To be streamed on May 16th:
This week we continue with the chapter begun last week in which Metropolitan Hilarion writes of Christianity in Late Byzantium—the first half of the second millennium of then Church.
In this second half of the chapter, the Metropolitan address a rise and a fall: the rise of Hesychasm and the fall of Byzantium.
Hesychasm, from the Greek word, hesychia (silence) is a movement that gained great popularity at Athos during the 13th and 14th centuries. It can be characterized by “its interest in contemplation of the divine light…as well as in the psychosomatic technique used for the Jesus Prayer.” It was not without controversy: monks Barlaam of Calabria and Gregory Palamas found themselves on opposing sides. Palamas argued for hesychasm and its physicality because “prayer is not only a mental but also a bodily act…”
In addition to hesychasm, Barlaam and Palamas contended over the seeming paradox of the knowledge of God: He is “simultaneously knowable and unknowable, transcendent and immanent, unnamed and named, inexpressible and expressible, with whom one can both not have communion and have communion.” Palamas argued for explaining this paradox in terms of God’s “essence” and “energies.”
A third point of contention between these two men was the doctrine of the nature of the divine light. Palamas believed that the divine light was not God’s essence; rather, it is an uncreated energy of God.
If you have been following Orthodoxy for long, you will know that this debate was not settled quickly, but it was finally settled in favor of Gregory Palamas’ positions.
Also contained in the section of the chapter is the fall of Byzantium and the subsequent era of Orthodoxy under the rule of the Ottoman Empire.
Come join with us this week!