Porphyrios Georgi

All Articles by Porphyrios Georgi

Saint John of Damascus Institute of Theology University of Balamand, Lebanon

‘The Life and the Light’: The Influence of Saint Symeon the New Theologian on the Teaching of Saint Gregory Palamas

Volume 4 – St Gregory Palamas, Special series – Part 2
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Two saints, Symeon the New Theologian and Gregory Palamas, played a crucial role in reviving Patristic theology during the period preceding the Great Captivity of Constantinople. Both monastic writers are known as the theologians of the Uncreated Light and promoters of Hesychasm, and they remain among the most prominent spokesmen for Orthodox theology until our times. Even though three hundred years separate them, one finds in the writings of Saint Gregory an organic continuity with Saint Symeon’s teaching. This article explores Palamas’ reception of the New Theologian’s theology and the relation between the teachings of these two leading figures of Christian spirituality.

During the period of cultural revival preceding the Great Captivity of Constantinople,1 there arose in the Church two theologians who renewed Patristic Theology. Their names were Symeon the New Theologian (+1022) and Gregory Palamas (+1359). Originating from Asia Minor, they were both educated in the aristocratic environment of Constantinople and the imperial court before choosing to follow the monastic path. Symeon departed to Studion Monastery while Gregory went to Athos, the Holy Mountain. Around three hundred years separate these two leading figures of Christian spirituality. Nevertheless, one finds in the writings of Saint Gregory an organic continuity of Saint Symeon’s teaching. Both monastic writers are known as the theologians of the Uncreated Light and promoters of Hesychasm, and they remain till our present time among the most prominent spokesmen for Orthodox theology.2 The time in which Palamas lived was a critical moment in the history of Eastern Christianity, a phase of political, cultural, and theological turmoil and travail.3 Within the vibrant Byzantine setting of the fourteenth century, and as he

 

1.J. Pelikan, The Christian Tradition, A History of Development of Doctrine 2: The Spirit of Eastern Christendom (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1974), 252–54.

 

2.Δ. Κουτρουμπῆ, ‘Ἡ ἐπικαιρότης τοῦ Γρηγορίου Παλαμᾶ’: ἩΧάριςτῆςΘεολογίας (Ἀθήνα: Δόμος, 1995), 157–69; F. Georgi, Ἡ ἀνάστασις καὶ ἡ ζωή: Ἡ ἐσχατολογία τοῦ ἁγίου Γρηγορίου Παλαμᾶ (Θεσσαλονίκη: Μπαρμπουνάκη, 2010).

 

3.For the historical and intellectual framework of the Hesychastic controversy, see P. Lemerle, ‘Le Tomos du concile de 1351 et l’horismos de Matthieu Cantacuzène’, REB 9 (1951): 55–64; A. Papadakis, ‘Gregory Palamas at the Council of Blachernae (1351)’, Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 10 (1969): 333–42; L. Clucas, The Hesychast Controversy in Byzantium in the Fourteenth Century: A Consideration of the Basic Evidence, Microfilm, I & II (PhD diss.: University of California, 1975); Δ. Τσάμης, ‘Ὁ Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος Παλαμᾶς καί ἡ ἐποχή του’, in Χ. Κοντάκης, ed., Πρακτικά Θεολογικοῦ Συνεδρίου εἰς τιμήν τοῦ Ἁγίου Γρηγορίου Παλαμᾶ (Θεσσαλονίκη: 1985), 51–69; Β. Χριστοφορίδη, Οἱ ἡσυχαστικές ἔριδες κατά τό ΙΔ΄ αἰώνα (Θεσσαλονίκη: Παρατηρητής, 1993); Tsirpanlis C. N., ‘Byzantine Humanism and Hesychasm in the Thirteenth & Fourteenth Century: Synthesis or Antithesis, Reformation or Revolution’, PBR 12:1–3 (1993): 13–23; Δ. Γ. Κουτσούρη, Ὁ Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος ὁ Παλαμᾶς καί ἡ ἀντιησυχαστική κακοδοξία τοῦ ΙΔ΄ αἰώνα ( Σροχαλία: Ἀθήνα, 1996); Γ. Μαντζαρίδης, ed., Ὁ Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος Παλαμᾶς στήν Ἱστορία καί τό Παρόν: Πρακτικά διεθνῶν ἐπιστημονικῶν συνεδρίων Ἀθηνῶν καί Λεμεσοῦ (Ἅγιον Ὄρος: Ἱερά Μέγιστη Μονή Βατοπαιδίου, 2000).