TRINITARIAN ANTHROPOLOGYAND THEOLOGICAL METHODOF ST. GREGORY PALAMAS

According to D. M. Rogich

Presentation by Liza Tanczyk

Theology 3306

November 14, 2013

THE AUTHOR – D.M.ROGICH

• Orthodox priest• PhD in Theology, Duquesne University• Studied with:

– Palamite scholar J. Meyendorff at St. Vladimir’s Seminary– and hesychast bishop A.Radovich in Serbia

• Visited Thessalonica, Constantinople and Mt. Athos• Author of :

– Saints of the Serbian Orthodox Church– St. Gregory Palamas: Treatise on the Spiritual Life– Becoming Uncreated: The Journey to Human Authenticity

• Currently in Canton, Ohio at:– Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church– And as Adjunct Professor, Walsh University

ST. GREGORY PALAMAS, 1296-1359

• Grew up in Constantinople, time of unrest• Latinization from west, Muslims from east• Came from wealthy family, highly educated• Lived on Mt. Athos under guidance of

Nicodemus the hesychast• Wrote “Triads in Defence of the Hesychasts”

in response to Barlaam of Calabria, who attacked practice of hesychasm.

• Council in Constantinople upheld hesychasm.

• Palamas became Archbishop of Thessalonika.

• Sainthood proclaimed 9 years after his death• St. Gregory of Palamas is celebrated on the 2nd Sunday of Lent,

because the victory of hesychasm is considered the “Second Triumph of Orthodoxy”.

STRUCTURE OF PRESENTATION

Slide:• INTRODUCTION

• EXPERIENCE THEOLOGY

• 4 LAYERS OF THE HUMAN SELF

• FORMS OF KNOWLEDGE

• DEFINITION OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE

• THE IMAGE: ARCHETYPE AND RENEWAL

• THE JESUS PRAYER AND THEOSIS

• ANTINOMY AND DYNAMIC THEOLOGY

Draws on:• Preface and Chapter 2• Chapter 1 and 2• Chapter 1, p. 4-11• Chapter 1, p.11-17• Chapter 1, p.17-22• Chapter 1, p. 22-28• Chapter 1, p. 28-35• Chapter 1, p. 35-39

INTRODUCTION• Spiritual thirst in modern society –

– Search for experience of deeper prayer life– Attraction of mystic experience– “Christian of the future will either be a “mystic”, one who experienced

something, or he will cease to be anything at all” – K. Rahner• Rogich tries to “translate” Palamas’ thought for the present day.• In the first 2 chapters he introduces Palamas’ paradigm:

– The basic assumptions underlying his christology, and– The social-theological context

• Palamas considered that Christian Tradition is in danger of becoming a stagnant “theology of repetition”, “a historical belief instead of a true experiental belief”.

• This can happen if dogma is placed before spiritual practice.• Consequently, dogmatic tradition can get misinterpreted, but more

importantly, it is not being experienced.• Palamas’ major thesis is that the way to contact the past is by

entering into its experiences.

EXPERIENCE THEOLOGY

• “The affairs of the spirit can be approached as empirically as can outer nature”

• Palamas explored “experience beyond the senses”, a knowledge that is beyond “informational”.

• Truth is not a concept, but the presence of God Himself– Opinions of intellectuals may be clever but false– Experience of saints is always true.

• Tradition (scripture, dogmas) are not speculative; they are based on “experience of salvation”.

• Patristic tradition should be practiced “in the manner of the Apostles”.

• Palamas went back through Tradition to re-discover an ancient experiental methodology

NEXT: Rogich attempts to “map” Palamas’ anthropological hypothesis:

4 LAYERS OF THE HUMAN SELF

KARTHIAHeart – spiritual centre of human being

SOMABody –

Sends sensory data to dianoia

DIANOIARational mind –Directs the Soma

Is not helpful in knowledge of God

SOULSoul + Soma = Human created in God’s image

Epithymitikon Logistikon Thymikon(Desiring) (Works with the NOUS) (Incensive)

NOUSIntellect – underlying faculty of the SOUL

Perceives divine truth by immediate experience

FORMS OF KNOWLEDGE

What about growing closer to God through His creation byobserving the natural world via senses and with help of science?

• Different forms of knowledge are not mutually exclusive or in opposition to each other.

• Scientific knowledge is acquired by experiment and observation.• Palamas warned against exaggerated veneration of science.

– Knowledge acquired through the senses is inferior– Scientific knowledge is not necessary for salvation

• In the 14th century science and rational thought were seen as contributing to the knowledge of God.

• Per Aristotle: All knowledge about God is attained through the senses. (root of argument between Palamas and Barlaam)

• Barlaam concluded that God is unknowable through the senses.• He challenged hesychasm’s assertion that God can be experienced

in this life.

DEFINITION OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE

If so, can a lay person be a hesychast for 1 hr./day, and be “in the world” the rest of the time? “Hesychasm Lite”?

• Experience of God is beyond physiology, astronomy, etc.• There is a unique quality in every human that enables participation in

the inner mysteries of existence.• This is made possible by the presence of God’s Image in every human.• The Nous is able to transcend itself by journeying to the “Image within”.• Projection of Nous into Karthia can lead to a direct experience of God. • To Barlaam’s accusations of Messalianism and Gnosticism, Palamas

insisted that:– participation in God cannot be initiated by the explorer, but is a gift of God’s

grace.

– hesychasm is open to all Christians; it is not the reserve of an elite.

THE IMAGE: ARCHETYPE AND RENEWAL

• Through incarnation Christ restored divine consciousness to humanity.

• Since He “clothed Himself in the body” He penetrates all matter – He is its natural form.

• Consequently there is a “christological structure” inside each human.• The Image is never lost, but becomes buried under layers of sin.• Saints who have achieved theosis have attained full personhood.• Sacraments, especially baptism and eucharist, are means to

regaining the Image within.– Baptism washes away sin and confers divine grace.– Eucharist unites us bodily with Christ.

• Deification begins in this world and grows inexhaustibly in the world to come.

What was the status of the Image and the “christological structure” in humanity prior to the Incarnation?

THE JESUS PRAYER AND THEOSIS“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have mercy on me, a sinner”

• The practitioner is first required to reject sin and practice virtues.• Hesychastic meditation method: Head bowed with Nous directed at

the Karthia. • Repetition of the Jesus prayer eventually leads to its becoming

automatic, and emanating from the Karthia – a “prayer of the heart”.• Senses and rational mind are distractions.• Achieving inner stillness is a battle with the intellect that is busy with

memories, fantasies, anticipations that are situated in the “outer layers of the self”.

• Through inner exploration hesychasm uncovers the lie that entered human consciousness after the “fall”: that the human self is nothing more than material existence.

• Spiritual gnosis, granted by God’s grace, is a transcendent union with God’s energies, an entering into “the uncreated light”.

ANTINOMY AND DYNAMIC THEOLOGY• Palamas emphasizes that antinomies are 2 sides of the same coin.• Choosing one side to the exclusion of the other leads to heresy.• Four antinomic spiritual paths:

– Transcendence and immanence – God’s “otherness” and “nearness’’. Hesychast transcends oneself to experience another dimension of reality.

– Logos and flesh – As Logos self-emptied to take on flesh, so human has ability to empty one’s finite self in order to reach God.

– Divine and human nature – Human has potential to regain divine consciousness. The Gospel Jesus is a story about human nature transformed to a higher level of reality.

– Body and soul – No implication of “immortal soul” antithetical to “evil” body. Hesychastic practice cannot be performed without a body.

• Dynamic theology: Palamas was wary of historical theology becoming too static; he saw hesychasm’s experiental practice as a movement forward “with the Fathers”.