St Herman of Alaska Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia
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2nd Sunday of Lent - St Gregory Palamas

Second Sunday of Great Lent – Gregory Palamas

(Mark 2:1-12)

 

On this second Sunday of the Great Fast we commemorate St Gregory Palamas, one of the great heroes of Orthodox Christianity. St Gregory Palamas is an important figure in our further clarification of the Orthodox understanding of creation and God’s interaction with mankind.

 

Last Sunday we celebrated the Triumph of Orthodoxy and all the icons were set out in glorious display. We do this in honor of the Orthodox council that clarified and proclaimed the Orthodox understanding of the relationship between man and God, between the material and the spiritual, and that God did indeed become a man in the Person of Jesus Christ and that He transfigures and heals that which was fallen into the image of God that it was created to be. The veneration of the icons confirms this understanding of the reality of matter transfigured by the healing presence of God.

 

St Gregory Palamas is another key figure in understanding and clarifying both the relationship between man and God and of the reality of how God interacts with us to heal and transfigure us into that which He created us to be.

 

At the time of St Gregory there were debates raging about the absolute unknowability of God or whether we can indeed know and experience Him. St Gregory Palamas clarified that God in His essence is eternally distinct from His creatures, but that mankind can and should strive to participate and commune with the energies, with the Grace of God – which is a truly an experience of God Himself. St Gregory was able to confidently defend and articulate this understanding because he had experienced this himself.

 

This is an important point… As my spiritual father of blessed memory Archimandrite Anastassy used to tell us: ‘You cannot give that which you yourself do not possess.’ If you wish to be a transmitter or peace, you must have peace. If you wish to be a transmitter of love, you must have love. In the case of St Gregory Palamas, he was able to brilliantly defend the proper understanding of God’s essence and energies, because he had experienced these things himself.

 

The analogy which is most frequently used is: just as we cannot approach the fiery orb of the sun, yet we can still truly experience the sun through its warmth and its light. St Gregory’s distinction of the essence and the energies of God may seem obscure at first – but it was an important declaration and clarification of the proper understanding of the relationship between God the Creator and man, His creature… and it underscores just how intimate that relationship is and can be.

 

This awareness of the intimacy and nearness of God is essential for us to understand.

 

God is not a distant deity sitting on His throne in heaven… a Being with Whom we’ll have no direct interactions until we pass from this life into the next. Orthodoxy teaches and experiences that God is present here and now. He is present in your home and in your workplace. He is present in our very hearts and He stands at the door of that heart and knocks.

 

Brothers and sisters in Christ… it is a convenient mistake for us to think of God as distant and removed from our day to day lives. Such a viewpoint creates the false assurance that our secret sins are not known to Him… that our daily neglect of Him is not seen by Him… that our judgment of others and selfish passions don’t matter. As the blessed Hieromonk Seraphim Rose once said, ‘The thing about understanding that God is both personal and present, is that He requires something of you!’

 

I had mentioned in a homily at one of our recent weekday services that I was reading St Maximos the Confessor. One of the things that he says that struck me to the core was that if we experience distraction during prayer, it is a sure sign that we do not truly love God. This caused me great sorrow… because I struggle with distraction during prayer and because more than anything else in this life, I want to love God. Yet, as St Maximos explains, our relationship with God is a kind of mystical marriage and we must be scrupulously faithful to our beloved. Just as we would never dream of betraying our spouse with infidelity, we must take the same care to never betray God by the infidelity of our distracted thoughts. And truly, I must say that I am aware that I do a better job attending to a conversation with another person than I do attending to my conversation with God in prayer. This is a sorry thing and it is something we should be aware of and seek to repent and repair.

 

Because, as St Gregory Palamas teaches us, when we are interacting with the energies of God, we are interacting with God Himself. We come into direct contact with God in prayer, through the sacraments, through every recognition of His Divine Presence in our lives. Just as we experience the sun itself through its light and warmth, we experience the true God Himself through His grace and energies.

 

And so, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us be attentive!

 

The more we begin to realize and recognize the nearness of God and of His Heavenly Kingdom, the more we will enter into that relationship with God which transforms us by His grace… by His life creating and life restoring energies.

 

This is the message of St Gregory Palamas. This is the message of Great Lent. This is the message and the mission of Jesus Christ – to transform us and to heal us by His grace.

 

May we all be engaged in that awareness of God… and, living a life within the grace of God, may we be transformed into that which God intends us to be. And as we acquire that grace, may we then begin to share that heavenly treasure with all those around us.

Second Sunday of Great Lent – Gregory Palamas

(Mark 2:1-12)

 

On this second Sunday of the Great Fast we commemorate St Gregory Palamas, one of the great heroes of Orthodox Christianity. St Gregory Palamas is an important figure in our further clarification of the Orthodox understanding of creation and God’s interaction with mankind.

 

Last Sunday we celebrated the Triumph of Orthodoxy and all the icons were set out in glorious display. We do this in honor of the Orthodox council that clarified and proclaimed the Orthodox understanding of the relationship between man and God, between the material and the spiritual, and that God did indeed become a man in the Person of Jesus Christ and that He transfigures and heals that which was fallen into the image of God that it was created to be. The veneration of the icons confirms this understanding of the reality of matter transfigured by the healing presence of God.

 

St Gregory Palamas is another key figure in understanding and clarifying both the relationship between man and God and of the reality of how God interacts with us to heal and transfigure us into that which He created us to be.

 

At the time of St Gregory there were debates raging about the absolute unknowability of God or whether we can indeed know and experience Him. St Gregory Palamas clarified that God in His essence is eternally distinct from His creatures, but that mankind can and should strive to participate and commune with the energies, with the Grace of God – which is a truly an experience of God Himself. St Gregory was able to confidently defend and articulate this understanding because he had experienced this himself.

 

This is an important point… As my spiritual father of blessed memory Archimandrite Anastassy used to tell us: ‘You cannot give that which you yourself do not possess.’ If you wish to be a transmitter or peace, you must have peace. If you wish to be a transmitter of love, you must have love. In the case of St Gregory Palamas, he was able to brilliantly defend the proper understanding of God’s essence and energies, because he had experienced these things himself.

 

The analogy which is most frequently used is: just as we cannot approach the fiery orb of the sun, yet we can still truly experience the sun through its warmth and its light. St Gregory’s distinction of the essence and the energies of God may seem obscure at first – but it was an important declaration and clarification of the proper understanding of the relationship between God the Creator and man, His creature… and it underscores just how intimate that relationship is and can be.

 

This awareness of the intimacy and nearness of God is essential for us to understand.

 

God is not a distant deity sitting on His throne in heaven… a Being with Whom we’ll have no direct interactions until we pass from this life into the next. Orthodoxy teaches and experiences that God is present here and now. He is present in your home and in your workplace. He is present in our very hearts and He stands at the door of that heart and knocks.

 

Brothers and sisters in Christ… it is a convenient mistake for us to think of God as distant and removed from our day to day lives. Such a viewpoint creates the false assurance that our secret sins are not known to Him… that our daily neglect of Him is not seen by Him… that our judgment of others and selfish passions don’t matter. As the blessed Hieromonk Seraphim Rose once said, ‘The thing about understanding that God is both personal and present, is that He requires something of you!’

 

I had mentioned in a homily at one of our recent weekday services that I was reading St Maximos the Confessor. One of the things that he says that struck me to the core was that if we experience distraction during prayer, it is a sure sign that we do not truly love God. This caused me great sorrow… because I struggle with distraction during prayer and because more than anything else in this life, I want to love God. Yet, as St Maximos explains, our relationship with God is a kind of mystical marriage and we must be scrupulously faithful to our beloved. Just as we would never dream of betraying our spouse with infidelity, we must take the same care to never betray God by the infidelity of our distracted thoughts. And truly, I must say that I am aware that I do a better job attending to a conversation with another person than I do attending to my conversation with God in prayer. This is a sorry thing and it is something we should be aware of and seek to repent and repair.

 

Because, as St Gregory Palamas teaches us, when we are interacting with the energies of God, we are interacting with God Himself. We come into direct contact with God in prayer, through the sacraments, through every recognition of His Divine Presence in our lives. Just as we experience the sun itself through its light and warmth, we experience the true God Himself through His grace and energies.

 

And so, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us be attentive!

 

The more we begin to realize and recognize the nearness of God and of His Heavenly Kingdom, the more we will enter into that relationship with God which transforms us by His grace… by His life creating and life restoring energies.

 

This is the message of St Gregory Palamas. This is the message of Great Lent. This is the message and the mission of Jesus Christ – to transform us and to heal us by His grace.

 

May we all be engaged in that awareness of God… and, living a life within the grace of God, may we be transformed into that which God intends us to be. And as we acquire that grace, may we then begin to share that heavenly treasure with all those around us.

Second Sunday of Great Lent – Gregory Palamas

(Mark 2:1-12)

 

On this second Sunday of the Great Fast we commemorate St Gregory Palamas, one of the great heroes of Orthodox Christianity. St Gregory Palamas is an important figure in our further clarification of the Orthodox understanding of creation and God’s interaction with mankind.

 

Last Sunday we celebrated the Triumph of Orthodoxy and all the icons were set out in glorious display. We do this in honor of the Orthodox council that clarified and proclaimed the Orthodox understanding of the relationship between man and God, between the material and the spiritual, and that God did indeed become a man in the Person of Jesus Christ and that He transfigures and heals that which was fallen into the image of God that it was created to be. The veneration of the icons confirms this understanding of the reality of matter transfigured by the healing presence of God.

 

St Gregory Palamas is another key figure in understanding and clarifying both the relationship between man and God and of the reality of how God interacts with us to heal and transfigure us into that which He created us to be.

 

At the time of St Gregory there were debates raging about the absolute unknowability of God or whether we can indeed know and experience Him. St Gregory Palamas clarified that God in His essence is eternally distinct from His creatures, but that mankind can and should strive to participate and commune with the energies, with the Grace of God – which is a truly an experience of God Himself. St Gregory was able to confidently defend and articulate this understanding because he had experienced this himself.

 

This is an important point… As my spiritual father of blessed memory Archimandrite Anastassy used to tell us: ‘You cannot give that which you yourself do not possess.’ If you wish to be a transmitter or peace, you must have peace. If you wish to be a transmitter of love, you must have love. In the case of St Gregory Palamas, he was able to brilliantly defend the proper understanding of God’s essence and energies, because he had experienced these things himself.

 

The analogy which is most frequently used is: just as we cannot approach the fiery orb of the sun, yet we can still truly experience the sun through its warmth and its light. St Gregory’s distinction of the essence and the energies of God may seem obscure at first – but it was an important declaration and clarification of the proper understanding of the relationship between God the Creator and man, His creature… and it underscores just how intimate that relationship is and can be.

 

This awareness of the intimacy and nearness of God is essential for us to understand.

 

God is not a distant deity sitting on His throne in heaven… a Being with Whom we’ll have no direct interactions until we pass from this life into the next. Orthodoxy teaches and experiences that God is present here and now. He is present in your home and in your workplace. He is present in our very hearts and He stands at the door of that heart and knocks.

 

Brothers and sisters in Christ… it is a convenient mistake for us to think of God as distant and removed from our day to day lives. Such a viewpoint creates the false assurance that our secret sins are not known to Him… that our daily neglect of Him is not seen by Him… that our judgment of others and selfish passions don’t matter. As the blessed Hieromonk Seraphim Rose once said, ‘The thing about understanding that God is both personal and present, is that He requires something of you!’

 

I had mentioned in a homily at one of our recent weekday services that I was reading St Maximos the Confessor. One of the things that he says that struck me to the core was that if we experience distraction during prayer, it is a sure sign that we do not truly love God. This caused me great sorrow… because I struggle with distraction during prayer and because more than anything else in this life, I want to love God. Yet, as St Maximos explains, our relationship with God is a kind of mystical marriage and we must be scrupulously faithful to our beloved. Just as we would never dream of betraying our spouse with infidelity, we must take the same care to never betray God by the infidelity of our distracted thoughts. And truly, I must say that I am aware that I do a better job attending to a conversation with another person than I do attending to my conversation with God in prayer. This is a sorry thing and it is something we should be aware of and seek to repent and repair.

 

Because, as St Gregory Palamas teaches us, when we are interacting with the energies of God, we are interacting with God Himself. We come into direct contact with God in prayer, through the sacraments, through every recognition of His Divine Presence in our lives. Just as we experience the sun itself through its light and warmth, we experience the true God Himself through His grace and energies.

 

And so, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us be attentive!

 

The more we begin to realize and recognize the nearness of God and of His Heavenly Kingdom, the more we will enter into that relationship with God which transforms us by His grace… by His life creating and life restoring energies.

 

This is the message of St Gregory Palamas. This is the message of Great Lent. This is the message and the mission of Jesus Christ – to transform us and to heal us by His grace.

 

Second Sunday of Great Lent – Gregory Palamas

(Mark 2:1-12)

On this second Sunday of the Great Fast we commemorate St Gregory Palamas, one of the great heroes of Orthodox Christianity. St Gregory Palamas is an important figure in our further clarification of the Orthodox understanding of creation and God’s interaction with mankind.

Last Sunday we celebrated the Triumph of Orthodoxy and all the icons were set out in glorious display. We do this in honor of the Orthodox council that clarified and proclaimed the Orthodox understanding of the relationship between man and God, between the material and the spiritual, and that God did indeed become a man in the Person of Jesus Christ and that He transfigures and heals that which was fallen into the image of God that it was created to be. The veneration of the icons confirms this understanding of the reality of matter transfigured by the healing presence of God.

St Gregory Palamas is another key figure in understanding and clarifying both the relationship between man and God and of the reality of how God interacts with us to heal and transfigure us into that which He created us to be.

At the time of St Gregory there were debates raging about the absolute unknowability of God or whether we can indeed know and experience Him. St Gregory Palamas clarified that God in His essence is eternally distinct from His creatures, but that mankind can and should strive to participate and commune with the energies, with the Grace of God – which is a truly an experience of God Himself. St Gregory was able to confidently defend and articulate this understanding because he had experienced this himself.

This is an important point… As my spiritual father of blessed memory Archimandrite Anastassy used to tell us: ‘You cannot give that which you yourself do not possess.’ If you wish to be a transmitter or peace, you must have peace. If you wish to be a transmitter of love, you must have love. In the case of St Gregory Palamas, he was able to brilliantly defend the proper understanding of God’s essence and energies, because he had experienced these things himself.

The analogy which is most frequently used is: just as we cannot approach the fiery orb of the sun, yet we can still truly experience the sun through its warmth and its light. St Gregory’s distinction of the essence and the energies of God may seem obscure at first – but it was an important declaration and clarification of the proper understanding of the relationship between God the Creator and man, His creature… and it underscores just how intimate that relationship is and can be.

This awareness of the intimacy and nearness of God is essential for us to understand.

God is not a distant deity sitting on His throne in heaven… a Being with Whom we’ll have no direct interactions until we pass from this life into the next. Orthodoxy teaches and experiences that God is present here and now. He is present in your home and in your workplace. He is present in our very hearts and He stands at the door of that heart and knocks.

Brothers and sisters in Christ… it is a convenient mistake for us to think of God as distant and removed from our day to day lives. Such a viewpoint creates the false assurance that our secret sins are not known to Him… that our daily neglect of Him is not seen by Him… that our judgment of others and selfish passions don’t matter. As the blessed Hieromonk Seraphim Rose once said, ‘The thing about understanding that God is both personal and present, is that He requires something of you!’

I had mentioned in a homily at one of our recent weekday services that I was reading St Maximos the Confessor. One of the things that he says that struck me to the core was that if we experience distraction during prayer, it is a sure sign that we do not truly love God. This caused me great sorrow… because I struggle with distraction during prayer and because more than anything else in this life, I want to love God. Yet, as St Maximos explains, our relationship with God is a kind of mystical marriage and we must be scrupulously faithful to our beloved. Just as we would never dream of betraying our spouse with infidelity, we must take the same care to never betray God by the infidelity of our distracted thoughts. And truly, I must say that I am aware that I do a better job attending to a conversation with another person than I do attending to my conversation with God in prayer. This is a sorry thing and it is something we should be aware of and seek to repent and repair.

Because, as St Gregory Palamas teaches us, when we are interacting with the energies of God, we are interacting with God Himself. We come into direct contact with God in prayer, through the sacraments, through every recognition of His Divine Presence in our lives. Just as we experience the sun itself through its light and warmth, we experience the true God Himself through His grace and energies.

And so, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us be attentive!

The more we begin to realize and recognize the nearness of God and of His Heavenly Kingdom, the more we will enter into that relationship with God which transforms us by His grace… by His life creating and life restoring energies.

This is the message of St Gregory Palamas. This is the message of Great Lent. This is the message and the mission of Jesus Christ – to transform us and to heal us by His grace.

May we all be engaged in that awareness of God… and, living a life within the grace of God, may we be transformed into that which God intends us to be. And as we acquire that grace, may we then begin to share that heavenly treasure with all those around us.

 

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