Andreas Zachariou: The Church Fathers in the theological conception of Gregory Akindynos

Akindynos, during his controversy with Gregory Palamas, invoked and made extensive use of patristic teaching to counter the palamite theological conceptions, while also strengthening his own perception.He argued that his own theological beliefs are in fact aligned with the piety of the "wise" and "God-enlightened" Church Fathers, which was handed down to us as the right teaching and correct faith of the Church.Considering that he did not innovate, as far as the doctrine of the one deity is concerned, he objected Palamas, perceiving his theology as totally incompatible with the patristic tradition. He believed that Palamas, aiming to safeguard his theological perception, adopted a misleading approach towards the Fathers and interpreted them completely wrong. Thus, he was talking about novel, unusual and false theology. Consequently, Akindynos described Palamas as "a new theologian", "an overthrower of piety’s terms" and a "contamination of the Church".However, Akindynos’ claims about faithfulness in the patristic tradition are of no substance. The truth is that it stands critically against the Fathers of the Church and uses them completely subjectively. He adopts their theology, to a certain extent and only if it agrees with what he recognizes, perceives and accepts in advance as faith and teaching of the Church. Otherwise, when the writings of the Fathers do not seem to support his perceptions, he interferes and changes them in such a way that they advocate his theology; altering their meaning or reading them out of context, or quoting them fragmentarily and partially