§ 69. Doctrinal Controversies in the 12th-14th Centuries.With the mental activity of the Comnenian age there was also reawakened a love of theological speculation and discussion, and several doctrinal questions engaged considerable attention. Then there came a lull in the controversial strife for two hundred years, to be roused once more by a question of abstruse mysticism.
With the mental activity of the Comnenian age there was also reawakened a love of theological speculation and discussion, and several doctrinal questions engaged considerable attention. Then there came a lull in the controversial strife for two hundred years, to be roused once more by a question of abstruse mysticism.
§ 69.1.Dogmatic Questions.—Under the emperor Manuel Comnenus,A.D.1143-1180, the question was discussed whether Christ presented His sacrifice for the sins of the world only to the Father and the Holy Spirit, or also at the same time to the Logos,i.e.to Himself. A Synod at Constantinople inA.D.1156 sanctioned the latter notion.—Ten years later a controversy arose over the question whether the words of Christ: “The Father is greater than I,” refer to His divine or to His human nature or to the union of the two natures. The discussion was carried on by all ranks with a liveliness and passionateness which reminds one of the similar controversies of the 4th century (§50, 2). The emperor’s opinion that the words applied to the God-man gained the victory at a Synod at Constantinople inA.D.1166. The dissentients were punished with the confiscation of their goods and banishment.—Manuel excited a third controversy by objecting to the anathema of “the God of Mohammed” in the formula of abjuration for converts from Mohammedanism. In vain did the bishops show the emperor that the God of Mohammed was not the true God. The formula had to be altered.§ 69.2.The Hesychast Controversy,A.D.1341-1351.—In the monasteries of Mount Athos in Thessaly the Areopagite mysticism had its most zealous promoters. Following the example given three centuries earlier by Simeon, an abbot of the monastery of Mesnes in Constantinople, the monks by artificial means put themselves into a condition that would afford them the ecstatic vision of God which the Areopagite had extolled as the highest end of all mystic endeavours. Kneeling in a corner of the solitary closed cell, the chin pressed firmly on the breast, the eyes set fixedly on the navel, and the breath held in as long as possible, they sank at first into melancholy and their eyes became dim. Continuing longer in this position the depression of spirit which they at first experienced gave way to an inexpressible rapture, and at last they found themselves surrounded by a bright halo of light. They called themselvesResting Ones, ἡσυχάζοντες, and maintained that the brilliancy surrounding them was the uncreated divine light which shone around Christ on Mount Tabor. Barlaam (§67, 5), just returned from his unfortunate union expedition, accused the monks and their defender, Gregorius [Gregory] Palamas, afterwards archbishop of Thessalonica, as Ditheistic heretics, scornfully styling themnavel-souls, ὀμφαλόψυχοι. But a Council at Constantinople, inA.D.1341, the members of which were unfavourable to Barlaam because of his union efforts, approved the doctrine of uncreated divine light which as divine ἐνεργεία is to be distinguished from the divine οὐσία. Barlaam, in order to avoid condemnation, recanted, but withdrew soon afterwards to Italy, where he joined the communion of the Latin church inA.D.1348, and died as a bishop in Calabria. A disciple of Barlaam, Gregorius [Gregory] Acindynos and the historian Nicephorus Gregoras [Gregory] continued the controversy against the Hesychasts. Down toA.D.1351 as many as three Synods had been held, which all decidedly favoured the monks.
§ 69.1.Dogmatic Questions.—Under the emperor Manuel Comnenus,A.D.1143-1180, the question was discussed whether Christ presented His sacrifice for the sins of the world only to the Father and the Holy Spirit, or also at the same time to the Logos,i.e.to Himself. A Synod at Constantinople inA.D.1156 sanctioned the latter notion.—Ten years later a controversy arose over the question whether the words of Christ: “The Father is greater than I,” refer to His divine or to His human nature or to the union of the two natures. The discussion was carried on by all ranks with a liveliness and passionateness which reminds one of the similar controversies of the 4th century (§50, 2). The emperor’s opinion that the words applied to the God-man gained the victory at a Synod at Constantinople inA.D.1166. The dissentients were punished with the confiscation of their goods and banishment.—Manuel excited a third controversy by objecting to the anathema of “the God of Mohammed” in the formula of abjuration for converts from Mohammedanism. In vain did the bishops show the emperor that the God of Mohammed was not the true God. The formula had to be altered.
§ 69.2.The Hesychast Controversy,A.D.1341-1351.—In the monasteries of Mount Athos in Thessaly the Areopagite mysticism had its most zealous promoters. Following the example given three centuries earlier by Simeon, an abbot of the monastery of Mesnes in Constantinople, the monks by artificial means put themselves into a condition that would afford them the ecstatic vision of God which the Areopagite had extolled as the highest end of all mystic endeavours. Kneeling in a corner of the solitary closed cell, the chin pressed firmly on the breast, the eyes set fixedly on the navel, and the breath held in as long as possible, they sank at first into melancholy and their eyes became dim. Continuing longer in this position the depression of spirit which they at first experienced gave way to an inexpressible rapture, and at last they found themselves surrounded by a bright halo of light. They called themselvesResting Ones, ἡσυχάζοντες, and maintained that the brilliancy surrounding them was the uncreated divine light which shone around Christ on Mount Tabor. Barlaam (§67, 5), just returned from his unfortunate union expedition, accused the monks and their defender, Gregorius [Gregory] Palamas, afterwards archbishop of Thessalonica, as Ditheistic heretics, scornfully styling themnavel-souls, ὀμφαλόψυχοι. But a Council at Constantinople, inA.D.1341, the members of which were unfavourable to Barlaam because of his union efforts, approved the doctrine of uncreated divine light which as divine ἐνεργεία is to be distinguished from the divine οὐσία. Barlaam, in order to avoid condemnation, recanted, but withdrew soon afterwards to Italy, where he joined the communion of the Latin church inA.D.1348, and died as a bishop in Calabria. A disciple of Barlaam, Gregorius [Gregory] Acindynos and the historian Nicephorus Gregoras [Gregory] continued the controversy against the Hesychasts. Down toA.D.1351 as many as three Synods had been held, which all decidedly favoured the monks.