Theology, Theoptia and Theosis: From St. Symeon the New Theologian to St. Gregory Palamas

1. Entity type Lemma
2. Original titleΘεολογία, Θεοπτία και Θέωση: Από τον Συμεών τον Νέο Θεολόγο στον Άγιο Γρηγόριο Παλαμά
3. Language term English
4. lemma author Koutalis, Vangelis
5. lemma category Conflict - Key thinkers - Orthodox theological tradition and practice > Patristic studies - Orthodox theological tradition and practice > Status of theology - Orthodox Anthropology - Concepts of knowledge and modes of reasoning > Orthodox gnosiology - Orthodox theological tradition and practice > Cult and spirituality - Concepts of knowledge and modes of reasoning > Mysticism and Orthodox spiritual experience
6. Publication date 16-5-2017
7. lemma work Chivu, Cristian Emil [Author]. Theology, Theoptia and Theosis: From St. Symeon the New Theologian to St. Gregory Palamas
8. lemma manifestations Θεολογία, Θεοπτία και Θέωση: Από τον Συμεών τον Νέο Θεολόγο στον Άγιο Γρηγόριο Παλαμά - Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Faculty of Theology, School of Theology, 2009.
9. Keywords Theoptia - St. Gregory Palamas - Saint Symeon the New Theologian - nepsis/purification and deification - Uncreated light - uncreated energies - Orthodox doctrine of the Uncreated and the Created (Άκτιστο-Κτιστό) - academic theology - Patristic theology - ecclesiastical theology
10. Url IKEE Αριστοτέλειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλονίκης
11. Citations
    1. <p>Chivu, Cristian Emil (2009). <em>Θεολογία, Θεοπτία και Θέωση: Από τον Συμεών τον Νέο Θεολόγο στον Άγιο Γρηγόριο Παλαμά</em> (Doctoral dissertation). Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Faculty of Theology, School of Theology.</p>
12. Lemma body

    1. After surveying, in the introduction of this dissertation, the various opinions held by modern theologians, both in the West and in the East, concerning the theology of Symeon and that of Gregory Palamas, most of whom were critical or skeptical towards the theological views of these two saints of the Orthodox Church, the author, in the first chapter, examines the conception of theology, as well as the relationship between theology and the ‘view of God’ (θεοπτία), in the Patristic literature and in the writings of Symeon the New Theologian and Gregory Palamas. For Symeon, a theology based on secular knowledge and detached from spiritual life, as that propounded by the humanist current that had gained ground within the Church since the tenth century, is not genuine knowledge of God. Instead, it is the view of God, the lived experience of the communion with God, that which constitutes the proper source of theology. Palamas does not identify theology with theoptia, but he also insists on their unity. The Hesychast dispute, in all its stages, can be inscribed in the history of that controversy between the empirical and the scholastic theology, which lasted from the tenth to the fourteenth century. Both Symeon and Palamas differentiate theology, which is divinely inspired and is grounded on the spiritual life of the Church, from philosophy, which is a secular intellectual artifact, whereas they inextricably link theology to the ‘view of God’. The grace of God is the key of theological knowledge. No insight on the uncreated things is possible without the reception of the uncreated grace of the Holy Spirit. Theology, in so far as it has the revealed teachings and the spiritual experience of the Church as its base, is built upon a true and secure pedestal. Theology, in so far as it endorses the methods of philosophy, is nothing more that yet another science: a fruitless theology devoid of life.     

       In the second chapter, the author presents the ontological and anthropological preconditions of theoptia, according to Symeon and Palamas. On the ontological level, a major precondition is the distinction between the essence of God, which is inaccessible and unknowable, and the energies of God, which are accessible and knowable. The author underscores that this distinction, which is systematically employed by Palamas, but also applied earlier by Symeon, does not have precedents in the ancient Greek philosophy, but is rooted, instead, in the Patristic tradition. At this point, Palamas does not introduce novelty into the orthodox theology. He rather gives expression to the lived ecclesiastical experience which is attesting to the reality of the communion with God. Another ontological precondition of theoptia is the distinction between the Created and the Uncreated. Theoptia is a communion between God as a person and the human being as a person. The ontological difference between the uncreated God and the created human being is what renders meaningful this communion as a relation between persons. As for the anthropological preconditions of theoptia, these are the creation of the human being in the image of God, the renovation of human nature by Christ, and the spiritual life within the Church through the sacraments, the purification of the passions, the prayer and the illumination of the Holy Spirit.

       Both for Symeon and Palamas, God is known as a light. The manifestation of God (θεοφάνεια) is the manifestation of light (φωτοφάνεια). Symeon describes his own experiences of theoptia. Palamas elevates the lived experience of theoptia into a theological edifice. Symeon should be seen as a forerunner of Palamas. For both, theoptia is knowledge beyond knowledge and sense beyond sense: a spiritual process in which both the human intellect and the human sensibility are transformed from the uncreated light of God, and through which the human being is deified, participating by divine grace in the natural properties of God.