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'Making us a temple of the whole Godhead...'
Dear Parish Faithful,
In his incomparable love for men, the Son of God did not merely unite his divine Hypostasis to our nature, clothing himself with a living body and an intelligent soul, “to appear on earth and live with men” [Baruch 3.38], but, O incomparable and magnificent miracle! He unites himself also to human hypostases, joining himself to each of the faithful by communion in his holy Body. For he becomes one body with us [Eph 3.6] making us a temple of the whole Godhead—for in the very Body of Christ “the whole fullness of the Godhead dwells corporeally” [Col 3.9].
How then would he not illuminate those who share worthily in the divine radiance of his Body within us, shining upon their soul as he once shone on the bodies of the apostles on Tabor? For as this Body, the source of the light of grace, was at that time not yet united to our body, it shone exteriorly on those who came near it worthily, transmitting light to the soul through the eyes of sense. But today, since it is united to us and dwells within us, it illumines the soul interiorly.
—St Gregory Palamas, excerpt from Triads I, as found in St Gregory Palamas and Orthodox Spirituality
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Since we commemorated St. Gregory Palamas (+1359) yesterday, on the Second Sunday of Great Lent; and since I focused on some of his splendid teaching in the homily; I thought to share the two passages above. These are not simple texts, but rather challenging words that require a good deal of careful thought. But there is great depth of insight here, and that should prove to be inspiring! Perhaps "wrestling" with these two passages, can be compared to Jacob wrestling with an angel (Gen. 32:22-32) For the sake of comprehension, it will be good to recall that the word hypostasis means "person."
