Slide 11 New Challenges, New Beginnings III (Controversies in the East)

Question 1

What were the differences between the East and West in both theology and practice as highlighted in the slides?
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Answer 1

1) Different languages: Latin vs. Greek
2) Whether clergy can be married
3) Type of bread to be used for the Eucharist
4) Kneeling or standing for prayers during services
5) Insertion of the filioque into the Nicene-Constantinopolitan creed

Question 2

What are some descriptions of icons from the lecture slides?

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Answer 2

1) Artistic representations of Christ, Mary, Christian saints, OT figures and angels
2) Christians in the East have used these widely for many centuries in their public worship and private devotion
3) Christians do not worship (latria) these images, but venerate (proskynesis) them

4) They are “windows into heaven”—a means through which we relate to God and his saints. Need to hold a tension:
•The icon is not to be identified simply with the person it signifies. So we are not to worship the icon
•But there is a close connection between the icon and the reality it represents: The honour given to the icon passes on to the person it depicts

Question 3

Which emperor started the iconoclastic controversy?

Answer 3

Leo III

Question 4

What were the possible reasons for the iconoclastic policy stated in the lecture slides?
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Answer 4

• Widespread abuse of icons
• A response to Muslim accusations that Christians were idolaters
• A desire to return Christianity to a “pure” state—perhaps in the hope that this might win God’s favour on the empire

Question 5

Who reversed the iconoclastic policy in 787?

Answer 5

Empress Irene

Question 6

What was the difference between the East and West regarding authority over the churches?

Answer 6

–The East viewed Church Councils as the key mechanism for achieving consensus amongst the pentarchy. The recognised Ecumenical Councils therefore have the highest authority

–The West has tended to place the Pope’s authority above even that of Church Councils
•Only councils convoked by the authority of Rome were valid
•The Pope had the authority to override the decisions of a council

Question 7

Describe the Hesychast tradition.

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Answer 7

• A way of seeking a mystical union with God
• promotes silent recollection and prayer
• teaches the “Prayer of the Heart”
• The height of mystical experience involves the seeing of the divine and uncreated light

Question 8

What were the objections against the hesychast tradition brought up by Barlaam of Calabria?
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Answer 8

• It goes against the apophatic teaching that God can only be known indirectly
• It is impossible to see the divine and uncreated light with our lowly human eyes
• There is too much dependence on the physical and material in the Prayer of the Heart

Question 9

How did Gregory Palamas defend the hesychast tradition?

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Answer 9

• A distinction can be drawn between the “essence” and the “energies” of God; God in his “essence” is absolutely unknowable, but we can experience God’s “energies”
• God’s “energies”: God himself in his movement and revelation to the world

Another term: God’s “grace”—”the abundance of the divine nature, in so far as it is communicated to men”

• The experience of God’s energies is a real and direct experience of God, and the light we see is the divine and uncreated light
• We encounter God through the prayer of the whole person, body and soul
• The eyes of a deified human are able to see the divine light