User:Adriatikus/sandbox

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[edit] Palamism, the underlying theology

Icon of the Transfiguration of Jesus by Theophanes the Greek (15th century, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow). Talking with Christ: Elijah (left) and Moses (right). Kneeling: Peter, James, and John.

Main article: Tabor Light

Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.

According to the patristic tradition, God can be thought of in cataphatic, or in apophatic terms.

The Essence-Energies distinction, a central principle in the Eastern Orthodox theology, was formulated by St. Gregory Palamas in the 14th century in support of the mystical practices of Hesychasm and against Barlaam of Seminara. It stands that God's essence (Greek: Οὐσία, ousia) is distinct from God's energies, or manifestations in the world, by which men can experience the Divine. The energies are "unbegotten" or "uncreated". They were revealed in various episodes of the Bible: the burning bush seen by Moses, the Light on Mount Tabor at the Transfiguration.

Apophatism^[1] (negative theology) is the main characteristic of the Eastern theological tradition. Incognoscibility isn't conceived as agnosticism or refusal to know God, because the Eastern theology isn't concerned with abstract concepts; it is contemplative, with a discourse on things above rational understanding. Therefore dogmas are often expressed antinomically.^[2]

For the Eastern Orthodox the knowledge of the uncreated energies is usually linked to apophatism.^[3]

[edit] Disclaimer