Learning Our Faith From the Greek Fathers of the Church — 20151018

St Gregory Palamas

St Gregory Palamas

As you have probably gathered if you have been following this article, Gregory uses the Transfiguration of Jesus as a means to help us come to a deeper   understanding of human existence and also the purpose of this life, namely to grow in the likeness of God. Christ’s Transfiguration was not a flash-in-the-pan glorification. Such a view, argues Gregory, would imply that there are now three natures glorified in Christ: the divine, the human, and then that of the light. But although concealed beneath His human flesh until His holy Transfiguration, Christ (the Light of Light) always possessed the light which was revealed on Tabor. Thus, since this light is divine, being that of the Godhead, it must also be uncreated. Gregory’s fundamental presupposition here is, of course, based on the sharp distinction between the created and the uncreated in which there is no room for a third, metaphysical category. Hence, if the Light of Tabor is divine, then it must also be uncreated, since by definition all things divine are also uncreated. In considering why Christ had taken the Apostles up to a high mount apart, Gregory concludes that it must have been in order to make a mystical disclosure, These Apostles were to be the leaders of the Jesus movement. He wanted them to understand exactly Who He IS.

Think about this! What Gregory was attempting to do was establish that the light which the Apostles saw in the Transfiguration of Jesus was not a created light but, rather, the Divine Life within Jesus, the man, which signifies that within humanity there is an uncreated spark or seed of Divine Life. The Light seen in Jesus revealed that God’s Spirit is that which resides in all living things, calling those living things into existence.

I know that this is heavy and, perhaps, difficult to grasp. What Gregory and other Eastern Fathers worked to establish is that God’s Life-force is that which animates all living, created things. Thus, God is truly incarnate in His creation. This, of course, connects us humans to God in a much different way that other humans before Jesus ever conceived. Even Yahweh, the God of Israel, was not considered to be a part of His own creation. Yahweh never became an incarnated part of His creation.

The Fathers, and now we, believe that, if God became incarnate in the Person of Jesus, this reveals that it is His life-force that brings and holds all living things into existence. This is truly a powerful belief. Do you believe this?

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