Episode 32: Conclusions to Augustine, Part 1: Basil the Great & Gregory the Theologian, C. Veniamin

Mystical Theology: Introducing the Theology and Spiritual Life of the Orthodox Church

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Series: Mystical Theology
Episode 32: Conclusions to Augustine, Part 1: Basil the Great & Gregory the Theologian, C. Veniamin
In Episode 32, we return to the Cappadocian Fathers by way of conclusion, following our overview of Augustine of Hippo, in order to bring us back to an Orthodox approach to the mystery of the Holy Trinity. We attempt a clarification of the essence-energies distinction as taught by Basil the Great, and proceed from there to a broader discussion of what is theology and who is a theologian according to Gregory of Nazianzus, the Theologian. Other themes touched upon are included in the Timestamps.
Q&As available in The Professor’s Blog
Recommended background reading: Christopher Veniamin, ed., Saint Gregory Palamas: The Homilies (Dalton PA: 2022); The Orthodox Understanding of Salvation: "Theosis" in Scripture and Tradition (2016); The Transfiguration of Christ in Greek Patristic Literature (2022); and Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos, Empirical Dogmatics of the Orthodox Catholic Church: According to the Spoken Teaching of Father John Romanides, Vol. 1 (2012), Vol. 2 (repr. ed. 2020).
Further bibliography may be found in our "Scholar's Corner" webpage.

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Further bibliography may be found in our Scholar's Corner
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1. Intro: Dynamic character of perfection in Christ (00:00:00)

2. Saints’ uncompromising pursuit of perfection in Christ (00:00:22)

3. Practical relevance of the teachings of the Church (00:00:49)

4. Basil the Great: Divine Essence known only to 3 Hypostases of the Holy Trinity (00:01:20)

5. God unapproachable in His essence, but approachable in His energies (00:01:48)

6. God approached through worship (00:02:15)

7. Three points to bear in mind (Epp. 233-235) (00:03:01)

8. Essence (ousia from einai) & Energy (energeia) / Energies (energaiai) (00:03:24)

9. Christological “excursus”: 2 natures in Christ, so 2 natural energies (00:04:19)

10. Human nature of Christ possesses a created will and a created energy (00:05:34)

11. Will of God revealed by what He does (00:05:54)

12. Two natures and energies united in the single Hypostasis of the Logos (00:06:02)

13. Essence without energy doesn’t exist (00:06:40)

14. 8:35 Christ “homoousios” - Compatibility of Christology & Trinitarian theology (00:08:35)

15. Essence and Energies - two aspects of the same God (00:09:41)

16. God both knowable and unknowable (00:10:56)

17. Names of energies in Oration VI, On the Beatitudes, Gregory of Nyssa (00:12:14)

18. Three distinctions in God: Hypostasis, Essence, Energy / Energies (00:13:43)

19. Unified action of the Holy Trinity: “From Father, Through Son, In Spirit” (00:14:28)

20. Gregory the Theologian, 1st Theological Oration (27,3), To the Eunomians (00:14:57)

21. Importance of our own spiritual disposition (00:15:51)

22. “Theoria” prerequisite for true theology (00:16:34)

23. Christ is theology (00:17:17)

24. “Purification” of soul and body: minimum requirement (00:18:02)

25. Importance of personal experience of the Saints (00:18:43)

26. Gregory the Theologian, 2nd Theological Oration (28,3), On Theology (00:19:26)

27. Appeal (00:22:35)