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Christos Yannaras writes, "The West confuses God's essence with his energy, regarding the energy as a property of the divine essence and interpreting the latter as "pure energy" (actus purus)" [23] According to George C. Papademetriou, the essence–energies distinction "is contrary to the Western confusion of the uncreated essence with the uncreated energies and this is by the claim that God ...
Mar 15, 2022 · Here St. Basil declares that the Nicene Creed teaches that the Light of Godhead is identified with the very nature and essence of God itself, and not with the divine energy per se. Could St. Athanasius be any more clear when he says: “the Apostle [Paul] proclaims the Son to be the Radiance and Expression, not of the Father’s will , but of His own [idion] Essence, saying, ‘Who being the ...
May 31, 2024 · Understanding Essence and Energies in Early Christian TheologyIntroductionIn Christian theology, the concepts of "essence" and "energies" are at times employed to help one understand the nature of God and His relationship with creation. These terms are especially significant in Eastern Orthodox Christianity. This primer aims to explain these concepts and how they were taught by the early ...
- William Albrecht
Jul 3, 2020 · The distinction between God's essence and his uncreated energies are found in (but not limited to) the following patristic writers. It is pertinent to note that in these quotes the terms "operation", "activity", "work" signify "energy". The first part of this series can be found here. We have taken a selection of quotations from each,…
The essence–energy distinction was formulated by Gregory Palamas of Thessaloniki (1296–1359), as part of his defense of the Athonite monastic practice of hesychasmos, the mystical exercise of “stillness” to facilitate ceaseless inner prayer and noetic contemplation of God, against the charge of heresy brought by the humanist scholar and ...
Feb 19, 2021 · The Ultimate Reality and Meaning of the Palamite theology consists of the distinction between God’s Essence and Energy. This is a way of expressing the idea that the transcendent God remains eternally hidden in His Essence, but at the same time that God also seeks to communicate and The Distinction between God’s Essence and Energy unite Himself with us personally through His Energy.
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An Athonite monk, abbot, and later Metropolitan of Thessalonica, Gregory is remembered especially for his distinction between God’s essence and energies. Articulated in more than twenty-five treatises and letters written over a twenty-year period, Gregory’s celebrated doctrine still generates a great deal of debate.
