Of course the Imprimatur and Nihil Obstat are nothing more than the opinion of one or two Catholics, including a bishop. It simply tells us that the text has been submitted to someone in the Church hierarchy for review. It is a declaration of formal review, in the main.

Mary

If I maintain that God is pure act and that His essence and His energies coincide, am I heretic?
I agree that in the Latin West there was little or no tolerance for theologies other than the Scholastics', but I hope you won't do the same mistake going overboard on the opposite way.

The Church regards Saint Gregory Palamas as a Saint. That does not mean that everyone is thereby obligated under pain of damnation to accept every opinion the man ever expressed.Saint John Chrysostom famously (or notoriously) held that on one particular occasion the Holy Theotokos committed a sin; are you shocked that the Church nevertheless canonized Saint John Chrysostom and venerates him as a Doctor of the Church?

The standard of Patristics as a proof of the teaching of the Faith is the consensus of the Fathers; we all have our off days. Though I confess that I see no reason in the world to regard Saint Gregory Palamas as an ignoramus, a heretic, or someone who was not teaching in accord with such luminaries as Saint Athanasius and Saint Basil the Great.

Since most of Saint Gregory's writings were unpublished and inaccessible in 1910, I'm even less impressed by the negative view of whoever wrote the Catholic Encyclopedia entry. Have you considered reading Saint Gregory instead of reading his detractors?

Fr. Serge

Eddie-

No problem, and thank you for that very good post.

And...



... thank you for finding this, and confirming yet again that St. Gregory is no heretic and that his troparion is "on the books" in the BCC.

MarkosC

Whatis a troparion. is that what I found?

I promise to study more about this Saint. I haven't heard anything more from my byzcath family about this. They are singers in their byzcath congregation.

Eddie

Eddie-

A troparion is this:
http://orthodoxwiki.org/Troparion

And yes, what you found is a troparion.

As far as books, I'm sure there are other good ones, but one I thought was good (and relatively easy to read) is this one:

http://www.svspress.com/product_info.php?products_id=247

Markos

I believe it means that not only has the document been reviewed, but that it has been approved for publication and contains nothing contrary to the faith. So it would seem to me it is a perfectly acceptable opinion for Catholics to hold that Palamism is heretical in its distinction between the essence and energies of God (as I have been told elsewhere) and that St. Gregory Palamas does not need to be regarded as a saint. The fact that he is not present on wall calendars, his commemoration hymns are not published in service books, or the 2nd Sunday of Lent would simply be called the second Sunday of Lent just to me further illustrates the point that people are not comfortable with his theology.

Also, I checked on the author of the article in question (Adrian Fortescue), and what I read states that he was a scholar held in high regard and known for his knowledge of the Eastern churches.

There are, evidently, some people who are convinced that Saint Gregory Palamas is a heretic (I'd be willing to make a small wager that most of these people have never read a line of what Saint Gregory wrote) and that veneration of him is wicked. I refrain from suggesting what they ought to join.

But I have no hesitation in saying that to maintain that the Catholic Encyclopedia of a century ago takes precedence over a quite official service book published by the Holy See is a prize example of an effort to be "more Catholic than the Pope". If these people encounter a liberal who picks and chooses whatever he likes from the Faith and whatever he likes from anywhere else, I am morally certain that they will not approve of such behaviour. Well, it is equally objectionable if it happens to come from the other direction.

What shall we hear of next? Are we bound to believe that the Johannane Comma is part of the inspired text? Is the consumption of half an ounce of meat on Friday mortally sinful? Do the aborted children all go to Limbo? Is Saint Joan of Arc a witch after all?

Yes, Adrian Fortescue was an outstanding scholar, and I would be a great fool to criticize him for not including data in his books that did not come to light until after his death. But he has been dead for over three-quarters of a century, and Catholic scholarship did not suddenly cease when he went to his eternal reward, as he himself would be the first to tell you.

I repeat. The opinion of one bishop does not a universal teaching make. Nor the opinion of one scholar, nor a school of scholars for that matter.

Mary

Well, let me just say I apologize to anyone who I may have annoyed or angered with my inquiries.

I guess what is confusing to me is it seems there is something of a split opinion on the issue, with on one hand some people commemorating St. Gregory but others being able to be not adopting a stance contrary to the Catholic faith in not regarding him as a saint or that his theology is erroneous. That is just my understanding based on what I have read. The fact that the Ruthenian Church seems to make his commemoration optional tells me opinion is not settled on the matter, even if he is officially recognized by them.

If it's any consolation, the Old Rite, while also recognizing Saint Gregory in the calendar of Saints, does not keep the Second Sunday of Lent in his honor.

Fr. Serge