My latest Article on Saint Gregory Palamas

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Credo_ergo_sum said:
At the bottom of the page it says:

“Melkite Greek Catholic Church Information Center is an unofficial Melkite Greek Catholic Web site and has not been reviewed or approved by any Melkite clergy person.”

But yes, if he’s in the calendar he’s a saint. Lex orandi, lex credendi.
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Right, I realize that. I was referring to its reference to the 1971 Holy Synod, which I have confirmed did actually occur as it appears in several places.
 
I would not place Mr. Huysman’s scholarship even in the same universe as the reknowned Dr. Jaroslav Pelikan of blessed memory, emeritus professor of history at Yale, who wrote the definitive biography of Patriarch +Josyp, Confessor between East and West and knew him personally. In that biography he summarizes the work of Patriarch +Josyp in restoring the liturgical commemoration of St. Gregory. The copy of the actual votum Dr. Pelikan accessed was then in Rome at the Patriarchal Library at St. Sophia (the UGCC Patriarchal Archives have since been moved to Kyiv).

It usually best to ground oneself on the universal liturgical maxim lex orandi, lex credendi. Rome isn’t in the business of allowing liturgical commemoration or veneration of heretics damaging to the faith. So the *Anthologion * published in Rome in 1974 with the great efforts of Patriarch +Josyp, was approved with the approbation of the Holy See, and is therefore the definitive evidence.

In spite of lots of polemic on this forum to the contrary, Rome has never attempted to limit, rescind, abrogate, adjust, amend, or require anyone to cease and desist from the liturgical observance of St. Gregory on the second Sunday of the Great Fast which she herself approved in the Anthologion published in Rome by the Sacred Oriental Congregation in 1974.

Of course the approbation by the Holy See of the Anthologion in 1974 is now precedent not only for the UGCC but for any other particular Church of the Constantinopolitan tradition, and thus any other particular Church could do as the Melkites have done.

I’ll leave off this beaten horse with the edifying words of our UGCC Bishop +Basil of Stamford (now Emeritus) in his Paschal Pilgrimage:
St. Gregory taught that all Christians are called to union with God, which is the subject of the Christian life… with the recent profound studies of St. Gregory, and the deeper appreciation of the Christian East, the Holy See restored St. Gregory’s memorial on the Second Sunday of the Great Lent in the Anthologion…our own Patriarch Joseph made a strong and positive contribution to this restoration of St. Gregory Palamas to Catholic liturgical practice…I am pleased to see that the new English translation of the *Lenten Triodion * contains the full service to St. Gregory Palamas, **and I am confident that this will increase our understanding of our spiritual and theological tradition. **
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The English language quotation below is a translation from the French original text of a small portion of a homily on the Virgin Mary delivered by Pope John Paul II while he was visiting Turkey in 1979:

“Eastern theology has laid a great deal of emphasis on the katharsis or purification that Mary underwent at the moment of the Annunciation. It will be enough for us to recall here the moving commentary of St. Gregory Palamas on this point in one of his homilies: ‘You are already holy and full of grace, O Virgin, says the angel to Mary. But the Holy Spirit will come upon you anew and prepare you for the divine mystery by an increase of grace.’”

Taken from The Pope Speaks (Vol. 25, No. 1, 1980, page 31).
 
Apotheoun said:
The English language quotation below is a translation from the French original text of a small portion of a homily on the Virgin Mary delivered by Pope John Paul II while he was visiting Turkey in 1979:

“Eastern theology has laid a great deal of emphasis on the katharsis or purification that Mary underwent at the moment of the Annunciation. It will be enough for us to recall here the moving commentary of St. Gregory Palamas on this point in one of his homilies: ‘You are already holy and full of grace, O Virgin, says the angel to Mary. But the Holy Spirit will come upon you anew and prepare you for the divine mystery by an increase of grace.’”

Taken from The Pope Speaks (Vol. 25, No. 1, 1980, page 31).
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Thank you, Apotheoun!!!

The homily is available on the Vatican website in French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish.
It’s from the Mass celebrated in Ephesus on November 30, 1979.

French version: vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/homilies/1979/documents/hf_jp-ii_hom_19791130_turkey-efeso_fr.html
  1. Toute mère transmet à ses enfants sa propre ressemblance ; c’est ainsi qu’entre Marie et l’Église il existe un rapport de profonde ressemblance. Marie est la figure idéale, la personnification, l’archétype de l’Église. En elle s’effectue le passage de l’ancien au nouveau Peuple de Dieu, d’Israël à l’Église. Elle est la première parmi les humbles et les pauvres, demeurés fidèles, qui attendent la Rédemption ; elle est encore la première parmi les rachetés, qui, dans l’humilité et l’obéissance, accueillent la venue du Rédempteur. La théologie orientale a beaucoup insisté sur la « katarsis » qui s’effectue en Marie au moment de l’Annonciation ; qu’il suffise de rappeler ici l’émouvant commentaire qu’en fait **saint Grégoire Palamas **dans l’une de ses homélies : « Tu es déjà sainte et pleine de grâce, ô Vierge, dit l’ange à Marie. Mais l’Esprit-Saint viendra de nouveau en toi, te préparant, par une augmentation de grâce, au mystère divin. » (Homélie sur l’Annonciation : PG 151, 178.)
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There it is: **Saint **Gregory Palamas.

Side note: The Portuguese version includes the word saint, but the Italian and Spanish versions omit it. The Italian uses “Orthodox bishop”.
 
griego_catolico said:
Side note: The Portuguese version includes the word saint, but the Italian and Spanish versions omit it. The Italian uses “Orthodox bishop”.
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I noticed that as well, but The Pope Speaks journal indicates that the original language text is the French version from which the English translation above was made; while also noting that the official French version was published in L’Osservatore Romano on 2 December 1979.
 
“Eastern theology has laid a great deal of emphasis on the katharsis or purification that Mary underwent at the moment of the Annunciation. It will be enough for us to recall here the moving commentary of St. Gregory Palamas on this point in one of his homilies: ‘You are already holy and full of grace, O Virgin, says the angel to Mary. But the Holy Spirit will come upon you anew and prepare you for the divine mystery by an increase of grace.’”
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Taken from The Pope Speaks (Vol. 25, No. 1, 1980, page 31).
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Thank you, I had been looking for the reference to this homily for some time but had only seen the Italian version in the past.

The votum from Patriarch +Josyp to Cardinal Seper (who at that time was the Prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith) was received by Rome in 1971. The *votum * outlines Patriarch +Josyp’s advocacy for the liturgical commemoration of St. Gregory Palamas which was apparently already being done by the UGCC Studite monks. Perhaps Patriarch +Jospy provided a copy to his friend Patriarch +Maximos, as within a year of that votum the Melkite Synod also took the same position.

Interestingly enough the pre-Nikonian books still in use amongst the Old Ritualists do not contain the commemoration of St. Gregory Palamas on the second Sunday of the Great Fast, as even in the Greek Church this is a later addition. Since the Unions of Brest and Uzhorod were both pre-Nikonian, the service books at the time of these Unions would not have contained this commemoration.
 
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