Hagiography of Saint Gregory Palamas – Father Gavril Galev
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TEACHER OF THE ORTHODOX MYSTERY
Every building is based on a foundation, and in order to be built, it rests on pillars on which the whole edifice is supported. These supporting pillars of the Orthodox Church are the Holy Fathers. The cornerstone is Christ, the foundations are the apostles and their preaching, and the pillars are the Holy Fathers and their dogmatic formulations. The Holy Church has several such pillars, on whose teachings the doctrine of Its creed is held, and in reference to Saint Gregory Palamas we can say that he is Its central pillar, which connects and unites all others and bears the weight of the edifice, that is, the Church. In his dogmatic reviews, Saint Gregory Palamas covers and sublimes all the previous dogmatic teaching of the previous Holy Fathers and unites it into a single whole, beginning with the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, the Cappadocian Fathers, Saint John Chrysostom, Venerable Maximus the Confessor, and up to Saint Simeon the New Theologian and all the Hesychast Fathers, before and during his confession.
Ancestry and origin
Saint Gregory Palamas lived in the 14th century, during the time of the Palaeologos, the last dynasty of the Eastern Roman Empire. He was born in 1296, in Asia Minor. During the Turkish conquests of those areas, his family fled to Constantinople and there they found refuge in the palace of the emperor Andronicus II Palaeologus[1]. “Gregory came from noble and pious parents. His father was so full of virtues that Emperor Andronicus II made him his adviser. But not only the earthly king, but also God, the Heavenly King, honoured him and glorified him with miracles while he was still alive. Knowing in advance the day of his repose, Constantine (which was his name) received a monastic schema”[2].
Although he lived in the emperor’s court, Constantine, the father of Saint Gregory, was distinguished by prayerful sobriety, mental vigilance over the heart and contemplation of God. “Among the many who lived in the world and had unceasing prayer is that wonderful Constantine, who, although he lived and moved in the middle of the royal court’s turbulent life, was called the father and teacher of the emperor Andronicus, and was daily engaged in imperial and state affairs, although he had a large possessions and many servants, a wife and children, and in spite of all this, he was inseparable from God and so attached to unceasing prayer of mind in the heart, that he often forgot what the king and the high royal officials were saying to him, even so many times about the same thing. Many of the courtiers, without knowing what the reason was, were in an uncomfortable position and reproached him for burdening the king so much. But the emperor, knowing the reason, protected him and said: ‘Constantine has his own thoughts, which sometimes do not allow him to treat our affairs with all his attention’.”[3] Also Saint Gregory’s mother, Kalona, was a deeply pious and charitable woman. Both of them paid special attention to the education and growth of their children.
From an early age Gregory was distinguished by his high intelligence; therefore, his parents provided him with an appropriate secular education. However, his father passed away at a young age, so the care of raising their children fell on his mother. Emperor Andronicus himself, who saw in Gregory a future dignitary, tried to direct the boy towards state service; therefore he took responsibility for his secular education. Saint Gregory advanced rapidly and was ahead of his peers in science, especially in physics and logic, and mostly in Aristotle’s philosophical and logical systems. Thus, when Gregory was only seventeen years old, he was asked to give a speech on Aristotle before the emperor and other dignitaries. When he finished his speech, everyone was so amazed that Theodore Metochites, the emperor’s chief civil servant, exclaimed: “Even if Aristotle were here today, no doubt he too would have praised him.”
On the path of asceticism
The monk is the unceasing light in the eye of the heart.
– Saint John of the Ladder
In addition to studying secular sciences, Gregory also studied the Holy Scriptures and the writings of the Holy Fathers. “He came into contact with monks and ascetics who came from Mount Athos (the Holy Mountain) to Constantinople, and asked them about the monastic life. They advised him to visit the Holy Mountain and even to engage in the practice of asceticism whilst he was still in the world. He accepted their advice so zealously that he changed his clothes, his behaviour, that is, his whole way of living, therefore, many people thought that he had lost his mind. He undertook very strict asceticism: he ate only bread and drank only water. He also practiced every other virtue.” [4] The mysteries of the prayer of the mind in the heart were introduced to him by the Holy Bishop Theoleptos of Philadelphia and Saint Nicephorus the Hesychast.
Despite the emperor’s efforts to keep him in the court, at the age of twenty, Gregory secretly left for the Holy Mountain. As the eldest, he took care of his mother and his sisters; he left them in a women’s monastery where they later became nuns, and he and his brothers continued towards the Holy Mountain. There he became a novice in the Vatopedi monastery, where under the guidance of Venerable Nicodemus of Vatopedi [5] he stepped onto the path of asceticism and received monastic tonsure. For the first two years, he practiced asceticism in fasting, constant vigil, sobriety and incessant prayer. In his prayers, he always invoked the Mother of God as his intercessor and helper.
One day, on the Holy Mountain, when Gregory was immersed in prayer to God, suddenly, before him stood a man with a radiant and beautiful countenance, Saint John the Theologian, and looking at him tenderly, he asked him: “Why do you, while praying to God, keep repeating : ‘Illuminate my darkness, illuminate my darkness?'” Gregory answered: “What else would I ask for except that: to be enlightened and to know how to do His holy will?” Then the holy Evangelist said to him: “By the will of Sovereign of all, the Theotokos, from now on I will be with you unyieldingly.”
God’s providence was, that after a three-year struggle in complete obedience to his spiritual guide and spiritual father, Venerable Nicodemus, to present himself before God. During that time, the youngest brother of Saint Gregory, Theodosios, passed away. Then Saint Gregory, together with his other brother Macarius, went to the Great Lavra of Venerable Athanasius the Athonite, where the abbot and the brothers received them with great joy. In the monastery, they gave him the task of obedience so as to serve the brothers at the communal table and to be a psalter in the choir. He carried out his task of obedience with exceptional zeal, adhering to strict asceticism in every virtue. All the brothers admired his godly life. He managed to achieve such passionless (purity of heart) that he had complete control over his body, going three months without almost any sleep.
Bearer of the inexhaustible gift of the grace of God
The Holy Apostle Paul says: ‘If we would have examined ourselves, then we would not have been condemned'[6], so after we experience that feeling of the holy prophet David, the feeling of God’s presence everywhere, so that we too can say to God: ‘For darkness shall not be dark because of You, and the night shall be bright as day; As its darkness, so also shall be its light'[7] – so not only do I want all the strength of my soul’s longing to make it Yours, but I want, if any sincere desire is found in my body, I want it to fly to You, to attach itself to You and to stick to You [8].
– Saint Gregory Palamas
Avoiding human glory and striving for solitude and a higher level of spiritual perfection, after three years he secretly left the Lavra and settled in the small hermitage “Glossia”. There, lived hermits, holy people, who engaged themselves day and night in ceaseless prayer of the mind in the heart and spiritual contemplations. Knowing that wheresoever he went, humble obedience is the door and foundation for every spiritual struggle and virtue, Saint Gregory surrendered himself to the obedience of the head of this holy hermitage, Gregory of Constantinople. The spiritual son Gregory, imitating his spiritual father Gregory, himself reached a high level of sanctity and experience in the practice of ceaseless prayer of the mind in the heart, which reaches the inexpressible heights and depths of communion with the Living God. Immersing himself in the depths of contemplative prayer, he came to such a tenderness and rapture of mind so that streams of tears flowed continually from his eyes as from a spring. Until the end of his life, he did not stop crying for the salvation of the whole world.
Later, due to the danger of attacks by the Turks, Saint Gregory and his brothers were forced to leave the place and protect themselves from the Turkish invasion. Saint Gregory wanted to go to Jerusalem to worship in the holy places and continue his monastic life there. Wondering if this was God’s will, he began to pray. While praying, he fell into a light sleep and had a vision. “It seemed to me that I was in the Emperor’s court and that with me were my twelve companions. The King was there, on His magnificent throne, surrounded by his dignitaries. Then, one of them approached me – he looked like a great military leader, and hugged me. Carrying me to his place, he said to my brothers: ‘I will keep Gregory with me, because that pleases the King, and you are free to go where you want!'”[9] After that vision, they realized that the holy great martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica himself wanted to keep Saint Gregory in Thessalonica. So they found a lonely place in the district of Beroea, near Thessalonica, and settled there, and they ordained Saint Gregory a hieromonk. He was thirty years old then.
As a priest, he was in charge of ministering the Liturgy to the brothers, but in order to maintain his solitary way of life, he synchronised his priestly service with his solitude (stillness) in such a way that on Saturdays and Sundays he ministered the Liturgy, he partook of the Holy Gifts of Christ and taught the brothers, and on the other days of the week he retreated into seclusion in a nearby cave. His Liturgies were so inspired that he ministered like an angel, causing deep compassion and tears in those present. In those hours, and especially after services, his face shone with the uncreated divine light and everyone wanted to see him and enjoy the presence of God through him. Many holy and virtuous men admired his virtuous life, which earned him the gift of miracle-working, and they called him a God-bearer and a prophet.
At that time, his virtuous mother, who was a nun in a monastery in Constantinople, passed away. His sisters and their co-ascetics informed him of her death and called him to bury his mother, and to comfort and calm them spiritually. Saint Gregory fulfilled their request and left for Constantinople. On his way back, he took his sisters and placed them in a nunnery in Thessalonica, while he went to his brothers in Beroea.
Saint Gregory stayed in Beroea for five years, but in 1331, due to frequent attacks and harassment by Serbian intruders, he was forced to return to the Holy Mountain, to the Lavra. There he was again warmly received by the brothers. He secluded himself in the “Saint Sava” hermitage, which was located nearby. And there he continued his strict typikon (rule), not leaving his cell, except on Saturdays and Sundays, when he went to liturgical communions in the Lavra.
Once, during his cell prayer rule, he prayed to the Most-Holy Sovereign Lady to free him and his brothers from everything that disturbs and distracts them from prayer, and that She herself would take care of all their life needs. The Most-Holy One answered his prayer and appeared to him together with a multitude of radiant men. She turned to them and said, “From now on, and into the future, you take care of the needs of my servant Gregory and his brothers.” And, indeed, since then he had in reality felt God’s care and providence for him.
Another time, during the prayer, a light sleep came over him and he saw that he was holding a bowl of milk in his hands, which was overflowing and moistening his hands. That milk turned into fragrant wine, which also poured over his hands and robes, spreading a wonderful scent everywhere. Filled with unspeakable joy, he saw a radiant young man, who said to him: “Why do you not give others this miraculous drink, but allow it to be poured out in vain?” Don’t you know it is a gift from God that will never stop springing forth? To that Saint Gregory answered: “But if there is no one in our time who asks for those gifts, to whom should I give them?” “However, you are obliged to share them, and let God decide who is worthy to receive them.” – answered the interlocutor.
Upon awakening, Saint Gregory understood that the change of milk into fragrant wine meant that his teaching would change from a simple teaching to a dogmatic and sublime one. Obedient to God’s providence, he opened his holy and honey-flowing mouth, and then he wrote his first works: “The Life of Venerable Peter Athonite” and “Word on the Presentation of the Most-Holy Theotokos into the Holy of Holies”.
In 1333, he was then appointed Abbot of the Monastery of Esphygmenou. At this time, the Fraternity numbered two hundred monks. And there many miracles occurred through his prayers. Once, while he was Abbot, the Monastery ran out of oil. When he entered the cellars where the oil was kept, he saw all the vessels empty. They prayed, and the vessels, in plain view of everyone, were filled. They also went to the olive trees, because they were the reason that the oil ran out (they did not produce any fruit that year), he blessed them and since then they have produced fruit every year.
But Saint Gregory was Abbot for a short time. His zeal for reform caused a ripple in the community. Therefore, in 1336, he again withdraw into the cell of Saint Sava, near the Lavra of Saint Athanasius, where he engaged in writing theological works (treatises), which he did not leave (stop writing) until the end of his life. There he reached such spiritual perfection that even many holy ascetics admired his equal apostolic virtues and miracles.
A time of turmoil in the Church
And I will keep Your law forever and unto the ages of ages.
(Ps. 118, 44)
During the thirties of the 14th century, certain events took place in the life of the Eastern Church that placed Saint Gregory among the great ecumenical pillars and apologists of Orthodoxy. Around 1330, the erudite monk Barlaam arrived in Constantinople from Calabria. [10] Soon after Varlaam travelled to Mount Athos. There he became acquainted with the way of the spiritual life of the Hesychasts and based on the dogma of the unattainability of God’s nature, he called the mental action a heretical misconception. Barlaam entered into a dispute with the monks and accused them of messalianism, because “they see the Divine essence with bodily eyes”, and even ridiculed the words of the monks about the prayer experiences and contemplations they had.
Faced with the upheaval caused by the western monk Barlaam, the faithful people were in doubt about his teaching. Therefore, a few faithful believers from Thessalonica, seeing in Saint Gregory the most suitable person, inspired by God, besought him to guide them to the truth. The Saint realized that this philosopher was preaching an erroneous teaching to that of the Holy Fathers, so he wrote him a letter from the hermitage “Saint Sava” to stop spreading his non-Orthodox teaching and to return to the rich tradition of the Holy Father’s Tradition. Later, at the request of the faithful, Saint Gregory left the Holy Mountain and came to Thessalonica, and there he openly fought against the new heresy. First, he politely asked Barlaam to stop talking about prayerful abiding in inner stillness that he did not understand and to deal with what he had learned – philosophy. But when the monk Barlaam did not accept his request, Saint Gregory openly stood theologically against him. Saint Gregory wrote:
“If the mind does not adhere to the commandments of God and to the Lord, Who armed the mind with these weapons, then it makes war against its neighbours, rages against its own countrymen and is angry with those who do not approve of its foolish desires. Such a person, unfortunately, becomes a murderer of men, resembling not only the mindless animals, but also the reptiles and poisonous snakes. He who is placed among the sons of God becomes like a scorpion or a serpent, like a brood of vipers.” [11]
Saint Gregory Palamas spent three years in Thessalonica, defending Orthodoxy. After which he returned to the Holy Mountain, in order to theoretically expound there, the teaching of hesychastic practice and the dogmas of the uncreated grace of God. He wrote nine treatises in defence of the holy silencers (hesychasts) and of the uncreated divine light.
In defence of the holy hesychasts and their ascetic-hesychastic tradition
Do you see that it is necessary for those who have decided to take heed on themselves in silence (inner stillness) to collect their mind and lock it in their body, and especially in that which is the innermost body in the body, which we call the heart. For, according to the psalmist: ‘All the glory of the king’s daughter is within'[12], so why should we look for it somewhere outside?
If according to the apostle: ‘God has sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, who cries:
Abba, Father!'[13], then how can we not pray with this Spirit in our hearts?
If according to the words of the Lord, the prophets and the apostles:
‘The Kingdom of God is within you'[14], then will he not be outside the Kingdom of Heaven,
one who strives so earnestly to expel his mind from within himself?
– Saint Gregory Palamas
Barlaam did not like such representation, so he began to attack and slander the monks of Mount Athos, calling them “navel-gazers”. Later he went to Constantinople to ingratiate himself with the emperor and the Patriarch, in which he succeeded, and became their adviser on various issues. Because of this, they too were misled by his false teaching, so they summoned the Saint to the ecclesiastical court in Constantinople. Saint Gregory Palamas also carried with him the “Tomos of Mont Athos”, which he had previously compiled himself, and in 1340-1341 it was signed by all the abbots of the Holy Mountain and monks from the Protaton in Karyes. Thus, the entire monastic community of Mount Athos stood against Barlaam’s nominalistic humanism, and they recognised Saint Gregory Palamas as their authorised representative.
Filled with the Holy Spirit, the monk from Mount Athos fearlessly stood up for Orthodoxy, refuting the heresies of Barlaam, which threatened to destroy the foundations of the dogmas of the Holy Orthodox Church and its Holy Tradition. Forced to clearly expound and defend the hesychastic teaching, Saint Gregory sublimated the Orthodox teaching on the Divine Essence and established the distinction between God’s energies and God’s unintelligible essence, precisely expounding this theological synthesis, which “does not destroy the unity of the Divine Being, since God in His simplicity He is fully present in both essence and energy”[15]:
“Since man can partake of God (Holy Communion), and since the supersubstantial essence of God is completely inaccessible to communion (for partaking), then there is something between the unpartakeable essence and those who partake (of God), which nevertheless enables them to partake of God. If you remove that which exists between the unpartakeable essence and the partakers – oh what a void! – you cut us off from God, you destroy the relationship, you create a huge, unbridgeable chasm between God, on the one hand, and the creation and management of creatures, on the other. Then we would have to look for another God, Who not only makes sense in Himself for His existence, His self-action and worship of Himself through Himself, but also is a good God; For such a one, the movement towards contemplation of Himself alone will not be enough, He will not only be perfect, but will surpass all fullness of being, so that when in His goodness He wills to do good, He will be able to do it. Thus, He through His creative and providential manifestations (’emergences’) and energies is present in everything. In a word, we must seek a God who is in some way a partakeable. Communicating with Him, each person in a way peculiar to himself, we will all be and we will live, and we will acquire deification analogously according to the level of communion”[16].
According to Saint Gregory Palamas, deification is not some abstract state, but a living communion with God, from which comes the knowledge of God, which, in turn, is above the perception of the mind and of the senses. So, “the Christian God, the God of the Holy Scriptures, is the Living God, but He is at the same time essentially Transcendent in relation to all created things. Even when He reveals Himself as manifestations, and, when He appears, He cannot be known in His essence, because the revelation of the Divine essence would be to reduce God to the level of created beings, and would make man ‘God by nature’. Therefore, the total revelation, the total participation in God, the total deification is a free act of the Living God, of the Divine Energy. However, God does not completely identify Himself with His act. He remains above the act, even when He fully manifests Himself in His own act. Because, God owns that which is created and He makes known His life to it, but that which is created cannot possess God, who always remains ‘the only one who creates’. To know the Divine essence would mean to possess God.”[17]
Saint Gregory presented his arguments in his theological work “Triads – in Defence of the Holy Hesychasts” (1338). At the Council of Constantinople, in 1341, in the Church of Saint Sophia, the dispute between Saint Gregory Palamas and Barlaam took place, the topic of the dispute was: “The nature of the Mount Tabor light”. Barlaam argued that the uncreated divine light was sensuous, created, and “inferior to our sense of understanding.” On May 27, 1341, the council accepted the views of St. Gregory Palamas, that God, Who is inaccessible in His Essence, manifests Himself in the energies, like the light of Mount Tabor , which are directed to the world and are available to be received, but are not created.
“For in the light, can be seen a light, thus, in a similar light can be found that which sees.” If it does not act towards something else, separating itself from everything else, that whole itself becomes light, conforming to what it sees. Or, better put, it unites without mixing, because it is light itself and because it sees light through the light. Hence, if it sees itself, – it sees light; if it sees that which it looks at, also that is light. That’s what unity means! For all these are one, so that the one who sees cannot distinguish either what he sees through and what he looks at, nor what it is. Apart from the fact that it is light and that it sees a light different from all created things.”[18]
Although Barlaam’s teaching was condemned as heresy and he himself was put under anathema, the disputes between Palamites and Barlaamites did not end. Among the latter belonged Barlaam’s disciple, the monk Akindin, and Patriarch John XIV Kalekas [19]; Andronicus III Palaeologus also leaned towards them.[20] Akindin appeared with a number of treatises in which he declared Saint Gregory and the monks of Mount Athos to be guilty of this church problem. The Saint, on the other hand, wrote a detailed refutation of Akindin’s fabrications. In 1344, the Patriarch sided with Akindin, and he condemned Saint Gregory as the culprit for all the church riots and rebellions at that time. He ordained Akindin a deacon, and, by his decree, they bound Saint Gregory and imprisoned him in a dungeon, where he suffered innocently for four years.
Metropolitan of the ancient capital of Thessaloniki
But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.
(Isaiah. 40, 31)
In 1347, the Patriarch was removed from the throne, and Saint Gregory Palamas was released and inducted into the rank of Archbishop of Thessaloniki, which he did not want to receive out of humility. Amongst all of this, at that time, there were still ecclesiastical disturbances in Thessaloniki and the people did not want to receive him as their Archbishop. Therefore, he retreated to his beloved Mount Athos.
During that period, the Holy Synod decided that until things calmed down in Thessaloniki, Saint Gregory should go to Lemnos [21] as Bishop. There he zealously served God and preached, and not a small number of miracles and good deeds did he perform among the people. After some time had passed, the Thessalonians themselves expressed desire and need to return this great beacon of God to their city. In Thessaloniki, in addition to celebrating the Liturgy and preaching, Saint Gregory also performed a number of miracles and healings: he healed the son of a priest from epilepsy, and a nun, blind in one eye, just touched his clothes and received her sight; and many other miracles and healings Saint Gregory performed in this great and famous city.
However, the eternal enemy, the devil, could not rest and reconcile with his defeat by this great and holy God-pleaser, so he was still creating disturbances and confusions. With all his strength Saint Gregory defended the Orthodox Church from pernicious heresy, this time from the successors of Barlaam. He constantly preached and expounded the Orthodox faith in writing. To calm the situation, in 1351 the emperor and the Patriarch convened a great council, almost equal to the Ecumenical Councils. And, there, Saint Gregory refuted the pernicious heresy of Barlaam and his followers, and won a significant victory. Because of this, the second Sunday of the Great Lent is dedicated to this great saint and pillar of the Church, and to his victory over the pernicious heresy of the intellectual rationalisation of divine mysteries by the western mind, which is considered the second victory of Orthodoxy. Finally, at the Council of Blachernae, the orthodoxy of Saint Gregory’s teaching was solemnly witnessed.
Three years before his repose, Saint Gregory Palamas returned to Thessaloniki, but fell seriously ill. Everyone feared for his life, but God performed a miracle and raised him. Then he was called by the emperor John V Paleologus [22] to come and mediate in the disagreements in the royal family. Saint Gregory, without sparing himself, left immediately. But on the way he was intercepted and captured by the Hagars, and he was sold as a slave from owner to owner. He used this situation to spread the Gospel. Carried from city to city, he preached the Gospel of Christ, he strengthened the Orthodox Christians in the faith, comforted the captive Christians and strengthened them with hope so as to carry their cross. To everyone he explained the mysteries of the wisdom of God for the salvation of people. After a year, the Saint was bought by rich Serbian merchants.
Redeemed from slavery as a martyr with a bloodless martyrdom, he joyfully returned to his flock in Thessalonica. Filled with various gifts of God, following the example of the great Apostle Paul, he continued to govern the people with meekness and humility, but at the same time, he continued to fight courageously against the enemies of God, fervently defending the Orthodox faith. He fearlessly refuted and defeated the heretics with the sword of the word of God. He was generous and extremely gentle in solving all problems and difficulties, abundantly decorated with the gifts of God as a true disciple of Christ. As one of Christ’s Apostles, for thirteen years he led his flock in a God-wise and God-pleasing manner.
It was not by chance that he was also called a wonder-worker. After he returned a second time, although already in poor health, with his prayer he performed countless miracles for the glory of God and for the comfort of the faithful. Until the end of his strength, he ministered the Liturgy and preached. Even after he was completely debilitated by the disease and confined to his bed, he preached and interpreted the Gospel.
Towards the heavens
Just before he passed away, Saint Gregory foretold to his faithful children that the next day, after the feast of Saint John Chrysostom, he would present himself before God, telling them: “My friends, today I will depart from you to the Lord. I know this because the divinely Chrysostom appeared to me in a vision and with love, as his friend, he called me to himself.” And indeed, on that very day, November 14(27), in the year 1359, Saint Gregory departed to the Lord in His eternal dwellings. His last words were: “Towards the heavens! Towards the heavens!” He peacefully presented himself before God. His face was illuminated by the uncreated light of God, for which he fought so hard all his life, and also the whole room shone with the ineffable light. [23]
How great is his glory in the heavens. The witness of the vision of a benevolent monk from the Great Lavra on Mount Athos testifies to this. He found himself in the temple of “Saint Sophia” in Constantinople, where he saw the council of the Holy Fathers, among whom were: Saint Athanasius the Great, Saint Basil the Great, Saint Gregory the Theologian, as well as Saint Gregory of Nyssa and Saint Cyril of Alexandria, also with them were a multitude of other saints. The assembled Fathers were vigorously discussing something. When the time came, as usual, to make a decision, then the monk heard how everyone said, as if with one voice: “We cannot confirm the teaching and make a decision, if Gregory of Thessalonica does not come to the council and attend the voting”. Then they sent an attendant to immediately call Saint Gregory to the council. He went, but soon returned and said, “It is not possible for anyone to approach him now, for he is standing before the very Imperial Throne and is talking privately with the Emperor.” They ordered him to go again, wait until the conversation was over, and then call him. This he did. Saint Gregory came to the council. Seeing him coming, all the Fathers stood up and warmly received him, placing him among the three supreme Theologians, equal in glory and honour. Thus the council continued to debate in his presence and confirmed its decision, comparing its words with his, and all in the glory of the universal Church of Christ. All the theologians who were present there turned to him with gratitude and indescribable joy, saying that all that they theologised in various circumstances and times, all this, he has now gathered into one, in the end times, with the help of the divine power and grace, he has well amalgamated and processed, and through himself – he glorified them with the help of the Holy Spirit. That was the end of this wonderful vision of this hermit of Mount Athos, to whom God revealed the heavenly glory of this preacher and participant in the eternal divine light. [24]
In the year of 1368, just nine years after his repose, he was canonized as a Saint at the Council of Constantinople by Patriarch Philotheus [25].
Through the prayers of our Holy Protector, Saint Gregory Palamas, Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us!
Father Gavril Galev
Abbot of the Monastery “St. Clement of Ohrid”,
Kinglake, Melbourne, Australia
27 / 11 / 2021
[1] Andronicus II Palaeologus, Byzantine emperor, who reigned from 1281 to 1332.
[2] The life of Saint Gregory Palamas Archbishop of Thessalonika the Wonderworker, by Philotheos, Patriarch of Constantinople. http://sgpm.goarch.org
[3] “Philokalia “, volume 5, Macedonian Orthodox Church, Skopje, 2009, p. 465.
[4] The life of Saint Gregory Palamas Archbishop of Thessalonika the Wonderworker, by Philotheos, Patriarch of Constantinople. http://sgpm.goarch.org
[5] His holy memory is celebrated on July 11.
[6] 1 Cor. 11, 31.
[7] Ps. 138, 13.
[8] “Philokalia”, Volume 5, Macedonian Orthodox Church, Skopje, 2009, p. 290–291.
[9] The life of Saint Gregory Palamas Archbishop of Thessalonika the Wonderworker, by Philotheos, Patriarch of Constantinople. http://sgpm.goarch.org
[10] A peninsula in Southern Italy.
[11] St. Gregory Palamas, “The Homilies,” Mount Thabor Publishing, 2014, p. 20.
[12] Psalms 44, 13.
[13] Gal. 4, 6.
[14] Luke 17, 21.
[15] Jovan Maendorf, “Saint Gregory Palamas and Orthodox Mysticism”, Library “Vovedene”, Veljusa, 2001, p. 135.
[16] Triad III, 2, par. 24, p. 544–583.
[17] Jovan Maendorf, “Saint Gregory Palamas and Orthodox Mysticism”, Biblioteka Vovedenie, Veljusa, 2001, p. 134.
[18] Triad II, 3, par. 36, p. 346–477.
[19] John XIV Apren (Kalekas) was the Patriarch of Constantinople from 1332 to 1347.
[20] Andronicus III Palaeologus, Byzantine emperor, who reigned from 1328 to 1341.
[21] An island in the Aegean Sea, east of Mount Athos.
[22] John V Palaeologus (1341 – 1376) he had John VI Kantakouzin (1341 – 1355) as co-emperor.
[23] See: Arch. Dr. Justin Popoviћ, “Life of the Saints for November”, Monastery of St. Ћelije near Valjevo, Belgrade, 1998, p. 450.
[24] Ibid, p. 452–454.
[25] Venerable Philotheus Kokkinos was the Patriarch of Constantinople (1354 – 1355; 1364 – 1376) and a faithful disciple of Saint Gregory Palamas. He presided over the Council of Constantinople for the canonization of Saint Gregory Palamas and composed the service in his honour. He died in 1376.
