Within the Byzantine theological tradition the essence / energy distinction is intimately connected to the doctrine of grace.  According to St. Basil (in both his letters and in his treatise "Contra Eunomium") it is impossible for man to know anything about the divine essence (ousia).  But it does not follow from this that man does not know anything at all about God; rather, he knows what can be known about God, and is ignorant of what is beyond his comprehension. [1]  That said, in his teaching St. Basil insists — against the heretical views of Eunomius, who held that knowledge of the divine essence (ousia) was possible — that knowledge of God comes only by participation in His energies (i.e., His grace).  For as he explained in his letter to Amphilochius:  "We say that we know our God from His operations (energeiai), but do not undertake to approach near to His essence (ousia).  His operations (energeiai) come down to us, but His essence (ousia) remains beyond our reach." [2]  Moreover, beyond the questions related to the nature of grace, the distinction between essence and energy helps to safeguard God's hetero-essentiality in relation to creation, while at the same time allowing for a real energetic participation in His divinity by man.  To put it another way, God is essentially (and wholly) transcendent from creation as its Creator, while He is simultaneously energetically (and wholly) immanent within creation as its Savior.

The question of whether or not grace is created or uncreated became an important issue between East and West in the latter part of the medieval period.  That said, in Scholastic theology created grace is held to be ". . . a quality, a light that enables the soul to receive worthily the indwelling of the three divine Persons," [3] but in Eastern theology this Light (or "quality") is the very uncreated energy of God, or —  to put it another way —  for the Byzantines it is God as He exists outside of His ineffable essence.  To express this difference more precisely, for a Western Scholastic theologian the effects of grace in man are believed to be something created, i.e., they are something other than God Himself; while for a Byzantine theologian the effects of God's grace (i.e., His uncreated energy) in man are held to be a participation in the God Himself, for grace is simply God as He exists for man.  [4]  In fact, as St. Gregory Palamas expresses this truth, ". . . the divine Maximos has not only taught that it [i.e., the gift of theosis] is enhypostatic, but also that it is unoriginate (not only uncreated), indescribable and supratemporal.  Those who attain it become thereby uncreated, unoriginate, and indescribable, although in their own nature, they derive from nothingness." [5]  Thus, in Eastern theology there is no such thing as created grace, nor can there ever be such a thing, because grace is God Himself personally present in creation.

Now the differences between East and West on the issue of grace were highlighted by Fr. Joseph Gill in his book on the Western Council of Florence, for as he pointed out in his treatment of the topic of grace, the doctrinal differences between the two sides became particularly evident during the discussions between John Montenero and St. Mark of Ephesus in the fifth session of the Council on 14 March, because during a very heated exchange on the issue of the effects flowing from the power of grace, Fr. Montenero ". . . pressed Mark as to whether the gifts of the Spirit were different from the Spirit Himself," [6] which is what the Latins believed, or if the gifts flowing from the Spirit were the Spirit Himself, which is what the Byzantine Church affirmed.  St. Mark of course rejected the Latin position and this caused further heated exchanges, culminating in an intervention by the Emperor John VIII Palaiologos ordering that the subject be dropped. 

Although the exchange ended abruptly (i.e., because of the Emperor's interference), it did show that the two sides disagreed on the nature of grace, and in fact as Fr. Gill explained in his book, it was this line of debate that brought up the ". . . Palamitic question of the divine energies, which Mark with most Greeks held to be really distinct from the divine essence, an opinion that the Latins both then and now consider wrong." [7]  Thus, it is clear that East and West understand the nature of grace differently, because for the West the effects of the Spirit within man are created realities, i.e., they are a created grace; while for the East the effects are a true participation in the uncreated divine energy, which is God Himself as He exists outside of His essence.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Fr. Joseph Gill.  The Council of Florence.  (Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press, 1959).

Charles Journet.  The Meaning of Grace.  (Princeton, New Jersey:  Scepter Publishers, 1996).

George Maloney, S.J.  A Theology of Uncreated Energies.  (Milwaukee, Wisconsin:  Marquette University Press, 1978). 

St. Gregory Palamas.  The Triads.  Translation by Nicholas Gendle.  (Mahwah, New Jersey:  Paulist Press, 1983).

Philip Schaff (Editor).  The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers.  (Peabody:  Hendrickson Publishers, 1994).  28 Volumes. 

Grace:  Created or Uncreated?

by Steven Todd Kaster

I wrote this text back in the early 2010s as a post on the old Catholic Answers forum, which closed down in December 2020. I published the post on this website on 22 November 2023, and then reformatted and made minor revisions to the original text of the post on:

04 April 2025

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End Notes:

[1] See St. Basil the Great's Letter #235 in Philip Schaff's (Editor), The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, (Peabody:  Hendrickson Publishers, 1994), Series 2, Volume 8, page 275.

[2] St. Basil the Great's Letter #234 in Philip Schaff's (Editor), The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, (Peabody:  Hendrickson Publishers, 1994), Series 2, Volume 8, page 274.

[3] Charles Journet, The Meaning of Grace, (Princeton, New Jersey:  Scepter Publishers, 1996), page 19.

[4] See Fr. George Maloney, A Theology of Uncreated Energies., (Milwaukee, Wisconsin:  Marquette University Press, 1978), pages 73-74.

[5] St. Gregory Palamas, The Triads, translated by Nicholas Gendle, (Mahwah, New Jersey:  Paulist Press, 1983), page 86.

[6] Fr. Joseph Gill, The Council of Florence, (Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press, 1959), pages 205.

[7] Gill, page 206.

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