Введение

His Eminence blessed us to hold meetings with young people in our Spiritual Center. During these conversations, we tried to study the enlightened words of St. Gregory Palamas, tried to understand his spiritual message to modern man - a man who thirsts for truth. Undoubtedly, today's youth and modern believers in general are looking for genuine teaching, which is in line with the patristic tradition of the Orthodox Church, and the mysterious life in Christ. The Holy Fathers knew what the deepest meaning of Christian life was, since they were people of prayer, united with Christ and among themselves, they were ardent in spirit, and therefore their work continues to live through the centuries. In modern reality, there is a superficial and formal connection between believers and the spiritually deep and true life of the Church. People live in internal and external turmoil. Having absolutized human knowledge and earthly achievements, people attempted to secularize Christian life. The result of this experiment is very clearly visible in the current reality. People are now seeing with their own eyes how the house of cards they built is collapsing, and the ground is disappearing from under their feet. We can say that today the need for internal communication of the soul with the mysterious experience of Orthodox reality is more tangible. Orthodoxy touches the human heart, cleanses and revives it, warms it up and gives it hope. According to St. Gregory Palamas, “Experience is by its nature more reliable than proof... He who wants to describe in words the sensation and energy of the radiance of God to those who have not tasted it himself is like a man who tries to describe the taste of honey to those who have never tasted it... The goal and beginning of life in Christ and the spiritual contemplation of God is ignorance, which surpasses knowledge and which is united with purity and simplicity of the heart - knowledge that surpasses all meaning. This is intimate repentance and inexpressible insight, a mysterious and ineffable contemplation of the eternal light, which is achieved by those who have overcome human nature by the power of the Spirit, who have seen and become partakers of the radiance of God... A person who has completely turned to Divine love feels that the miracle of freedom in Christ lives within him. Then, of his own free will, he is no longer conformed to the spirit of this world, is not captivated by thought and is not subject to voluptuousness and weakness of the body. His heart goes up. His mind is renewed, transforming to the highest, and if such a person ever forgets and is carried away by the evil one who lies in wait for him on the way, then he immediately notices his mistake and through repentance again achieves humility according to God. Thus, gradually, a decisive change and salvation begins to take effect in a person.” In an era of confusion of concepts and spiritual indifference, the result of which is inner impoverishment, modern crisis (in every sense of the word), lack of true joy, a depressive and multi-careful perception of the world, in this difficult era, the word of St. Gregory Palamas returns us to the truth. This word is simple, and each of us can perceive it. This word of St. Gregory is filled with true wisdom and experience of the grace of the Holy Spirit. It is capable of convincing even the most prejudiced person of the truth that it hides within itself. It reveals the genuine knowledge of God, giving a person silence, inner confidence and hope to a tired soul. This publication represents excerpts from the sermons, letters and treatises of St. Gregory 1, which were read and discussed at youth meetings of the Spiritual Center of the Metropolitan Cathedral Church and published on our website. We are confident that this endeavor will help and teach us how we should live and experience true life in Christ, and how we can enjoy the inner liberation that only Christ brings. If we decide to implement the words of St. Gregory in our daily lives, then we will quickly feel that each of us can become a partaker of the true joy of Christ's Resurrection and partake of the true Life that He gives us. Archimandrite Methodius (Alexiou) A translation of the works of St. Gregory Palamas into modern Greek was used, carried out by the late professor of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Panagiotis Christou and published in the series “Greek Fathers of the Church” (EPE).