Introduction

          This paper will focus on the Byzantine theological and spiritual tradition, which is centered upon a real ontological participation by man in God’s own uncreated life and glory.  The first part of the paper will deal with the Palamite doctrine of God and the distinction between the divine essence and the uncreated divine energies, and how this relates to man’s divinization by grace.  The second part of the paper will be divided into two sections:  the first section will deal with an examination of the three fundamental aspects of the spiritual life as it is experienced in the spiritual tradition of the Hesychastic monks of Mt. Athos; while the second section will examine some of the elements associated with hesychia as a method of prayer that is centered upon the intellect rooted in the heart, and this section will conclude with a brief investigation of the Taboric Light. [1]

The Palamite Doctrine of God

          St. Gregory Palamas’ doctrine of God is founded upon his experience of the Christian life as he lived it in the company of the monks of Mt. Athos; and so, his theology is properly understood as experiential in nature, and cannot be reduced to a simple or even to a complex abstract or speculative theory.  That being said, his doctrine of God is eminently practical, and is founded upon one of the fundamental truths of the Christian faith, that is, it is founded upon the fact that God became man, so that man might become God. [2]  Now due to the incarnational nature of his theology, he emphasized God’s immanence both in relation to the creation of the world, because God at the level of His creative and sustaining energies not only causes the world to be, but keeps it in being from moment to moment; while also emphasizing God’s immanence in connection with the Christian life of grace, for at the level of His sanctifying, purifying, illuminating, and deifying energies, He draws men to Himself and gives them a real participation in His own life and glory.  Thus, it should be borne in mind that his theological system is intended to safeguard God’s non-contrastive transcendence in relation to the world. [3] 

          Now, within his system it should be noted that there are three modes of union [4] in God:  the first mode of union involves a participation in the divine essence, and this mode of union is experienced only by the three divine hypostases (i.e., the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit); while the second mode of union is called hypostatic, and only the incarnate Logos experiences this mode of union; and finally, the third mode of union, which is the union with God at the level of energy, and this mode of union is experienced by all those who have been made partakers of the divine nature through Christ's incarnation and His Paschal Mystery. [5]  Thus, divinization involves a real participation in God's own nature through His uncreated energies, for it is through the uncreated divine energies that man truly becomes divine, and even uncreated at the level of energy, while remaining a created being in his own proper essence. [6]  Moreover, each man becomes an icon of Christ, imaging the incarnate Logos, who is one divine person in two natures, while the divinized man is one created human person in two natures, that is, he is a single human person existing in the human nature that he possesses naturally as a created being, while also possessing the divine nature through his participation in the uncreated divine energies.

          With these metaphysical distinctions in place, St. Gregory Palamas insists that the deified man's participation in the divine nature does not mean that he participates in either the divine essence, which is and remains wholly incommunicable and incomprehensible, nor in the personal reality of any one of the three divine persons, because personality is not something that can be communicated or imparted from one being to another.  The personal subsistent reality of the three divine persons, in addition to their common essence, are utterly transcendent and incommunicable modes of existence of the divine being.  Therefore, man is not absorbed by an essential participation in the divine nature, nor is he added to the Trinity as an additional person within the Godhead; instead, through the process of deification man participates in the uncreated divine energies that flow out from the divine essence as a gift to man from the three divine persons.  In other words, by a completely unmerited gift of grace, man is elevated to a participation in the divine nature through the uncreated divine energies, and this involves no essential change, nor personal addition, to either God or man; instead, it entails an abiding communion of life and love between the Trinity and humanity. 

          St. Gregory Palamas’ teachings on the Trinity and man’s divinization by grace are summarized in the “Hagioritic Tome,” which was issued in order to defend the Hesychasts from the attacks of Barlaam of Calabria.  In the “Tome” Palamas explains the nature of deifying grace, and emphasizes that it is a true participation in God’s own being.  Thus, in Eastern Christian theology the gift of grace that redeems man is God Himself, as He exists outside of His essence.  In other words, grace is God as a gift for man, that is, grace is a personal gift of God’s own life and glory given to man by the three divine persons. [7]  As a side note, it is in this area of theology that Palamas develops the idea of an eternal energetic procession of the Holy Spirit through the Son, because it is the Holy Spirit, who has been sent by the Father and the Son, that communicates the divine energies to man.  Now in saying this, St. Gregory Palamas has established, if you will, a bridge between the theology of the East and the West on the procession of the Holy Spirit. [8]

          As has been noted above, man’s divinization is not accomplished by any quality naturally possessed by him, nor is it brought about by a created medium; rather, it is a real ontological participation in God’s own nature through His uncreated energies, that is, through His eternal manifesting activities flowing out into the world. In the “Hagioritic Tome” Palamas, along with the monks of Mt. Athos, insists that divinizing grace cannot be anything other than the uncreated God Himself given to man as a supernatural gift; in other words, grace must be a supernatural reality, and cannot be natural, for “. . . if deification were in accord with a natural capacity, would there be anything miraculous in it; for then deification would truly be the work of nature, not the gift of God, and a man would be able to be and to be called God by nature in the full sense of the words.” [9]  Now man’s essential nature cannot change, and this is a truth of both faith and reason, for if it did change he would no longer be truly human, but a man can participate in the divine energies, and thus become ontologically one with God through a personal communion in God’s own life.

          Moreover, in the “Hagioritic Tome” St. Gregory Palamas sees the Transfiguration of Christ on Mt. Tabor as a visible manifestation of God’s uncreated energy, for the light of Tabor was the uncreated light of God’s own glory, manifested by Christ to the Apostles, not as something foreign to His own being, as if it were an external light, but as a light of glory emanating from Christ the Lord Himself as a natural energetic property of His own being.  Palamas, in line with the teaching of St. John Damascene, [10] holds that Christ’s humanity was divinized from the first instant of His conception in the womb of the Holy Theotokos, and so it is proper to say that “. . . Christ was transfigured, not by the addition of something He was not, nor by a transformation into something He was not, but by the manifestation to His disciples of what He really was.  He opened their eyes so that instead of being blind they could see.  While He Himself remained the same, they could now see Him as other than He had appeared to them formerly.” [11]  So, the manifestation of the Taboric Light does not involve a change in the state of Christ’s being; rather, it involves a change in the Apostles, who, by the power of the Spirit, have been given the eyes of the Spirit so that they can see Christ in all His glory.

          The final component in St. Gregory Palamas’ doctrine of grace and divinization is centered on the Holy Theotokos, the God-bearer, who by the power of God conceived the eternal Logos in her womb and began the entire process of human redemption.  Without the Holy Theotokos no man can be saved, for as Palamas so eloquently says in his homily on the Dormition:

          Moses beheld the tongs of that great vision of Isaiah when he saw the

          bush aflame with fire, yet unconsumed. And who does not know that the

          Virgin Mother is that very bush and those very tongs, she who herself

          (though an archangel also assisted at the conception) conceived the

          Divine Fire without being consumed, Him that taketh away the sins of

          the world, Who through her touched mankind and by that ineffable touch

          and union cleansed us entirely. Therefore, she only is the frontier

          between created and uncreated nature, and there is no man that shall

          come to God except he be truly illumined through her, that Lamp truly

          radiant with divinity, even as the Prophet says, "God is in the midst of

          her, she shall not be shaken' (Ps. 45:5). [12]

From this statement it is clear that St. Gregory Palamas teaches that it is by our Lady’s cooperation that the redemption of mankind takes place, and that is why her relationship with God is unique, because she bore God in the flesh and contained within her womb the Light of Truth incarnate.  As Palamas goes on to say, “To the degree that she is closer to God than all those who have drawn close to him, by so much has the Theotokos been deemed worthy of greater audience.  I do not speak of men alone, but also of the angelic hierarchies themselves.” [13]  Thus, the Holy ever-Virgin Theotokos mediates grace to all men, and not only to men, but also to the angelic choirs.

The Synergy of God and Man in the Spiritual Life

          The Eastern Christian tradition, like the Catholic tradition in the West, focuses heavily upon the idea that salvation entails a true synergy between God and man. In other words, salvation is not something that God simply does to man; rather, it is something that He does in, with, and through man.

1.  Fasting

          In order to begin the spiritual journey toward union with God it is necessary for a man to practice ascetical mortification, both of body and of mind.  In this process fasting and abstinence from food are a major component in gaining the necessary discipline over one’s passions, which will ultimately empower a man, through grace, to transcend himself and move more deeply into the spiritual life of communion with God.  Thus, this first step in the practice of the spiritual life is a vital component which cannot be dispensed with, and which will continue throughout a man’s spiritual journey.  Moreover, the Eastern mystics see the practice of fasting as a fulfillment of the great fast that Adam failed to keep while he was in the Garden of Eden.

          The Eastern mystics hold that it was God’s intention from the very beginning to share His life with man, and so He made man with the capacity to receive a gift that exceeded his own being, that is, He created man with a supernatural end, but man was supposed to remain firm in keeping God’s commandments, including His commandment to abstain from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  This commandment of God concerned the proper fast to be kept in the Garden, but as St. Gregory Palamas points out, man “. . . chose the treason of the serpent, the originator of evil, in preference to this commandment and counsel, and broke the decreed fast.” [14]

          The restoration of the proper fast can be seen in the unfolding plan of salvation itself, for Moses fasted and saw God and then received the gift of the Torah; and Elijah fasted for forty days and then he “. . . saw the Lord in the sound of a light passing breeze,” [15] and this prepared Elijah for his assumption into heaven upon the fiery chariot; and finally, Christ the Lord fasted for forty days in the wilderness and triumphed over the tyranny of the Satan, and so the New Adam completed and fulfilled the fast that was required of the first Adam.  In doing this, Christ freed our nature from slavery to sin, and as the great Physician He healed man, both in body and in soul.  Now the completed fast of Christ the Head must continue in His body the Church, because all men must live the fast which Christ lived if they are to progress in their journey of union in God.  Thus, fasting as the beginning of the spiritual life, acts as a medicinal salve, which frees the one who fasts from his passions, giving him the necessary discipline to proceed, under the power of the Spirit, to the fullness of communion with God in His uncreated energies.

          Clearly from what has been said already, the Eastern tradition does not see fasting as simply a form of bodily abstinence from food, but includes a fast of the soul as well, for the senses of the nous (mind), as the higher principle of the soul, must also be purged of attachments to temporal and limited goods.  Thus, fasting concerns the purity of the soul, and so it must involve all of the senses that can affect the soul and lead it away from God.  As St. Gregory Palamas points out, “If you abstain from food while your sight lures you into adultery, inquisitiveness and malice in the hidden place of your soul, your hearing is open to insulting words, lewd songs and evil slanders, and your other senses are open to whatever harms them, what is the benefit of your fasting?  None whatsoever.” [16]  In other words, fasting from food alone while allowing oneself to become enamored of other sensual pleasures and vices has no purpose, for true virtue involves the whole man, and fasting, that is, fasting in the fullest sense of the word, is directed to the acquisition of virtue. 

          Now virtue is both of the body and of the mind, and the reward for a virtuous life is the vision of God, for as St Gregory Palamas said, “He who has purified his body by temperance, who by divine love has made an occasion of virtue from his wishes and desires, who has presented to God a mind purified by prayer, acquires and sees in himself the grace promised to those whose hearts have been purified.” [17]  Thus for Palamas, and for the Eastern Christian tradition as a whole, fasting, which is meant to purify the body, has a broader meaning, and it necessarily includes not only abstaining from certain foods, but also abstaining from vice, and not simply in the negative sense, but in a positive manner through the practice of virtue.  Virtue opens man to a higher calling, and is the foundation stone of divinization.

2.  Prayer

          Both prayer and fasting empower a man to converse with the Lord, and so, one must not think that the ascetical practice of fasting is done in isolation from prayer; rather, these two things must be done together.  Any kind of intemperance in fasting, or inconstancy in prayer will inhibit a man’s advance into the true interior prayer of the heart, because intemperance leads to a man’s downfall, and Esau is an example of this, for how was he deprived “. . . of his birthright and his father’s blessing?  Of course it was lasciviousness and an unreasonable demand for food.” [18]  Thus bodily self-control is vital in prayer, because it is through the bodily senses that the passions within the nous are enflamed, and so for the soul to be stilled in prayer, the body too must be stilled.  In the Hesychastic system control of both the body and the mind during prayer is vital to growth in one’s communion with the Lord, and as a consequence, it follows that a man’s bodily posture in prayer can also affect his advancement in the spiritual life.

          One of the things that Palamas, and the Athonite monks, emphasized was the importance of breathing and bodily posture in prayer, especially during the earlier stages of the spiritual life, and that is why a monk was trained to sit still in prayer, and to focus on his breathing in order to clear his mind of images.  Moreover, he was told that he should set his gaze downward, focusing upon the center of his body, that is, focusing upon his heart, and this was done so that his nous could enter into his heart in prayer.  Thus, the whole point of this bodily posture was ultimately to move the man’s noetic faculty into his heart, for it is in the heart that he will encounter God.  But for this encounter to happen a man must first recollect his own mind, not the essence of it, but the energy of his mind, by turning it inward and this is when the methods of breathing will be of service, at least for the novice. [19]

          Now clearly the Hesychastic emphasis on bodily posture, at least in the early stages of the journey of the soul to God, must not be seen as a type of magical procedure; instead, these physical postures and actions must be seen as a way of disciplining both the mind and the body.  The physical techniques of the Athonite monks are meant only to clear the mind of extraneous and distracting thoughts, and in the process to still the soul in preparation for the arrival of the kingdom of God within.  Now, once the nous is in the heart, one must not think that it becomes idle, for as the Metropolitan of Nafpaktos explains, the nous “. . . must unceasingly say the prayer, ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.’  [Because] in this way the nous is undistracted, untouched by the various temptations, and every day it increases its love and desire for God.” [20]  In other words, the point of controlling one’s breathing is to clear the mind for the reception of the higher gift of infused contemplation, but controlled breathing will not in itself bring about contemplation, because that is a gift that only God can give.

          During the 14th century St. Gregory Palamas’ opponent Barlaam of Calabria attacked the interior focus of noetic prayer within Hesychasm, and in particular he berated the monks for their views on the importance of regulating breathing during prayer, seeing it as a form of superstition.  Now as I indicated above, the point of the controlling one’s breathing was not to magically bring about a type of communion with God; rather, it was meant to still the soul and recollect the mind, drawing it back into itself.  Barlaam, who did not share the views of the monks as it concerned the distinction between essence and energy, could not understand the necessity of this kind of recollection of mind.  But in the Palamite system the essence of a thing is what it is, while the energy of a being is its manifestation to or for others, and so the energies are the expression of the essence enacted by the person. 

          That being said, when St. Gregory Palamas speaks of the nous, that is, when he speaks of the energy of the nous returning to itself, he is highlighting the fact that the human person exists in different modes of being.  Now, in the Eastern tradition, the essence of a being cannot be known by another being, for to know the essence of something, is to become essentially the thing that is known; instead, it is the energy of a being that is known.  In other words, it is the outward manifestation of the thing in question that can be known, and this safeguards both the reality of knowledge, by avoiding the error of skepticism, while also protecting the distinct existence of the beings in relation to each other. [21]  Thus, a being is known by its energies or operations, and this knowledge is a real experience of the being itself, but it is not a knowledge of the essence of that being in the proper sense of the word, because to know the essence of the thing is to possess its essence.

3.  Vigil

          The third element in the Hesychastic system is vigilance.  For the Hesychastic monk keeping vigil is essential to both asceticism and prayer, because keeping vigil “. . . leads a person from purification to illumination and deification.” [22]  Christ, as the great teacher of virtue, kept vigil at various times during His public ministry, and it is the duty of His disciples to do the same.  The prayerful night vigils of a Hesychastic monk is  meant to reinforce his ascetic experience of the Christian life, and in this way he will be strengthened, and will be prepared for the prayer of the heart, which keeps him perpetually in God’s presence.  Moreover, it is by the vigilant exercise of the virtues, and of the practice of fasting, that one prepares himself for the encounter with the Lord in the vision of the uncreated Light, through which he becomes a partaker by grace of the divine nature.

The Prayer of the Heart

          In this final part of the paper I will describe the system of prayer advocated by St. Gregory of Sinai in his treatises on prayer, which can be found in the fourth volume of the Philokalia.  St. Gregory of Sinai begins his treatise by relating the importance of posture in prayer, and as I mentioned above, posture is especially important in the prayer life of the novice.  He also emphasizes the importance of silence in prayer, but by this he does not mean to exclude vocal prayer, especially in the earlier stages of the spiritual life; rather, he says that one must be silent, in order to avoid falling into distractions.  Thus, when one prays aloud, it should not be done in a boisterous manner, but must be done with a true sense of calm and peace, and in a low voice.  The novice should also sit still, not moving about or fidgeting, for such behavior will only distract one’s mind leading to a loss of focus.  Most importantly the monk must call upon Jesus to assist him in his prayer, asking the Lord to give him the necessary strength of mind and body, so that he can persist in his prayer once it has begun.  The monk must be patient in his prayer, and must not allow himself to become “. . . discouraged and quickly rise up again because of the strain and effort needed to keep [his] intellect concentrated upon its inner invocation.”[23]  Without perseverance in prayer it is impossible to grow in holiness.

          Now the central focus of the Hesychast in his life of prayer is the person of Christ, and that is why the “Jesus Prayer” is intoned constantly in his meditation, for it is a masterful way for clearing the intellect and for securing the proper attention to purity of mind.  Thus, one gains purity of mind, by focusing on purity incarnate. But the Hesychast is not doing this type of prayerful recollection by his own strength alone, for as St. Gregory of Sinai points out, “. . . no one on his own account and without the help of the Spirit can mystically invoke the Lord Jesus, for this can be done with purity and in its fullness only with the help of the Holy Spirit (cf. 1 Cor. 12:3).” [24] 

          Now as far as the manner of prayer is concerned, the monk may either recite the prayer aloud, or he may pray it silently.  In the case of a novice it is probably best that he say it aloud, but for those that are more proficient silent recitation of the prayer is probably best.  The great mystical saints hold that the recitation of the “Jesus Prayer” can be done all at once, or it may be broken into two parts, by saying “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me,” followed by, “Son of God, help me.”[25]  Either way, as the monastic advances in his spiritual journey, he will be able to recite the “Jesus Prayer” throughout the whole of the day as a gift of the Spirit, and will thus pray without ceasing.

          As the Hesychast advances in prayer through ascesis it is the vital that he actualize the energy of the Holy Spirit, which was been given to him in the sacrament of baptism.  That energy is latently present within him, but it is only fully actualized as he progresses in the life of virtue.  Now of course he is active throughout this entire process, but it is an activity done in dependence upon the Spirit, who has been sent by the Father and the Son, and who empowers the one praying through the gift of the divine energies, to pray as he should.  Moreover, all of this can only come about through the ascetical life of fasting, by which a man grows in virtue, for God is present where the virtues are practiced. 

          Now as St. Gregory of Sinai says, “There are several signs that the energy of the Holy Spirit is beginning to become active in those who genuinely aspire for this to happen,” [26] and the signs given are manifold in nature, and depend partially upon the readiness of the individual soul; thus in some individuals there is a sense of “awe arising in the heart,” a sense of wonder in the overflowing presence of God, while in others there is a sense of jubilation, and still others experience both of these gifts mingled together.  The gifts received are given graciously by God in a way that conforms to the nature of each man, and this in some way reflects the superabundance of divine blessing.

          One of the main components, in addition to the living of the virtues that prepares a man for the prayer of the heart, is mastery of the intellect, but no one can master his intellect unless he is first mastered by the Spirit, and this requires docility on the monk’s part, for he must allow the Spirit to guide him.  Now once this is accomplished the Spirit can guide the monk in all his actions, and only after this has occurred will the Spirit bestow the gift of infused prayer into a man’s heart.  The various methods used in order to quiet the intellect have value, but they cannot achieve the necessary stillness unless God first grants the gift of tranquility of heart to the monk.  In other words, the monk must do all that he can by the power of grace in order to become a fitting vessel for the Spirit’s gifts, but nevertheless, the activity of the monk cannot in itself impose upon God the necessity of granting the spiritual gift of stillness.  The Hesychastic monk must prepare himself in every way possible, but he cannot through his own energies bring about the infusion of the gift of the Spirit that ultimately gives him the vision of the uncreated Light.  As St. Gregory of Sinai points out, the various methods of prayer used by the monk can only temporarily stabilize his intellect, and so the monk will invariably suffer distractions if he relies solely upon his own powers, because “. . . the mind is brought under control only in those who have been made perfect by the Holy Spirit and who have attained a state of total concentration upon Christ Jesus.” [27]

          Now the purification of the intellect involves a true spiritual warfare, and the only armor that can protect a man in this battle is the power of God.  A man must recognize his own weakness if he is going to be able to progress in the spiritual life.  He must realize that he cannot avoid the daily distractions of life through his own natural powers, but only with the help of God’s grace, for that is the only way that he can become proficient in prayer.  This process may take time, but with God’s help it will become easier for him to avoid distractions and focus on the Light of God.  This contemplative attitude is of course a gift, but it is a gift that must be prepared for by the work of virtue.

The Taboric Light of Glory

          In the Byzantine liturgy after the reception of Holy Communion the entire congregation sings, “We have seen the true Light, we have received the Heavenly Spirit, we have found the True Faith, and we worship the undivided Trinity, for the Trinity has saved us,” [28] and it is this participation in the vision of the uncreated Light of God given in the Divine Liturgy that the Hesychastic monk seeks to make a permanent state of his own soul, for through the practice of virtue he desires to prepare himself to receive the Light of grace and to become the very Light that he sees.  In other words, the man on the road to deification is  “. . . filled with the Light of Tabor or of the Holy Spirit in the degree that he makes himself worthy of it by asceticism.” [29]  Thus, the process of divinization involves a true synergy, that is, it involves a true cooperation between God and man, for it is the Holy Spirit Himself who personally imparts the vision of the uncreated Light to the man, who, by his ascetical practice and constant prayer, has been made ready to receive it. 

          Now the Taboric Light that is seen by the mystics is the same Light of grace seen by the Apostles during Christ’s Transfiguration.  This Light of Glory is the realization of the Kingdom of God here and now, and this becomes clear when one read the account of the Transfiguration in the Gospels:

          And he said to them, "Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here

          who will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has

          come with power."  And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and

          James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves;

          and he was transfigured before them, and his garments became glistening,

          intensely white, as no fuller on earth could bleach them.  And there

          appeared to them Elijah with Moses; and they were talking to Jesus. 

          And Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is well that we are here; let us make

          three booths, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah."  For he

          did not know what to say, for they were exceedingly afraid. And a cloud

          overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, "This is my

          beloved Son; listen to him."  And suddenly looking around they no longer

          saw any one with them but Jesus only.  And as they were coming down

          the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until

          the Son of man should have risen from the dead.  So they kept the matter

          to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant. [30]

Now the Eastern Christian interpretation of this text focuses upon the idea that Christ’s words from verse one are fulfilled in the Transfiguration event itself.  Thus, when Jesus says that, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see that the Kingdom of God has come with power,” He is referring to Peter, James, and John, who are about to see Him Transfigured in the glory of the uncreated Light upon Mt. Tabor.  In other words, they will not taste death before they see the Kingdom of God come in power. 

          Clearly, the Hesychastic mystics see the events on Mt. Tabor as a realized eschatology, and the whole focus of their spiritual method is meant to bring about the experience of the Kingdom of God here and now.  All of their ascetical strivings, and the acquisition of virtue, and the prayer of the heart, are meant to bring about the Kingdom of God through the Light of Mt. Tabor as a living reality present to the mystic in this life.  Now this experience is a real participation in God’s uncreated life and glory, and so it is not be thought of as a facsimile or as an imaginative delusion; rather, it is an ontological participation in the glory of God, the very same glory that Christ shares with the Father from the foundation of the world. [31]  This understanding of the nature of the Taboric Light is the whole foundation of Hesychasm, for Hesychia is meant to prepare a man to participate in God’s uncreated energy through the prayer of the heart in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Conclusion

          In my investigation of Hesychasm I saw similarities to the Western mystical tradition, the most important similarity is centered upon the synergistic understanding of salvation, that is, the idea that man must cooperate with God, especially in the initial stages of the spiritual life; while both traditions also emphasize the idea that as one progresses in the spiritual life he must become docile to the Holy Spirit, who actually brings about the infused contemplation of God.  Of course based on the limited scope of my paper, I was not able to do justice to the Hesychastic approach to salvation and divinization, but it is my hope that I have conveyed some of the theological and spiritual beauty inherent within the Eastern mystical Tradition.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Source Texts:

St. Gregory Palamas.  The Homilies of Saint Gregory Palamas.  Translated by Christopher Veniamin.  (South Canaan, PA:  Saint Tikhon’s Seminary Press, 2002).  3 Volumes.

St. Gregory Palamas.  The Triads.  The Classics of Western Spirituality.  Translated by Nicolas Gendle.  (New York:  Paulist Press, 1987).

G. E. H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard, Kallistos Ware (Editors).  The Philokalia:  The Complete Text compiled by St. Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain and St. Makarios of Corinth.  (Boston:  Faber and Faber, 1984).  4 Volumes.

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M. Edmund Hussey.  The Doctrine of the Trinity in the Theology of Gregory Palamas.  (Ann Arbor, MI:  UMI Publishing, 1972).

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

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Works Consulted:

Thomas L. Anastos.  “Gregory Palamas' Radicalization of the Essence, Energies, and Hypostasis Model of God.”  The Greek Orthodox Theological Review 38:1-4 (1993):  pages 335-349.

Emmanuel Cazabonne, O.C.S.O.  “Gregory Palamas (1296-1359):  Monk, Theologian, and Pastor.”   Cistercian Studies Quarterly 37:3 (2002):  303-333.

Archbishop Joseph Raya.  Transfiguration of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  (Combermere, Ontario:  Madonna House Publications, 1992).

St. Gregory Palamas and the Holy Hesychasts

by Steven Todd Kaster

Franciscan University of Steubenville

Theology 721:  Christian Spirituality

Dr. Mark Miravalle

24 March 2005

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End Notes:

[1] Hesychia means stillness or tranquility, and it signifies the supernatural prayer of the heart that is infused into a man by the Holy Spirit.

[2] See St. Augustine’s “Sermo 13 de Tempore” from The Liturgy of the Hours, The Office of Readings, According to the Roman Rite, (Boston:  St. Paul Editions, 1983), page 125.  See also St. Athanasius’ “De Incarnatione Dei Verbi” 54:3 from the Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers, (Peabody, MA:  Hendrickson Publishers, 1994), Second Series, Volume 4, page 65.

[3] The concept of non-contrastive transcendence is vitally important to understanding the nature of the Palamite distinction between God’s essence and His uncreated energies, for God must transcend the world, but He also must be present within it, or as it is better to say, the world must exist within God.  Dr. Pentecost in his doctoral dissertation entitled, Quest for the Divine Presence, explains the importance of understanding God’s transcendence in a non-contrastive manner, for as he says, “Contrastive transcendence leads ultimately to the reduction of God to one being among others.  On the other hand, ‘a non-contrastive transcendence of God suggests an extreme involvement with the world’ that requires as its correlate ‘an extreme of divine transcendence.’  The extreme transcendence of the non-contrastive understanding of transcendence, however, ‘does not exclude God’s positive fellowship with the world or presence within it.  Only created beings, which remain themselves over and against others, risk the distinctness of their own natures by entering into intimate relations with another.  God’s transcendence alone is one that may be properly exercised in the radical immanence by which God is said to be nearer to us than we are to ourselves.’  To say that God transcends beings means that He is not one of them and is not conditioned by them.  On a non-contrastive understanding, however, transcendence does not rule out immanence.  Rather, participation simply is the immanent presence of the transcendent.  God must be present to all, but not confined to any being.  If God is absent from anything, He is determined or conditioned by it.  Such determination, however, is proper to beings.  Thus, if both transcendence and immanence are not recognized, God is reduced to a being.  A one-sided emphasis on transcendence, then, in fact undoes God’s transcendence, for genuine transcendence must coincide with immanence.” [Scott F. Pentecost, Quest for the Divine Presence:  Metaphysics of Participation and the Relation of Philosophy to Theology in St. Gregory Palamas’s Triads and the One Hundred and Fifty Chapters, (Ann Arbor, MI:  UMI Publishing, 1999), pages 96-97]  The whole of the Palamite system is focused on insuring the true transcendence of God, by holding that God is essentially other than the world, while simultaneously asserting that the world exists in God, that is, in God’s uncreated energies.

[4] See Emmanuel Cazabonne, O.C.S.O., “Gregory Palamas (1296-1359):  Monk, Theologian, and Pastor,”  Cistercian Studies Quarterly 37:3 (2002):  page 313.  See also St. Gregory Palamas,Capita 75 of “The One Hundred and Fifty Chapters,” G. E. H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard, Kallistos Ware (Editors), The Philokalia:  The Complete Text compiled by St. Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain and St. Makarios of Corinth, (Boston:  Faber and Faber, 1984), 4 Volumes, 4:380.

[5] See 2 Peter 1:4.

[6] St. Gregory Palamas, The Triads, The Classics of Western Spirituality, Translated by Nicolas Gendle.  (New York:  Paulist Press, 1987), page 98.

[7] As Fr. Maloney puts it, “The energies are, we might say, ‘God for us.’  They are God in loving and creative relationship to us out of the motive of sharing His holiness and inner life with us.” [George Maloney, S.J., A Theology of Uncreated Energies, (Milwaukee, Wisconsin:  Marquette University Press, 1978), page 74]

[8] Dr. Hussey, in his doctoral dissertation at Fordham University, points out that Palamas, while insisting that “The Spirit has His existential procession from the Father before all ages.  And He eternally inheres in the Son,” goes on to say that, “From the Son, He goes out into the open for us and on account of us, according to a manifesting, but not an existential procession.” [M. Edmund Hussey, The Doctrine of the Trinity in the Theology of Gregory Palamas, (Ann Arbor, MI:  UMI Publishing, 1972), page 72] What this means is that for Palamas, the Father alone gives rise to the hypostasis of the Spirit eternally, and so the Son does not participate in the Spirit’s eternal existential procession, but what is important in Palamas’ theology is the recognition of an “. . . eternal procession of the Spirit from the Son in the divine energy.”  St. Gregory Palamas’ position on this issue is similar to the position taken by the Holy See in its “Clarification on the Filioque” that was issued back in the mid 1990s.  Because both Gregory and the Vatican clarification are arguing for an eternal procession of the Holy Spirit through the Son, not at the hypostatic level, but at the level of essence, or rather, at the level of God’s essential energy. [See Hussey, 72-75]

[9] “The Hagioritic Tome,” G. E. H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard, Kallistos Ware (Editors), The Philokalia:  The Complete Text compiled by St. Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain and St. Makarios of Corinth, (Boston:  Faber and Faber, 1984), 4 Volumes, 4:420-421.

[10] As St. John Damascene wrote, “May it be far from us to speak of or think of Him as God-bearer only, Who is in truth God incarnate. For the Word Himself became flesh, having been in truth conceived of the Virgin, but coming forth as God with the assumed nature which, as soon as He was brought forth into being, was deified by Him, so that these three things took place simultaneously, the assumption of our nature, the coming into being, and the deification of the assumed nature by the Word. And thus it is that the holy Virgin is thought of and spoken of as the Mother of God, not only because of the nature of the Word, but also because of the deification of man's nature, the miracles of conception and of existence being wrought together, to wit, the conception the Word, and the existence of the flesh in the Word Himself.” [St. John Damascene, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, 9:56-57.

[11] “The Hagioritic Tome,” The Philokalia, 4:422.

[12] St. Gregory Palamas, Homily 37.

[13] St. Gregory Palamas, Homily 37.

[14] St. Gregory Palamas, Homily 6:11.  Christopher Veniamin, The Homilies of St. Gregory Palamas, (South Canaan, PA:  Saint Tikhon’s Seminary Press, 2002).  3 Volumes.  1:71.

[15] St. Gregory Palamas, Homily 6:12.  Veniamin, 1:71.

[16] St. Gregory Palamas, Homily 9:8.  Veniamin, 1:96.

[17] St. Gregory Palamas, The Triads, page 42.

[18] St. Gregory Palamas, Homily 6:16.  Veniamin, 1:74.

[19] As St. Gregory Palamas explains:  “. . . John [Climacus] teaches us that it is enough to examine the matter in a human (let alone a spiritual) manner, to see that it is absolutely necessary to recall or keep the mind within the body, when one determines to be truly in possession of oneself and to be a monk worthy of the name, according to the inner man.  One the other hand, it is not out of place to teach people, especially beginners, that they should look at themselves, and introduce their own mind within themselves through control of breathing.  A prudent man will no forbid someone who does not as yet contemplate himself to use certain methods to recall his mind within himself, for those newly approaching this struggle find that their mind, when recollected, continually becomes dispersed again.  It is thus necessary for such people constantly to bring it back once more; but in their inexperience, they fail to grasp that nothing in the world is in fact more difficult to contemplate and more mobile and shifting than the mind.  This is why certain masters recommend them to control the movement inwards and outwards of the breath, and to hold it back a little; in this way, they will also be able to control the mind together with the breath – this, at any rate, until such time as they have made progress, with the aid of God, have restrained the intellect from becoming distracted by what surrounds it, have purified it and truly become capable of leading it to a ‘unified recollection.’” [St. Gregory Palamas, The Triads, The Classics of Western Spirituality, Translated by Nicolas Gendle, (New York:  Paulist Press, 1987), pages 45-46]

[20] Hierotheos Vlachos, Metropolitan of Nafpaktos, Saint Gregory Palamas as a Hagiorite, Translated by Esther Williams, (Levadia, Greece:  Birth of the Theotokos Monastery, 2000), page 156.

[21] The distinction between essence and energy is not something invented by St. Gregory Palamas in order to protect the transcendence of God; instead, this distinction is traditional within the metaphysics of Eastern Christianity.  St. Basil the Great in Letter 235 explains the distinction this way, “. . . the word knowledge has many meanings, and so those who make sport of simpler minds, and like to make themselves remarkable by astounding statements (just like jugglers who get the balls out of sight before men’s very eyes), hastily included everything in their general enquiry. Knowledge, I say, has a very wide application, and knowledge may be got of what a thing is, by number, by bulk, by force, by its mode of existence, by the period of its generation, by its essence. When then our opponents include the whole in their question, if they catch us in the confession that we know, they straightway demand from us knowledge of the essence; if, on the contrary, they see us cautious as to making any assertion on the subject, they affix on us the stigma of impiety.  I, however, confess that I know what is knowable of God, and that I know what it is which is beyond my comprehension.  So if you ask me if I know what sand is, and I reply that I do, you will obviously be slandering me, if you straightway ask me the number of the sand; inasmuch as your first enquiry bore only on the form of sand, while your second unfair objection bore upon its number.  The quibble is just as though any one were to say, Do you know Timothy?  Oh, if you know Timothy you know his nature.  Since you have acknowledged that you know Timothy, give me an account of Timothy’s nature.  Yes; but I at the same time both know and do not know Timothy, though not in the same way and in the same degree.  It is not that I do not know in the same way in which I do know; but I know in one way and am ignorant in one way.  I know him according to his form and other properties; but I am ignorant of his essence.  Indeed, in this way too, I both know, and am ignorant of, myself.  I know indeed who I am, but, so far as I am ignorant of my essence I do not know myself.” [Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers, (Peabody, MA:  Hendrickson Publishers, 1994), Second Series, Volume 8, page 275]  See also St. Basil’s Letter 189, Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers, Series 2, 8:228-233.  See also Max Thunberg, Man and the Cosmos:  The Vision of St. Maximus the Confessor, (Crestwood, NY:  St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press), 1985, pages 137-143.

[22] Hierotheos Vlachos, 148.

[23] St. Gregory of Sinai, Philokalia, 4:275.

[24] St. Gregory of Sinai, Philokalia, 4:276.

[25] See St. Gregory of Sinai, Philokalia, 4:275.

[26] St. Gregory of Sinai, Philokalia, 4:259.

[27] St. Gregory of Sinai, Philokalia, 4:277.

[28] Archbishop Joseph Raya, The Byzantine Book of Prayer, The Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, (Pittsburgh, PA:  Byzantine Seminary Press, 1995), page 163.

[29] Maloney, 90.

[30] Mark 9:1-10.

[31] See John 17:1-26.

Copyright © 2005-2025 Steven Todd Kaster