Barlaam also took exception to the doctrine held by the Hesychasts as to the uncreated nature of the light, the experience of which was said to be the goal of Hesychast practice, regarding it as heretical and blasphemous.

Although this stance was solid Eastern Orthodox theology, Palamas took issue with Barlaam's argument in support of it, since Barlaam declared efforts at demonstrating the nature of God ( specifically, the nature of the Holy Spirit ) should be abandoned, because God is ultimately unknowable and undemonstrable to humans.

Barlaam also took exception to the doctrine held by the Hesychasts as to the uncreated nature of the light, the experience of which was said to be the goal of Hesychast practice, regarding it as heretical and blasphemous.

So great were their numbers that he founded a monastery, the Khutyn Monastery of Saviour's Transfiguration, and took the name of Barlaam ( Varlaam ).

" These disputations with Barlaam dealt with the question of church union, in which Gregoras took the Unionist part.

On the Second Sunday of Great Lent commemorates St. Gregory Palamas, the great defender of the Orthodox Church's doctrine of Hesychasm against its attack by Barlaam of Calabria.

Barlaam viewed this doctrine of " uncreated light " to be polytheistic because as it postulated two eternal substances, a visible and an invisible God.

A series of anathemas were pronounced against Barlaam, Akindynos and their followers ; at the same time, a series of acclamations were also declared in favor of Gregory Palamas and the adherents of his doctrine.

Barlaam viewed this doctrine of " uncreated light " to be polytheistic because as it postulated two eternal substances, a visible and an invisible God.

The ( Hesychasm ) doctrine of Gregory Palamas won almost no following in the West, and the distrustful attitude of Barlaam in its regard prevailed among Western theologians, surviving into the early 20th century, as shown in Adrian Fortescue's article on hesychasm in the 1910 Catholic Encyclopedia.

A series of anathemas were pronounced against Barlaam, Akindynos and their followers ; at the same time, a series of acclamations were also declared in favor of Gregory Palamas and the adherents of his doctrine.

This doctrine is most closely identified with Gregory Palamas, who formulated it as part of his defense of the practice of Hesychasm against the charge of heresy brought by Barlaam of Calabria.

He also pushed for the study of Greek, housing Barlaam of Calabria, and encouraging his tentative translations of works by Homer, Euripides, and Aristotle.

In the 14th Century, the possibility of this experiential knowledge of God was challenged by a Calabrian monk, Barlaam, who although he was formally a member of the Orthodox Church had been trained in Western Scholastic theology.

Trained in Western Scholastic theology, Barlaam was scandalized by hesychasm and began to combat it both orally and in his writings.

On the Hesychast side, the controversy was taken up by St Gregory Palamas, afterwards Archbishop of Thessalonica, who was asked by his fellow monks on Mt Athos to defend hesychasm from the attacks of Barlaam.

In 1341 the dispute came before a synod held at Constantinople and presided over by the Emperor Andronicus III ; the synod, taking into account the regard in which the writings of the pseudo-Dionysius were held, condemned Barlaam, who recanted and returned to Calabria, afterwards becoming bishop in the Roman Catholic Church.

The Greek legend of " Barlaam and Ioasaph " is sometimes attributed to the 7th century John of Damascus, but actually it was transcribed by the Georgian monk Euthymius in the 11th century.

* An account of Buddha's life, translated earlier into Greek by St John of Damascus and widely circulated to Christians as the story of Barlaam and Josaphat, became so popular Buddha ( under the name Josaphat ) was made a Catholic saint.

* An account of Buddha's life is translated into Greek by Saint John of Damascus, and widely circulated to Christians as the story of Barlaam and Josaphat.

Trained in Western Scholastic theology, Barlaam was scandalized by hesychasm and began to combat it both orally and in his writings.

On the Hesychast side, the controversy was taken up by Palamas who was asked by his fellow monks on Mt Athos to defend hesychasm from the attacks of Barlaam.

Around 1336, Gregory received copies of treatises written by Barlaam against the Latins, condemning their insertion of the Filioque into the Nicene Creed.

The first triad was written in the second half of the 1330s and are based on personal discussions between Palamas and Barlaam although Barlaam is never mentioned by name.

Although the Tome does not mention Barlaam by name, the work clearly takes aim at Barlaam ’ s views.

In response, Barlaam drafted " Against the Messalians ", which attacked Gregory by name for the first time.

The assembly, influenced by the veneration in which the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius were held in the Eastern Church, condemned Barlaam, who recanted.

Attacked by Barlaam, the famous monk of Calabria, he was with difficulty persuaded to come forward and meet him in a war of words, in which Barlaam was worsted.

An account of Buddha's life is translated into Greek by John of Damascus and widely circulated to Christians as the story of Barlaam and Josaphat.

On Mount Athos, Barlaam encountered Hesychasts and heard descriptions of their practices, also reading the writings of the teacher in Hesychasm of St Gregory Palamas, himself an Athonite monk.

As a private teacher of theology in the Western Scholastic mode, Barlaam propounded a more intellectual and propositional approach to the knowledge of God than the Hesychasts taught.

Hesychasm attracted the attention of Barlaam, a convert to Eastern Orthodoxy who encountered Hesychasts and heard descriptions of their practices during a visit to Mount Athos ; he had also read the writings of Palamas, himself an Athonite monk.

As a private teacher of theology in the Western Scholastic mode, Barlaam propounded a more intellectual and propositional approach to the knowledge of God than the Hesychasts taught.

Barlaam derisively called the Hesychasts omphalopsychoi ( men with their souls in their navels ) and accused them of the heresy of Messalianism, also known as Bogomilism in the East.

To many of the Byzantine intellectuals, Hesychasm appeared " shockingly anti-intellectual " Barlaam nicknamed the Hesychasts " Omphaloscopoi " ( the navel-gazers ); the nickname has coloured the tone of most subsequent Western writing about the Byzantine mystics.

Barlaam derisively called the Hesychasts omphalopsychoi ( men with their souls in their navels ) and accused them of the heresy of Messalianism, also known as Bogomilism in the East.

Barlaam in which he declared efforts at demonstrating the nature of God ( specifically, the nature of the Holy Spirit ) should be abandoned, because God is ultimately unknowable and undemonstrable to humans.

Barlaam commented snidely, " I must confess that I do not know what this light is.

Theosis has also been referred to as " glorification ", " union with God ", " becoming god by Grace ", " self-realization ", " the acquisition of the Holy Spirit ", " experience of the uncreated light " Eastern Orthodox theologians John Romanides and George Papademetriou say that some of Augustine's teachings were actually condemned as those of Barlaam the Calabrian at the Hesychast or Fifth Council of Constantinople 1351.

According to Meyendorff, Barlaam viewed " any claim of real and conscious experience of God as Messalianism ".

According to Meyendorff, Barlaam viewed " any claim of real and conscious experience of God as Messalianism ".

It is the " Song of Songs " of Christian asceticism, illustrated by the experience of the Indian prince Joasaph, who is led by the hermit Barlaam to abandon the joys of life, and as a true Christian to renounce the world.