The same Christ: from Holy Communion to contemplative prayer

Many decades ago, as a novice in a Cistercian monastery, I was instructed in the ways of contemplative prayer with particular reference to the Cloud of Unknowing.  I must admit that it was not quite my attraction and I did not persevere in the way which entailed two blocks of 30 minutes each every day using the ‘Jesus prayer’ (Lord Jesus, Son of the Living God be merciful to me a poor sinner).  I either fell asleep or my mind wandered far and wide! Yet, I believe that the experience was a valuable one if only to demonstrate that the way to God is not primarily through our efforts but through allowing ourselves to be vulnerable, distracted, unsure as well as open to divine grace in the dance hall that is one’s mind.  I realised – to some extent - that the same Christ that I received daily in Holy Communion is the same Christ that meets me in contemplative prayer and whose glory is revealed on Mount Tabor.

Today, 14^th November, the Eastern Orthodox Churches remember St. Gregory Palamas (c. 1296-1359).  He was a Byzantine monk, theologian, Archbishop of Thessalonica and a renowned saint in the Eastern Orthodox tradition. He is best known for defending Hesychasm, the tradition of contemplative prayer centred on the Jesus Prayer.  He taught that, through purification, prayer and grace, believers may be granted a genuine participation in the uncreated light of God -  the same divine light revealed on Mount Tabor at Christ's Transfiguration.  The key to this teaching was the distinction between what Palamas called God’s essence (ousia) and God’s energies (energeiai).  God’s essence is utterly transcendent and unknowable; God’s energies are real and uncreated communications by God to all of creation. Through the Eucharist believers participate in these divine energies because they receive Christ himself, truly present in the sacrament.

A central theme in Palamas, as with the Eastern Orthodox teachers of this period, is deification (theosis). The Eucharist is one of the principal means by which believers participate in God's life.