Gregory Palamas (1296–1359), monk, archbishop and theologian, was a major figure in fourteenth-century Orthodox Byzantium. This, his greatest work, presents a defense in support of the monastic groups known as the “hesychasts,” the originators of the Jesus Prayer. Students of church history will benefit from this edition’s clear argumentation and reasoning.
For a massive collection including over a hundred and twenty of the volumes in this series, see the Classics of Western Spirituality Bundle (126 vols.).
“For God is not only beyond knowledge, but also beyond unknowing;9” (Page 32)
“Indeed, in Christ, His two natures—so precisely defined at Chalcedon as both ‘inseparable’ and ‘unconfused’—remain distinct. Therefore, deification or communion between divinity and humanity does not imply a confusion of essences or natures. It remains nevertheless real communion between the Uncreated and His creature, and real deification—not by essence, but by energy.” (Page 19)
“we for our part know that while all the energies of God are uncreated, not all are without beginning.” (Page 96)
“The living God is accessible to personal experience, because He shared His own life with humanity.” (Page 1)
“Following the great Denys, one should perhaps call it union, and not knowledge.” (Page 37)