1330–1351

Gregory Palamas against Barlaam: The Essence and Energies of God

Symeon the New Theologian (11th century) taught about personal experience of the uncreated light, accessible to all Christians, and regarded experience as a principle of knowledge within tradition. In 1330 Gregory Palamas entered into a dispute with Barlaam, who mocked the prayer of the hesychasts: following Dionysius, Barlaam held that God can be known only indirectly through creation and gave philosophy an independent place. Palamas maintained that God can be known directly in experience: God is inaccessible in his essence, but not in his energies; the mystic sees the uncreated light that the apostles saw on Tabor. His opponents accused him of ditheism. The councils of 1341 and 1351 in Constantinople rejected Barlaam's accusations.