Sunday, 22 March 2015

Theodoros Alexopoulos: The third letter of Gregory Palamas to Gregory Akindynos

The third letter of Palamas against Gregory Akindynos, as it is given to us by P. Chrestou, has raised in the last years serious suspicions concerning his authenticity for several reasons. Nevertheless, before we come to safe conclusions on this topic, it is necessary to explore the arguments advanced by Palamas in order to defend himself from G. Akindynos, who accused him of accepting two deities, a superior and an inferior within God. Are Palama’s explanations in respect to this accusation satisfactory? Are they well-grounded on solid theological elements rooted to his predecessors such as Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagites. Are his views as exposed in this third letter in conformity with his theological positions in his earlier works? An insight to this matter will helps us to see, if Palamas was consistent or not from the beginning with his teaching on the distinction between essence and energies or he was forced to reconsider his theology because of the objections raised by Akindynos.

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