St. Gregory Palamas

Gregory was raised at the court of Constantinople and went to Mount Athos as a young monk. When the scholar Barlaam mocked the hesychast monks, who prayed the Jesus Prayer in stillness and spoke of seeing divine light, Gregory defended them. He taught that we cannot know God’s essence, but we can truly share in His uncreated energies, the light that shone on Mount Tabor. Councils in Constantinople confirmed his teaching. He became Archbishop of Thessaloniki and spent a year as a prisoner of the Turks. The Church honours him on the second Sunday of Lent.

• Feast: November 14 (New Calendar)
• Lived: 1296–1359
• Place: Thessaloniki
• Relics today: Metropolitan Cathedral, Thessaloniki