Gregory Palamas Gregory Palamas (Greek: Γρηγόριος Παλαμάς) (Constantinople, 1296 or 1297 - Thessalonica, November 14, 1359) was a Byzantine theologian and mystic. He is honored in the Eastern Orthodox Church and some Eastern Catholic Churches.
Gregory Palamas became a monk at the Athos at the age of 22 and was later appointed Archbishop of Thessalonica. He promoted the hesychasm, a meditation school that attempts to reach a higher level of consciousness with breathing techniques and the continuing prayer of Jesus Christ, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of Eternity God". Palamas taught, in line with Church fathers like Basilius the Great and Gregory of Nyssa. that there is a distinction between the essence and the energies of God. The essence is absolutely undeniable, but we can only know God through his energies. The light that the apostles saw at the Transfiguration on the Taborberg are therefore the unpowered energies of God. Because of ascetism and hesychasm we can come into contact with those energies, and thus with God. This is related to the Eastern tradition of Christianity, which says that man is called to pass a process of divorce, or the theosis. Footnotes
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