Saint Gregory Palamas (1296-14/11/1359)

A great father of the Church and ecumenical teacher. His teaching on the deification of man and his participation in the uncreated energies of God expresses the essence of Orthodox spiritual life, in complete contrast to the secularized theology of his time, which was shaped by the influence of the scholastic anthropocentrism of Roman Catholicism.

Saint Gregory Palamas is a rare case in the life of the Church. He is a theologian-visionary, who expresses the essence of the Orthodox spiritual life in a unique synthetic way. He has as the foundation of his spiritual formation the experience of divine grace and theosis in the light of the uncreated energies of God. Endowed with a sharp mind, he was able to move comfortably in the field of theology and express a clear trinitarianism with his important works.

He was born in 1296 in Constantinople to prominent parents. His father, Constantine Palamas, who came from the deepest part of Asia Minor, was a senator and a member of the imperial court of Andronikos II. The emperor highly esteemed him and for this reason entrusted him with the upbringing of Andronikos III, his grandson and successor. However, it seems that he was not so absorbed in political works as in spiritual ones, since once, at a meeting of the senate, when the emperor wanted to ask his opinion, he found him devoted to prayer and did not interrupt him, believing that he was helping more with his prayer than with his thoughts. His father, after having managed to wear the monk's robe and receive the name Constantius, fell asleep relatively young, when Gregory was seven years old. The emperor took over his protection.

His mother Callis and his sisters Epicharis and Theodoti became nuns, as did his brothers Macarius and Theodosius, who followed him into monastic life. Gregory received a good education at the University of Constantinople, under the direction of the famous theologian and philosopher Theodore Metochites. He studied philosophy in particular. At just 17 years old, before Emperor Andronicus II and many wise men in the palace, he amazed all his listeners in a speech about Aristotle. Theodore Metochites, who was present, said in admiration to the emperor about the young speaker: If he were present, Aristotle himself would praise him.

In addition to Aristotelian philosophy, he completed grammar and rhetoric courses. However, he devoted himself early to the study of the Holy Bible, the Fathers of the Church and the Synaxarist. He was first taught the spiritual life by his father and the monks he associated with. Among them was the former Athonite Theoliptus of Philadelphia, who initiated him into pure prayer. The emperor, who had hoped to have him as an advisor in his father's place, saw himself losing him. At the age of twenty, Gregory departed for Mount Papikium, an important monastic center, where he fought against younger Massalians, and then for Mount Athos.

He came to Mount Athos with his two brothers. He himself submitted to the venerable Nicodemus the Hesychast, who was a hermit in a cell of the Vatopedi monastery, and was known to all the Athonite people for his wisdom. Saint Gregory obeyed “the brave man, I marvel at his deeds and theories” according to Saint Philotheos the Red. From Nicodemus, Gregory received the monastic form. The saint lived his first monastic years on Mount Athos and near the Vatopedi monastery with strict asceticism, fasting, vigils and unceasing prayer. While praying, he constantly repeated “enlighten my darkness”. Once he saw Saint John the Theologian and told him that the Virgin Mary had sent him and that the Theotokos and he would always be his helpers! For three years, Saint Gregory remained in obedience to the holy Elder of Nicodemus and learned much from him.

Around 1320, after the repose of his aged Elder, he departed for the holy monastery of the Great Lavra, where he remained for three years. His fame had overtaken him and the fathers welcomed him warmly. Obediently, he served at the table and in the temple. Everyone was surprised by the abstinence, asceticism and vigilance, which he practiced excessively. His desire for holy silence made him depart from there as well.

The Lavrio fathers were saddened by his departure, while the monks of the monastery of Glossia, today's Provata, to which the saint headed, joyfully welcomed him, according to Saint Nicodemus the Athonite. Saint Gregory met there with Saint Gregory of Byzantium, who was exarch and supreme, "great and renowned in his hesychia, and in his purity and contemplation in those times."

From him the saint was taught much about the mysteries of mental energy and the most profound theology of God and was endowed with many gifts, such as constant devotion and tears of the heart. Due to a raid by Turkish pirates, after a two-year stay, he was forced to leave there and go with twelve of his disciples to Thessaloniki. According to one tradition, Saint Gregory Palamas received the great and angelic form in the Cell of Panagia Krania from his Elder, the venerable Nikephoros the Hesychast the Italian, who was at the height of the Neptic theology.

In Thessaloniki, he did not cease his practice with his entourage. His movements were carried out after prayer and divine information. Thus, he accepted to receive the office of priesthood. Then he went to the skete of Veria, where he remained for five years (1326-1331), continuing his great asceticism. There, during the five days of the week, he remained enclosed and silent, and only on Saturday and Sunday did he leave his cell to perform and teach his brothers. His constant vigil and prayer had given him the good transformation and he had become all light and a shining example for all. The death of his nun mother Kallistis took him to Constantinople, where he received his sisters, placed them in a women's hermitage and taught them the rigors of monastic life. In a short time, his virtuous sister Epicharis, adorned with a rich gift of foresight, rested in the Lord. Pirate raids in the region forced Uncle Gregory to depart again and return to his beloved Mount Athos.

He came to the Great Lavra and, despite the willingness of its fathers, did not remain within its walls, but withdrew to the hesychast Cell of Saint Sava. Here he continued his ascetic program. Five days a week he remained secluded, silent and praying unceasingly, and only on Saturday and Sunday did he go to the nearby Lavra to work. His godly life was full of divine apparitions and visions, sometimes during the services in the Lavra and sometimes during the vigils in his cell, where the Theotokos herself appeared to him. The sight of his uncreated light was common, where, according to his biographer, he was "richly all-radiant with the divine light." Theology was miraculously given to him from above, following an exquisite vision, and then he began to write his wonderful dogmatic discourses with the Holy Spirit.

In 1335 he was elected abbot of the holy monastery of Esphigmenou, where he remained for three years. Due to scandals, he resigned and returned to his hermitage. During his days at the monastery of Esphigmenou, there were two hundred fathers, who witnessed his miracles.

Continuing his secret ascetic life, Saint Gregory in the Lavrio hermitage of Saint Savvas, on Pentecost 1337 he read the treatises of the Kalavros monk Barlaam, which contained erroneous theological positions on the emanation of the Holy Spirit and from the Son. Barlaam in Constantinople and Thessaloniki accused and expelled the hesychasts as deluded and navel-gazing. The later patriarch of Constantinople, Saint Isidore of Voucheiras from Thessaloniki, sent their errors and heretical deviations to the hermitage of Saint Gregory, earnestly begging and confidently inviting him, foreseeing that a new heresy would shake the Church. He left the beloved Mount Athos for Thessaloniki, where he continued to study the Varlaamite writings and tried to bring their unassuming author to his senses with a letter, who, pretending to be, was avoiding fair and proper control. The friend of peace, Gregory, continued his struggles with his great work “In Defense of the Sacredly Hesychast”, to which Varlaam responded with his anti-hesychast work “Against the Massalians”. Saints Gregory and Isidore collaborated on the publication of the famous Athonite Tome (1340), whose author was Uncle Gregory and which was signed by the prominent Athonite figures condemning Varlaamism. The holy sister of Theodotus rested in Thessaloniki, and the saint, invited by the Synod, went to Constantinople to confront the bold Barlaam.

The saint's positions were approved and ratified by the Council of Constantinople in June 1341. Barlaam was forced to return to the West. The civil war that followed also created unrest in the Church. The work of Barlaam was continued by Gregory the Unsuspecting, who was protected by Patriarch John Kaleka. Saint Gregory, in his attempt to pacify the warring parties, fell into misadventures and was even persecuted and imprisoned by the Church in 1344. The ascension to the throne of Emperor John Catacuzenos and Patriarch Isidore Vucheiras and the Council of 1347 vindicated Saint Gregory and he was even elected Archbishop of Thessaloniki. However, due to the political unrest still taking place there, he officially ascended the throne in 1350.

Before his enthronement in Thessaloniki, he went again to Mount Athos and then to Lemnos, which was in a state of flux at that time, and he undertook extraordinary pastoral care. The entry of Katakouzenos into Thessaloniki also allowed Palamas to consolidate his position, who was received with great honors by the faithful people as a spirit-bearer and peace-giver. His sermons brought his opponents to repentance. He animated and strengthened the holy clergy of the city with gatherings. He officiated frequently and always preached impeccably. His surviving sermons were educational and soul-beneficial, occasions for repentance, absolution of sins, teachings on a virtuous life. Bookshops of his miracles from this period have survived. His hierarchal ministry was turbulent, because new adventures from heretical teachings did not allow him to fully devote himself to his rich pastoral work towards his flock.

While traveling to Constantinople for peace purposes, to reconcile the emperors Matthew Catacouzenos and John V Palaiologos, in March 1354, he was captured by the Turks in Gallipoli. He was transferred to Bursa and Nicaea, and the polysophist took advantage of the opportunity to have extremely interesting theological conversations with the Turks. In the spring of 1355, upon payment of a ransom, he was released and went to Constantinople to continue the anti-heretical struggles, this time against Nikephoros the Quick.

The orations of "According to Gregory" are his last written works. Returning to Thessaloniki, he continued his pastoral work, which was crowned with many miracles. His last words "often and often" were "the heavenly things to the heavenly things." He fell asleep in the autumn of 1359.

His memory was honored on November 13 after Saint John Chrysostom. That is why he is also characterized as the new Chrysostom. This is how he is mentioned in the chapel of the Holy Unmercenaries of the holy monastery of Vatopedi and in the holy church of the Holy Trinity of Kastoria. In 1368, during the reign of the friend and excellent, praised and biographer Patriarch of Constantinople, Saint Philotheos Kokkinos, his memory was established on the Second Sunday of Lent. This was established as an extension of the Sunday of Orthodoxy, because the saint was considered the protector of Orthodoxy and its staunch defender. His memory is also honored on November 14.

Many frescoes and portable icons of the saint have survived, since soon after his death he was honored in Thessaloniki, Kastoria, Veria and Mount Athos.

His first biographer, as we mentioned, on whom all his many successors rely, is Saint Philotheos the Red, who is also his first hymnographer. An encomium was written by Patriarch Nile, while canons were composed by Saint Mark the Evgeniy, who are considered lost, and Gennadios Scholarios. A new complete service was composed by the monk Gerasimos Mikragiannitios. There is a rich bibliography about the highly valued saint based on his valuable works.

His honest and gracious relics are kept in the metropolitan church of Thessaloniki, of which he is co-patron with the holy great martyr Demetrius the Myrrh-Bearer, in his honor.

Source: Monk Moses of Mount Athos, Vatopedi Synaxarion, Publication of the Holy Great Monastery of Vatopedi, Mount Athos 2007.