Episode 42: Caveat on Trinity and Grace of God, Part 6 of Cyril of Alexandria, C. Veniamin

If you enjoy our YouTube channel, consider supporting our The Mount Thabor Academy Patreon page, to unlock exclusive, member-only content:   / themountthaboracademy   Print Books by MOUNT THABOR PUBLISHING: https://www.mountthabor.com eBooks Amazon Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Christo... Contact us: info@mountthabor.com Series: Mystical Theology Episode 42: Caveat on Trinity and Grace of God, Part 6 of Cyril of Alexandria, C. Veniamin In Episode 42: Caveat on Trinity and Grace of God, Part 6 of Cyril of Alexandria, Dr. Veniamin pauses his presentations on the Christology of Cyril of Alexandria, in order to bring back in to focus the Cappadocian understanding of hypostasis, upon which Cyril bases his emphasis on the oneness of Christ, and also the uncreated character of divine grace. For a list of the various themes contained therein, see the Timestamps below. Q&As available in The Professor’s Blog: https://mountthabor.com/blogs/the-pro... Recommended background reading: Christopher Veniamin, ed., Saint Gregory Palamas: The Homilies (Dalton PA: 2022): https://mountthabor.com/products/sain... ; The Orthodox Understanding of Salvation: "Theosis" in Scripture and Tradition (2016): https://mountthabor.com/products/the-... ; and The Transfiguration of Christ in Greek Patristic Literature: https://mountthabor.com/products/the-... (2022). Further bibliography may be found in our "Scholar's Corner" webpage: https://mountthabor.com/pages/the-pro.... Special thanks to the following video of Fr. Dimitru Staniloae, on the difference between western and eastern Christianity:    • Western Christianity vs. Eastern Christian...   TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Augustine and the “Persons” of the Holy Trinity (see our Episodes 24,26,27) 3:16 The Cappadocian contribution (see our Episode 19) 4:37 Hypostatic “modes of existence” 4:58 “Only-begotten Son” (Gk. monogenès, Jn 3.16) 5:37 The Holy Spirit “proceeds [Gk. ekporeúetai] from the Father”, Jn 15.26 6:00 Holy Spirit in Creed of the Second Ecumenical Council in 381 8:36 The Hypostatic characteristics of each of the divine Hypostases 09:46 The “Monarchy” of the Father (see our Episode 18) 10:14 The Father “causes” the Hypostases of the Son and Spirit 11:22 The Father gives His essence to the Son and Spirit 12:37 “Mode of existence” (Gk. trópos hypárxeos) 13:04 “Unbegotten”, “Begotten”, “Proceeding” 14:29 That God is One and Three at once (Gregory the Theologian) 15:24 “Godhead” or “Divinity” (Gk. theótês) 16:42 The grace (Gk. cháris, χάρις) - Fr. John Romanides 17:28 Catholics and Protestants believe in “created grace” 18:18 “Churchianity”: Protestant reaction 21:11 Problem: Protestants still have the doctrine of created grace 22:38 Reaction to absence of God: Pentecostals and charismatics 23:29 Curious but necessary abandonment of theology by Pentecostals and Charismatics 24:07 Orthodoxy is about the presence of God 24:16 Uncreated grace = God Himself 25:09 “Two fundamentally different worlds” (Sophrony the Athonite) 25:45 Significance of the hypostasis and gnosiological context of divine revelation 26:19 “Essentialism” and pantheism 27:50 Western safeguard against pantheism: Ontological distance between God and man 29:08 “I said, Ye are Gods” (Jn 10.34, Ps 82.6) 29:35 Absence of deification in post-Schism western Christianity 30:26 Hypostatic integrity 30:33 Essentialism - absence of hypostasis - created grace 31:09 Beatific Vision and Pantheism of the Far East 32:29 The point of the essence-energies distinction: unmediated access to God 33:21 God’s original purpose: to make images of Himself 33:41 Athanasius the Great: “On the Incarnation of the Word” 34:02 Appeal ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: I wish to express my indebtedness to the spoken and written traditions of Sts Silouan and Sophrony the Athonites, Fr. Zacharias Zacharou, Fr. Kyrill Akon, Fr. Raphael Noica, Fr. Symeon Brüschweiler; Fr. Pavlos Englezakis, Fr. Georges Florovsky, Prof. Constantine Scouteris, Prof. George Mantzarides, Prof. John Fountoulis, and particularly to Mtp Kallistos Ware, Prof. Panayiotes Chrestou, Fr. John Romanides, and Mtp Hierotheos Vlachos: certain sentences and phrases utilized in these presentations are taken directly from my notes of some of their lectures. My presentations have been enriched by all of the above sources, owing to the adoption of certain structures, lists, schemata, and the paraphrasing of themes taken from them. Responsibility for the content of my presentations is of course mine alone. ©Christopher Veniamin 2025