www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Gregory Palamas

If I wanted to dive into the work of Palamas, where could I find his works? Are there critical, scholarly editions in English? Would I have to learn Greek?

I'm mostly a Thomist, and am interested in finding points of agreement and contention.

For starters:

Classics of Western Spirituality, Gregory Palamas, The Triads,
ISBN 0-8091-2447-5, Paulist Press,

�A Study of Gregory Palamas� by Father John Meyendoff (Saint Vladimir�s Press, 1959, 1964, 1974)

�St. Gregory Palamas and Orthodox Spirituality� by Father John Meyendoff (Saint Vladimir�s Press, 1959, 1974)

There is also a translation of The Homilies of St. Gregory Palamas out there somewhere.

See: www.svspress.com [svspress.com]

Does the Byzantine Ruthenian Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh OFFICIALLY celebrate the memory of St. Gregory Palamas (on the 2nd Sunday of Lent)?

It is not listed on the calendar put out by the Byzantine Seminary Press. Is it in the official typikon (ordo)?

Just wondering.

John.

The best single work of St. Gregory Palamas in my opinion, and his work which impacted me the greatest is his "Triads" which is in the Paulist Press "Classics of Western Spirituality" series. This is his classic work defending the holy hesychasts against the charges of Barlaam of Calabria.

Yes, St Gregory Palamas is celebrated...

St. Gregory Palamas is in the apporved Typicon but not on the calendars and unfortunately some parishes do not use the texts for St. Gregory Palamas.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

With apologies to Deacon Lance:

The OFFICIAL Typikon entry in the Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh for March 7 says:

SECOND SUNDAY OF THE GREAT FAST. The holy martyrs and bishops of Cherson: Basil, Ephrem, Capiton, Eugene, Etherius, and others. The Passing of the Martyr and Priest-Exarch Leonind Feodorov (1935).

There is, after the description of the services, a "special note" which says:

"Orthodox and some Catholic Triodions prescribe the feast of St. Gregory Palamas to be observed on this Sunday." Fr. David then goes on to explain how SGP is observed, should that be done.

In the proposed Liturgikon which was ratified by Rome and is waiting for approbation by the Council of Hierarchs, there is no mention of St. Gregory Palamas on the Second Sunday of the Great Fast, but he is included in the Calendar of the Metropolitan Church on November 14, the anniversary of his entrance into Heaven.

(Prof.) J. Michael Thompson
Byzantine Catholic Seminary
Pittsburgh, PA

Professor,

Is it considered approved to celebrate St. Gregory Palamas on the Second Sunday of the Great Fast then?

Fr. Deacon Lance

Of course there will be no mention of Saint Gregory in the new Liturgicon. There was no mention of him in the old one. The Liturgicon contains only the fixed parts of the Liturgy.

The material for Gregory is in the Triodion, and his texts are there.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Dear Nicholas:

Since you haven't seen the new Liturgikon, how would you know?

The still-waiting-for-approbation Liturgikon for the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Province has a complete calendar, as well as having the fixed priestly and diaconal portions of the service,
and the work that went along with it (i.e., in designing the Peoples' Book to be used alongside the Liturgikon) provides the proper hymnody (troparia, kontakia, prokeimena, alleluiaria, and koinonika) for the Sundays and major feast days.

Why are people so quick to make corrections? Would questions not be more appropriate? Ah, well.
"Let me see my own sins and not judge my brother and sister."

(Prof.) J. Michael Thompson
Byzantine Catholic Seminary
Pittsburgh, PA

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Fr. Deacon Lance:

The accurate answer to your question is, "I don't know." <G>

(Prof.) J. Michael Thompson
Byzantine Catholic Seminary
Pittsburgh, PA

Question:

Why does the new Liturgikon not mention St Gregory Palamas on the Second Sunday of Great Lent?

The restoration of this commemoration of St. Gregory Palamas was recommended by Rome and several Greek Catholic hierarchs including Patriarch Josyp in the 1970s in the spirit of Orientalium Ecclesiarum.

It was included in the Rome Anthologion of 1974. This commemoration is nearly universal amongst the Orthodox. Instead of moving closer, as we are exhorted to do, are we really moving farther apart? The revised Dolnytsky Typikon in English includes the commemoration of St. Gregory, so in this case there is not consistency between churches of the Ruthenian rescension.

I also don't understand not including the commemoration of St. Gregory as the Uniontown Triodion does include it. At least in my parish we put the icon of St. Gregory on the tetrapod and before Liturgy sing his Canon.

He was a prime defender of hesychasm, the Jesus Prayer, the theology of deification, the theology of essence and energies. He personifies in a great way the development and summit of the teaching of the Cappadocians. And as Byzantines to ignore him is akin to the Latins ignoring a St. John of the Cross, St. Thomas Aquinas or St. Bonaventure. I don't understand why his commemoration would be ignored.

Dear Professor Thompson,

Ah, if I were young again I would ask to be admitted to your seminary to enjoy the benefit of your "no-nonsense" approach!

I just love it!

Alex

Because St Gregory Palamas is Orthodox, not Catholic. He didn't share the same Faith as Rome.

If you want to move closer, then convert to Orthodoxy. If you believe that the Catholic Church contains the fullness of Truth and is the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, then why do you need to move closer to anything other than your own Church?

Greg