i .iois 1r xi r x nvz.

x1r ix
Such academic detachment made him a role model for later monastic
humanists like Prochoros Kydones, who considered translating theological
texts in itself a theological enterprise.%* But it earned him little recognition
in an era when such detachment was generally eyed with suspicion. If, for
instance, Gregory Palamas little less than a century later had recourse to
the text when writing his 1o Chapters , he kept quiet about it. Yet as
the number of thirty odd extant manuscripts suggests, Planudess
translation was widespread, even in the west, where parts of it were
printed in the seventeenth century, though a complete critical edition was
published only in 1.&! With Planudess translation Augustines
theology, welcome or not, had entered the eastern domain. The
theological consequences now have to be considered.
Gregory Palamas and his use of Planudess translation
The reign of Andronikos rr Palaiologos was followed by an era of civil
wars, which ended only under John \r Cantacuzene (1).&" Parallel
to the political conicts a theological battle raged. It was nally settled at
the Council of Constantinople of 11, when Palamitic Hesychasm was
declared orthodox.&# Hesychasm was a certain type of mystical prayer
aimed at union of heart and mind and popular among monks. Its major
proponent was Gregory Palamas. Born in Constantinople in 1i6&$ of
noble Anatolian stock, he had become a monk on Mount Athos in 118.
In 1i6 he was ordained priest of the diocese of Thessalonica. His
teaching was focused on the idea that persons who are spiritually
exceptionally gifted may through practising the Hesychast way of prayer
reach a beatic vision of the divine light, or Thabor light, which resembles
Gods uncreated energy, i.e. the Holy Spirit. In defence of that teaching
Gregory maintained, especially from 1 onwards, a heated debate with
the Calabrian monk Barlaam (1io18).
Both Gregory and Barlaam were rooted in Byzantine tradition. Under
the inuence of the apophatic tradition of pseudo-Dionysian neo-
PlatonismBarlaamcontested Gregorys distinction between divine essence
and energy and his claim that it was possible, by way of simple prayer, to
%* See Plan., Aug. Triad. (introduction), pp. lvlvi, esp. n. 16.
&! Ibid. (introduction). In 16o Pietro Arcudio in Rome published excerpts of bk 1:
P. Arcudius, Opuscula aurea theologica circa processionem Spiritus Sancti, Rome 16o, 861.
This edition is included in PG cxlvii. 1111o. The oldest extant manuscript is Bodleian
Library, Oxford, xs Laud. gr. 1, from 1i. &" Nicol, The last centuries, 11io.
&# See J. Meyendor, Introduction aZ leTtude de GreTgoire Palamas, Paris 1; Fairy von
Lilienfeld, Hesychasmus , Theologische RealenzyklopaWdie xv (186), i8i.
&$ On the biographical data see Meyendor, Introduction, 1o.