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Gregory Palamas Quotes

Gregory Palamas was a Byzantine Greek prominent theologian and ecclesiastical figure of the late Byzantine period. A monk of Mount Athos and later archbishop of Thessaloniki, 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 . His teaching unfolded over the course of three major controversies, with the Italo-Greek Barlaam between 1336 and 1341, with the monk Gregory Akindynos between 1341 and 1347, and with the philosopher Gregoras, from 1348 to 1355. His theological contributions are sometimes referred to as Palamism, and his followers as Palamites.

Gregory is venerated since 1368 as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church; some Byzantine Catholic Churches, which form part of the communion of the Church of Rome, have also included him in their liturgical books. 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 Gregory Palamas in the Orthodox Church. The Byzantine Synodikon of Orthodoxy also celebrates his memory and theology while condemning his opponents, including some anti-Palamites who flourished after Gregory's death. Wikipedia  

✵ 1296 – 14. November 1359
Gregory Palamas photo
Gregory Palamas: 13 quotes0 likes

Famous Gregory Palamas Quotes

“The soul completely dominated by its desire for spiritual instruction is never sated.”

Gregory Palamas

The Philokalia Vol. 4, Faber and Faber.

“Do you see? There exists a kind of knowledge that is without love. It does not purify the psyche in any way, but kills it, as it lacks the love that is the head, the body, and very root of all virtue.”

Gregory Palamas

Source: Holy Hesychia: The Stillness that Knows God, p. 33

“The soul completely dominated by its desire for spiritual instruction is never sated.It is because of this that Wisdom says of herself, 'Those who eat Me will still be hungry' (Eccles. 24:21); while the Lord, who has instilled this divine desire in the soul, says of Mary who chose 'what is best' that it will not be taken away from her (cf. Luke 10:42).”

Gregory Palamas

Source: To the Most Reverend Nun Xenia (c. 1344), p. 295

“Anyone who considers himself guilty before God and repents must believe that the reproach and contempt of others towards him is just and to be endured.”

Gregory Palamas

Source: Homilies (Mount Tabor Publishing), p. 13

“The summit of evil, the crime most natural to the devil, pride, was born of knowledge. But if this is so, how can it be possible that all the passions result from ignorance? Does knowledge purify the psyche? Paul says: Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up”

Gregory Palamas

1 Corinthians 8:1
Source: Holy Hesychia: The Stillness that Knows God, p. 33

“As the separation of the soul from the body is the death of the body, so the separation of God from the soul is the death of the soul. And this death of the soul is the true death.”

Gregory Palamas

Source: To the Most Reverend Nun Xenia (c. 1344), p. 296

“Some people, because their minds have gone so long without nourishment, lose their desire to eat and so do not notice the harm they are suffering.”

Gregory Palamas

Source: The Parables of Jesus: Sermons by Saint Gregory Palamas

“Famine means being deprived of and desiring necessary food. But there is something worse and more wretched than this famine: when someone is deprived of the necessary means of salvation and does not perceive his misfortune, having no desire to be saved.”

Gregory Palamas

Source: The Parables of Jesus: Sermons by Saint Gregory Palamas

“How can someone have the freedom to choose and the power to act freely, unless he were able to be evil, should he so wish?”

Gregory Palamas

Predestination? On Why God Made Those Who Would Perish

Gregory Palamas Quotes about God

“Thanksgiving for the benefits received from God is made acceptable by humility and not looking down on those who lack them. It is rendered unacceptable, however, by being conceited, as if those benefits resulted from our own efforts and knowledge, and by condemning those who have not received them.”

Gregory Palamas

Source: The Parables of Jesus: Sermons by Saint Gregory Palamas

“Anybody who thinks he is something great, even before God, is rightly abandoned by God, as one who thinks that he does not need His help.”

Gregory Palamas

Source: The Parables of Jesus: Sermons by Saint Gregory Palamas

“Let us take off our life’s complex covering of rapacity and greed, since it is ugly in God’s sight and condemned, and let us put on, as the elect of God, compassion, humility, modesty and meekness.”

Gregory Palamas

Source: Predestination? On Why God Made Those Who Would Perish

“Anyone who states that God should not have made those people who will be punished, is also saying that He should not have made those who will be saved, or any rational and free beings at all.”

Gregory Palamas

Source: Predestination? On Why God Made Those Who Would Perish

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