The Triads"Should do much to open up his hidden source of spiritual richness." George Malone, S.J. Fordham University Gregory Palamas: The Triads edited with an introduction by John Meyendorff translated by Nicholas Gendle preface by Jaroslav Pelikan "For God is not only beyond knowledge, but also beyond unknowing." Gregory Palamas (1296-1359) Gregory Palamas (1296-1359) -monk, archbishop, and eminent theologian- was a major figure in fourteenth-century Orthodox Byzantium. His greatest work, In Defense of the Holy Hesychasts (known commonly as The Triads), was written between 1338 and 1341 as a response to the charges of the Calabrian philosopher Barlaam against the monastic groups known as hesychasts. Barlaam denied the legitimacy of their spiritual methods, which included the famous "Jesus Prayer," and discredited their claims to experience the divine presence. Palamas devoted his career as a theologian to the defense of the truth central to hesychasm: God is accessible to personal experience, because he shared His own life with humanity. This book contains extensive excerpts from Palamas' famous work that, in the words of the book's distinguished editor John Meyendorff, "introduce the reader into the very substance of the religious experience of the Christian East." + |
Contents
| 25 | |
| 31 | |
C The Hesychast method of prayer and the transformation of the body | 41 |
D Deification in Christ | 57 |
E The uncreated Glory | 71 |
F Essence and energies in God | 93 |
Notes | 113 |
| 155 | |
| 160 | |
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Common terms and phrases
according affirm Ambig angels apophatic theology apostles Barlaam Basil become body Byzantine called Christ Christian Church communion contemplation created things creatures deifying gift demons Denys divine energies divine essence divine light divine nature divine things divinised dwell energy of God eternal Evagrius evil existence experience eyes faculties Fathers glory God's grace Greek Gregory Nazianzen Gregory of Nyssa Gregory Palamas Gregory the Theologian heart hesychasts Holy Spirit human hypostasis Ibid illumination ineffable inner intellect Jesus Prayer John Climacus knowledge Macarius manifest Maximus Maximus the Confessor Messalians Meyendorff mind monastic monks Mount Athos mysterious mystical natural symbol Orthodox Palamas's participate passions patristic PG XC PG XXIX PG XXXVI philosophy possess prayer purified reality saints says sense perception soul speak spiritual sticheron supernatural teaching Theologian thought tion transcends Transfig Transfiguration transformed Triads uncreated light union unknowable unoriginate virtue visible vision wisdom words worthy
Popular passages
Page 16 - ... breathe our breath in and out, only because of our heart ... so, as I have said, sit down, recollect your mind, draw it — I am speaking of your mind — in your nostrils; that is the path the breath takes to reach the heart. Drive it, force it to go down to your heart with the air you are breathing in. When it is there, you will see the joy that follows: you will have nothing to regret. As a man who has been away from home for a long time cannot restrain his joy at seeing his wife and children...
Page 4 - Prayer ("Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner") synchronized with one's breathing.
Page 32 - It, too, will attain to that light and will become worthy of a supernatural vision of God, not seeing the divine essence, but seeing God by a revelation appropriate and analogous to Him. One sees, not in a negative way — for one does see something — but in a manner superior to negation. For God is not only beyond knowledge, but also beyond unknowing...
Page 2 - prayer of the mind", or "mental" prayer 1noera proseucbe1, is the goal, the content and the justification of hesychastic, eremitic life. He sees it as "natural
