medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On 11/13/11, Terri Morgan sent:
> Gregory Palamas/Gregory of Sinai (d. 1359). The theologian Gregory (his surname Palamas is an oxytone) came from a wealthy family in Constantinople and was educated with the imperial service in mind. But in 1316, when he was about the age of twenty or twenty-one, he withdrew instead to Mt. Athos. After stays at Vatopaidi and the Great Lavra he joined the skete of Glossia where he taught the hesychastic practice of a life of mental prayer as espoused by such desert fathers as Evagrius of Pontus and Macarius the Great. In 1326 Gregory moved to Thessaloniki and was ordained priest there.
>
> Ten years later, after he had lived in a series of small hermitages, Gregory entered into correspondence with the more philosophically oriented Barlaam of Calabria over aspects of Athonite theology to which Barlaam objected. In a series of writings that were endorsed by local councils at Constantinople in 1341, 1347, and 1351 he formulated hesychast theology in a systematic way. Still, during the civil war of 1341-1347 he was imprisoned by the patriarch because of political differences. A change in patriarchs in 1347 led both to Gregory's release and to his appointment to the metropolitan see of Thessaloniki, where however local opposition prevented him from even entering the city. It was only some three years before his death that Gregory was able to take up his see.
>
> Gregory was glorified in 1368 by patriarch Philotheos I, whose oration written for that occasion serves as Gregory's biography (BHG 718). He has yet to grace the pages of the RM.
>
> Gregory (detail of a full-length portrait) as depicted in the frescoes (1545-1546) by Theofanis Strelitzas-Bathas (a.k.a. Theophanes the Cretan) in the katholikon of the Stavronikita monastery on Mt. Athos: http://www.vodka.gr/eikones/14_nov_gregory_palamas.jpg
>
> The composition as a whole (Gregory at left; at right, St. Gregory of Nazianzus): http://tinyurl.com/28c7xgo
>
> Gregory's relics in the St. Gregory Palamas cathedral in Thessaloniki: http://www.rel.gr/photo/displayimage.php?album=9&pos=0
>
This notice, fortunately, is entirely about Gregory Palamas, whom one should really not confuse with his very distinct contemporary Gregory of Sinai (d. 1346?). In 2002 Phyllis Jestice, writing about Gregory Palamas, either slipped or transmitted someone else's slip when she said "Gregory Palamas (aka Gregory of Sinai)" (see < http://tinyurl.com/6m37b3c >). Finding nothing of similar import elsewhere in the list's archives, I suppose that this underlies Terri's "Gregory Palamas/Gregory of Sinai". For Gregory of Sinai, see Phyllis' notice of him under 27. November 2002 at < http://tinyurl.com/7xxhej7 > or these brief accounts:
http://orthodoxwiki.org/Gregory_of_Sinai
http://orthodoxmetropolisportland.org/lif_gregory_sinai.html
For what it's worth, neither of Phyllis' reported chief sources for her notices in 2002 includes notices of either Gregory Palamas or Gregory of Sinai.
Best,
John Dillon
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