My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE. Ο ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΕΝ ΤΩ ΜΕΣΩ ΗΜΩΝ! ΚΑΙ ΗΝ ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΙ ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΑΙ.
MARCH 4TH--SECOND SUNDAY OF GREAT AND HOLY LENT--SAINT GREGORY PALAMAS, ARCHBISHOP OF THESSALONIKI
The life and works of Saint Gregory Palamas
Saint Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessaloniki, was born in the year 1296 AD in Constantinople. Saint Gregory's father became a prominent dignitary at the court of Andronicus II Paleologos (1282-1328 AD), but soon died, and Andronicus himself took part in the raising and education of the fatherless boy. Endowed with fine abilities and great diligence, Gregory mastered all the subjects which then comprised the full course of medieval higher education. The Emperor hoped that the youth would devote himself to government work. But Gregory, barely twenty years old, withdrew to Mount Athos in the year 1316 AD (other sources say 1318 AD) and became a novice in the Vatopedi Monastery under the guidance of the monastic Elder (Geronda) Saint Nikodemos of Vatopedi (+July 11). There he was tonsured and began on the path of asceticism. A year later, the holy Evangelist John the Theologian appeared to him in a vision and promised him his spiritual protection. Gregory's mother and sister also became monastics.
After the demise of the Elder (Geronda) Saint Nikodemos, Saint Gregory spent eight years of spiritual struggle under the guidance of the Elder (Geronda) Nikephoros, and after the latter's death, Gregory transferred to the Lavra of Saint Athanasius (+July 5). Here he served in the trapeza (dining room) and then became a church singer. But after three years, he resettled in the small Skete of Glossia, striving for a greater degree of spiritual perfection. The head of this monastery began to teach the young monk the method of unceasing prayer and mental activity, which had been cultivated by monasteries, beginning with the great desert ascetics of the 4th century: Evagrius Pontikos and Saint Macarius of Egypt (+January 19).
Later on, in the 11th century, Saint Symeon the New Theologian (+March 12) had provided detailed instruction in mental activity for those praying in an outward manner, and the ascetics of Athos put it into practice. The experienced use of mental prayer (or prayer of the heart), requiring solitude, and quiet, is called "hesychasm" (from the Greek "hesychia" or "hesychasmos" meaning calm, silence), and those practicing it were called "Hesychasts." (Hesychastes)
During his stay at Glossia the future hierarch Gregory became fully imbued with the spirit of hesychasm and adopted it as an essential part of his life. In the year 1326, because of the threat of Turkish invasion, he and the brethren retreated to the city of Thessaloniki, where he was then ordained to the Holy Priesthood.
Saint Gregory combined his Priestly duties with the life of a hermit (Gk. herimetis). Five days of the week he spends in silence and prayer, and only on Saturday and Sunday did he come out to his people. He celebrated Divine services and preached sermons. For those present in the church, his teaching often evoked both tenderness and tears. Sometimes he visited theological gatherings of the city's educated youth, headed by the future Patriarch, Isidore. After he returned from a visit to Constantinople, he found a place suitable for solitary life near Thessaloniki the region of Vereia. Soon he gathered here a small community of solitary monks and guided it for five years.
In 1331 the Saint withdrew to Mt. Athos and lived in solitude at the Skete of Saint Sava, near the Lavra of Saint Athanasius. In 1333 he was appointed Igumenos (Abbot) of the Esphigmenou Monastery in the Northern part of the Holy Mountain. In 1336 the Saint returned to the Skete of Saint Sava, where he devoted himself to theological works, continuing with this until the end of his life.
In the 1330s events took place in the life of the Eastern Orthodox Church which put Saint Gregory among the most significant universal apologists of Orthodoxy, and brought him great renown as a teacher of hesychasm.
Saint Gregory was present in Constantinople at the Synod (Council) that was convened in 1341 against Barlaam of Calabria, and at the Synod of 1347 against Acindynus, who was of like mind with Barlaam; Barlaam and Acindynus claimed that the grace of God is created. At both these Synods, the Saint contested courageously for the True dogmas of the Church of Christ, teaching in particular that Divine grace is not created, but is the uncreated energies of God which are poured forth throughout creation: otherwise it would be impossible, if grace were created, for man to have genuine communion with the uncreated God. In 1347 he was appointed Metropolitan of Thessaloniki. He tended his flock in an Apostolic manner for some twelve years and wrote many books and treatises on the most exalted Doctrines of our Faith; and having lived for a total of 63 years, he reposed in the Lord 1359. His holy relics are kept in the Cathedral of Thessaloniki.
Theology of Saint Gregory Palamas
"Drawing on information provided by Saint Philotheos, Saint Gregory's biographer, the author of the book St. Gregory Palamas as a Hagiorite, describes the Saint's life from childhood before he moved to the Holy Mountain. Subsequently, we see the Saint as a monk, priest, Abbot (Egoumenos) and Metropolitan, and it is stressed that he was a true Hagiorite, not only because he stayed on the Holy Mountain, but because he lived the life of the Holy Mountain. We learn about the Saint's gifts and virtues, but also his temptations, which he regarded as a special blessing from God. The Saint's teaching is an expression of the life which he encountered on the Holy Mountain, that is to say, the hesychastic way of life which is the essence of the orthodox tradition." (Sources: Orthodox Church in America, St. Vladimir Seminary, St. Gregory Palamas Greek Orthodox Monastery).
"The core of the Saint's teaching can be found in his dispute with the speculative philosopher Barlaam. He overturned Barlaam's erroneous views and laid down the theological conditions for noetic prayer. He demonstrated that noetic prayer is found in the tradition of the church, and is not just the prerogative of monks, but can be practiced by all Christians. By setting out in theological terms the value of fasting, vigil, tears and compunction, and also analyzing the importance of the senses during the practice of noetic prayer, he teaches us that the body cannot be overlooked in man's effort to be purified. In fact, he explains that the grace of God acts in the soul and from there is carried over into the body as well."
We find the central teaching of Saint Gregory in the following passage. In order to attain "vision of the Uncreated Light, a person must cut off every connection between the Soul and what is below. Detach himself from everything by keeping Christ's Commandments and through the dispassion which comes from that, he must transcend all cognitive activity 'through continuous and sincere and immaterial prayer." Therefore he must have been healed already, through keeping Christ's Commandments and through freeing his soul from all sinful connection with created things.' He is illuminated by the inaccessible light 'abundantly through an inconceivable union.' He sees God through union. Thus he becomes Light and recognizes truly that God is above nature and beyond comprehension."
"The vision of God, theoria of the uncreated light, is not a sensory vision but "a deification (theosis) of man.
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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!"--Saint John Chrysostom
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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George