The peculiar leading tenets of the Palamites were the existence of the mystical light discovered by the more eminent monks and recluses in their long exercises of abstract contemplation and prayer, and the uncreated nature of the light of Mount Tabor seen at the trans- figuration of Christ. The first attracted the notice and animadversion of their opponents: but the second, with the consequences really or apparently deducible from it, was the great object of attack. The last seven books (xviii-xxiv) of the Historia ByzanHna of Nicephorus Gregoras are devoted to a history of this controversy; and in the bitterness of his polemic spirit he charges Palamas with polytheism; with converting the attri- butes of the Deity into so manj' distinct and indepen- dent deities ; with affirming that the Holy Spirit was not one alone, or even one of seven, but one of "seventy times seven;" with placing in an intermediate rank be- tween ^od and angels a new and peculiar class of un- created powers ((caivdj/ n Kai 'i^iov uKTtaTUJv yii'OQ ivipynCjv), which Palamas called " the brightness (Aa/i- Trp6rr]ra) of God and the ineffable light" ((pw^ dfipijToi'} ; with holding that any man by partaking of the stream of this lightj flowing from its inexhaustible source,
PALAMAS
548
PALEARIO
could at will become uncreated and without beginning {ciK7iar(;j i^iXovTt yiytcBai Kai dvapx<{') ; and with nu- merous other errors. These alleged heresies were, how- ever, mostly, if not altogether, the inferences deduced by Nicepliorus (iregoras and other opponents from the Palaniitc dogma of uncreated light, and not the acknowl- edged tenets of the Palamite party. The rise, continu- ance, and vehemence of the controversy is a singular manifestation of the subtilty and misdirection of the Greek intellect of the period. The dogma of the un- created light of Mount Tabor has apparently continued to be the recognised orthodox doctrine of the Greek Church (Capperonnerius, Not. ad Nicejih. Greffo?: ii, 1821, ed. Bonn), though probably now neglected or for- gotten.
Palamas was a copious writer ; many of his works are extant in MS., and are enumerated by Wharton and Gery in the Appendix to Cave, and by Fabricius. Ni- cephorus says that he wrote more than sixty Xoyoi, ora- tiones ; and Boivin states that one MS. in the king's library at Paris contained more than seventy homilies or other short pieces. The statement of Gregoras, there- fore, must refer only to pieces written on occasion of Pal- amas's controversy with him, or must be much too low an estimate. The following have been published : Pi-o- sopopaeia, s. Prosopoeice, s. Orationes diice judiciales, Men- tis Corjnis accusantis, et Corporis sese defendentis, una cum Judicum Senientia (Paris, 1553) : — Ei'c rijv anTT))v pnapopcpijjcnv Toi' Kvpiov /cat Qtoij Kai 2wr/)poe I'ipwv 'lr]aov XpiffTov' iv y TrcipciciTaaig on to kut avHjv tpixig UKTiaTov iartv. \6yoQ a, In venerabilem Domini et Dei ac Salvatoris nostri Je-su Christi Transforma- tionem, ubi pivbaiur quod in ea est lumen increatmn esse. Oratio Prima. OpiXia ilg ti)v avTt)v tov Kvpiov aiTTTtjv piTapup(pitjaip tv y TrapdaTaaig ojg li Kai uk- Ttarov t(T-i TO kut' avTi]v Bhutotov ^Hjq, fiW ovk lOTiv oixjia Geo?. Xoyog /3', Tractatiis in eandem ve- neraiulam Domini Transformationem ; in quo probatur, quanquam increatum est iUius divinissimum Lumen, haud iamen Dei Essentium esse. Oratio Secunda. These two orations were published with a Latin version by Combe- fis in his A uctarium Xofissimum (Paris, 1672), ii, 106 : — Aoyoi Ii', c'lTToCitKriKoi on oi'x't Kai tK tov Tiou ciW IK povov Toi) narpog iKiropivirai to Tlvtvpa To'Ayiov, Orationes duce demonslrativm quod non ex Filio, sed ex solo Palre procedat Spiritus Sanctus. These were pub- lished in London without date (but probably in 1624), together with a number of other pieces of Barlaam, the Calabriau, and several Greek writers of a comparatively recent period : — 'AvTETTiypa^at, Refutatio Expositionum, s. Epitp-apharum Joannis Vecci, published, with a Con- futatio by cardinal Bessarion, in the Opuscida Aurea of Petrus Arcudius (Kome, 1630, 1671) : — S. Petri Athoni- tce (a. de Monte Atho) Encomium (in Acta Sanctorum, Junii, a. d. xii, ii, 535) : — 'Erri AaTtvojv avvTopla, Adrersus Latinos Confessio : — 'EttiotoX// Trpog ti'iv Bto(jTt<pri fSafftXica Kvpdv " Avvav Tt)v YlaXatoXoyivav, Epistola ad divinitus coronatam A ugustam A nnam Pa- laolor/inam, printed by Boivin in his notes to the Hist. Byzant. of Nicephorus Gregoras (Paris, 1702), p. 787. Boivin has also given two extracts from a writing of Palamas, one of some length, Adversus Joannem Cale- cam ; the other very brief, from an Epistola, ad Joannem Gutram. Various citations from his works are given by Nicephorus (iregoras. It is probable that the Tomus or declaration issued by the synod of Constantinople, in 1351, against the Barlaamitos was drawn up by Palamas, or under his inspection. It is given by Combefis, with a I^atin version, in his Auctarium Novissimum (Paris, 1672), ii, 135, and is entitled Topog Uri^tig Trapd Ttp: Biiag Kai Updg ovvocov Toi'' avyKpoTi}iiiai)c kutu twv (ppovoi'ivTOJV to. BapXaap re Kai 'Akivcvi'ov tni Ti'ig liaaiXtiag twv tvaijiMV Kai op^oW^oii' liaaiXiiov i/piLv KavTaKoij'Ctvov Ka'i IlaXnioXoyon, Tomus a divina sa- craque Synodo adversus eos coacta qui Barlaam et A cindyni opinionis sunt, Cantacuzeno ac PaltEolof/o reli- giosis orthodoxisque Imperatoribus nostris, editus ac ex-
positus. The Greek writers belonging to the Romish Church, as Allatius, Nicolaus Coranenus, Papadopoli, and others, heap on Palamas every term of reproach ; on the other hand the orthodox Greeks extol him highly, and ascribe miraculous effects to his relics. See Cave, Hist. Litter. (Oxford, 1740-1743) ; Appendix, vol. ii, by Whar- ton and Gerj', j). 54 sq. ; Fabricius, Biblioth. Graca, x, 454-462,790; ed. vet. xi, 494 sq. ed. Harles ; Oudin, Z>e Scrijdoribus Eccles. vol. iii, col. 843 ; Cantacuzenus, Hist.; Nicephorus (iregoras. Hut. Byzant. — Smith, Diet. of (Jr. and Pom. Bio;/, and Mythul. s. v. ; com)). Neale, Hist, of the Eastern Church, Introd. ii, 745, 746.