Thread by @leimonarion

(1)A new accusation has arisen against our Holy teacher St. Gregory Palamas. This time, they accuse him to be an Arian.

Yet, this seems to be nothing more than a translation error, and this is what I'll be demonstrating. A 🧵

(2)The accusation of St. Gregory is him calling the Son "unbegotten", citing a passage from his Homilies, precisely the 21st Homily "On the Ascension of Our Lord and God And Saviour Jesus Christ", published by Mt. Thabor Publishing and chiefly translated by Christofer Veniamin.

(3) Here, the translation clearly says "unbegotten", but is it correct? Well, it seems to be confusing two very similar words, namely ἀγένητος and ἀγέννητος. The original text, - from P. K. Christou "Γρηγορίου τοῦ Παλαμᾶ συγγράμματα", Volume 6 - clearly uses the former term.

(4)The difference between those two is a singular Nu (ν), which changes the meaning from unbegotten (ἀγεννητος) to uncreated (ἀγένητος). The begetting was written with a double ν from the Nicene Creed, "γεννηθέντα, οὐ ποιηθέντα" (begotten, not made)...

(5)...up to Nicetas Thessalonicensis, a bishop from the time of St. Gregory Palamas. 5th Dialogue on the Procession of the Holy Spirit, CCSG 92:156, line 5.

(5)Further, this distinction has been addressed in The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers 2-14: The Seven Ecumenical Councils by Philip Schaff, and even by Panayotis Christou himself:

(6)"Yet notwithstanding the confusion into which later transcribers have thus thrown the subject, it is still possible to ascertain the main facts respecting the usage of the two forms. The distinction between the two terms, as indicated by their origin, is that...

(7)...ἀγένητος denies the creation, and ἀγέννητος the generation or parentage."
Source: ccel.org/ccel/schaff/np…

(8)"Since creation is a category outside the sphere of the divine, αγένητος and γενητός, uncreated and created, are used for describing the relation between God and creation, while the terms αγέννητος and γεννητός, unbegotten and begotten, are more frequently used for...

(9)describing the relations within the Trinity; these are the same words, but written with two ν’s, and certainly having a different meaning and etymology."
Source: myriobiblos.gr/texts/english/…

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