The doctrine of St. Gregory Palamas and doctrine of Nikephoros Gregoras about the difference between essence and energies (the third stage of palamite conversy)

Introduction. The purpose of this article is to carry out a critical analysis of the doctrine of St. Gregory Palamas and the doctrine of Nikephoros Gregoras, to identify significant contradictions regarding different understanding these authors of the "nature" of God's energies, the relationship between God's essence and God's energies, and the different understanding of communion to God by essence (point of view of Nikephoros Gregoras) and by grace (point of view of Gregory Palamas).

Materials and methods. In this article the methodology of critical analysis and the methodology of the rational reconstruction of the researched materials are used, combined with the methods of comparative analysis of doctrine of St. Gregory Palamas and the doctrine of Nikephoros Gregoras.

Results. The point of view of Gregory Palamas concerning the “nature” of the uncreated energies is researched in this article. In the understanding of St. Gregory Palamas, this category includes the following: first, God's designs, second, God's abilities (wills) to perform some actions, third, God's actions, and, finally, fourth, the outpouring of the God's essence (grace). This is that which goes beyond the essence of God, but not beyond His existence (into the realm of creatures). This is that by which people commune to God. This a point of view is opposed to that of Nikephoros Gregoras. Since, according to Gregoras, God is pure actuality and there is no potency in Him, God's designs, faculties, and actions are the essence of the same. There is no distinction between them. They are identical and created, realized in time and have a temporal beginning and a temporal end. If, according to Gregoras, uncreated energies do exist, they are identical with God's essence. There is incompatibility of the opinions of the authors under consideration in their understanding of the communion. Thus, if, from the point of view of St. Gregory Palamas, we take communion to God by grace (by uncreated energies), then, according to Gregoras, we take communion to God by His, God's, essence.

Discussion and conclusions. We proved that, there is the fundamental incompatibility of the positions of St. Gregory Palamas and Nikephoros Gregoras regarding their understanding of uncreated energies, that provides an area for the further discussion.

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