Quotes from Saint Gregory Palamas
“If from one burning lamp someone
lights another, then another from that one, and so on in succession, he has light continuously.
In the same way, through the Apostles ordaining their successors,
and these successors ordaining others, and so on, the grace of the Holy Spirit is handed down through all generations and
enlightens all who obey their shepherds and teachers”
[“On how the Holy Spirit was manifested and shared
out at Pentecost”]
“The leaders of any given evil heresy also attempt to
interpret their writings, but their purpose is to harm their followers and deny that
truth which is in accordance with piety, using the words of the Spirit against the Spirit.
The words of the Gospel of grace are lofty and suitable for mature ears and minds, but these words too our God-bearing
Fathers softened in their own mouths, making them appropriate for those of
us who are less than perfect, just as mothers devoted to their children chew solid food and render it serviceable and easy
to take for the babies still at the breast. The moisture in their mothers’ mouth is nourishment for the children, and
the thoughts in the hearts of our God-bearing Fathers are suitable food for souls that listen and obey.
The mouths of evil, disreputable men, however, are full of deadly poison which, when mixed with the words of life,
makes them lethal for careless listeners.” [Homily 34, On the Holy Transfiguration of Our Lord and God and Savior, Jesus Christ]
“A vow was given by those who marvelously
begot her to return her that was given to the Giver, so accordingly the Mother of God strangely changed her dwelling from
the house of her father to the house of God while still an infant. She passed
not a few years in the Holy of Holies itself, wherein under the care of an angel, she enjoyed ineffable nourishment such as
even Adam did not succeed in tasting….”
[Homily on the Dormition of the Theotokos]
“…. Adam chose the treason
of the serpent, the originator of evil, in preference to God’s commandments and counsel, and broke the decreed fast.
Instead of eternal life, he received death and instead of the place of unsullied
joy, he received his sinful place full of passions and misfortunes, or rather,
he was sentenced to Hades and nether darkness. Our nature would have stayed
in the infernal regions below the lurking places of the serpent who initially beguiled it, had not Christ come.
He started off by fasting [Mark 1.13] and in the end, abolished the serpent’s tyranny, set us free and brought
us back to life.”
[The Homilies, Volume II]
“Prayer changes from entreaty to thanksgiving, and meditation on the divine
truths of faith fills the heart with a sense of jubilation and unimpeachable hope
This hope is a foretaste of future blessings, of which the soul even now receives direct experience, and so it comes
to know in part the surpassing richness of God’s bounty, in accordance with the Psalmist’s words, ‘Taste
and know that the Lord is bountiful’ [Psalm 34.8]. For he is the jubilation
of the righteousness, the joy of the upright, the gladness of the humble, and the solace of those who grieve because of him”
[The Philokalia, Volume 4]
“In her manner she showed that she was not so much presented into the Temple, but that she herself entered
into the service of God of her own accord, as if she had wings, striving towards this sacred and divine love.
She considered it desirable and fitting that she would enter into the Temple and dwell in the Holy of Holies.
Therefore, the High Priest, seeing that this child, more than anyone else, had divine grace within her, wished to
set here within the Holy of Holies. He convinced everyone present to welcome
this, since God has advanced it and approved it. Through his angel, God
assisted the Virgin and sent her mystical food, with which she was strengthened in nature, while in body she was brought to
maturity and was made pure and more exalted than the angels, having the Heavenly
spirits as servants. She was led into the Holy of Holies not just once,
but was accepted by God to dwell there with him during her youth, so that through her, the Heavenly Abodes might be opened
and given for an eternal habitation to those who believe in her miraculous birthgiving.”
[Discourse on the
Feat of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Holy of Holies]
“So, in order to render the Virgin worthy of this sublime purpose, God
marked his ever-virgin Daughter now praised by us, from before the ages, and from eternity choosing her from out of his elect.
Turn your attention then, to where this choice began. From the son
of Adam, God chose the wondrous Seth, who showed himself a living heaven through his becoming behavior, and through the beauty
of his virtues. That is why he was chosen, and from whom the Virgin would
blossom as the divinely fitting chariot of God. She was needed to give birth
and to summon the earth-born to heavenly sonship. For this reason also, all
the lineage of Seth were called ‘sons of God’’ [Genesis 6], because
from this lineage a son of man would be born as the Son of God. The
name Seth signifies a rising or resurrection, or more specifically, it signifies
the Lord, who promises and gives immortal life to all who believe in him.
And how precisely exact
is this parallel! Seth was born of Eve, as she herself said, in place
of Abel whom Cain killed through jealousy [Genesis 4.25], and Christ, the Son of the Virgin, was born for us in place of Adam,
whom the author of evil also killed through jealousy. But Seth did not resurrect
Abel, since he was only a type of the resurrection. But our Lord Jesus Christ
resurrected Adam, since he is the very Life and the Resurrection of the earth-born, for whose sake the descendants of Seth
are granted divine adoption through hope, and are called the children of God. It
was because of this hope that they were called sons of God, as is evident from the one who was first called so, the successor
in the choice. This was Enoch, the son of Seth, who as Moses wrote,
first hoped to call on the Name of the Lord [Genesis 4.26].
In this manner, the choice of the future Mother of God, beginning with the very
sons of Adam and proceeding through all the generations of time, through the Providence of God, passes to the Prophet-King
David and the successors of his kingdom and lineage.”
[Discourse on the Feast of the Entry
of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Holy of Holies]
