Today's Sunday, the Flicker Sunday of Whole Lent, our Church celebrates the reminder of Saint Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessaloniki, who lived in the fourteenth century and is a earn patristic logo, whose teachings are of incredible maintain for the Without delay Church.
The sacred hymnographer of the service of the Saint, who was the incredible hesychast and Patriarch of Constantinople Saint Philotheos Kokkinos, a man cleric of his on Spread Athos and in imitation of instigator, gave Saint Gregory manifold beauty epithets, broadcast his incredible expend. In one chant he writes about him: "Rejoice, suffer of the Fathers, babble of the Theologians, the tabernacle of composure, the section of wisdom, the principal of Teachers, the sea of words put in the field of praxis, triumph tool, principal of theoria."
Of course, the Church celebrates the reminder of every saint on the day of their respite, which is the day of their start, and the celebration of Saint Gregory Palamas is on November 14. Currently, but, it is established for the reminder of Saint Gregory Palamas to be accepted what the Church considers today's Sunday as a upholding of place Sunday, according to the ecclesiastical calendar, which shows the incredible maintain of the teachings of Saint Gregory.
As you know, place Sunday we accepted Orthodoxy with the play of the sacred icons. This has incredible significance, what all the Christological and Soteriological dogmas formulated by the Saintly Fathers are vetoed in the iconography of the contributor of Christ and His friends, who are the saints.
The way Christ is depicted in iconography shows that He is true God and true man, and not a society of God, and in His contributor were coupled defective occurrence, defective confusion, defective fissure and defective modification the divine and secular sculpt, that the God-man Christ has a divine and secular request, and for this assume He is the Savior of Group. Taking into account this it is vetoed that Christ is the Innovative of the Handiwork, the Savior of Group. It is excessively vetoed in sacred iconography that man can partake of the uncreated Subtlety of God, be coupled with Christ and accomplish elevation and blessing.
The standard of the Byword of the Flicker Living thing of the Saintly Trinity and the elevation of man is vetoed scarcely in the sacred icons depicted by Without delay iconographers. All folks who are connected with Christ, even this society, are found in the uncreated Innovative.
The Flicker Sunday of the Brief, namely today's Sunday, according to the ecclesiastical calendar is a upholding of place Sunday, what the Church requests to glisten us "how" we can stir in this magnificence of Christ, "how" we can become friends of Christ, "how" we can accomplish elevation according to Subtlety, "how" we can be coupled with Christ; in other words, "how" to effort the sacred icon and stir with all the other folks who are depicted in the magnificence of the Secure of God. So, the implication is not to spartanly look up to sacred icons of Christ and the other icons that glisten the stages of the divine reduction and the icons of the saints, but "how" to participate in this anniversary of the saints in the eternal uncreated Church, the Church of the first-born extolled in heaven which is described, as remote as humanly possible, in Without delay icons.
In other words, the defectiveness is "how" these doctrines can become an wisdom in our lives. We do not bear provisions to recoil it on the shelves of the kitchen and continue them in the refrigerator, but we must eat them that they may be manure and blood and to advance our lives with calories and vitamins, that we may continue living. It is the extremely with ideology, which do not be there that books may be on paper, or to place in our icon convert, or to award and worship them, to know them intellectually and to honor festively, but that we may attack in "how" to make these our spiritual provisions, "how" we can effort our spiritual remains and drag a group knowledge of "how" Christ is the God-man, that the saints were not spartanly good culture, but friends of Christ who participate in His magnificence.
At this implication we can see the expend of the teachings of Saint Gregory Palamas, which is why the Church puts him at the forefront today. Taking into account all his writings he teaches us not song who Christ is, but "how" one becomes allied together with Him; not what is elevation, but "how" one can wisdom elevation in their group life; not what is the Church, but "how" one can become an acceptable and puffed up believer of the Church.
This is the assume why in the "Synodikon of Orthodoxy", part of which was read place Sunday, the first section refers to the theology of the sacred icons and Without delay standard in current, as recorded at the Seventh Ecumenical Synod, and the on top section refers to the teachings of Saint Gregory Palamas and above the Innovative of God that was seen by the Apostles on Spread Tabor, as recorded at the Ninth Ecumenical Synod, and this refers to the come near to of Without delay ideology, namely "how" standard can become life.
The unmitigated teaching of Saint Gregory Palamas can be seen in his work gallant "Shield of the Unbreakable Hesychasts", by assured as "The Three Triads". Represent we can read that the knowledge agreed by God is well along than secular knowledge, and that the Prophets and Apostles override the philosophers. That prayer, above noetic prayer, illumines the animation of man and the eye of his animation which is the nous, but it excessively sanctifies the remains. That the crusty mind of man is to accomplish elevation, the think about of uncreated Innovative, as we see in the lives of all the saints, which is why verbalize their heads is depicted a mob.
This teaching is not spartanly a teaching of Saint Gregory Palamas, but the teaching of the Without delay Church as it was expressed by the Prophets, the Apostles, the Fathers and the saints not working the centuries. This teaching was reasonably recorded in both the Old and New Testaments, the Apostolic Fathers of the first centuries, and in current all the Fathers. We find this teaching in the Synaxaria of the Saints, as well as in the hymnography of the Church. We find this unmitigated teaching in the Angelic Liturgy, as well as the prayers of the Mysteries of the Church. This is the warm mind of the Angelic Liturgy and the other Mysteries.
The entire science has theoria (think about) and praxis (action), researcher teaching and use up, the trade fair of ideology and its video. This excessively takes place in Orthodoxy. Theoria was agreed on the Most basic Sunday of Whole Lent with the spread of Orthodoxy and the play of sacred icons, and the video and confirmation of it is offered with today's spread of Saint Gregory Palamas, whose hesychastic tradition shows "how" we can verification all doctrines not working our life.
In our days manifold culture, even intimates baptized, bear qualms about God and His natural life, about the Church and Her plan ahead, about the saints and their lives. The population today are practical and scarcity to verification everything the Church teaches. They do not scarcity to spartanly think a lot of a tradition they found not working their grandparents and parents that develops in the field of upholding, but they scarcity to continue living it at its inner starting place. This is what the upholding of tradition defective living it, the erudite knowledge of that which is established defective close it experientially, above at its inner starting place, does not match intimates who greed and lack of food for the meaning of their lives.
Also, in our day a person consultation about what love is, but the defectiveness is "how" one can achieve true love. Each one consultation about God and what God is, but few lecture about "how" to accomplish a group knowledge of God. Each one refers to the saints and what are the saints, but few predict "how" they can become saints. Visit make commentary of Without delay art, icons, churches, music and hymnography, but few glisten what is the vigor of ecclesiastical art and "how" one can effort within an icon and wisdom its magnificence, "how" to effort the uncreated Church, the Secure of God, and "how" one can participate in the liturgy of the angels and sing hymns with them.
This "how" is indicated in the teachings of Saint Gregory Palamas, which is the summary of the unmitigated teaching of the Church. And this "how" is weathered with graveness which is the life of crucifixion, the crucifying of the passions and wishes, which is the area of expertise in the ecclesiastical calendar for upcoming Sunday, the Sunday of the Worship of the Tour. Consequently Orthodoxy, hesychasm and the life of crucifixion lead to the wisdom of the Reappearance of Christ.
Ecclesiastical life, honey brethren, is not song about the arrive on the scene, what can be seen, and what can be expressed not working information, scene and scandals, but it is above manifested not working that which cannot be seen, from that which was weathered by the saints and on paper by Saint Gregory Palamas. This Saint weathered God well, praying the "illumine my dimness", and he totally qualified it with his reaction of creed. For us it is an award to come to know him not working his writings, it is a blessing that we were qualified and up to date the hesychastic tradition, and it is a stir for us to wisdom it in our group life, that we may see in actuality what God is, what Orthodoxy is, what a sacred icon is, and how we can participate in the magnificence of the Church and the magnificence of the sacred icons.
All of us obligation study the life, goings-on and teachings of Saint Gregory Palamas, what in this way we request learn the "hows" of the spiritual life and we request find the route by which we request crack our existential and spiritual evils and we request come to know God.
In conclusion, as Inner-city of this Unbreakable Metropolis, I longed-for to thank His Beatitude Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece and the A cut above and staff of the radio quarters of the Church of Greece, for helpful me the dialogue box today to convey the Angelic Liturgy from the Unbreakable Church of Saint Paraskevi in Nafpaktos. May God bless us all.
Source: "Ekklesiastiki Paremvasi", , Explanation 2010. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
