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The greatest challenge which is facing Christian civilization and culture today is the following: The atrophy of spiritual senses. So, we can ask ourselves, What are the most effective steps that we can take to overcome this challenge The... more
The greatest challenge which is facing Christian civilization and culture today is the following: The atrophy of spiritual senses. So, we can ask ourselves, What are the most effective steps that we can take to overcome this challenge The answer lies in the early Christian ascetics (patterns from antiquity can be a response to modernity). In this chapter I explore how Christian asceticism can be made relevant to a modern culture in which the idea of “ascetic holy man” has lost much of its power. Regarding the model of holy man, many scholars continue to assume that a distinction must be made between an ascetic and a monk, as every monk is an ascetic, but not every ascetic is a monk. Peter Hatlie says that “Although spiritual authority and “the holy” remain fertile topics for discussion among early Christian and late antique scholars, it receives considerably less attention from Byzantinists working in the generations to follow” (Hatlie in Portraits of Spiritual Authority. Religious Power in Early Christianity, Byzantium and the Christian Orient. Brill, Leiden, 1999, p. 195). In the context of the perceived disintegration of the secular world, monks showed how ascetic renunciation of the world could provide a new style of civic leadership. Susan Ashbrook Harvey manages to capture the relationship between ascetism and society in this way: “During the fourth century monasticism flowered across the Christian realm, and with it a critical role for the ascetic – the holy man or woman – to play in society. By their discipline and their conscious imitation of biblical models, especially from the Gospels, the ascetics enacted the image of Christ. To the public this was more than imitation: in the image of Christ, the holy one could do what Christ had done. The ascetics could intercede for divine mercy, and they could be instruments of divine grace in this world; they were a channel between humanity and God that worked in both directions. The ascetic was the point at which the human and the holy met. Often seen as an attempt to leave the worldly for the spiritual, asceticism in fact carried heavy responsibilities in relation to the larger Christian society” (Ashbrook Harvey in Asceticism and Society in Crisis: John of Ephesus and The Lives of the Eastern Saints. University of California Press, Berkeley, 1990, pp. 20–21). In the desert St. Anthony the Great redefined the ascetic as one who fights with the Adversary face-to-face, in the desolate and un-Christianized wilderness. Antony made “the desert a city”, sanctifying a place where God had not been present. And he did more: he brought that strength back into Christian society. By the sixth century, the ascetic’s role in society had both expanded and become an orderly part of how society functioned. “We should seek holiness, not clothing, food and drink”, says St. Neilos the Ascetic, because “possessions arouse feelings of jealousy against their owners, cut off their owners from men better than themselves, divide families, and make friends hate one another […]. Why do we abandon hope in God and rely on the strength of our own arm, ascribing the gifts of God’s providence to the work of our hands? Job considered that his greatest sin was to raise his hand to his mouth and kiss it (Job 31:27)” (St. Neilos 14, in Philokalia 1, 1979, p. 208). Now when bodily concerns predominate, “everything in man is asleep: the intellect, the soul and the senses” (St. Neilos 16, in Philokalia 1, 1979, p. 210), and this indicates the state of one whose reason is closely absorbed in physical things. John the Baptist lived in the wilderness and the population of entire towns came out to him; the miraculous life of this humble desert-dweller is acclaimed until this day, and his memory is greatly revered by all. For “the renown of holiness is eternal, and its intrinsic virtues proclaim its value” (St. Neilos 20–21, in Philokalia 1, 1979, p. 214). But false teachers are blind to such examples, and arrogantly tell men what to do. For in their foolishness they have extinguished the light of contemplation. So their contemplative understanding is immediately destroyed.
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During the Transfiguration, the apostles on Tabor, "indeed saw the same grace of the Spirit which would later dwell in them". The light of grace "illuminates from outside (ἔξωθεν) on those who worthily approached it and... more
During the Transfiguration, the apostles on Tabor, "indeed saw the same grace of the Spirit which would later dwell in them". The light of grace "illuminates from outside (ἔξωθεν) on those who worthily approached it and sent the illumination to the soul through the sensitive eyes; but today, because it is confounded with us (ἀνακραθὲν ἡμῖν) and exists in us, it illuminates the soul from inward (ἔνδωθεν)". The opposition between knowledge, which comes from outside (ἔξωθεν) - a human and purely symbolic knowledge - and "intellectual" knowledge, which comes from within (ἔνδωθεν), Meyendorff says what it already exists at Pseudo-Dionysius: "For it is not from without that God stirs them toward the divine. Rather he does so via the intellect and from within and he willingly enlightens them with a ray that is pure and immaterial". The assertions of the Calabrian philosopher about an "unique knowledge", common both to the Christians and the...
According to Pauline theology we are ‘earthen vessels’ (2 Cor. 4:7) till Christ is formed in us (Gal. 4:19). Into the most holy place of our being, in which the very presence of God dwells, He ‘enters within the veil’ (Heb. 6:19) and ‘put... more
According to Pauline theology we are ‘earthen vessels’ (2 Cor. 4:7) till Christ is formed in us (Gal. 4:19). Into the most holy place of our being, in which the very presence of God dwells, He ‘enters within the veil’ (Heb. 6:19) and ‘put in our hearts the light’ (2 Cor. 4:6). So, being ‘clothed in Christ’ (Gal. 3:27) we all are being ‘transformed into his image’ which is the ‘form of God’ ἐν μορφῇ Θeοῦ (Phil. 2:6). To Saint Ephrem, “The First-born wrapped himself in a body / as a veil to hide His glory” (CNis XLIII,21, LumE 74). He juxtaposes the image of Moses being veiled with Jesus’ veiling on Himself in the Incarnation. Face of Moses shone and he laid veil over his face, just as Lord, from the Womb, entered and put on the veil of the Body (Nativity 73). Also, the veil of the temple was intended by Moses to symbolize the veil of heaven, and both veils together prefigured the flesh of Christ, which enfolded and concealed his divinity. Firstly, we will focus on the analogy between...
Abstract. Gospel of Matthew applies the symbolism of luminous panim/face to Jesus. In this text the luminous image, could stand behind the symbolism of Jesus’ luminous face in the transfiguration accounts in close connection with pauline... more
Abstract. Gospel of Matthew applies the symbolism of luminous panim/face to Jesus. In this text the luminous image, could stand behind the symbolism of Jesus’ luminous face in the transfiguration accounts in close connection with pauline text about “Christ as the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15) and the theophanic paradigm of Kavod (Hebrews 12:18-29). Firstly, the symbolism of Jesus’ Luminous Face is connected with the notion of image or iqonin. But, the reference to his glorious tselem or iqonin, has an important feature - indicating that Jesus’ face relates not to Moses’ but to God’s countenance. “Vested” with glory, Moses, as he descended Mt Sinai, he “wore” the light on his face, instead Christ is the Light. The verb μεταμορφόω, employed by Mark and Matthew, also occurs in several Pauline passages, including 2 Cor 3:18, where Paul anticipates the believer’s metamorphosis. According to many scholars was steeped in hellenistic terminology and experience: transfiguration by vision. There is no other Pauline text which so clearly reveals his deepest experience and - according to some - his non-Jewish mode of thinking. But, here, Paul has suffused a Greco-Roman motif of metamorphosis with a midrashic development of the Moses story of Exodus 34 and with an allusion to Genesis 1. This metamorphosis is, thus, achieved through the doxa kyriou. This rare terminology of transformation coincides, instead, here with the Kavod imagery. If people convert to Christ, the second Adam, and reflect his glory (2 Cor 3:16, 18; 4:4), they experience a transformation ἀπὸ δόξης εἰς δόξαν, “from one degree of glory to another” (2 Cor 3:18). But, Paul moves beyond the Jewish terminology of the image or likeness of God and the glory of (the second) Adam. In the course of 2 Cor 3-4, the language of image (εἰκών) is supplemented with the notion of the ἔσω ἄνθρωπος, the inner man: man’s transformation into the εἰκών of the second Adam, the heavenly ἄνθρωπος (1 Cor 15:47-49), results directly in a gradual and progressive renewal of the inner ἄνθρωπος (2 Cor 4:16). Eternal and increasing glory results from man’s metamorphosis into the εἰκών of the second Adam. In this way, says van Kooten, “Paul recasts the Jewish terminology of the image of God in terms of a Platonic anthropology”. Thus, we learn from 2 Cor. that this “bearing of the image of the second Adam” is not only an eschatological event, but rather involves a transformational process in the present, based on transformation into the image of Christ in his capacity as the heavenly man (2 Cor 3:18-4:4). Scholars also note connections with Phil 2:6-11 where once again the transformation of believers is surrounded by Kavod symbolism. So, in Phil 2:6-7 “form” or μορφή equates with both an εἰκών and an οὐσία. Paul, as we shall see, in describing Christ as being ἐν μορφῇ θεοῦ, means to ascribe to him not only the status possessed by the prelapsarian Adam that of being κατ’ εἰκόνα θεοῦ (Gen 1:27). Paul juxtaposes two cognates of μορφή, as such σύμμορφος and μεταμορφόομαι, with εἰκών in Rom 8:29 (ὅτι οὓς προέγνω καὶ προώρισεν συμμόρφους τῆς εἰκόνος τοῦ Υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸ εἶναι αὐτὸν πρωτότοκον ἐν πολλοῖς ἀδελφοῖς) and 2 Cor 3:18 (ἡμεῖς δὲ πάντες ἀνακεκαλυμμένῳ προσώπῳ τὴν δόξαν Κυρίου κατοπτριζόμενοι τὴν αὐτὴν εἰκόνα μεταμορφούμεθα ἀπὸ δόξης εἰς δόξαν καθάπερ ἀπὸ Κυρίου Πνεύματος) in such a way as to suggest that he considers μορφή and εἰκών synonymous. The word εἰκών refers to something substantial, a μορφή to which one can be σύμμόρφος or into which one can μεταμορφοῦται: “We are transformed (μεταμορφούμεθα) into the same image” (2 Cor. 3:18) “Until Christ be formed (μορφωθῇ) in you” (Gal. 4:19). The form (μορφή) or visible appearance of God has, also, a theological basis in δόξα concept of the Greek Bible, according to which the glory of God is visibly in the radiance of heavenly light. So, if the sign of the humanity of Jesus is the μορφὴ δούλου, the the μορφὴ θεοῦ is equivalent to the δόξα Κυρίου. Paul means to indentify Christ as a visible manifestation of divine glory. Christ must refer in John 17:5 (“Now, Father, glorify me together with yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was”) to uncreated glory, that is, the essential glory of the deity. Phil 2:6-7 indicates that Christ exists both in the “form of a God” and in the “form of a servant”. Christ as equal to the Father, refer to the “form of God Μορφή itself (Mark 16:12) and μόρφωσις (2 Tim 3:5), for instance, appear in the NT in the sense of “external appearance,” while μεταμορφόω in Matt 17:2 and Mark 9:2 refers to the transfiguration precisely of Christ’s appearance (panim). Thus, Philippians 2:6–7 refer to the “form of a servant,” i.e. Christ’s human nature (μορφή in the related sense of “bearing”), and the “form of God,” is the second remarks, which portray Christ as equal to the Father.
First, the uncreated Glory (light, theophany) is involved when Macarie talks about becoming “all Light” (as being a participant to the uncreated light and to the visio Dei). Those who receive the divine light are anticipa-ting the... more
First, the uncreated Glory (light, theophany) is involved when Macarie talks about becoming “all Light” (as being a participant to the uncreated light and to the visio Dei). Those who receive the divine light are anticipa-ting the resurrection-glory of the Age to Come. What now is for the most part an interior glory, though not exclusively, as in the case of Moses and several of the monastic saints of the Desert, will then, in the eschaton, will be shown forth externally in the transfigured bodies of the saints. But Christ Himself is deifying light. This light is ‘theurgic’ in the sense of ‘divinising’. Macarius states that our mixed human nature, which was assumed by the Lord, has taken its seat on the right hand of the divine majesty in the heavens (Heb. 8:1), being full of glory not only (like Moses) in the face, but in the whole body. Golitzin’s reading is very important and he emphasizes Macarius’ insistence on the divine nature of light (not a νόεμα, but an ὑποστατικόν substantial φῶς). So, Macarian expression of “becoming all light, all face, all eye”, is about of the interior presence of the Light of Christ, Who is present in the Saints and poured out exteriorly upon their bodies.
Second, becoming “all face” (theo-christophany) means that Christ is both, the face of God and the face of man. The word face is itself sometimes deeply significant for the Greek ascetic fathers, and, sometimes, according to Cassiday there is quite a coincidence of the images of the light and the face. The light that illumines the temple of the mind and body is nothing other than the splendour of the Lord’s face. Thus, Christ is the iconic revelation of God; Christ reveals God’s face. So it is Christ whose in-dwelling presence radiates the light that illumines the temple of the mind and of the body as well. Christ, the Glory of the Lord, descending upon the mind, dwelling in it and shedding his light upon it and upon the body of the ascet. When Christ abides in the Christian mind, the face of the Christian emulates the Lord’s face in the same way that the Christian’s mind and body reflects the divine light. This is also a “highly visual epistemology”, which reminds us of about the Evagrius Ponticus, On Thoughts 24, where he says that it is also possible for you ‘to form in your-self your Father’s face’. Through true prayer, the monk becomes ‘equal to the angels’ (Lk 20.36), yearning to ‘see the face of the Father who is in heaven’ (Mt 18.10). But the macarian first interpretation is preserved in the Hesychast method of prayer (mind within the body), through which we carry the Father's light in the face of Jesus Christ in earthen vessels (2 Corinthians 4:6-7), that is, in our bodies and it is related to the transformation of the body during prayer.
Third the expression becoming “all eye” leads us to the apophaticism (a hidden-revealed dialectic). In Ennead I.6.9 Plotinus argues that never did eye see the sun unless it had first become sunlike, and never can the soul have vision of the First Beauty unless itself be beautiful. Ephrem also employs the image of the eye. The inner eye of the mind (Faith 53:12), or of the soul (Faith 5:18), functions by means of faith, in much the same way that the exterior, physical, eyes functions by means of light. The presence of sin darkens this inner eye by keeping out the light of faith, and so, in order that this inner eye may see properly, it needs to be kept lucid and clear. In a short poem Hymn Thirty-Seven, Ephrem compares Eve and Mary to the two inner eyes of the world: one is darkened and cannot see clearly, while the other is luminous and operates perfectly. The term which Ephrem uses to describe Mary’s eye is an important one for Syriac Christianity in general (in particular for Saint Isaac of Nineveh). Her eye is shaphya, a Syriac word which according to Sebastian Brock has no single translation equivalent in English, but it includes ‘clear, pure, limpid, lucid, luminous’. Further-more ‘the Luminous One’ is a title which Ephrem employs a considerable number of times with reference to Christ. Ephrem uses the term shaphya, and the accompanying abstract noun shaphyuta, ‘luminosity’, closely connected with the optical imagery of the eye concerns the mirror. It is prayer that is the mirror: if this mirror is polished and rightly directed, then it will reflect Christ’s beauty. Such prayer will be indeed theo-phanic, revealing something of the Godhead and it makes us filled with the beauty of the Lord’s face (Church 29:9-10). King-dom of heaven is depicted, visible to those who have a luminous eye. The vision of the luminous eye of faith needs to be enhanced by praise. The image of becoming ‘all eye’, entirely subsumed in the vision that consumes and unites, goes back to Plotinus. For me this is a form of expressing the apophatic di-mension of the experience of prayer. By employing this apopha-tic theology (all eye), Macarius send to the purity of spiritual mind. It is what allows the light of the Holy Trinity to shine forth at the time of prayer having become all eye. By this supra-intelligible union with this light, St. Gregory Palamas shows us that the doctrine of divine light is revealing to us the Desert Fathers ‘missing (i.e., hidden/apophatic) Christology’, as the ‘missing piece’ (sic!) of the current studies on Late Antiquity.
În ultimii ani s-a remarcat un interes crescut privind controversa antropomorfită, relația ei cu origenismul și cu teologia kabodului sau a slavei din apocalipsa intertestamentară, însă nimeni nu a dedicat, până acum, un studiu atent... more
În ultimii ani s-a remarcat un interes crescut privind controversa antropomorfită, relația ei cu origenismul și cu teologia kabodului sau a slavei din apocalipsa intertestamentară,  însă nimeni nu a dedicat, până acum, un studiu atent corelației mistice dintre controversa antropomorfită și disputa isihastă din Bizanțul târziu al secolului XIV. Elementul comun al acestor două dezbateri îl reprezintă o teologie/hristologie a luminii necreate văzută prin tripticul slavei-chipului-euharistiei. P. Nellas, cu referirea sa la Hristos, Fiul lui Dumnezeu întrupat, ca model al creării omului, ar putea aduce un plus de lumină aici.  De asemenea, vom descoperi că în calea experienței vederii luminii/slavei lui Dumnezeu de către „simţurile duhovniceşti” stau „imaginile” din timpul rugăciunii intelectului (Evagrie/Antonie) și demonii care induc vedenii false (Pahomie/Macarie cel Mare). Ca un preambul al discuției centrale, vom începe printr-o descriere a Vieții ascetului Apa Aphou din Pemdje, urmată de o discuţie despre folosirea greşită a termenului de „antropomorfism” cu referire la vederea lui Dumnezeu și voi încheia prin precizări asupra dezbaterii despre vechea hristologie preniceene în tripticul: imago Dei – visio Dei – corpus/forma Dei. Cea mai controversată, pentru mine, se arată a fi afirmația lui Golitzin potrivit căreia teofaniile erei creștine post-resurecționale sunt de fapt Logofanii, vederi/viziuni ale Logosului preincarnațional. Astfel, potrivit lui, pentru Aphou ca şi pentru ceilalţi „antropomorfiţi“, inclusiv audienii lui Epifanie, subiectul disputei este într-adevăr cea de-a Doua Persoană a Sfintei Treimi, dar  nu este vorba de Hristos Cel întrupat, ci mai degrabă de „forma” preexistentă a „lui Dumnezeu”, din Filipeni 2, 6. Totul ni se prezintă, în această viziune, ca și cum trupul Mântuitorului, natura umană înviată și înălțată de dreapta Tatălui, nu mai are vreo relevanță teofanică după ridicarea ca cer. Nu se ia, astfel, în considerare legătura lui Hristos cel înviat cu planul istoriei, ceea ce părintele Stăniloae numește „iradierea pnevmatică și eficiența transformatoare a învierii lui Hristos în lume”.
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This study is about the Byzantine historical context of the "Palaeologan revival", in particular Thessaloniki of the fourth century urban society and hesychast life. First we will describe the life of Nicholas Cabasilas as an aristocrat,... more
This study is about the Byzantine historical context of the "Palaeologan revival", in particular Thessaloniki of the fourth century urban society and hesychast life. First we will describe the life of Nicholas Cabasilas as an aristocrat, politician, humanist of Thesalonic and also the intelectual independence of Cabasilas towards Gregory Palamas. But the focus is on his theocentric humanism, hesychast mariology and sacramental christification, as the anthropological content of deification to St. Nicholas Cabasilas.
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Abstract: In this study we will try to present the iconographic tradition as a form of visual theology, though it is difficult to conceptualize what it used to be like in the immediate presence of God. The Transfiguration is one of the... more
Abstract: In this study we will try to present the iconographic tradition as a form of visual theology, though it is difficult to conceptualize what it used to be like in the immediate presence of God. The Transfiguration is one of the keys that can unlock the mystery of our eschatological fate, glorified body and the participation in the energies of God. All the ascetics who had the experience of the uncreated light or were transfigures themselves describe it in very similar way and connect it with the Transfiguration of Christ. It is only in later hesychasm that we are assured theologically that these experiences were in the body. Within this context, liturgical art and aesthetics differ from secular aesthetics, as being beyond the five senses and beyond the art itself. The Fathers, from Origen to John of Damascus, refer to Christ as the visible image and consubstantial icon of the Father. Icons were anything more than vessels of the grace of God and suggest the real presence of the grace of the depicted person. In the Old Testament, God denied the wish of anyone who asked to see him directly. The desire to see God was impossible before the Incarnation of Christ. The mosaic of the Transfiguration in St Catherine Monastery on Mount Sinai shows a completely glorified Christ with eight rays emanating from his body and introduces the luminous mandorla, a symbol that symbolizes the glory of God. The mandorla of the Sinai mosaic is oval, whereas the mandorla of the Rabbula Gospels is round. These two types express the glory of God in different way, highlighting the correspondence between theological concepts and the visual language. Mandorla expresses visually the Jewish concept of kabod, that connoted a more physical, concrete presence than the abstract meaning of δόξα. Certain scholars separate two main meanings of kabod: shekinah (from shakan, “to live in a tent” or simply “to dwell”) and yeqara (from yqr, the sensory splendor of light), in order to express this visual manifestation of the two natures of Christ. So, the oval mandorla corresponds with the luminous characterists of the kabod as yeqara. Here, the three concentric oval layers, increasingly dark, represent the depiction of the excessive divine light as the darkness of the incognoscibility of God, even in revelation. The round mandorla, on the other hand, represents the manifestation of the kabod-glory of God as shekinah/tabernacle. Here, the emphasis on the spatial rather than luminous nature of mandorla described the glimpse of the Trinity, as opposed to a less-historicized reading that emphasized the continuous splendor of Christ. The Transfiguration enjoyed a renewed interest in fourteenth-century theology, and, at the same time, a mysterious complex mandorla made its appearance, the so-called “hesychastic” mandorla (first appears in the churches of Mistras and in manuscripts of the ex-emperor and hesychastic monk, John Cantacuzenos). It consists of a geometric design as two superimposed concave squares (actually a square and a rhombus) inside a circle. These three shapes circle-square-rhombus superimposed on top of each other indicate the Trinity. This ties with Gregory Palamas’s attempt to harmonize the days of the Gospel narratives: “six” (six figures who are visible) and “eight” (adds the two who were invisible but certainly present, the Father and the Holy Spirit). Therefore, in our study we analyze how the icon of the Transfiguration encapsulates the ascetic ascent to deification.
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ABSTRACT: According to Pauline theology we are ‘earthen vessels’ (2 Cor. 4:7) till Christ is formed in us (Gal. 4:19). Into the most holy place of our being, in which the very presence of God dwells, He ‘enters within the veil’ (Heb.... more
ABSTRACT:

According to Pauline theology we are ‘earthen vessels’ (2 Cor. 4:7) till Christ is formed in us (Gal. 4:19). Into the most holy place of our being, in which the very presence of God dwells, He ‘enters within the veil’ (Heb. 6:19) and ‘put in our hearts the light’ (2 Cor. 4:6). So, being ‘clothed in Christ’ (Gal. 3:27) we all are being ‘transformed into his image’ which is the ‘form of God’ ἐν μορφῇ Θεοῦ (Phil. 2:6). To Saint Ephrem, “The First-born wrapped himself in a body / as a veil to hide His glory” (CNis XLIII,21, LumE 74). He juxtaposes the image of Moses being veiled with Jesus’ veiling on Himself in the Incarnation. Face of Moses shone and he laid veil over his face, just as Lord, from the Womb, entered and put on the veil of the Body (Nativity 73). Also, the veil of the temple was intended by Moses to symbolize the veil of heaven, and both veils together prefigured the flesh of Christ, which enfolded and concealed his divinity. Firstly, we will focus on the analogy between Thabor’s garments and bodies in the water of Baptism (De Epiphania 9, 12), both glory / Light garments of the Son, the “Father Ray” (Heb. 1: 3; Sogyatha I 1-2). Secondly, we are interested in St. Ephrem’s interpretation of Matthew 27:50-51 (The Crucifixion IV, 1-12, Comm. Diatess. XXI, 4-6). Here, he combines two Pauline texts (Heb. 6:19 and 2 Cor. 3: 14-18) showing that, in fact, the veil split gave back to the Lord the glory that Jews have rejected. The latters dressed him with veil altar (Azym. V, 6 – the purple, which was the inner veil of the temple; Katapetesma: a curtain) actually they clothed Him with His symbol of the divine glory presence. The Veil of Light is that who hides the apophatic ‘aesthetics’ of God’s Face. This is the way of concealing the divinity from velum scissum to the eucharistic bread. In this view the Body becomes the ‘Veil of flesh’ (καταπέτασμα) in accordance with the clothing imagery. This study is about the Biblical, syrian and hesychast perichoretic interweaving of visible (created) and invisible (uncreated). First, the syntagm “Within the Veil” (καταπέτασμα) is related to the biblical and patristic understanding of salvation as a garment. Thus, the Syrian (nuhrā qaddīša Ephrem’s “eṣtal šubḥa”) is nothing less than the reception of Paul (veil of flesh, Heb 10:20) spirituality of divine light (δόξα). Dionysius speaks of his spiritual father, Hierotheos who is “suffering” the mystery of the Incarnation (παθὼν τὰ θεῖαν, DN II, 9). So, holy man is “theophanic”, becoming present to the Trinity (DN III, 1) and the hierarchy’s members becomes “spotless mirrors of the primordial light” (icons of the divine energies). Theurgic light and deiformity (θεοειδεῖ) by union with the rays of the unapproachable light. “Suddenly” (ἐξαίφνης) vision of Christ in light represents the divine motion as God extended “ecs[aes]tetically” into immanence. Therefore, the theophany of light (ἀπρόσιτον ϕῶς) is Imparticipable participable (τὰ ἀμεθέκτως μετεχόμενα) and God ad extra.
Accordingly, the veil (καταπέτασμα) theology is the hermeneutical key to reveal by concealing the divine presence, a real point of contact or somatic experience. In a word, God’s self-revelation as concealing presence. Perichoresis of the visible and the invisible (interweaving of the created and the uncreated in biblical, syrian and hesychast clotihing metaphors) becomes possible within the body, understood as a ‘veil’. The biblical theology of clothing, especially the Significance of Clothing Imagery in the Pauline and the Clothing Metaphors, as a Means of Theological Expression in Syriac Tradition are both engaged to understand the late hesychast theology of uncreated light, this vision of God being “veiled unveiling” or hidden in his manifestation. The flesh becomes the veil of (καταπέτασμα) God’s self-revelation (a concealing presence) and the “shining face” of both the Desert Fathers, as well as the byzantine hesychasts, during prayer, is the witness of the realism of that communion, being the point of tangency of created (aesthetics) body and uncreated (apophatic) light.
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Our study aims to undertake a brief biblical, hagiographic and patristic analysis of theophanies / Christophanies, in order to emphasize man’s ability to see God, as postulated by the Byzantine hesychast theology, a continuation of the... more
Our study aims to undertake a brief biblical, hagiographic and patristic analysis of theophanies / Christophanies, in order to emphasize man’s ability to see God, as postulated by the Byzantine hesychast theology, a continuation of the spirituality of the old Desert Fathers. The created nature is able to approach the Unapproachable One. The Taboric theophany epitomizes the purpose for man’s creation: partaking of the divine life, achieving union with God through the divine energies or the grace – as it was achieved in the human and deified body of Christ. St Gregory Palamas stresses, however, that the divine Light is not perceptible through the senses, so cannot be contemplated by the physical eyes. In order to be granted this kind of sight, man has to undergo a spiritual transformation brought about by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is how the three apostles were able to see the Taboric Light: «they were changed», St Gregory says, «and thus they became able to contemplate the very change» undergone by their senses (Homily XXXIV). The divine light is thus visible to the physical eyes of the body and was actually seen by the eyes of the Apostles during the Lord’s Transfiguration, though only briefly. Like St Basil, he invokes the beauty (κάλλος) of divine nature, the splendor and grace radiating from this light (reminding of St Irinaeus), which shone of Moses’ face and through which he spoke to God. St Macarios, too, states that the same light imprinted on Moses’ face now shines within the souls of the saints (Homily V, 10; cf. Tr. I, 3, 7). However, Moses simply bore or was granted this glory, while Christ possesses it from eternity. St Gregory identifies the divine Light with God’s energies, quoting the words of Saints Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian (Theophanes § 9).
According to St Gregory Palamas, the divine uncreated glory, the Heavenly Kingdom, and the divine splendor are one in God and His saints. He distinguishes two stages in the manifestation of the Taboric light: first on Christ’s Face, then as a shining Cloud. Dogmatic theology and mystical theology intersect and overlap in the description of the revelation of Christ’s divine glory, by which St Gregory closely follows the pattern κάθαρσις – φωτισμὸς – θέωσις. Direct contact with God involves partaking of the Triune divine energy, the glory or the grace of the infinite light which Adam lost at the Fall. Salvation means partaking of the divine energies, since – St Gregory Palamas adds – it is only the affluence of divine energies that enable the righteous to shine. The light that radiates is God’s energy or action ad extra, and is closely linked to ascetic life. Although the human person in its entirety (mind, soul and body) participates in this sight, the light so perceived completely transcends our created being. The unique, significant contribution brought by St Symeon the New Theologian was based on his own experience; namely, the fact that the divine Light can be actually contempled by the one who obeys his spiritual director. This light shines both from within, when it is contemplated by the heart (καρδία), and from without, when it is contemplated by the intellect (νοῦς). To St Symeon salvation is placed in relation to man’s thrist to see God’s light. This longing for the contemplation of the divine light is characteristic for the Christian mode of existence (τρόπος ὑπάρξεως). Therefore, «participating (μέθεξις) in the uncreated life and glory» and «contemplating (θέα) the glory» were to St Cyril of Alexandria interchangeable phra-ses, describing the life in the Kingdom of God. Reiterating the position of Saint Irenaeus, St John Chrysostom insisted on the anthropological implications of theophanies or Christophanies.
This is why salvation is not understood in the ethical sense, but as attainment of Christification. Christ reveals Himself to the world, a process where He is the central figure, holding the highest position. Every manifestation of God is in and through Christ. St Gregory Palamas stressed the Christocentric character of divine economy. Jacob named Peniel, that is, “the face of God”, the place of which he says: «I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved!» (Genesis 32, 30, KJV). Christ is called the Angel of God, Who talked to Moses in the burning bush, stating: «I am that I am». The 14th century hesychast doctrine was based on the awareness that man is called to engage in direct, unmediated communion with God even in this earthly life. True knowledge of God is granted to those who proved worthy of contemplating Christ in His glory, seeing God face to face, and partaking of His life. The ones who feel the divine grace in both soul and body are righteous persons, and if they retain this grace, their bodies are sanctified, and their remains become holy relics.
The distinction between φύσις and πρώσοπον, posited by St Athanasius of Sinai, led to the conclusion that face-to-face contemplation is the sight of the Person of the Incarnate Word. This sight of the luminous face of God as it turns to each man, the sight of the Transfigured Christ, acquires a theological structure in the teachings of St Gregory Palamas and the definitions of grace provided by the 14th-century councils. The light of His glory precedes the sight of His face, and He can only be seen in the light; living in grace is nothing else but “a progressive experience of the divine Light”. The radiance of divine grace, described by St Macarius of Egypt, shines forth from the face of the Son; it enlightened Paul’s mind although it blinded his eyes, for his body was unable to withstand the brilliance of this Light. This fire constitutes the divine energies, the “rays of godliness”. This light (φῶς) or rather illumination (ἕλλαμψις) can be described as the visible manifestation of divinity – God’s energies or His grace, beyond human comprehension or physical perception. United with the Light dwelling within us, the body participates in, or partakes of, the divine things, experiencing them as inward warmth or light. But the light of the Holy Trinity will shine eschatologically in the multitude of human hypostases, the divine fire within the hearts will resurrect the bodies and everything will become Light, being pervaded by this uncreated splendor.
According to Father Stăniloae, it is the Holy Spirit who leaves the “imprint” of God’s action on the human subjects and imprints Christ’s image on each man. The ascetics elevate this divine image they possess to the likeness to God, and to the deifying love. On their face is visible the light of Christ’s face. They receive the seal of divine beauty, as the psalm says: « lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us» (Ps 4, 9). This is the experience of plenitude of grace, an actual experience of the grace through the senses (πεῖρα ἀισθήσεως), an incessant feeling of the presence of grace, manifest in the contemplation of the divine light. The glory thus partaken of, radiates from the unique, divine-human Person, to Whom the body is not a hindrance. Ascetics are seen in Him by the Father who sees Christ “imprinted” onto them, in His sacrificial and resurrected state. In the face of Christ, the Father sees all those who believe in Him; His face reflects Christ’s care for each of them, while the face of every believer bears the image of Christ.
The concrete experience of the ineffable mystery is possible only if man is able to transcend any intellectual act, that is, become united with God beyond intellectual comprehension. This union is not the outcome of logical abstract thinking, but is achieved by means of a «visible theophany» (ὁρατῆς θεοϕανείας), that is, by man’s partaking of the divine light. Those who become sons of God, as «sons of the resurrection», will always be with the Lord (1 Tim 4, 16) and enjoy «His visible appearance» (τῆς ὁρατῆς αὐτοῦ θεοφανείας) and contemplate His radiance, like the disciples on the Lord’s Transfiguration. This «visible theophany», however, requires spiritualized senses – a doctrine that was unknown to the Antiochenes. Αἴσθησις is the empirical knowledge of God’s indwelling. This term also describes a subtle, dynamic experience of communion in grace, which responds to an ontological necessity of the soul. Empirical theology is tantamount to a mystical realism, transcending the barrier of con-cepts; the mind is filled empirically with the apophatic dimension, and receives «the One without form». The light of glory shines from the inside to the outside, as an irradiation of the presence of the divine light, in which the body shares, too.
ABSTRACT. The “shining face” theology as luminous metamorphosis of a visionary has experienced three great challenges: the anthropomorphic controversy, iconoclastic debate and the hesychast dispute. This study attempts to make a... more
ABSTRACT. The “shining face” theology as luminous metamorphosis of a visionary has experienced three great challenges: the anthropomorphic controversy, iconoclastic debate and the hesychast dispute. This study attempts to make a mystagogical connection between those three theological developments which are standing all together in God’s holy fire with the ‘unveiled face’. I have imposed myself a line of research into the contemplative spirituality field, which in fact represents a hermeneutical trajectory: Glory in the NT (hidden-revealed or being-energies) – Glory in the NT (theosis as Christification) – pre-nicene  Christology (eikonic and apophatic Light / glory) – Desert  Fathers (“shining face” christology) – Efrem the Syrian (clothing metaphore) – Dionysius the Areopagite (veils of theurgic rays and Christ’s Presence as immanent transcendence or as tension between transcendent hiddenness and revelation) – Palamas hesychasm (christology of the uncreated light). I am the first who calls the light from the "Shining Faces" of the Desert Fathers as an uncreated light and a discovery of a Hidden pre-Nicene (apophatic) Christology. I have to emphasize that because these two aspects of my ‘disclosure’ (meaning ‘uncreated’  light and ‘hidden christology’ to the Desert Fathers) were inspired to me by the readings in the field of palamite theology which consider that this light of the ascet’s glowing face to be an uncreated light experienced by the body (aesthetically), an inner presence of Christ who identifies himself with His light (apophatic), He Himself being the deifying light as uncreated divine gift. All studies in the late antiquity ignore this visionary experience, reducing it to the level of a simple metaphor of light (completing the ascetic quest for “real self”), a metaphor in which the saint’s life is hagiographically (mystifying!) described. A second reason for this ‘blindness’ was a restraint coming from the Evagrian theology that draws attention to the danger of seeking visionary experiences, because in that light there is the risk of an illusory or deceitful demonic appearance. Another reason represints the fact that the hesychast controversy and the theology of the uncreated light as divine energy of the Saint Gregory Palamas’ theology (which in Western media has long been discredited as heretical) have played a negative role in accepting the nature of uncreated light into the “shining face” Christology of the Desert Fathers.
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A direct experience of God’s presence, identified as “uncreated light” is found in the theophanic experiences. In this “mystical realism” of the divine-human communion, God is manifesting Himself as absolutely transcendent and immanent... more
A direct experience of God’s presence, identified as “uncreated light” is found in the theophanic experiences. In this “mystical realism”  of the divine-human communion, God is manifesting Himself as absolutely transcendent and immanent at the same time.  This theological description of the light of Christ’s Face, consisting in different views of God, is a theology of facts. Such an “aesthetics of apophaticism” (the beauty of the body, participating in the light of grace) “visible” in the bodies of ascetics, a theology of “brightness”, may explain, also, the spirituality of light founded in the contemporary monastic theology (Seraphim of Sarov, Siluan the Athonite, Sophrony Sakharov or Paisios the Athonite). Anthropo-phanie as “aesthetics of apophaticism”, i.e. theophanic experience of the past and present “Holy Fathers”, is also reflected in mystical theology of Father Stăniloae by: 1) “intermediary apophaticism” 2) “transfiguration” of the heart 3) “blazing face” of man 4) “Face of Christ” (divine energies, irradiated in His human face).
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The marginalization of divine being, who is the source of energies, makes Ioannis Zizioulas to actually ignore the divine energies in his Eucharistic and personalist theological vision. On the other hand, Christos Yannaras gives a certain... more
The marginalization of divine being, who is the source of energies, makes Ioannis Zizioulas to actually ignore the divine energies in his Eucharistic and personalist theological vision. On the other hand, Christos Yannaras gives a certain importance to the distinction between essence and energies, but he comes to bound energies to person. While, one of the gains of patristic theology was to clearly link the energies to nature, both in Trinitarian theology field as well as in Christology and that of anthropology, while many heresies tied it of person. Therefore there is necessary to distinguish between hypostasis and energy: one energy in three hypostases. While the relationship of Palamite categories to the discourse of 'person' in contemporary Orthodox theology is still unclear, in our study we intend to show that the re-engaging with Palamite theology could help to balance the normative existentialism's of Yannaras and Zizioulas.
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It is argued that the " return " to the " biblical " faith should find a parallel in a " Return to the Fathers ". Early Christian thought was biblical, and one of the lasting accomplishments of the patristic period was to forge a way of... more
It is argued that the " return " to the " biblical " faith should find a parallel in a " Return to the Fathers ". Early Christian thought was biblical, and one of the lasting accomplishments of the patristic period was to forge a way of thinking which was scriptural in language and inspiration. Forgetful of this truth, the Holy Fathers have been isolated from the Scripture and there is therefore an imperative to seek to relate more closely the two. A particular hermeneutical perspective called theoria-an " inspired vision " of the Divine Truth, shaped their works. For Holy Fathers exegesis never had a purpose in itself; rather patristic hermeneutics directly addressed the reader's life situation. As an antidote to the chasm between modern and pre-modern exegesis we propose the advice of Christopher A. Hall: " Read the Bible holistically " with the Fathers, which if actualized, would mean that the Church would recognize that it possesses a living Truth, one that cannot be limited purely to the biblical text. Further, it is proposed that Christ Himself is to be the " hermeneutic " principle or the principle of interpretation. The Bible does not contain its own principle of interpretation Orthodoxy operates in a closed " hermeneutic circle " through the dynamic that exists between Scripture and Tradition (the permanent presence of God). Unlike some former approaches to biblical interpretation, many of today's scholars do not see this circular process as an obstacle to biblical exegesis, but understand it in terms of a " hermeneutical spiral " (G. Osborne), which describes the interaction between text and interpreter. The " hermeneutical spiral " takes place via the interaction of inductive and deductive research and via the movement from biblical to systematic and to homiletical theology. Finally, it is argued that the " hermeneutical bridge " between the word of Scripture and the present life of the Church as thus understood could be strengthened by rediscovering the " hermeneutic function " of the Holy Spirit, His continuing work of inspiration that allows the Word of God to be interpreted again, in any time and for each new generation.
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During the Transfiguration, the apostles on Tabor, “indeed saw the same grace of the Spirit which would later dwell in them”. The light of grace “illuminates from outside (ἔξωθεν) on those who worthily approached it and sent the... more
During the Transfiguration, the apostles on Tabor, “indeed saw the same grace of the Spirit which would later dwell in them”. The light of grace “illuminates from outside (ἔξωθεν) on those who worthily approached it and sent the illumination to the soul through the sensitive eyes; but today, because it is confounded with us (ἀνακραθὲν ἡμῖν) and exists in us, it illuminates the soul from inward (ἔνδωθεν)”. The opposition between knowledge, which comes from outside (ἔξωθεν) - a human and purely symbolic knowledge - and “intellectual” knowledge, which comes from within (ἔνδωθεν), Meyendorff says what it already exists at Pseudo-Dionysius: “For it is not from without that God stirs them toward the divine. Rather he does so via the intellect and from within and he willingly enlightens them with a ray that is pure and immaterial”. The assertions of the Calabrian philosopher about an “unique knowledge”, common both to the Christians and the Hellenes and pursuing the same goal, the hesychast theologian opposes the reality of the two knowledge, having two distinct purposes and based on two different instruments of perception: “Palamas admitted the authenticity of natural knowledge, however the latter is opposed to the revealed wisdom, that is why it does not provide, by itself, salvation”. Therefore, in the purified human intellect begins to shine of the Trinity light. Purity also depends on the return of the intellect (its proper energy) to itself. In this way, we see how the true knowledge of God is an internal meeting or “inner retrieval” of the whole being of man. As well as in the Syrian mystic, on several occasions we have to make the distinction between the contemplative ways of knowledge: intellection illuminated by grace and spiritual vision without any conceptual or symbolic meaning. For example, Robert Beulay shows that, “The term of ‘intellection’ first of all, is employed by John of Dalyatha to be applied to operations caused by grace”.
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We ended our study with analyzing the relationship between logoi and energeia (the intentional or “logical” energeia and the ontology of divine energy as ontological “logic”) within the maximian cosmology, by referring to the palamite... more
We ended our study with analyzing the relationship between logoi and energeia (the intentional or “logical” energeia and the ontology of divine energy as ontological “logic”) within the maximian cosmology, by referring to the palamite theology. The concept of logoi for St. Maximus play a role similar in many respects to that of energy (energeiai) in Cappadocian Fathers, but the functional similarity it should not lead to the identification rationales with the energies. Because the St Maximus’ developement of the doctrine of divine essence and activities is largely equivalent to the teaching of St Gregory Palamas, it could be highly tempting to describe the path from the Cappadocians via Maximus to Gregory Palamas as a teleological development towards a natural conclusion. From the works of Gregory it is easy to see that the primary sense of energeia is activity. The energeia, he says, is ‘the essential motion of nature’. This resounds with Maximian terminology (Palamas, Triads 3.2.6 and 7; cf. Maximus, Cap. gnost. 1.48). Also, we saw the Maximus’ influence on Palamas and the direct references in which Palamas employs Maximus’ definitions describing the reciprocal perichoresis into the process of the divinisation. Therefore, Maximian idea of a dyophysite reciprocity (onto-tropological) between God and man (Ambiguum, 10) is the key to his soteriology (L. Thunberg). Palamas comes to a definition proper of theosis who is actually a quotation from Maximus (Thalas. 61, PG 90, 636C, and from the Scholia 6, PG 90, 644C). „Deification is an enhypostatic and direct illumination which has no beginning”, „a mystical union with God beyond intellect and reason” (Triads III. 1.28).
Therefore, connecting the theology of the uncreated energies with that of the uncreated logoi, simply proving the “personal” character of the uncreated energies to save us from lapsing into neo-Platonism, into impersonal energies or emanations. The ontological dialogue between divine logoi and human logoi, accomplished in Christ, is the only natural context of the circulation of energies, which proves also the personal/en-hypostatic character of the uncreated energie. This rational principles which produce the substance of beings and preexist in a unified way in/around God, are the taboric luminous garment of Christ, as we can found in the analysis of the texts of Ambigua 26.
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Starting from comparison between Augustine and Palamas on their different approaches to the Trinity, especially with regard to the Holy Spirit and energies, in our exposition of the ascetico-gnoseological teaching of Gregory Palamas we... more
Starting from comparison between Augustine and Palamas on their different approaches to the Trinity, especially with regard to the Holy Spirit and energies, in our exposition of the ascetico-gnoseological teaching of Gregory Palamas we wish to note the following peculiarities.  Firstly, the importance he attributes to the sharing of the whole, integral man in the work of bringing him to the knowledge of union with God. This conception of man as an integral being is vividly expressed in Gregory’s teaching on the possession of the divine image by man to a higher degree than by the angels, a possession which is stamped on his whole psycho-physical composition. In the domain of asceticism this idea is expressed in the teaching on the co-operation of the body in the spiritual life, its capacity to be illuminated by and united with the Divinity in one contemplative operation which embraces the whole man. Gnoseologically Gregory opposes one-side intellectual cognition, inadequate in the matter of the knowledge of God, to a supra-rational knowledge proper to the man whose being has been enlightened and who attained union with God. Another peculiar feature is his antinomism, namely combining the idea of an inaccessible and unapproachable Divinity with his assertion that it is possible to attain the union with God through grace and direct vision of Him.
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ABSTRACT. Saint Paul refers to Christ’s ability to radiate his divine light of himself while other OT luminaries like Moses could only reflect that light. This experience of theosis is being, also, described as “transformation into... more
ABSTRACT. Saint Paul refers to Christ’s ability to radiate his divine light of himself while other OT luminaries like Moses could only reflect that light. This experience of theosis is being, also, described as “transformation into unveiled glory” (2 Cor. 3.7-18). By this verse deification through the vision of God become an immanent and mystical event. This aspect of deification as transformation into glory (glorification) is both an inward quality of spiritual knowledge and an outward radiance. The nature of the glory of Moses and the visible splendour shining from his face from his direct contact with God (Exod 34.29) signifies God’s visible, divine presence. As all believers encounter God directly (with unveiled faces) through the Spirit’s presence they reflect this glory as mirrors and are themselves glorified in the process (from glory to glory). The transformation into this glory is not only noetic but also embodied because it is a visible manifestation. The noetic enlightenment is associated with participation in divine glory in 2 Cor 3-4 is correlated to the somatic experience of glory in 2 Cor 4:16-5:5. Paul speaks also of this epistemic process of contemplation which generates the ontological mirroring process. And, because for us there is no veil over the face, we all see as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, and we are being transformed (μεταμορφούμεθα) into his likeness (τὴν αὐτὴν εἰκόνα) with ever-increasing glory. But Luke is only evangelist to use the word “glory” (doxa) and only to mention that Jesus and the three apostle went up the mountain specifically to pray (Lk 9:29-31). This is a detail in spiritual tradition of hesychasm which was richly developed, the vision of light at the culmination of intense periods of prayer is the deification of our nature. This light is enhypostatic symbol, the uncreated radiance of God, a divine energy. This manifestation of Christ in the divine nature is not something external to ourselves. It is interiorized through the life of ascetism and prayer. Christ will radiate within us. But this pneumatic nature of Christ’s luminous body is experienced through Eucharist as well. This holy sacrament access the divine light, veiled by Christ’s visible body. Also, Sebastian Brock extends forms of light comparison to the internal light of Mary’s womb when bearing Jesus. Christ’s light transforms her body in which He resided, as it ‚gleams from within’. In her, the light-bearing Christ is ‚woven’ as a garment. Speaking of the hesychast method of prayer and transformation of the body, Gregory Palamas also uses this Pauline theology of 2 Corinthians in Tr. I.2.2. But he adds that “We carry this treasure in earthen vessels” (2 Cor. 4:7). So we carry the Father’s light in the face (prosōpon) of Jesus Christ in earthen vessels, that is, in our bodies, in order to know the glory of the Holy Spirit.” Therefore, during the hesychast controversy, St Gregory Palamas defend the reality of the encounter with God of those monks who reported seeing a vision of light at the culmination of intense period of prayer. For the light is nothing less than the uncreated radiance of God – a divine energy accesible to the senses. This manifestation of Christ is not something external to ourselves.
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Simpozion Naţional de Teologie. Sfinţii Părinţi şi Actualitatea Educaţiei Creştine, (TIMIŞENI-ŞAG 2016, 27-28 mai).
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This study is about the Desert Fathers’s contemplative experience of an outward luminosity, a physical radiance, similar to that of the hesychasts Athonite of the 14th century in late Byzantium. So, there is a convergence of desert wisdom... more
This study is about the Desert Fathers’s contemplative experience of an outward luminosity, a physical radiance, similar to that of the hesychasts Athonite of the 14th century in late Byzantium. So, there is a convergence of desert wisdom with the Palamite hesychast theology. On these unveiled shining faces, the divine energy of the ‘Christ the Image and Glory of God’ is being revealed. Christ will radiate within us like to the desert Fathers: Pambo, Sisoe, Silvanus. Christology of the Desert Fathers overlaps with pre-Nicene Christology. In anthropological terms of the theosis, man is the mirror of divine glory (δόξα). So, just as the light of the transfiguration the light-bearing robe of the unfallen Adam has a equally teological importance for theosis.
Speaking of the hesychast method of prayer and transformation of the body, Gregory Palamas also uses this Pauline theology of 2 Corinthians in Triad 1.2.2: „Paul says: ‘God, who has ordered light to shine from darkness, has made His light to shine in our hearts, in order that we may be enlightened by the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ’ (2 Cor. 4:6); but he adds, ‘We carry this treasure in earthen vessels” (2 Cor. 4:7). So we carry the Father’s light in the face (prosōpon) of Jesus Christ in earthen vessels, that is, in our bodies, in order to know the glory of the Holy Spirit.” We could grasp the convergence between the desert ascetic spirituality and the hesychast spirituality in the work of Gregory Palamas. For him, Moses the lawgiver, Stephen the protomartyr, and Arsenius the desert ascetic are examples from the Bible and the Fathers are men who were visibly transformed by divine light (Triad 2.3.9). God transcends the senses yet the knowledge of God is experiential. The monks know this. They see the hypostatic light spiritually – in reality not in a symbolic fashion. During the hesychast controversy, St Gregory Palamas defend the reality of the encounter with God of those monks who reported seeing a vision of light at the culmination of intense period of prayer. For the light is nothing less than the uncreated radiance of God – a divine energy accesible to the senses. This manifestation of Christ is not something external to ourselves. It is only by having Christ radiant within us that we can enter into the truth which even in the Gospels is veiled from ordinary eyes” (N. Russell 2009, p. 103). Abba Pambo, Sisoes, Silvanus, St Seraphim of Sarov, were man whose radiance was the product of inward openess. Transfiguration becomes an interior experience to St. Seraphim of Sarov (1759-1833) and Archimandrite Sophrony (1896-1991).
Deification to the Desert Fathers acquire a specific anthropological content as Christification, that find its fulfillment in a face-to-face encounter who, „is both a theological theme and a spiritual teaching, both the goal of the divine economy and the process by which the economy is worked out in the believer” (Russell 2009, p. 21). To Palamas, deification is, also, a supernatural gift that transforms both mind and body, making divinity visible (Triad 3.1. 33). Likeness also means a radiation of the presence of God within man, a „reciprocal interiority” (Stăniloae). In the saints this communion is expressed in the way God’s glory is reflected in their faces, in anticipation of the age to come.
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The existential character of uncreated divine energies and nature of spiritual authority. My presentation aims to highlight the relationship between two theological terms ἐνούσια and ἐξουσία, with the help which I want to analyze the... more
The existential character of uncreated divine energies and nature of spiritual authority. My presentation aims to highlight the relationship between two theological terms ἐνούσια and ἐξουσία, with the help which I want to analyze the nature and functionality of uncreated energies. Experienced as uncreated light, the communion with these uncreated energies and the key is to understand the nature and issue of spiritual authority. The past couple of decades have witnessed an efflorescence of new scholarship examining how spiritual and intellectual authority were acquired and negotiated at the personal and institutional levels during the patristic age. With the help of this second level of research of my present study, I could inscribe myself into the theme of this international seminar: "Social perspectives in Saint Gregory Palamas` Theology and Philosophy" (Neamt 2016)
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According to Pauline theology we are ‘earthen vessels’ (2 Cor. 4:7) till Christ is formed in us (Gal. 4:19) by Him who ‘entereth into that within the veil’ (Heb. 6:19) and ‘put in our hearts the light’ (2 Cor. 4:6). So, being ‘clothed in... more
According to Pauline theology we are ‘earthen vessels’ (2 Cor. 4:7) till Christ is formed in us (Gal. 4:19) by Him who ‘entereth into that within the veil’ (Heb. 6:19) and ‘put in our hearts the light’ (2 Cor. 4:6). So, being ‘clothed in Christ’ (Gal. 3:27) we all are being ‘transformed into his image’ which is the ‘form of God’ (Phil. 2:6). To Saint Ephrem, “The First-born wrapped himself in a body / as a veil to hide His glory” (CNis XLIII,21, LumE 74). He juxtaposes the image of Moses being veiled with Jesus’ veiling on Himself in the Incarnation. Face of Moses shone and he laid veil over his face, just as Lord, from the Womb, entered and put on the veil of the Body (Nativity 73).
Firstly we will focus on the analogy between Thabor’s garments and bodies in the water of Baptism (De Epiphania 9, 12), both glory / Light garments of the Son, the "Father Ray" (Heb. 1: 3; Sogyatha I 1-2). Secondly, we are interested in St. Ephrem’s interpretation of Matthew 27:50-51 (The Crucifixion IV, 1-12, Comm. Diatess. XXI, 4-6). Here, he combines two Pauline texts (Heb. 6:19 and 2 Cor. 3: 14-18) showing that, in fact, the veil split gave back to the Lord the glory that Jews have rejected. The latters dressed him with veil altar (Azym. V, 6 – the purple, which was the inner veil of the temple; Katapetesma: a curtain) actually they clothed Him with His symbol of the divine glory presence.
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Our study aims to analyze the spiritual nature of the conflict between Origenists and Sabbaits. The role that Apa Aphou has played into the Origenistic controversy in Egypt, the same role has St. Sava in Palestine. But the basis of the... more
Our study aims to analyze the spiritual nature of the conflict between Origenists and Sabbaits. The role that Apa Aphou has played into the Origenistic controversy in Egypt, the same role has St. Sava in Palestine. But the basis of the whole dispute, both in Egypt and in Palestine, represents the experience of light / of the glory of God or the Holy Spirit (absolute authority in the Church of Christ), which can make dogmatic infallible the ascetic who has such a theophanic experience. Let us remember the vision experience the glory of God by Pamvo, Silvan, Sisoe, experience that can be found also in the life of Saints Euthymius and Sava. The light of Christ which lights the truth of dogma is not opposed to hesychastic light that can be experienced by the ascetics’ bodies, being about of one and the same Chalcedonian and ascetical-mystical Christology. The aesthetics of aphophaticism of ascetics’ face is defining in combating Origenism its intellectualis trends.
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In this study we will try to present the iconographic tradition as a form of visual theology, though it is difficult to conceptualize what it used to be like in the immediate presence of God. The Transfiguration is one of the keys that... more
In this study we will try to present the iconographic tradition as a form of visual theology, though it is difficult to conceptualize what it used to be like in the immediate presence of God. The Transfiguration is one of the keys that can unlock the mystery of our eschatological fate, glorified body and the participation in the energies of God. All the ascetics who had the experience of the uncreated light or were transfigures themselves describe it in very similar way and connect it with the Transfiguration of Christ. It is only in later hesychasm that we are assured theologically that these experiences were in the body. Within this context, liturgical art and aesthetics differ from secular aesthetics, as being beyond the five senses and beyond the art itself. The Fathers, from Origen to John of Damascus, refer to Christ as the visible image and consubstantial icon of the Father. Icons were anything more than vessels of the grace of God and suggest the real presence of the grace of the depicted person. In the Old Testament, God denied the wish of anyone who asked to see him directly. The desire to see God was impossible before the Incarnation of Christ. The mosaic of the Transfiguration in St Catherine Monastery on Mount Sinai shows a completely glorified Christ with eight rays emanating from his body and introduces the luminous mandorla, a symbol that symbolizes the glory of God. The mandorla of the Sinai mosaic is oval, whereas the mandorla of the Rabbula Gospels is round. These two types express the glory of God in different way, highlighting the correspondence between theological concepts and the visual language. Mandorla expresses visually the Jewish concept of kabod, that connoted a more physical, concrete presence than the abstract meaning of δόξα. Certain scholars separate two main meanings of kabod: shekinah (from shakan, " to live in a tent " or simply " to dwell ") and yeqara (from yqr, the sensory splendor of light), in order to express this visual manifestation of the two natures of Christ. So, the oval mandorla corresponds with the luminous characterists of the kabod as yeqara. Here, the three concentric oval layers, increasingly dark, represent the depiction of the excessive divine light as the darkness of the incognoscibility of God, even in revelation. The round mandorla, on the other hand, represents the manifestation of the kabod-glory of God as shekinah/tabernacle. Here, the emphasis on the spatial rather than luminous nature of mandorla described the glimpse of the Trinity, as opposed to a less-historicized reading that emphasized the continuous splendor of Christ. The Transfiguration enjoyed a renewed interest in fourteenth-century theology, and, at the same time, a mysterious complex mandorla made its appearance, the so-called " hesychastic " mandorla (first appears in the churches of Mistras and in manuscripts of the ex-emperor and hesychastic monk, John Cantacuzenos). It consists of a geometric design as two superimposed concave squares (actually a square and a rhombus) inside a circle.
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This study is about the Macarian homilist and his christological anthropology of resurrection (participation of the body to the divine light). For him the soul is deemed to be judged worthy to participate in the light of the Holy Spirit... more
This study is about the Macarian homilist and his christological anthropology of resurrection (participation of the body to the divine light). For him the soul is deemed to be judged worthy to participate in the light of the Holy Spirit by becoming his throne and habitation. Covered with the beauty of ineffable glory of the Spirit, “becomes all light, all face, all eye” (Hom 1, 2)
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The greatest challenge which is facing christian civilization and culture today are the following: The atrophy of spiritual senses. So, we can ask ourselves what are the most effective steps that we can take to overcome these challenges?... more
The greatest challenge which is facing christian civilization and culture today are the following: The atrophy of spiritual senses. So, we can ask ourselves what are the most effective steps that we can take to overcome these challenges? The answer lies in the early Christian ascetics (patterns from antiquity as a reply to modernity). In this study we explore how the Christian asceticism can be made relevant to a modern culture in which the idea of " ascetic holy man " has lost much of its power. Regarding to the model of holy man, many scholars continue to assume that a distinction must be made between an ascetic and a monk, as every monk is an ascetic, but not every ascetic is a monk. Peter Hatlie says that " Although spiritual authority and " the holy " remain fertile topics for discussion among early Christian and late antique scholars, it receives considerably less attention from Byzantinists working in the generations to follow " .1 In the context of the secular world's perceived disintegration, monks showed how ascetic renunciation of the world could provide a new style of civic leadership. Susan Ashbrook Harvey manages to capture the relationship between Ascetism and Society in this way: " During the fourth century monasticism flowered across the Christian realm, and with it a critical role for the ascetic – the holy man or woman – to play in society. By their discipline and their conscious imitation of biblical models, especially from the Gospels, the ascetics enacted the image of Christ. To the public this was more than imitation: in the image of Christ, the holy one could do what Christ had done. The ascetics could intercede for divine mercy, and they could be instruments of divine grace in this world; they were a channel between humanity and God that worked in both directions. The ascetic was the point at which the human and the holy met. Often seen as an attempt to leave the worldly for the spiritual, asceticism in fact carried heavy responsibilities in relation to the larger Christian society " .2 In the desert Antony redefined the ascetic as one who fights with the Adversary face-to-face, in the desolate and un-Christianized wilderness. Antony made " the desert a city " , sanctifying a place where God had not been present. And he did more: he brought that strength back into Christian society. By the sixth century, the ascetic's role in society had both expanded and become an orderly part of how society functioned. " We should seek holiness, not clothing, food and drink " , says St. Neilos the Ascetic, because " possessions arouse feelings of jealousy against their owners, cut off their owners from men better than themselves, divide families, and make friends hate one another […]. Why do we abandon hope in God and rely on the strength of our own arm, ascribing the gifts of
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