TRINITARIAN ANTHROPOLOGY
AND THEOLOGICAL METHOD
OF 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
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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
Draws on:
• Preface and Chapter 2
INTRODUCTION
EXPERIENCE THEOLOGY
• Chapter 1 and 2
4 LAYERS OF THE HUMAN SELF
• Chapter 1, p. 4-11
FORMS OF KNOWLEDGE
• Chapter 1, p.11-17
DEFINITION OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE • Chapter 1, p.17-22
THE IMAGE: ARCHETYPE AND RENEWAL • Chapter 1, p. 22-28
THE JESUS PRAYER AND THEOSIS
• Chapter 1, p. 28-35
ANTINOMY AND DYNAMIC THEOLOGY
• Chapter 1, p. 35-39
Slide:
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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
DIANOIA
SOMA
Rational mind –
Body –
Sends sensory data to dianoia
Directs the Soma
Is not helpful in knowledge of God
SOUL
Soul + Soma = Human created in God’s image
Epithymitikon
(Desiring)
Logistikon
Thymikon
(Works with the NOUS)
(Incensive)
NOUS
Intellect – underlying faculty of the SOUL
Perceives divine truth by immediate experience
KARTHIA
Heart – spiritual centre of human being
FORMS OF KNOWLEDGE
• 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.
What about growing closer to God through His creation by
observing the natural world via senses and with help of science?
DEFINITION OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
• 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.
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”?
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
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“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”.