PALAMAS
547
PALAMAS
appears to have been kept secret, and was only revealed to Barlaam by an incautious monk, whom Cantacuzenus abuses for his communicativeness. Barlaam eagerly seized the opportunity afforded by this discovery to as- sail with bitter reproaches the fanaticism of these He- sychasts (I'lcyvxuiiovTeg) [see Hesycifasts] or Quiet- ists, calling them 'On(pa\u\pvxoi (Omphalopsychi), " men with their souls in their navels," and he identified them with the Massilians or Euchites of the 4tli cen- tury. The monks were roused by these attacks, and as Gregory Palamas was the most able and learned among them, they put him forward as their champion, and emjiloyed botli his tongue and pen against the at- tacks of the sarcastic Calabrian. Palamas and his friends tried at first to silence the reproaches of Bar- laam by kindly remonstrance, and aflSrmed, as to the mystical light, that there had been various similar in- stances in the history of the Church of a divine lustre surrounding the saints in time of persecution, and that sacred history recorded the appearance of a divine and uncreated light at the Saviour's transfiguration. Bar- laam caught at the mention of this light as uncreated, and afiirmed that nothing was uncreated but God, and that inasmuch as God was invisible, while the light of Mount Tabor was visible, to the bodily eye, the monks must have two gods, one the Creator of all things, con- fessedly invisible, the other this visible j'et uncreated light. This serious charge gave to the controversy a fresh impulse, until two or three years later Barlaam, fearing that his infuriated opponents, who flocked to the scene of the conflict from all the monasteries about Thessalonica and Constantinople, would offer him per- sonal violence, appealed to the patriarch of Constanti- nople and the bishops there, and charged Palamas not only with sharing the fanaticism of the Omphalojisycki, and with the use of defective prayers, but also with holding blasphemous views of God, and with introduc- ing new terms into the theology of the Church. A council was consequently convened in the church of St. Sophia, at Constantinople, in 1341, in the presence of the emperor, the chief senators, the learned, and a vast concourse of the common people. As it was not thought advisable to discuss the mysteries of theologj^ before a promiscuous multitude, the charge against Palamas and the monks of blasphemous notions respecting God was suppressed, and only the charge of holding the old Massilian heresy respecting prayer, and of using de- fective prayers, was proceeded with. Barlaam first ad- dressed the council in support of his charge ; then Pa- lamas replied, retorting upon Barlaam the charge of blasphemy and perverseness. The council decided in favor of the monks, and Barlaam, according to Canta- cuzenus, acknowledged his errors and became recon- ciled to his adversaries. Mortified, however, at his public defeat, he returned to Italy, and reconciled him- self to the Latin Church. Nicephorus Gregoras states that the decision of the council on the question of the Massilian heresy charged against the monks was de- ferred, that Barlaam was convicted of malignity and arrogance, and that the heresy of Palamas and his party would probably have been condemned also, had not the proceedings of the council been cut short by the emperor's death in 1341. The cause forsaken by Bar- laam was taken up by another Gregory, surnamed Acindynus ; but the part}' of the monks continued in the ascendant, and Palamas enjoyed the favor of John Cantacuzenus, who then exercised the chief influence at the court of the emperor John Palreologus, a minor. It was even reported that Cantacuzenus intended to procure the deposition of the patriarcli of Constantino- ple and the elevation of Palamas. In the civil war which followed (1342-1347) between Cantacuzenus and the court (where the admiral Apocaucus had supplant- ed him), Palamas, on account of his friendship for Can- tacuzenus, was imprisoned in 1340, not on any political charge, but on the ground of his religious views; for the patriarch now supported Gregory Acindynus and
the Barlaamites against the monks of Mount Athos, who were favorable to Cantacuzenus. The Barlaamites thus gained the ascendency, and in a council at Constanti- nople the Palamites, as their opponents called them, were condemned. The patriarch and the court were, however, especially anxious to clear themselves from the suspicion of acting from political motives i^i the imprisonment of Palamas. When the successful en- trance of Cantacuzenus into Constantinople, in Janu- ary, 1347, obliged the court to submit, Palamas was re- leased, and sent to make terms with the conqueror. The patriarch Calecas had been deposed by the influ- ence of the empress-mother, Aima, just before the tri- umph of Cantacuzenus, and Gregory Palamas persuaded Cantacuzenus to assemble a synod, by which the dep- osition was confirmed, and Calecas banished to Didy- motichum. Acindynus and the Barlaamites were now in turn condemned, and the Palamites once more gained the ascendency. Isidore, one of their number, was chosen patriarch. Palamas himself was soon after- wards appointed archbishop of Thessalonica; though, as that city was in the hands of some of the nobility who were hostile to Cantacuzenus, he was refused ad- mittance, and obliged to retire to the island of Lemnos; but he obtained admittance after a time. This was in 1349. Meanwhile the ecclesiastical troubles continued : the Barlaamites withdrew from the communion of the Church; their ranks received continual increase, and Nicephorus Gregoras, the historian, adroitly drew over to their side the empress Irene, wife of Cantacuzenus, by persuading her that the recent death of her younger son, Andronicus, in 1347, was a sign of the divine dis- pleasure at the favor shown by the emperor Cantacu- zenus to the Palamites. To restore peace, if possible, to the Church, a synod was summoned, after various conferences had been held between the emperor, the patriarch Isidore, Palamas, and Nicephorus Gregoras. Isidore died in 1349, before the meeting of the synod, over which Callistus, his successor, presided. When it met, in 1351, Nicephorus Gregoras was the champion of the Barlaamites, who numbered among their sup- porters the archbishop of Ephesus and the bishop of Ganus or Gaunus; the archbishop of Tyre, who was present, appears to have been on the same side. Pala- mas was the leader of the opposite party, who, having a large majority and the support of the emperor, car- ried everything their own way. The archbishop of Ephesus and the bishop of Ganus were deposed. Bar- laam and Acindynus (neither of whom was present) were declared excommunicated, and their followers were forbidden to propagate their sentiments. The popu- lace, however, favored the vanquished Barlaamites, and Palamas narrowly escaped violence. Of his subsequent history and death nothing seems to be known.