St Gregory Palamas

According to St. Gregory, Christ is at the heart of all the great revelations of God to humankind in both the Old and New Testaments. As examples of this there are: The three men or angels that appeared to Abraham at Mamre: Christ is the central angel (Genesis 18: 1-33). (This is the way that the Byzantine Church represents the Holy Trinity. The famous icon of Rublev is the perfect example). The man with whom Jacob wrestled at Peniel, which means “the Face of God”, after which he exclaims, “for I have seen God face   to face, and my life is preserved. And the greatest Old Testament theophany of all: Moses’ vision of the burning bush on Sinai, with the disclosure of the Name of God, “I AM”. It is Christ that is referred to as the Angel of the LORD, Who spoke with Moses from the Burning Bush; and it is Christ Who is “I AM” – as is also witnessed to most clearly on almost every icon depicting Him. (Look at the nimbus, the halo around His head, you will find ώ ΌΝ (omega, omicron, nu) which literally means “the   being” or more precisely “He who is”)

These revelations, and many more besides, are truly revelations of Christ. In all of these great events in the history of our salvation, St. Gregory teaches us that it was none other than Christ Himself that was revealed first and foremost; precisely because it was He, and not the Father or the Holy Spirit, Who became flesh. In other words, because it was the will of God the Holy Trinity to save us by coming as the Messiah, that is, by the Incarnation of the Son and Word of God.

But if it is indeed true that “he that has seen the Son has seen the Father” (John 14:9), and that “no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3), then the revelation of Christ must at the same time be a revelation of the Holy Trinity.

St. Gregory teaches us that the Christocentric character of God’s dispensation towards man should not blind us to the great mystery of the unity and common action of the Holy Trinity. Ultimately, in other words, Christology and Trinitarian theology are one and the same doctrine. You cannot believe that Christ is God and Man if you don’t believe that God is Three-In-One. The two beliefs are not only intimately but also intrinsically united. These are truly wonderful, mysterious beliefs.