THEOSIS - Deification                                                Page 9

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Palamas and the energies of God

In the fourteenth century, there was a great upheaval in the Church which was provoked by a Western monk, Barlaam. He heard that Athonite monks talked about Theosis. He was informed that, after much struggle, cleansing of the passions, and much prayer, they became worthy to unite with God, to have experience of God, to see God. He heard that they saw the uncreated light which the holy Apostles had seen during the Transfiguration of our Saviour Christ on Mount Tabor.

But Barlaam, having the Western, heretical, rationalistic spirit, was unable to perceive the authenticity of these divine experiences of the humble monks, so he began to accuse the Athonite monks as though it was they who were deluded, heretical, they were the idolators. Because he knew nothing about the difference between the essence and the uncreated energy of God, he said that it is impossible for someone to see the Grace of God.

Then, God's Grace revealed a great and enlightened teacher of our Church, the Athonite St. Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessaloniki. With much wisdom and enlightenment from God, but also from his personal experience, he said and wrote much which taught, in agreement with the holy Scriptures and the Holy Tradition of the Church, that the light of God's Grace is uncreated; that it is a divine energy, so that in fact deified men see this light as the ultimate, the highest experience of Theosis; and they are seen within this light of God. This is the glory of God, His splendour, the light of Mount Tabor, the light of Christ's Resurrection and of Pentecost, and the bright cloud of the Old Testament. It is the real uncreated light of God, and not symbolic as Barlaam and others who thought like him believed in their delusion.

To continue, in three great Synods at Constantinople the whole Church justified St. Gregory Palamas, declaring that life in Christ is not simply the moral edification of man, but Theosis, and that this means participation in God’s glory, a vision of God, of His Grace and His uncreated light.

We owe great gratitude to Palamas because, with the illumination he received from God, with his experience and his theology, he expressed the eternal experience of the Church, and so gave us the teaching concerning the Theosis of man. A Christian is not a Christian simply because he is able to talk about God. He is a Christian because he is able to have experience of God. And just as, when you really love someone and converse with him, you feel his presence, and you enjoy his presence, so it happens in man's communion with God: there exists not a simple external relationship, but a mystical union of God and man in the Holy Spirit.

Until now, Westerners have considered that divine Grace, or the energy of God, is something created. Unfortunately, this is one of the many differences which must be seriously taken into consideration in theological dialogue with the Roman Catholics. It is not only the filioque, the primacy of power, and the ‘infallibility’  of the Pope which are basic differences between the Orthodox Church and the Papists. It is also the above. If the Roman Catholics do not accept that the Grace of God is uncreated, we cannot unite with them even if they accept all the other points. For who is able to effect Theosis if divine Grace is a creation and not an uncreated energy of the All-Holy Spirit?

theosis

CONTENTS

Preface

Purpose of life

The incarnation as Theosis

The Fall

Theotokos' contribution

The place of Theosis

Theosis and the Church

Uncreated energies of God

Palamas and the energies

Qualifications for Theosis

Experiences of Theosis

Failure to reach Theosis

Guidance for Theosis

When guidance fails.