Theologian · Medieval
St. Gregory Palamas
1296–1359 · Palamism (hesychast theology)
Archbishop of Thessalonica, canonized by the Orthodox Church in 1368. Byzantine Catholic calendars keep his feast on the Second Sunday of Lent, and his theology is read as a legitimate Eastern tradition within the one Church.
Athonite monk and later archbishop of Thessalonica, who defended the hesychast monks against Barlaam of Calabria. He taught that the light the apostles saw on Tabor was uncreated, that God is wholly unknowable in His essence yet truly communicated in His uncreated energies, and that the body shares in prayer and in deification; Constantinopolitan councils of 1341–1351 adopted his teaching.
Why he matters: The essence–energies distinction is the East's way of guarding both God's transcendence and the reality of theosis; Catholic theology since Vatican II has sought to read him alongside St. Thomas rather than against him, and he is the father of the Philokalia and the Jesus Prayer as the East knows them.
Where to be careful
Latin theology, following Lateran IV and St. Thomas, teaches that God is absolutely simple and treats the energies as a distinction of reason; a Catholic may hold Palamas's doctrine as the Byzantine Catholic churches do, but not as denying the unity and simplicity of God.
Reading
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The TriadsSt. Gregory Palamas · In defense of the holy hesychasts; Classics of Western Spirituality selection.
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The One Hundred and Fifty ChaptersSt. Gregory Palamas · His systematic summary.
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A Study of Gregory PalamasJohn Meyendorff · The work that reopened the question for East and West.
Documented positions
Where this thinker stands on each dispute the test covers.