By Archimandrite Methodios Alexiou
In the fourteenth century, Byzantium was threatened by three dangers: first, Western scholasticism, represented by Barlaam, who taught that man cannot truly be united with God; second, Ottoman views of Byzantium; and third, Slavic raids into Macedonia, accompanied by a spirit of egocentrism and superstitions that prevailed in those regions. These were the circumstances in which Saint Gregory Palamas struggled.
Our Church honors Saint Gregory on the Sunday following the Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, as an example of Orthodox life and teaching. Indeed, had the views of Barlaam prevailed in his time, the Christian life would not have been a path toward deification, but a mere human movement, deprived of the freshness of the breath of the Holy Spirit. The person of Saint Gregory Palamas, the God-seer, and his Orthodox theology, which is founded upon the deification of man through the uncreated energies in the Church of Christ, make the Saint an exceptional figure both in his own time and today. Saint Gregory Palamas answers the fundamental question of every Christian: “Can I see God?” And his answer is: “Yes, you can see Him within yourself, see Him spiritually, if, with all your repentance and humility, and with anguish of soul, you direct your prayer to Him: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.’”
In his homilies, Saint Gregory never places himself outside the bounds of human weakness. He turns to God with deep feeling and profound humility. The more the Saint advanced in asceticism and the more he received inner illumination, the less he was subject to those weaknesses characteristic of human nature. Nevertheless, his contrition and humility were deeply rooted in him through his attentiveness to the movements of the heart. It was precisely for this reason that he felt himself to be a weak sinner, unprepared to experience the inner illumination of the Divine Light. Being in such a humble state of mind, Saint Gregory prayed: “Most Holy Theotokos, enlighten my darkness.”
Saint Gregory firmly believed that the purification and healing of man could take place if he practiced noetic prayer, which every Christian believer must come to love and strive to acquire. This is what the Saint himself says in a homily delivered on the Second Sunday of the Holy Forty-Day Fast:
“Since the Kingdom of God which is within us and will soon come, let us make ourselves worthy of it through works of repentance. Let us compel ourselves to cut off our evil habits and prejudices. Let us be zealous in patience, humility, and the faith of our fathers. Let us put to death our earthly members, every evil passion and greed, especially during these days of fasting. The Church has reminded us of the future Judgment and the expulsion of Adam, so that we may become more collected. Let us not give ourselves over to intemperance. Let us not open the doors to the passions. Let us not destroy our inner harmony through our weaknesses. Let us love the path that leads to eternal life.”
Describing his joy at seeing the Christians of Thessaloniki gathering for divine services in the place where he serves as their hierarch, Saint Gregory writes:
“When I stand in the holy church before God together with you and turn around to look at you, I see you offering hymns and supplications to God with understanding and compunction. Or, when I see one of you standing silently and listening attentively, I am immediately inspired, and at this sight alone I am filled with gladness and glorify Christ’s Heavenly Father, without Whom man cannot do anything good. Let us, therefore, also strive to help those who see us at the hour when we glorify God, so that they too may come to know that Christ is present in this house, and that from here man ascends to heaven, to the place where He continually dwells, from Whom we shall receive our recompense and inheritance.”
Can modern man easily perceive the relevance contained in this spiritual inheritance of Saint Gregory Palamas? We firmly believe that he can. Man’s autonomy, his desire for self-sufficiency and independence from God, have been unable to provide answers to his deepest questions and searches. Modern man experiences this tragedy, yet lacks the strength to overcome it on his own. Spiritual fragmentation, a sense of emptiness, loneliness, and sorrow bear witness to our divine origin. Today, all people feel powerless in the face of the modern tendency to impose a spirit of globalism that regards man not as a person, but as a biological unit. Saint Gregory Palamas shows us the path to inner liberation from the contemporary crisis. According to the teaching of the Saint, we ourselves contribute to the confusion taking place because we live an impoverished spiritual life. Healing can begin only within ourselves. There, within ourselves, we must work to control our passions and weaknesses, and to regain humility and repentance as the highest values necessary for every human person.
By engaging in this struggle, we will be able, through our own experience, to become partakers of Christ and to be illumined by the uncreated energies of the Holy Spirit. What is required of us is an act of will, so that we may open our hearts. We must have recourse to the grace of God, who loves mankind, through confession, fasting, daily diligence in prayer, and the reading of the word of God. All these are means that will better prepare us for the Divine Eucharist, which unites us with Christ, of Whose Body and Blood we partake in this Mystery.
Such spiritual diligence on our part will be the best way to honor the hierarch of God, Gregory Palamas, who undertook so many labors and ascetic struggles in order to preserve the truth uncorrupted in the Church of Christ.
Source: From the book Life in Christ According to the Teachings of Saint Gregory Palamas. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
