The Antinomic Method of Gregory Palamas: Between Transcendence and Immanence, God’s Essence and Energy, Single and Multiple Trinity

Viktor Zhukovskyy

Ukrainian Catholic University , Ukraine
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3147-8173


Abstract

The article examines the theological method of antinomy and the conceptual solution to the problem of the ontological “gap” between transcendence and immanence of the Holy Trinity in the theological thought of the outstanding Byzantine theologian of the 14th century Gregory Palamas. The article analyzes how Palamas, in his patristic teaching on the distinction between the essence and energy of the Holy Trinity, substantiates the unity, trinity, and multiplicity of divine action in the world, and how he interprets this distinction in God’s nature. Particular attention is paid to biblical and patristic analysis and the significance of Palama’s methodological “triangle”: apophatic, cataphatic, antinomy; his understanding of the personal dimension of the energies of the hypostases of the Trinity, and the problem of the “simplicity” of the Triune God.

Keywords:

Gregory Palamas, antinomy, essence, energy, apophatic, cataphatic

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Published
2023-10-03


Zhukovskyy, V. (2023). The Antinomic Method of Gregory Palamas: Between Transcendence and Immanence, God’s Essence and Energy, Single and Multiple Trinity. Verbum Vitae, 41(3), 693–711. https://doi.org/10.31743/vv.16341

Viktor Zhukovskyy  vzhukovskyy@yahoo.com
Ukrainian Catholic University

Viktor Zhukovskyy, doctor of theology and philosophy. Chair of Theology Department, Head of the PhD program in theology of the Ukrainian Catholic University (Lviv). The expert of The National Agency of Higher Education Quality Assurance (Ukraine). Editor-in-Chief of the Magazine “The Christian and the World” (www.xic.com.ua). Publications: “Особливості богообразності і богоподібності людини й ангелів в богослов’ї св. Григорія Палами”, Наукові записки Українського Католицького Університету. Богослов’я 7 (2020) 381-406; “Богослов’я енергій Григорія Палами: головні аспекти і значення”, Наукові Записки Українського Католицького Університету. Богослов’я 6 (2019) 163-205; “Бог – миротворець чи революціонер? Від віри до дії. Богословські виміри Майдану”, Бог і Майдан: Аналіз і свідчення (ed. М. Димид; Львів: Видавництво УКУ 2018; 85-99. Field of interest: Eastern Christian theology and spirituality, Patristic theology, Palamism, Soteriology, Political and Social theology.

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3147-8173



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