Misplaced Pages

#235764

78-464: As a theological doctrine, the uncreated nature of the Light of Tabor was formulated in the 14th century by Gregory Palamas , an Athonite monk, defending the mystical practices of Hesychasm against accusations of heresy by Barlaam of Calabria . When considered as a theological doctrine, this view is known as Palamism after Palamas. The view was very controversial when it was first proposed, sparking

156-399: A skete called Glossia , where he taught the ancient practice of mental prayer known as "prayer of the heart" or hesychasm . In 1326, because of the threat of Turkish invasions, he and the brethren retreated to the defended city of Thessaloniki , where he was then ordained a priest . Dividing his time between his ministry to the people and his pursuit of spiritual perfection, he founded

234-596: A council held in 1344 which excommunicated Palamas. However, the last of these councils, held in May 1351, conclusively exonerated Palamas and condemned his opponents. This synod ordered that the Metropolitans of Ephesus and Ganos be defrocked and jailed. All those who were unwilling to submit to the orthodox view were to be excommunicated and kept under surveillance at their residences. A series of anathemas were pronounced against Barlaam, Akindynos and their followers; at

312-572: A legitimate expression of Orthodox tradition." Palamas's opponents in the hesychast controversy spread slanderous accusations against him, and in 1344 Patriarch John XIV imprisoned him for four years. However, in 1347 when Patriarch Isidore came to the Ecumenical Throne, Gregory was released from prison and consecrated as the Metropolitan of Thessalonica . However, since the conflict with Barlaam had not been settled at that point,

390-856: A major dogmatic division between the Eastern and the Western Church, with the Hesychast movement even described as "a direct condemnation of Papism". "Tabor Light" was also used in the popular press of 1938 in reference to a mysterious light seen around a cemetery named "Tabor" near Esterhazy, Saskatchewan , Canada. Gregory Palamas Autocephaly recognized by some autocephalous Churches de jure : Autocephaly and canonicity recognized by Constantinople and 3 other autocephalous Churches: Spiritual independence recognized by Georgian Orthodox Church: Semi-Autonomous: Gregory Palamas ( Greek : Γρηγόριος Παλαμᾶς ; c.  1296 – 1359 )

468-508: A monk and priest at Mount Athos who was opposed to the Palamites. Kydones had written a number of anti-Palamist treatises and continued to argue forcefully against Palamism even when brought before the patriarch and enjoined to adhere to the orthodox doctrine. Finally, in exasperation, Philotheos convened a synod against Kydones in April 1368. However, even this extreme measure failed to effect

546-520: A small community of hermits near Thessaloniki in a place called Veria . He served for a short time as Abbot of the Esphigmenou Monastery but was forced to resign in 1335 due to discontentment regarding the austerity of his monastic administration. Hesychasm attracted the attention of Barlaam , a man who either converted to Orthodoxy or was baptized Orthodox who encountered Hesychasts and heard descriptions of their practices during

624-802: A visible ( the divine energies ) and an invisible (the divine ousia or essence). Seco and Maspero assert that the Palamite doctrine of the uncreated light is rooted in Palamas' reading of Gregory of Nyssa . Instances of the Uncreated Light are read into the Old Testament by Orthodox Christians, e.g. the Burning Bush . Many Orthodox theologians have identified the Tabor light with the fire of hell . According to these theologians, hell

702-554: A visit to Mount Athos ; he had also read the writings of Palamas, himself an Athonite monk. Trained in Western Scholastic theology, Barlaam was scandalized by hesychasm and began to combat it both orally and in his writings. As a private teacher of theology in the Western Scholastic mode, Barlaam propounded a more intellectual and propositional approach to the knowledge of God than the hesychasts taught. On

780-562: Is Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church , who was not affected by any of these reforms initially. But her main printing center in Kyiv was affected by Peter the First censorship laws banning the use of any church books not conforming to Nikonian editions . At the Synod of Zamość it was agreed to obey this policy , but out of the new celebrations included in those books, only the office of Gregory Palamas

858-845: Is also a secondary school called Jan-van-Ruusbroeckollege in Laken near the Royal Palace of Belgium. The epigraph of the 1884 novel À rebours by Joris-Karl Huysmans has the following Ruysbroeck quotation: "I must rejoice beyond the bounds of time... though the world may shudder at my joy, and in its coarseness know not what I mean." In this novel, Huysmans describes Ruysbroeck as " un mystique du xiii siècle, dont la prose offrait un incompréhensible mais attirant amalgame d’exaltations ténébreuses, d’effusions caressantes, de transports âpres " ("a thirteenth century mystic whose prose presented an incomprehensible but attractive amalgam of gloomy ectasies, tender raptures, and violent rages.") Ruysbroeck

SECTION 10

#1732772729236

936-703: Is celebrated twice a year, on 14 November, the anniversary of his death, and on the Second Sunday of Great Lent , because Gregory's victory over Barlaam is seen as a continuation of the Triumph of Orthodoxy , i.e., the victory of the Church over heresy , celebrated the previous Sunday. Gregory's relics rest in the Church of Saint Gregory Palamas in Thessaloniki. The first printed Church Slavonic editions of

1014-492: Is destined to return, and become one with Him again." But here he is careful to clarify his position: "There where I assert that we are one in God, I must be understood in this sense that we are one in love, not in essence and nature." Despite this declaration, however, and other similar saving clauses scattered over his pages, some of Ruysbroeck's expressions are certainly rather unusual and startling. The sublimity of his subject-matter

1092-477: Is known to exist; but the traditional picture represents him in the canonical habit, seated in the forest with his writing tablet on his knee, as he was in fact found one day by the brethren—rapt in ecstasy and enveloped in flames, which encircle without consuming the tree under which he is resting. At the University of Antwerp there is a Ruusbroec Institute for the study of the history of spirituality. There

1170-430: Is spiritual freedom from worldly desires ("as empty of every outward work as if he did not work at all"), the second is a mind unencumbered with images ("inward silence"), and the third is a feeling of inward union with God ("even as a burning and glowing fire which can never more be quenched"). His works, of which the most important were De vera contemplatione ("On true contemplation") and De septem gradibus amoris ("On

1248-448: Is the condition of those who remain unreconciled to the uncreated light and love of and for God and are burned by it. According to Iōannēs Polemēs, Theophanes of Nicea believed that, for sinners, "the divine light will be perceived as the punishing fire of hell". According to Iōannēs Polemēs, Palamas himself did not identify hell-fire with the Tabor light: "Unlike Theophanes, Palamas did not believe that sinners could have an experience of

1326-661: The Catholic Church , he has also been called a saint; Pope John Paul II repeatedly called Gregory a great theological writer. Since 1971, the Melkite Greek Catholic Church has venerated Gregory as a saint. Some of his writings are collected in the Philokalia , and since the Ottoman period, the second Sunday of Great Lent is dedicated to the memory of Gregory Palamas in most branches of

1404-910: The Franciscan Henry van Herp , the Carthusians Denis and Laurentius Surius , the Carmelite Thomas á Jesu , the Benedictine Louis de Blois , and the Jesuit Leonardus Lessius . Ernest Hello and especially Maurice Maeterlinck have done much to make his writings known. Ruysbroeck was a powerful influence in developing United Nations Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld 's conception of spiritual growth through selfless service to humanity, as expressed in his book of contemplations called Vägmärken ('Markings'). Ruysbroeck insisted that

1482-734: The Friends of God and the Brethren of the Common Life , the ideas which may have helped to bring about the Reformation. When Groenendaal Priory was suppressed by Joseph II in 1783, his relics were transferred to St. Gudule's, Brussels, where, however, they were lost during the French Revolution . Ruysbroeck was beatified on 9 December 1908 by Pope Pius X via cultus confirmation . No authentic portrait of Ruysbroeck

1560-720: The Hesychast controversy , and the Palamist faction prevailed only after the military victory of John VI Kantakouzenos in the Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347 . Since 1347, it has been the official doctrine in Eastern Orthodoxy , while it remains without explicit affirmation or denial by the Catholic Church . Catholic theologians have rejected it in the past, but the Catholic view has tended to be more favourable since

1638-710: The Orthodox church , while in others and in Eastern Catholic Churches it's a disputed issue (see below). Gregory was born in Constantinople around the year 1296. His father, Constantine, was a courtier of the Byzantine Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos (1282–1328), but died when Gregory was still young. The Emperor himself took part in the raising and education of the fatherless boy and hoped that

SECTION 20

#1732772729236

1716-740: The Triodion did not include the Sunday of Gregory Palamas until liturgical reforms of Petro Mohyla who, inter alia, aimed to update Kievan use of the Byzantine rite to then-contemporary version of its Greek counterpart. Mohyla's reforms inspired subsequent Nikon's reforms that brought liturgical veneration of Gregory Palamas to Moscow. But the liturgical uses of communities that did not accept these reforms or were not affected by them, namely Old Believers and Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church , did not traditionally have this celebration. A special case

1794-413: The heretical views expressed in these times, and he always wrote in the country's native language, chiefly with a view to counteract these writings which he viewed as heretical. The desire for a more retired life, and possibly also the persecution which followed Ruysbroeck's attack on Bloemardinne, induced Ruysbroeck, Jan Hinckaert (d. 1350) and Vrank van Coudenberg (d. 1386) to leave Brussels in 1343 for

1872-439: The hermitage of Groenendaal , in the neighbouring Sonian Forest , which was made over to them by John III, Duke of Brabant . The ruins of the monastery are still present in the forest of Soignes. Many disciples joined the little company. It was then that it was found expedient to organize into a duly-authorized religious body. The hermitage was erected into a community of canons regular on 13 March 1349, and eventually it became

1950-542: The soul finds God in its own depths, and noted three stages of progress in what he called the spiritual ladder of Christian attainment: (1) the active life, (2) the inward life, (3) the contemplative life. He did not teach the fusion of the self in God, but held that at the summit of the ascent the soul still preserves its identity. In the Kingdom of the Lovers of God he explains that those seeking wisdom must "flow forth on

2028-557: The 1980s sought for common ground in questions of doctrinal division between the Eastern and the Western Church. John Paul II repeatedly emphasized his respect for Eastern theology as an enrichment for the whole church, and spoke favourably of Hesychasm. In 2002, he also named the Transfiguration as the fourth Luminous Mystery of the Holy Rosary . The Eastern doctrine of "uncreated light" has not been officially accepted in

2106-528: The Calabrian on the issue of the Hellenic wisdom which he considers to be the main source of Barlaam's errors." Although the civil war between the supporters of John VI Kantakouzenos and the regents for John V Palaeologus was not primarily a religious conflict, the theological dispute between the supporters and opponents of Palamas did play a role in the conflict. Steven Runciman points out that "while

2184-602: The Catholic Church, which likewise has not officially condemned it. Increasing parts of the Western Church consider Gregory Palamas a saint, even if uncanonized. "Several Western scholars contend that the teaching of St. Gregory Palamas himself is compatible with Roman Catholic thought on the matter." At the same time, anti-ecumenical currents within Eastern Orthodoxy presented the Tabor Light doctrine as

2262-471: The Church shall share Which Christ upon the mountain shows where brighter than the sun He glows With shining face and bright array Christ deigns to manifest today What glory shall be theirs above who joy in God with perfect love. Pope Gregory the Great wrote of people by whom, "while still living in this corruptible flesh, yet growing in incalculable power by a certain piercingness of contemplation,

2340-700: The Dutch vernacular, the language of the common people of the Low Countries, rather than in Latin, the language of the Catholic Church liturgy and official texts, in order to reach a wider audience. John had a devout mother, who brought him up in the Catholic faith ; nothing is known about his father. John's surname , Van Ruusbroec , is not a surname in the modern sense but a toponymic that refers to his native hamlet - modern-day Ruisbroek near Brussels . At

2418-489: The Eastern Church, condemned Barlaam, who recanted . The ecumenical patriarch insisted that all of Barlaam's writings be destroyed and thus no complete copies of Barlaam's treatise "Against Messalianism" have survived. Barlaam's primary supporter Emperor Andronicus III died just five days after the synod ended. Although Barlaam initially hoped for a second chance to present his case against Palamas, he soon realised

Tabor Light - Misplaced Pages Continue

2496-611: The Eternal Brightness is able to be seen." In his poem The Book of the Twelve Béguines , John of Ruysbroeck , a 14th-century Flemish mystic beatified by Pope Pius X in 1908, wrote of "the uncreated Light, which is not God, but is the intermediary between Him and the 'seeing thought'" as illuminating the contemplative not in the highest mode of contemplation, but in the second of the four ascending modes. Roman Catholic pro-ecumenism under John Paul II from

2574-639: The Free Spirit were causing controversy in the Netherlands and one of them, a woman named Heilwige Bloemardinne , was particularly active in Brussels, propagating her beliefs chiefly by means of popular pamphlets. Ruysbroeck responded with pamphlets also written in the native tongue ( Middle Dutch ). Nothing of these treatises remains. The controversy had a permanent effect on Ruysbroeck: his later writings bear constant reference, direct and indirect, to

2652-466: The Ladder of Spiritual Love is the one that is currently most-readily available. Of the various treatises preserved, the best-known and the most characteristic is that entitled The Spiritual Espousals . It is divided into three books, treating respectively of the active, the interior, and the contemplative life. Ruysbroeck wrote as the spirit moved him. He loved to wander and meditate in the solitude of

2730-405: The age of eleven he left his mother, departing without leave or warning, to place himself under the guidance and tuition of his uncle, Jan Hinckaert , a canon regular of St. Gudule's , Brussels. Hinckaert was living according to his Apostolic views with a fellow-canon, Frank van Coudenberg . This uncle provided for Ruysbroeck's education with a view to the priesthood . In due course, Ruysbroeck

2808-561: The book's popularity. Some of the text was also translated into Middle English (via the Latin translation) as The Chastising of God's Children (which was later printed by Wynkyn de Worde ). Around the same time, he also wrote a short treatise, The Sparkling Stone , which was also translated into Middle English. Ruysbroeck's most famous writings were composed during his time in Groenendaal. His longest and most popular work (surviving today in 42 manuscripts), The Spiritual Tabernacle ,

2886-562: The course of three major controversies, (1) with the Italo-Greek Barlaam between 1336 and 1341, (2) with the monk Gregory Akindynos between 1341 and 1347, and (3) with the philosopher Gregoras , from 1348 to 1355. His theological contributions are sometimes referred to as Palamism , and his followers as Palamites. Gregory has been venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church since 1368. Within

2964-591: The demise of the Elder Nicodemus, Gregory spent eight years of spiritual struggle under the guidance of a new Elder, Nicephorus. After this last Elder's repose, Gregory transferred to the Great Lavra of St. Athanasius the Athonite on Mount Athos, where he served the brethren in the trapeza (refectory) and in church as a cantor . Wishing to devote himself more fully to prayer and asceticism he entered

3042-547: The divine light [...] Nowhere in his works does Palamas seem to adopt Theophanes' view that the light of Tabor is identical with the fire of hell." Palamism , Gregory Palamas' theology of divine "operations", was never accepted by the Scholastic theologians of the Latin Catholic Church , who maintained a strong view of the simplicity of God, conceived as Actus purus . This doctrinal division reinforced

3120-488: The east–west split of the Great Schism throughout the 15th to 19th centuries, with only Pope John Paul II opening a possibility for reconciliation by expressing his personal respect for the doctrine. Catholicism traditionally sees the glory manifested at Tabor as symbolic of the eschatological glory of heaven; in a 15th-century Latin hymn Coelestis formam gloriae : O wondrous type, O vision fair of glory that

3198-481: The end of the fourteenth century, Palamism had become accepted there. Similar acts of resistance were seen in the metropolitan sees that were governed by the Latins as well as in some autonomous ecclesiastical regions, such as the Church of Cyprus . One notable example of the campaign to enforce the orthodoxy of the Palamist doctrine was the action taken by Patriarch Philotheos I to crack down on Prochoros Kydones ,

Tabor Light - Misplaced Pages Continue

3276-565: The eventual triumph of Kantakouzenos in 1347 also brought with it the conclusive triumph of the Palamists over the anti-Palamists. It became clear that the dispute between Barlaam and Palamas was irreconcilable and would require the judgment of an episcopal council. A series of six patriarchal councils were held in Constantinople on 10 June 1341, August 1341, 4 November 1344, 1 February 1347, 8 February 1347, and 28 May 1351 to consider

3354-496: The first of his seven surviving letters, The Seven Rungs (c1359-60), and A Mirror of Eternal Blessedness . Around 1363 the Carthusians at Herne dispatched a deputation to Groenendaal presenting Ruysbroeck with questions on his first book, The Realm of Lovers . Ruysbroeck went to Herne to clarify his teaching, and afterwards put this in writing in his work The Little Book of Enlightenment . The treatise The Seven Steps of

3432-760: The forest adjoining the cloister; he was accustomed to carry a tablet with him, and on this to jot down his thoughts as he felt inspired so to do. Late in life he declared that he had never committed aught to writing save by the motion of the Holy Ghost . None of his treatises give anything like a complete or detailed account of his system; perhaps it would be correct to say that he himself was not conscious of elaborating any system. In his dogmatic writings he explains, illustrates, and enforces traditional teachings with remarkable force and lucidity. In his ascetic works, his favourite virtues are detachment , humility and charity ; he loves to dwell on such themes as flight from

3510-514: The futility of pursuing his cause, and left for Calabria where he converted to the Roman Church and was appointed Bishop of Gerace . After Barlaam's departure, Gregory Akindynos became the chief critic of Palamas. A second council held in Constantinople in August 1341 condemned Akindynos and affirmed the findings of the earlier council. Akindynos and his supporters gained a brief victory at

3588-515: The gifted Gregory would devote himself to government service, but Palamas chose monastic life on Mt. Athos. Gregory's mother (Kalloni) and siblings (Theodosios, Makarios, Epicharis, and Theodoti) would also embrace monasticism, and the entire family was canonized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in 2009. Before leaving for Mt. Athos, Gregory received a broad education at the University of Constantinople , including

3666-465: The heresy of Messalianism , also known as Bogomilism in the East. According to Meyendorff, Barlaam viewed "any claim of real and conscious experience of God as Messalianism". Barlaam also took exception to the doctrine held by the hesychasts as to the uncreated nature of the light, the experience of which was said to be the goal of hesychast practice, regarding it as heretical and blasphemous . It

3744-488: The hesychast side, the controversy was taken up by Palamas who was asked by his fellow monks on Mt Athos to defend hesychasm from the attacks of Barlaam. Palamas was well-educated in Greek philosophy. Gregory wrote a number of works in its defense and defended hesychasm at six different synods in Constantinople ultimately triumphing over its attackers in the synod of 1351. Although Barlaam came from southern Italy, his ancestry

3822-654: The issues. Collectively, these councils are accepted as having ecumenical status by Orthodox Christians , some of whom call them the Fifth Council of Constantinople and the Ninth Ecumenical Council. The dispute over hesychasm came before a synod held at Constantinople in May 1341 and presided over by the Emperor Andronicus III . The assembly, influenced by the veneration in which the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius were held in

3900-443: The later 20th century. Several Western scholars have presented Palamism as compatible with Catholic doctrine. In particular, Pope John Paul II in 1996 spoke favourably of hesychast spirituality, and in 2002 he named the Transfiguration as the fourth Luminous Mystery of the Holy Rosary . According to the Hesychast mystic tradition of Eastern Orthodox spirituality, a completely purified saint who has attained divine union experiences

3978-482: The motherhouse of a congregation, which bore its name of Groenendaal. Francis van Coudenberg was appointed first provost , and John Ruysbroeck prior . Hinckaert refrained from making the canonical profession lest the discipline of the house should suffer from the exemptions required by the infirmities of his old age; he dwelt, therefore, in a cell outside the cloister and there a few years later died. This period, from his religious profession (1349) to his death (1381),

SECTION 50

#1732772729236

4056-534: The norm for ecumenical patriarchs to profess the Palamite doctrine upon taking possession of their see. Martin Jugie states that the opposition of the Latins and the Latinophrones, who were necessarily hostile to the doctrine, actually contributed to its adoption, and soon Latinism and Antipalamism became equivalent in the minds of many Orthodox Christians. According to Aristeides Papadakis, "all Orthodox scholars who have written on Palamas — Lossky, Krivosheine, Papamichael, Meyendorff, Christou — assume his voice to be

4134-461: The other Eastern patriarchates as well as all the metropolitan sees under their jurisdiction. However, it took some time to overcome initial resistance to his teachings. For example, the Metropolitan of Kiev, upon receiving tomes from Kallistos that expounded the Palamist doctrine, rejected it vehemently and composed a reply in refutation. Similarly, the Patriarchate of Antioch remained steadfastly opposed to what they viewed as an innovation; however, by

4212-416: The people of Thessalonica did not accept him, and he was forced to live in a number of places. It was not until 1350 that he was able to occupy the episcopal chair. In 1354, during a voyage to Constantinople, the ship he was in fell into the hands of Turkish pirates; he was imprisoned and beaten. He was obliged to spend a year in detention at the Ottoman court where he was well treated. Eventually his ransom

4290-426: The same time, a series of acclamations were also declared in favor of Gregory Palamas and the adherents of his doctrine. One notable opponent of Palamism was Nicephorus Gregoras who refused to submit to the dictates of the synod and was effectively imprisoned in a monastery for two years. Kallistos I and the ecumenical patriarchs who succeeded him mounted a vigorous campaign to have the Palamist doctrines accepted by

4368-403: The seven steps of love"), were published in 1848 at Hanover ; also Reflections from the Mirror of a Mystic (1906) and Die Zierde der geistlichen Hochzeit (1901). After Ruysbroeck's death in 1381, his relics were carefully preserved and his memory honoured as that of a saint . After his death, stories called him the Ecstatic Doctor or Divine Doctor , and his views formed a link between

4446-425: The study of Aristotle, which he would display before Theodore Metochites and the Emperor. Despite the Emperor's ambitions for him, Gregory, then barely 21 years old, withdrew to Mount Athos in the year 1316 and became a novice there in the Vatopedi monastery under the guidance of the monastic Elder St Nicodemos of Vatopedi. Eventually, he was tonsured a monk , and continued his life of asceticism . After

4524-446: The submission of Kydones and in the end, he was excommunicated and suspended from the clergy in perpetuity. The long tome that was prepared for the synod concludes with a decree canonizing Palamas who had died in 1357/59. Despite the initial opposition of some patriarchates and sees, over time the resistance dwindled away and ultimately Palamist doctrine became accepted throughout the Eastern Orthodox Church. During this period, it became

4602-475: The theological dispute embittered the conflict, the religious and political parties did not coincide." The aristocrats supported Palamas largely due to their conservative and anti-Western tendencies as well as their links to the staunchly Orthodox monasteries. Although several significant exceptions leave the issue open to question, in the popular mind (and traditional historiography), the supporters of "Palamism" and of "Kantakouzenism" are usually equated. Thus,

4680-442: The tome does not mention Barlaam by name, the work clearly takes aim at Barlaam's views. The tome provides a systematic presentation of Palamas' teaching and became the fundamental textbook for Byzantine mysticism. In response, Barlaam drafted "Against the Messalians", which attacked Gregory by name for the first time. Barlaam derisively called the hesychasts omphalopsychoi (men with their souls in their navels) and accused them of

4758-447: The treatise "Against the Messalians" linking the hesychasts to the Messalians and thereby accusing them of heresy. In the third Triad, Palamas refuted Barlaam's charge of Messalianism by demonstrating that the hesychasts did not share the antisacramentalism of the Messalians nor did they claim to physically see the essence of God with their eyes. According to Fr. John Meyendorff "Gregory Palamas orients his entire polemic against Barlaam

SECTION 60

#1732772729236

4836-423: The vision of divine radiance that is the same 'light' that was manifested to Jesus' disciples on Mount Tabor at the Transfiguration. This experience is referred to as theoria . Barlaam (and Western Christianity's interpretation of apophaticism being the absence of God rather than the unknowability of God) held this view of the hesychasts to be polytheistic inasmuch as it seemed to postulate two eternal substances,

4914-422: The waters to all the boundaries of the earth, that is, on compassion, pity and mercy shown to the needs of all men", must "fly in the air of the Rational faculty" and "refer all actions and virtues to the honour of God"; thence (through grace) they will find an "immense and boundless clearness" bestowed upon their mind. In relation to the contemplative life, he held that three attributes should be acquired: The first

4992-486: The world, meditation upon the life of Christ, especially the passion , abandonment to the Divine Will, and an intense personal love of God. In common with most of the German mystics, Ruysbroeck starts from divine matters before describing humanity. His work often then returns to discussing God, showing how the divine and the human are so closely united as to become one. He demonstrates inclinations towards Christian universalism in writing that "Man, having proceeded from God

5070-413: Was Greek and he claimed Eastern Orthodoxy as his Christian faith. Arriving in Constantinople around 1330, Barlaam was working on commentaries on Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite under the patronage of John VI Kantakouzenos . Around 1336, Gregory received copies of treatises written by Barlaam against the Latins, condemning their insertion of the Filioque into the Nicene Creed . Although this condemnation

5148-436: Was a Byzantine Greek theologian and Eastern Orthodox cleric of the late Byzantine period. A monk of Mount Athos (modern Greece ) and later archbishop of Thessalonica , he is famous for his defense of hesychast spirituality, the uncreated character of the light of the Transfiguration , and the distinction between God's essence and energies (i.e., the divine will, divine grace, etc.). His teaching unfolded over

5226-473: Was an Augustinian canon and one of the most important of the medieval mystics of the Low Countries . Some of his main literary works include The Kingdom of the Divine Lovers , The Twelve Beguines , The Spiritual Espousals , A Mirror of Eternal Blessedness , The Little Book of Enlightenment , and The Sparkling Stone . Some of his letters also survive, as well as several short sayings (recorded by some of his disciples, such as Jan van Leeuwen). He wrote in

5304-412: Was begun in Brussels but finished at Groenendaal, presumably early on in his time there. Two brief works, The Christian Faith (an explanation of the Creed) and a treatise on The Four Temptations , also date from around the time of Ruysbroeck's arrival in Groenendaal. His later works include four writings to Margareta van Meerbeke, a Franciscan nun of Brussels. These are The Seven Enclosures (c1346-50),

5382-489: Was indeed demonstrable that the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father but not from the Son. A series of letters ensued between the two but they were unable to resolve their differences amicably. In response to Barlaam's attacks, Palamas wrote nine treatises entitled "Triads For The Defense of Those Who Practice Sacred Quietude". The treatises are called "triads" because they were organized as three sets of three treatises. The Triads were written in three stages. The first triad

5460-530: Was maintained by the hesychasts to be of divine origin and to be identical to the light which had been manifested to Jesus' disciples on Mount Tabor at the Transfiguration . Barlaam viewed this doctrine of "uncreated light" to be polytheistic because as it postulated two eternal substances, a visible and an invisible God. Barlaam accuses the use of the Jesus Prayer as being a practice of Bogomilism . The second triad quotes some of Barlaam's writings directly. In response to this second triad, Barlaam composed

5538-411: Was paid and he returned to Thessaloniki, where he served as archbishop for the last three years of his life. Palamas died in 1357 or 1359. His dying words were, "To the heights! To the heights!" He was canonized a saint of the Eastern Orthodox Church in 1368 by Patriarch Philotheos of Constantinople , who also wrote his Vita and composed the service which is chanted in his honour. His feast day

5616-454: Was presented with a prebend in St. Gudule's, and ordained in 1318. His mother had followed him to Brussels, entered a Béguinage there, and died shortly before his ordination . From 1318 until 1343 Ruysbroeck served as a parish priest at St. Gudula. He continued to lead, together with his uncle Hinckaert and Van Coudenberg, a life of extreme austerity and retirement. At that time the Brethren of

5694-661: Was solid Orthodox theology, Palamas took issue with Barlaam's argument in support of it, namely that efforts at demonstrating the nature of God (specifically, the nature of the Holy Spirit) should be abandoned, because God is ultimately unknowable and undemonstrable to humans. Thus, Barlaam asserted that it was impossible to determine from whom the Holy Spirit proceeds. According to Sara J. Denning-Bolle, Palamas viewed Barlaam's argument as "dangerously agnostic". In his response titled "Apodictic Treatises", Palamas insisted that it

5772-596: Was such that it could scarcely be otherwise. His devoted friend, Geert Groote, a trained theologian, confessed to a feeling of uneasiness over certain of his phrases and passages, and begged him to change or modify them for the sake at least of the weak. Later on, Jean Gerson and then Bossuet both professed to find traces of unconscious pantheism in his works. As an offset, the enthusiastic commendations of his contemporaries should be mentioned. These were by mystics and scholars such as Groote, Johannes Tauler , Thomas à Kempis , John of Schoonhoven , and in subsequent times of

5850-511: Was the most active and fruitful of Ruysbroeck's career. During this time, his fame as a man of God, as a sublime contemplative and a skilled director of souls, spread beyond the bounds of Flanders and Brabant to Holland , Germany, and France. He had relations with the nearby Carthusian house at Herne, and also with several communities of Poor Clare Franciscans. He had connections with the Friends of God in Strasbourg , and in about 1378 he

5928-599: Was to be left out . Since then, the question of rehabilitation of Gregory Palamas in the UGCC is sometimes raised , and some English-speaking dioceses include him in their calendars despite the ban of his veneration having never been lifted and official UGCC calendar not including his name . Troparion (Tone 8) Kontakion (Tone 8) Under Constantinople : John of Ruysbroeck John of Ruusbroec or Jan van Ruusbroec ( pronounced [ˈjɑɱ vɑn ˈryzbruk] ; 1293/1294 – 2 December 1381), sometimes modernized Ruysbroeck ,

6006-624: Was visited by Geert Groote , the founder of the Devotio Moderna . It is possible, though disputed, that John Tauler came to see him. John died at Groenendaal, aged 82, on 2 December 1381. In total, Ruysbroeck wrote twelve books, seven epistles, two hymns and a prayer. All were written in Middle Dutch. Around 1340, Ruysbroeck wrote his masterpiece, The Spiritual Espousals . The 36 surviving Dutch manuscripts, as well as translations into Latin and Middle High German, are evidence of

6084-477: Was written in the second half of the 1330s and are based on personal discussions between Palamas and Barlaam although Barlaam is never mentioned by name. Gregory's teaching was affirmed by the superiors and principal monks of Mt. Athos, who met in synod during 1340–1. In early 1341, the monastic communities of Mount Athos wrote the Hagioritic Tome under the supervision and inspiration of Palamas. Although

#235764