The Doctrine of St. Gregory Palamas on «Intellectual Perception» in the Interpretation of S. S. Horuzhy

Abstract

This article deals with the interpretation of St. Gregory Palamas’ doctrine of «intel­lectual perception» by the famous Russian scholar of the tradition of hesychasm, S. S. Horu­zhy. At the beginning we give a brief overview of the reconstruction of St. Gregory’s doctrine of «intellectual perception» within the paradigm of the created vision of God (archpriest V. Asmus, M. M. Bernatsky, M. Knezevic, J. Blackstone, A. Chouliaras, D. S. Biriukov) and the par­adigm of the uncreated vision of God (prot. Dumitru Staniloae, protopr. John Meyendorff, Gerhard Podskalsky, etc.) on the problem of the way of seeing the uncreated light in pala- mite theology. The originality of S. S. Horuzhy’s approach and its irreducibility to these para­digms are noted. In presenting S. S. Horuzhy’s concept, special attention is paid to the descrip­tion of the following basic categories characterising the concept of «intellectual perception»: pan-perception (metaperception, synesthesis, all-perception), panesthesis, holistic inten- sionality of the act of the vision God of vision, somatic and dialogical aspects of the vision of the uncreated light. The ascetic aspect of the attainment of the vision of God is consid­ered in detail and the meaning of the concept of «asymmetrical synergy» is revealed, which describes the unequal participation of Divine and human energies on the path to deifica­tion. S. S. Horuzhy’s distinction between palamite and plotinian mysticism is also described.