the True God.

After being freed from the Turks and returning to Thessaloniki, St. Gregory continued his pastoral work in his diocese. There, Nikolai Cavasila became his student and colleague.

On the eve of his repose, St. John Chrysostom appeared to him in a vision. With words " In the mountains! In the mountains!» Saint Gregory Palamas peacefully passed away to God November 14, 1359 at the age of 63 years. In 1368, less than ten years after his death, which is quite rare, he was canonized at the Council of Constantinople. Patriarch Filofey, who led the celebration, wrote a life and service to the saint. The relics of Saint Gregory were laid in the cathedral church of Hagia Sophia in Thessaloniki. After the capture of the city by the Turks and the conversion of the temple into a mosque, the relics of Gregory Palamas were first transferred to the Thessalonica monastery of Vlatadon, and then to the metropolitan cathedral of the city. Since 1890 they have been stored in a new cathedral city, consecrated in 1914 in the name of this saint.

Cancer with the relics of St. Gregory Palamas

Teachings of St. Gregory Palamas

Teaching about Divine Energies, as about the manifestation of the entire Fullness of the Divine, - there is a teaching only Orthodox Church.

Tertullian's dictum "God became human so that man could be deified" Palamas expressed through the doctrine of uncreated energies, speaking of the "deification" of man in terms of Orthodox theology.

According to this doctrine, God is essentially unknowable. But He abides with all the Fullness of His Divinity in this world as His energies, and the world itself was created by these energies. The energies of God are not one of His creations, but He Himself, turned to His creation.

The human personality is created. But in Christ Man and Godhead are united. By partaking of the Body of Christ and directing all of one's nature to God, the energies of a person become "co-directed" with the energies of God, just as they are in Christ. The joint action (energy) of the Divine will and the human will in the work of salvation received in the theology of Palamas the Greek term synergy.

So the person becomes an accomplice all The fullness of Divine life through the action of uncreated Divine energies in it. Moreover, a person participates not only mentally, but also physically, with the fullness of his nature, which caused Varlaam to be particularly perplexed. The uncreated light illuminates not only the mental, but also the physical eyes (let us recall the case when St. Seraphim of Sarov showed this Light to Motovilov, taking him by the hand), the necessary condition for which is to remain in silence-hesychia, in other words, in prayer.

As a result, a person, by the grace of God, with all the fullness of his being, through the uncreated energies, assimilates God, “deifies” and assimilates God.

The essence of Barlaam's teaching is similar to the understanding of Christianity by modern Western culture. Rejecting the possibility of communion with the divine life, available to all people in Christ, the Christian West sees the need for an external authority for the Christian faith. So some Western Christians see it in the formal authority of the letter of Scripture, others in the establishment of unshakable papal authority. Both of these views are alien to Eastern Christianity.

The teachings of Gregory Palamas do not detract from the importance earthly world, but only shows that the knowledge of God is carried out not so much through the study of theological books, but through living religious experience.

“We are partakers of the Divine”, says St. Gregory Palamas.

Troparion, tone 8
Orthodox mentor, adornment of the saint, invincible champion theologian, Gregory the wonderworker, great praise to Thessalonica, preacher of grace, pray to Christ God that our souls be saved.

Kontakion, tone 4
Now the active time has appeared, judgment is at the door, let us rise, fasting, bring tears of tenderness, alms, calling: you have sinned more than the sand of the sea, but weaken, the Creator of all, as if we would receive incorruptible crowns.

"St. Gregory Palamas and His Significance for the Orthodox Church". Hegumen Simeon (Gavrilchik)