Passions and Virtues according to Saint Gregory Palamas
Overview
Dig into the theology of fourteenth-century archbishop of Thessaloniki St. Gregory Palamas with Anestis Keselopoulos’ presentation of Palamas’ views on passion and virtue. Drawing heavily from Palamas’ homilies and other primary sources, Keselopoulos brings Palamas to life for twenty-first-century readers.
Palamas bases his teaching on the passions and virtues on the basic theological distinction between human life according to nature and human life contrary to nature. He argues that the passions do not belong to human nature, but are rather impulses and actions foreign to the natural life of man. For Palamas, the passions are states where man moves in a way that is contrary to nature. He characterizes passions as “deceitful desires.”
However, when the soul moves according to nature, one’s desires become an ardent longing for God, a “divine passion.” Palamas covers the entire spectrum of the spiritual life as he analyzes the causes of the soul’s enslavement to the passions and shows how the godlike virtues are their opposites. For him, this life begins with the cessation of our own impassioned thoughts, and leads to the soul’s reception of the divine grace of the Holy Spirit. This is the ultimate goal for all Christians.
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- Presents the views of St. Gregory of Palamas for twenty-first-century readers
- Draws heavily from Palamas’ homilies and other primary sources
- Discusses the nature of human desire and “divine passion”
- The Meaning of Passion
- The Phenomenology of Passion
- Repentance and Purification
- Virtues as the “Middle Way” of Spiritual Life
- “Divine Passion”
Top Highlights
“In addition, the sinful passions have their root not in man’s nature, but in his will. Only by the will can evil, in general, ‘come into being’. Evil’s unique ‘nature’ lies in the will, which gives evil an apparent, existence and sets it up as a barrier to communion between God and man.” (Pages 25–26)
“Palamas not only sums up the previous patristic tradition, he also examines in greater detail the ontological difference between the man who is identified with the state of the Fall, and the spiritual man, who is progressing toward a state of recovery. Fallen man perpetuates ancestral sin, while the spiritual man participates in the new reality of the new creation that God has revealed in Christ. All of Palamite theology points toward and opens up the path that enables man to participate in theosis.” (Page ix)
“He emphasizes how ‘immoderation’ and ‘misuse’ are the causes that produce them.7 The passions are born when the satisfaction of the body’s desires is foreign to the demands of nature.” (Page 22)
“Palamas and the Fathers teach that nothing exists that is evil by nature. Sin is considered evil only as an energy of self-governing beings that is in opposition to God: ‘For apart from sin, nothing in this life is evil by nature, even if it causes harm—not even death itself.’” (Page 43)
“Furthermore, man’s liturgical offering to God and his participation in the Church’s” (Page 101)
- Title: Passions and Virtues according to Saint Gregory Palamas
- Author: Anestis Keselopoulos
- Publisher: St. Tikhon’s Seminary Press
- Publication Date: 2004
- Pages: 210
- Christian Group: Orthodox
- Topic: Historical Theology
Anestis Keselopoulos is professor of ethics, pastoral theology, Orthodox spiritual life at the University of Thessaloniki.