The letter to Anna Palaiologina of Gregory Palamas (with the edition of the Serbian Church Slavonic translation from codex 41 of the Monastery of the holy trinity of Pljevlja)

Abstract

The hesychast controversy was closely entwined with the political circumstances in the Eastern Roman Empire. This especially holds true for the so-called second phase of the controversy, which took place at the times of Civil War (1341-1347). A complex conflict between Gregory Palamas and Gregory Akindynos, in which Empress Anna of Savoy was personally involved, was finally resolved by the condemnation of the latter. At one point, in order to get better acquainted with theological issues that were at stake, the Empress asked for the opinion of the main protagonists of the dispute. Gregory Palamas expressed his views in the form of a short letter, in which he seeks to defend himself from the accusation of “ditheism” and to show that his distinction between essence and energies in God is actually in accordance with patristic tradition. This paper includes historical, theological and philological analysis of Palamas’s Letter to Anna Palaiologina, with a special reference to the until now unknown Serbian Church Slavonic transcript found in Codex 41 of the Monastery of the Holy Trinity of Pljevlja. This text, accompanied by the Greek original and its translation into Modern Serbian, is given at the end of the paper. A comparative analysis shows that there are certain differences between Serbian Church Slavonic translation and the Greek original, which are probably the consequence of the fact that Serbian medieval translator might have had a slightly different source text than the one we use today.

Keywords

• hesychast controversy
• civil war (1341-1347)
• john vi kantakouzenos
• john xiv kalekas
• gregory palamas
• gregory akindynos
• “higher” and “lower” deity
• divine essence and energies
• anna palaiologina
• serbian church slavonic translation