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Łódzkie Studia Teologiczne

Bd. 35 Nr. 1 (2026)

Artykuły

Prostota istoty a wielość energii: spór Grzegorza Palamasa z Grzegorzem Akindynosem w świetle Capita CL i synodów z lat 1341–1351

  • Wojciech Słomski
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52097/lst.2026.1.127-148  [Google Scholar]
Veröffentlicht: 2026-05-04

Abstract

This article examines Gregory Palamas’ controversy with Gregory Akindynos through the lens of divine simplicity and the multiplicity of energies, focusing on the treatise Capita physica, theologica, moralia et practica (Capita CL) and its synodal reception between 1341 and 1351. The study reconstructs the development of Palamas’ thought from the intuitive and polemical framework of the Triads to the definitional and systematic synthesis articulated in the Capita CL, a transition prompted by the theological challenge posed by Akindynos. It argues that the core of the dispute did not concern hesychastic practice as such, but rather the ontological status of grace and the possibility of real participation in divine life while preserving God’s absolute simplicity and transcendence.
At the center of the analysis lies Palamas’ distinction between the unknowable and incommunicable divine essence (οὐσία) and the uncreated, really participable divine energies (ἐνέργειαι). Through a close reading of key chapters of the Capita CL (chaps. 93, 112, 114, 96, and 120), the article demonstrates that this distinction does not compromise divine simplicity but rather safeguards the boundary between the inner trinitarian life (ad intra) and God’s activity toward creation (ad extra), thereby grounding a coherent theology of grace and deification (θέωσις). The analysis of the synodal decisions–especially the Tomos of the Council of Blachernae (1351)–highlights the normative status of Palamite doctrine within the Orthodox tradition. The article concludes that the Palamas–Akindynos controversy represents a decisive moment in the formation of a Christian ontology of the God–world relationship, whose theological significance extends into contemporary discussions of divine simplicity and grace.

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