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Saints Cyril & Methodius
Bulgarian Orthodox
Mission
Second Sunday
of Great Lent
St. Gregory
Palamas
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Our services are held
at:
St. Luke Orthodox Church
6801 Georgetown Pike, McLean, VA 22101
We are a parish of
the
Orthodox Church in America
Diocese of Washington and New York
St. Gregory Palamas
This Sunday was
originally dedicated to St Polycarp of Smyrna (February 23). After his
glorification in 1368, a second commemoration of St Gregory Palamas (November
14) was appointed for the Second Sunday of Great Lent as a second "Triumph
of Orthodoxy."
Saint Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica, was born in the year
1296 in Constantinople. St Gregory's father became a prominent dignitiary at
the court of Andronicus II Paleologos (1282-1328), but he soon died, and
Andronicus himself took part in the raising and education of the fatherless
boy. Endowed with fine abilities and great diligence, Gregory mastered all the
subjects which then comprised the full course of medieval higher education. The
emperor hoped that the youth would devote himself to government work. But
Gregory, barely twenty years old, withdrew to Mount Athos in the year 1316
(other sources say 1318) and became a novice in the Vatopedi monastery under
the guidance of the monastic Elder St Nicodemus of Vatopedi (July 11). There he
was tonsured and began on the path of asceticism. A year later, the holy
Evangelist John the Theologian appeared to him in a vision and promised him his
spiritual protection. Gregory's mother and sisters also became monastics.
After the demise of the Elder Nicodemus, St Gregory spent eight years of
spiritual struggle under the guidance of the Elder Nicephorus, and after the
latter's death, Gregory transferred to the Lavra of St Athanasius (July 5).
Here he served in the trapeza, and then became a church singer. But after three
years, he resettled in the small skete of Glossia, striving for a greater
degree of spiritual perfection. The head of this monastery began to teach the
young man the method of unceasing prayer and mental activity, which had been
cultivated by monastics, beginning with the great desert ascetics of the fourth
century: Evagrius Pontikos and St Macarius of Egypt (January 19).
Later on, in the eleventh century St Simeon the New Theologian (March
12) provided detailed instruction in mental activity for those praying in an
outward manner, and the ascetics of Athos put it into practice. The experienced
use of mental prayer (or prayer of the heart), requiring solitude and quiet, is
called "Hesychasm" (from the Greek "hesychia" meaning calm,
silence), and those practicing it were called "hesychasts."
During his stay at Glossia the future hierarch Gregory became fully
embued with the spirit of hesychasm and adopted it as an essential part of his
life. In the year 1326, because of the threat of Turkish invasions, he and the
brethren retreated to Thessalonica, where he was then ordained to the holy
priesthood.
St Gregory combined his priestly
duties with the life of a hermit. Five days of the week he spent in silence and
prayer, and only on Saturday and Sunday did he come out to his people. He
celebrated divine services and preached sermons. For those present in church,
his teaching often evoked both tenderness and tears. Sometimes he visited
theological gatherings of the city's educated youth, headed by the future
patriarch, Isidore. After he returned from a visit to Constantinople, he found
a place suitable for solitary life near Thessalonica the region of Bereia. Soon
he gathered here a small community of solitary monks and guided it for five
years.
In the 1330s events took place in
the life of the Eastern Church which put St Gregory among the most significant
universal apologists of Orthodoxy, and brought him great renown as a teacher of
hesychasm.
About the year 1330 the learned monk Barlaam had arrived in
Constantinople from Calabria, in Italy. He was the author of treatises on logic
and astronomy, a skilled and sharp-witted orator, and he received a university
chair in the capital city and began to expound on the works of St Dionysius the
Areopagite (October 3), whose "apophatic" ("negative", in
contrast to "kataphatic" or "positive") theology was
acclaimed in equal measure in both the Eastern and the Western Churches. Soon
Barlaam journeyed to Mt. Athos, where he became acquainted with the spiritual
life of the hesychasts'. Saying that it was impossible to know the essence of
God, he declared mental prayer a heretical error. Journeying from Mount Athos
to Thessalonica, and from there to Constantinople, and later again to
Thessalonica, Barlaam entered into disputes with the monks and attempted to
demonstrate the created, material nature of the light of Tabor (i.e. at the
Transfiguration). He ridiculed the teachings of the monks about the methods of
prayer and about the uncreated light seen by the hesychasts.
St Gregory, at the request of the Athonite monks, replied with verbal
admonitions at first. But seeing the futility of such efforts, he put his
theological arguments in writing. Thus appeared the "Triads in Defense of
the Holy Hesychasts" (1338). Towards the year 1340 the Athonite ascetics,
with the assistance of the saint, compiled a general response to the attacks of
Barlaam, the so-called "Hagiorite Tome." At the Constantinople
Council of 1341 in the church of Hagia Sophia St Gregory Palamas debated with
Barlaam, focusing upon the nature of the light of Mount Tabor. On May 27, 1341
the Council accepted the position of St Gregory Palamas, that God,
unapproachable in His Essence, reveals Himself through His energies, which are
directed towards the world and are able to be perceived, like the light of
Tabor, but which are neither material nor created. The teachings of Barlaam
were condemned as heresy, and he himself was anathemized and fled to Calabria.
But the dispute between the Palamites and the Barlaamites was far from
over. To these latter belonged Barlaam's disciple, the Bulgarian monk
Akyndinos, and also Patriarch John XIV Kalekos (1341-1347); the emperor Andronicus
III Paleologos (1328-1341) was also inclined toward their opinion. Akyndinos,
whose name means "one who inflicts no harm," actually caused great
harm by his heretical teaching. Akyndinos wrote a series of tracts in which he
declared St Gregory and the Athonite monks guilty of causing church disorders.
The saint, in turn, wrote a detailed refutation of Akyndinos' errors. The
patriarch supported Akyndinos and called St Gregory the cause of all disorders
and disturbances in the Church (1344) and had him locked up in prison for four
years. In 1347, when John the XIV was replaced on the patriarchal throne by
Isidore (1347-1349), St Gregory Palamas was set free and was made Archbishop of
Thessalonica.
In 1351 the Council of Blachernae solemnly upheld the Orthodoxy of his
teachings. But the people of Thessalonica did not immediately accept St
Gregory, and he was compelled to live in various places. On one of his travels
to Constantinople the Byzantine ship fell into the hands of the Turks. Even in
captivity, St Gregory preached to Christian prisoners and even to his Moslem
captors. The Hagarenes were astonished by the wisdom of his words. Some of the
Moslems were unable to endure this, so they beat him and would have killed him
if they had not expected to obtain a large ransom for him. A year later, St
Gregory was ransomed and returned to Thessalonica.
St Gregory performed many miracles in the three years before his death,
healing those afflicted with illness. On the eve of his repose, St John Chrysostom
appeared to him in a vision. With the words "To the heights! To the
heights!" St Gregory Palamas fell asleep in the Lord on November 14, 1359.
In 1368 he was canonized at a Constantinople Council under Patriarch Philotheus
(1354-1355, 1364-1376), who compiled the Life and Services to the saint.
Saints
Commemorated
SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT — Tone 6. St. Gregory Palamas. Martyrs Agapius, Publius (Pausis), Timolaus, Romulus,
two named Dionysius, and two named Alexander, at Cūsarea in Palestine (303).
Hieromartyr Alexander of Side, in Pamphylia (270-275). Martyr Nicander of Egypt
(ca. 302).
[March 11: St.
Sophronius, Bishop of Vracha (Bulgaria—1813).] [March 17: St. Patrick, Bishop of Armagh, Enlightener of
Ireland (ca. 461).]
Service
Schedule
Veneration of
the Cross, (at St. George)
March 22 - 12:00 P.M.
St. John
Climacus, (at SS
Cyril & Methodius) March 29 - 2:00 P.M.
St. Mary of
Egypt, (at St.
George) April 5 - 12:00 P.M.
Palm Sunday, (at SS
Cyril & Methodius) April
12 - 2:00 P.M.
Pascha, April 19
Area Orthodox
Churches celebrate many Lenten services, mainly on Wednesdays and Fridays. Please consult the internet for
services close to your home.
Българска
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Diocez Washington i
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