Profane knowledge and Salvific ccording to St. Gregory Palamas

The profane knowledge (kosmike gnosis) does not accomplish salvation. That which is true in secular wisdom is not necessary and does not lead to salvation. One may not know anything about the experimental sciences and yet have knowledge of God (theognosia) which leads to salvation. He rejected the Barlaamite and Scholastic claims that intellectual knowledge (gnosis) is essential for the knowledge of God. The Scholastics as represented by Barlaam had as a starting point that the knowledge of God is rational and that what is super-natural is unknown of God. Therefore, we have the dichotomy and juxtaposition of the two realities; natural and super-natural. For Saint Gregory Palamas "knowledge of God is based on the suprarational experience of the prophets and Saints; it transcends all rational knowledge and cannot, there-fore, be understood or defined in rational categories, or dealt with dialectically and syllogistically, taking non-existent universals as a starting point." Saint Gregory Palamas sees reality in spiritual experience of the vision of God (tes theoptias) not in imaginary symbols, but in symbols that are essentially real in our experience of reality. The way to attain knowledge of God is by purity of heart, by purifying our souls from improper imagination. The only way man can attain the purity which is necessary for the knowledge of God is "by purifying his active (power) by works, his cognitive (power) by knowledge, and his contemplative (power) by prayer." "It can never be achieved by anyone except through perfection in works, through perseverance (in the ascetic way), through contemplative prayer." Prayer in quietude (hesychia) is necessary to attain knowledge of God. True knowledge is attained through purification (katharsis). In the union with God one attains the vision of "all immaterial knowledge" (pares ahylou gnoseos). This is not by "sensible symbols" (aisiheton ton symbolon) but by the communion of the divine untreated light. The perfect saving knowledge was given to man by Christ, and in the sacred Scriptures one can find "eternal life." This being perfect knowledge (gnosis) and by the practice of the divine sayings: "therefore all that you wish man to do to you, even so do you also to them; for this is the law and the prophets," (Matt. 7:12) one moves toward perfection. Those who believe in Christ attain the supra-conceptual knowledge (hyper ennoian gnosis) which is the end of the commandments. We do not receive God's knowledge (theognosia) from created beings but from the untreated light, which is the glory of God and revealed to us through Christ. Knowledge, therefore, according to Saint Gregory Palamas is not intellectual nor dialectical but apodictic and experiential. One can say it is existential because it is directly experienced in contemplation (theoria) and not derived by syllogisms and abstractions. From the book Introduction to St. Gregory Palamas by George C Papademetriou - Artículo*: TonyPedroza - Más info en psico@mijasnatural.com / 607725547 MENADEL Psicología Clínica y Transpersonal Tradicional (Pneumatología) en Mijas Pueblo (MIJAS NATURAL) *No suscribimos necesariamente las opiniones o artículos aquí enlazados
The profane knowledge (kosmike gnosis) does not accomplish salvation. That which is true in secular wisdom is not necessary and does not le...

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Más info en psico@mijasnatural.com / 607725547 MENADEL Psicología Clínica y Transpersonal Tradicional (Pneumatología) en Mijas y Fuengirola, MIJAS NATURAL.

(No suscribimos necesariamente las opiniones o artículos aquí presentados)